Book Reviews: Animorphs by K.A. Applegate, books 36-40

A pretty weak batch, despite that it includes lots of Andalites (I will forever wish their worldbuilding were more interesting!) and gay Andalites (this actually is interesting) and that nightmare scene where an ant morphed into Cassie.


( The Mutation (Animorphs Book 36) )

( The Weakness (Animorphs Book 37) )

Title: The Arrival (Animorphs Book 38)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 2000
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 302,190
Text Number: 1007
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is a vast improvement over the last few books. I wish, as always, that Andalite worldbuilding were more robust than "pretentious warrior-scientists—surprise, actually they're huge hypocrites!" but at least Ax's relationship with his people, as a race and as individuals, is nuanced. I have a hard time getting a grasp on Ax's character, as he vacillates between boring and comic relief, but the rare book like this one does a lot to correct that. The plot is manipulative for the sake of tension, but I'll take elided details over bad communication or characterization any day, and honestly it works.

(Vague memories of this one, too.)


( The Hidden (Animorphs 39) )

( The Other (Animorphs 40) )

( The Next Passage (Alternamorphs Book 2 / Animorphs Book 40.5) )