I think I remember *way back* you mentioned in passing that you had read the Animorphs series as a kid?
Because WOW did Rachel *ever* represent this trope- I don't know any other "kid" series at that point that actually takes the reader though a main character's (especially a girl's!) head as they slowly lose their grip of right and wrong because they start out willingly taking the morally ambiguous missions to keep everyone the fight with hands "clean"-- and then most distressingly to themselves, in Rachel's case, start *enjoying* being the one who deals the most damage to the enemy.
And then there's when she goes up against Taylor- who is essentially a Rachel lookalike who sold her family/brain/essentially her soul to regain her pretty face/social position (Seriously, Rachel's boyfriend who has just been tortured by Taylor actually calls Rachel the 'twilight' to Taylor's 'night' at the end of the first book Taylor is in)-- and David- who has all of her darker character flaws with none of her overwhelming sense of loyalty to those she loves. REALLY DARK ARCS IN THE SERIES.
Seriously, her ending is still one of the best done young-lit character deaths *ever* IMO.
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timeasmymeasure
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Because WOW did Rachel *ever* represent this trope- I don't know any other "kid" series at that point that actually takes the reader though a main character's (especially a girl's!) head as they slowly lose their grip of right and wrong because they start out willingly taking the morally ambiguous missions to keep everyone the fight with hands "clean"-- and then most distressingly to themselves, in Rachel's case, start *enjoying* being the one who deals the most damage to the enemy.
And then there's when she goes up against Taylor- who is essentially a Rachel lookalike who sold her family/brain/essentially her soul to regain her pretty face/social position (Seriously, Rachel's boyfriend who has just been tortured by Taylor actually calls Rachel the 'twilight' to Taylor's 'night' at the end of the first book Taylor is in)-- and David- who has all of her darker character flaws with none of her overwhelming sense of loyalty to those she loves. REALLY DARK ARCS IN THE SERIES.Seriously, her ending is still one of the best done young-lit character deaths *ever* IMO.