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Book Reviews: Animorphs by K.A. Applegate, books 6-10
Title: The Capture (Animorphs Book 6)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 288,800
Text Number: 943
Read Because: reading the series
Review:
The conflicts in these frequently rely on coincidence, but they're still fascinating intersections of horror, worldbuilding, and personal conflict; Jake's predicament here is fantastic. The cast is also unexpectedly competent, and I wonder if that will persist and/or if it was only possible because much of it occurred offscreen—stupid decisions still creates narrative tension, and I imagine that'll never entirely go away, but this was a delight regardless, particularly in the second half of the book. How satisfying!
Title: The Stranger (Animorphs Book 7)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 288,960
Text Number: 944
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I love that this begins as another haphazard spy mission and swiftly goes off the rails and wildly out of proportion—it's phenomenal escalation which raises thorny questions; the series feels like it's gaining purpose and momentum. And the end is so violent (a kid-as-gorilla holding his stomach closed is another of those images that has stuck with me across the years). The personal conflict set against larger plot is growing repetitive, but the multifaceted, pervasive horror, contrasted against MG power fantasy, is so effective that I can't particularly fault it.
Title: The Andalite's Gift (Megamorphs Book 1 / Animorphs Book 7.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 289,200
Text Number: 945
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I wish the first book from multiple PoVs were more robust than this; there's a huge amount of narrative redundancy, compounded by a boring amnesia plot, and the first glimpse into Ax's view isn't particularly distinct. The episodic antagonist is clever and sincerely, memorably horrifying! but too episodic, just when the series was gaining momentum. Cassie and (sometimes-)competent teamwork are the book's saving grace, but on the whole this is mildly disappointing.
Title: The Alien (Animorphs Book 8)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 289,560
Text Number: 947
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Ax and his learning-to-be-human antics are tiresome—I'm not convinced that I ever found them funny, I certainly don't now, and it brings the incompetency/bad decision-making back in force. The second half of the book is more successful. Andalite worldbuilding turns out not to be particularly interesting as yet, but Ax's conflict is significant and, no matter how predictable, the resolution is satisfying.
A moment to consider heteronormativity, here established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms who seem only to live fully when embodied in a host—how does gender work in that situation? What is embodiment-as-gender/-in-sex like for a Yeerk, given that they appear hate their host species? The book doesn't mean to raise these questions, obviously; heteronormativity is just the unconscious result of when it was written and for what audience. But it makes me wonder what fandom has done with Animorphs xenobiology.
(In The Android (Book 10), it's confirmed that Yeerk rarely communicate with each other while in the pool in slug form, verifying that embodiment is central to Yeerk social interaction.)
Title: The Secret (Animorphs Book 9)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 289,720
Text Number: 948
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Cassie is, again & as always, fantastic. Her struggles are less angsty and personal, more ethical and philosophical, than most of the cast, but she's still viscerally affected—the termite scene is a lot, even now. I imagine the book was formative to me as a kid because I remember having these debates at that age, and, honestly?, they're still nuanced, and I appreciate that Cassie never comes to a facile conclusion. It's not a flawless metaphor (given that the real-world equivalent of "thing threatening humans & the entire planet" is ... humans—a little harder to fight) or a flawless book (the action plot is nothing special, the humor fails to land), but it's surprisingly good.
Title: The Android (Animorphs Book 10)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 170
Total Page Count: 290,250
Text Number: 950
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is the first book I don't remember (also the first with a meaningful title). I wonder if/when I stopped reading, or if I just skipped this one because of the spider morph? Regardless: The dog aliens are pretty ridiculous, but that's balanced by the significant expansion to the worldbuilding and the combo attack of Z-space's role in morphing + the consequences of the spider morph + the incredibly violent ending. It's a lot for a kids's book and sincerely horrific, in engaging and awful ways. The investigation of pacifism/trauma/obligation is less robust than I'd like, especially after the nuance of Cassie's ethical debate in the previous book, but it dovetails nicely with the content so I appreciate its presence.
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 288,800
Text Number: 943
Read Because: reading the series
Review:
"I can't believe we are actually going to practice a morph," Marco said. "We never practice. We just do it, and when it's a huge disaster we try and deal with it then."
The conflicts in these frequently rely on coincidence, but they're still fascinating intersections of horror, worldbuilding, and personal conflict; Jake's predicament here is fantastic. The cast is also unexpectedly competent, and I wonder if that will persist and/or if it was only possible because much of it occurred offscreen—stupid decisions still creates narrative tension, and I imagine that'll never entirely go away, but this was a delight regardless, particularly in the second half of the book. How satisfying!
Title: The Stranger (Animorphs Book 7)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 288,960
Text Number: 944
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I love that this begins as another haphazard spy mission and swiftly goes off the rails and wildly out of proportion—it's phenomenal escalation which raises thorny questions; the series feels like it's gaining purpose and momentum. And the end is so violent (a kid-as-gorilla holding his stomach closed is another of those images that has stuck with me across the years). The personal conflict set against larger plot is growing repetitive, but the multifaceted, pervasive horror, contrasted against MG power fantasy, is so effective that I can't particularly fault it.
Title: The Andalite's Gift (Megamorphs Book 1 / Animorphs Book 7.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 289,200
Text Number: 945
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I wish the first book from multiple PoVs were more robust than this; there's a huge amount of narrative redundancy, compounded by a boring amnesia plot, and the first glimpse into Ax's view isn't particularly distinct. The episodic antagonist is clever and sincerely, memorably horrifying! but too episodic, just when the series was gaining momentum. Cassie and (sometimes-)competent teamwork are the book's saving grace, but on the whole this is mildly disappointing.
Title: The Alien (Animorphs Book 8)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 289,560
Text Number: 947
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Ax and his learning-to-be-human antics are tiresome—I'm not convinced that I ever found them funny, I certainly don't now, and it brings the incompetency/bad decision-making back in force. The second half of the book is more successful. Andalite worldbuilding turns out not to be particularly interesting as yet, but Ax's conflict is significant and, no matter how predictable, the resolution is satisfying.
A moment to consider heteronormativity, here established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms who seem only to live fully when embodied in a host—how does gender work in that situation? What is embodiment-as-gender/-in-sex like for a Yeerk, given that they appear hate their host species? The book doesn't mean to raise these questions, obviously; heteronormativity is just the unconscious result of when it was written and for what audience. But it makes me wonder what fandom has done with Animorphs xenobiology.
(In The Android (Book 10), it's confirmed that Yeerk rarely communicate with each other while in the pool in slug form, verifying that embodiment is central to Yeerk social interaction.)
Title: The Secret (Animorphs Book 9)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 289,720
Text Number: 948
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Cassie is, again & as always, fantastic. Her struggles are less angsty and personal, more ethical and philosophical, than most of the cast, but she's still viscerally affected—the termite scene is a lot, even now. I imagine the book was formative to me as a kid because I remember having these debates at that age, and, honestly?, they're still nuanced, and I appreciate that Cassie never comes to a facile conclusion. It's not a flawless metaphor (given that the real-world equivalent of "thing threatening humans & the entire planet" is ... humans—a little harder to fight) or a flawless book (the action plot is nothing special, the humor fails to land), but it's surprisingly good.
I laughed bitterly. "Well, I guess I did go a bit wacko," I said.
<Welcome to the club,> Tobias said. <None of us is going to come through all this completely normal. You know that. Too much fear.>
Title: The Android (Animorphs Book 10)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1997
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 170
Total Page Count: 290,250
Text Number: 950
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is the first book I don't remember (also the first with a meaningful title). I wonder if/when I stopped reading, or if I just skipped this one because of the spider morph? Regardless: The dog aliens are pretty ridiculous, but that's balanced by the significant expansion to the worldbuilding and the combo attack of Z-space's role in morphing + the consequences of the spider morph + the incredibly violent ending. It's a lot for a kids's book and sincerely horrific, in engaging and awful ways. The investigation of pacifism/trauma/obligation is less robust than I'd like, especially after the nuance of Cassie's ethical debate in the previous book, but it dovetails nicely with the content so I appreciate its presence.
He looked at me with holographic human eyes. Maybe he had to choose to make them cry. Maybe he had to choose to give them that empty, hollow look. I don't know what the connection is between the android Chee and his projected human body. But his expression answered my question.
No. Erek was not okay.