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Book Reviews: Animorphs by K.A. Applegate, books 26-30
Title: The Attack (Animorphs Book 26)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 296,775
Text Number: 982
Read Because: reading the series
Review: The humor inanything this series can be too much for me, but the way it work here, a vivid bizarro world in contrast to dire survival, is fantastic and memorable. The ending is trite, but the path there has rewarding logic. But the true highlight of this book is Jake. I love the ambiguity of his leadership, the ruthless logic of his manipulations contrasted with the vulnerability and uncertainly we see only in his PoV. I love the tension between his position as leader and his position as friend and romantic partner, and the utterly predictable but still satisfying first kiss. It's the surprisingly strong characterization which is keeping me engaged now that I've passed the series's halfpoint.
Two quotes, two notes:
I've started to see little inconsistencies popping up, like people speaking aloud before morphing out, or, as Jake's foot/talon-fingers above, legs and arms not lining up when morphing. It isn't a deal-breaker but it's definitely a new development and, uh, where be the editors?? ?
It's refreshing to see Nazis and slave owners as "presumed stupid until proven otherwise" instead of the long-held myth of Nazi's as evil-but-efficient/-competent/-whatever, as if we needed to debate the worth of genocidal groups.
Title: The Exposed (Animorphs Book 27)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 296,930
Text Number: 983
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I still don't buy Rachel's reaction to Tobias's choices. I understand that she might want one normal thing to balance all the weird in her life, but I think that she, more than anyone, would respect his decision to stay in the fight. And that isn't quite the conflict that's rendered; her death-drive, and her appreciation of the death-drive, doesn't always manage to make it into her PoV. But it makes it into the scenes themselves, and the interaction with other characters; the short straw picking is a phenomenal scene, so tense, so evocative of these particular issues.
Otherwise, this book is just okay, a routine action plot only memorable for its underwater setting.
Title: The Experiment (Animorphs Book 28)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 140
Total Page Count: 297,070
Text Number: 984
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Now this feels ghostwritten: numerous vaguely effective action sequences; exaggerated dialog that sketches caricatures of the cast; a throwaway episodic plot; themes that have come up elsewhere in the series, but are here more inflammatory and less successful. When these books came out I was deep into the ethics of animal testing and the meat industry, yet this left no lasting impression on me. All I remember of it from childhood is the homework/TV scenes—and while I've always loved the action-free intimacy, that's still not a good sign. It's the most routine investigation of the issue, a run of the mill YA problem novel, and has none of the effective nuance found in Cassie's larger character arc. A bad book.
With probably the funniest cover of the entire series.
Title: The First Journey (Alternamorphs Book 1 / Animorphs Book 28.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 130
Total Page Count: 290,590
Text Number: 953
Read Because: reading the series
Review: A chose your own adventure rehash of previous events means few plot developments and no character growth, so while this is a perfect fit to the intended audience and the series's power fantasy wish-fulfillment, it's just ... not very good; the writing also feels weaker here than in previous books. But the prevalence of death is fascinating—in the CYOA books I remember from my childhood, the wrong ends were frequently ridiculous, fun black humor; the tone here is different, as the ends parallel the violence and close calls native to the series (sometimes exactly, like being eaten when in an insect morph) and Jake's recent parallel-timeline death in particular. To explore that in second person echoes the insistence that opens each book that this series is taking place in the reader's own world. It's not a particular robust reading, and not a good book, but it speaks to one of the throughlines I'm enjoying most in this series.
Title: The Sickness (Animorphs Book 29)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 297,510
Text Number: 986
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I wish this book were ten pages longer, to give more time to the numerous ethical issues of morphing/possessing sentient beings—not just because it's in Cassie's wheelhouse, but because consent is a central theme. Further, I'm not entirely convinced by the experience of a Yeerk morph, which is heavily informed by an instinctual desire to inhabit a host. Where's that gray area of sentient morphs, which are uncomfortably devoid of animal instinct? I make these complaints because this book is inches from greatness, and I want it to reach that—but it's still so good. The illness B-plot is top grade tropey feels; Cassie's A-plot is punishing and engages all my symbiont feelings. This book feels ghostwritten with love—Metz grabs on to interpersonal and worldbuilding elements that I really enjoy. And the ending left me teary-eyed.
Title: Elfangor's Secret (Megamorphs 3 / Animorphs 29.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 210
Total Page Count: 297,800
Text Number: 988
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Time travel is hard to pull off, and this doesn't manage it. There's no stakes, because the reader can assume status quo will resume (and it does, too much: Crayak is still owed a for-real life) and "what does it mean to rewrite history?" is perhaps too broad an issue for a 200-page MG book. Animorphs frequently tackles these overlarge, impossible questions, and is content to leave them unanswered—and that approach almost works here, in the unresolved questions about the nature of evil and the evils of history. But it falls apart when determining which events created history as we know it, and whether we live in the good timeline; in short, "America, F* Yeah!" is weird as hell to read in 2019, especially given the intents of this series and the fact that this is the book which reveals Jake and Rachel are patrilineal Jews. That reveal is the best takeaway; also Rachel and Tobais's first kiss, also the sense of grief and loss at apparent deaths, which is better rendered here than in In the Time of Dinosaurs (Megamorphs 2) or, perhaps, anywhere so far in the series. But this just didn't work for me, both in overarching one and in niggling details like the research-dumping of how a flintlock works.
Another one I didn't read as a kid! Of the core series, I read all but "the one with the spider cover," which, again, I think is fair. I read The Andalite Chronicles but, afaik, none of the other Chronicles books; I read The Andelite's Gift and In the Time of Dinosaurs, but none of the other Megamorphs; I didn't read any of the Alternamorphs. I can't remember if we bought these books as a family or if I read them through schools, but either way it makes sense that the core series was the most readily accessible, followed by early spin-offs, and that later spin-offs were less accessible.
I still don't know when I stopped reading, and which spin-offs I don't remember fall under that bracket.
Title: The Reunion (Animorphs Book 30)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 298,605
Text Number: 991
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is grim—moreso than the average Animorphs book, and that's saying something. I've always had a hard time getting a grasp on Marco's character; I'm not wholly convinced by this version of him, but Jake is very good and there's a consistent emphasis on group dynamics, manipulation, shared responsibilities, interdependencies—it feels like the ghostwriter's hobbyhorse, but it's often mine too, so I appreciate it. But the highlight is the more-than-usual ethical ambiguity and explicit acknowledgement that this war is having, will have, permanent negative effects on the Animorphs.
This one feels ghostwritten—the language and characterization feel a little off; the themes are fairly heavy-handed—but in that good, fanfic-adjacent way: a heightened, deeper exploration of the base text's underlying themes.
*adds Jake/Marco to list of interesting dynamics*
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 145
Total Page Count: 296,775
Text Number: 982
Read Because: reading the series
Review: The humor in
Two quotes, two notes:
I began to demorph. We were falling at the same speed now, the Howler and I. I tried to hold on to him as my talons became fingers, as my body grew and grew almost as large as his. I tried to hold on to that half-cooled lava skin. But my talons slipped as the claws became fingernails. I lost my grip.
I've started to see little inconsistencies popping up, like people speaking aloud before morphing out, or, as Jake's foot/talon-fingers above, legs and arms not lining up when morphing. It isn't a deal-breaker but it's definitely a new development and, uh, where be the editors?? ?
"Just because a person or whatever is intelligent, that doesn't mean they can't be brutal and rotten and evil. I mean, there must have been some smart Nazis and some smart slave owners."
It's refreshing to see Nazis and slave owners as "presumed stupid until proven otherwise" instead of the long-held myth of Nazi's as evil-but-efficient/-competent/-whatever, as if we needed to debate the worth of genocidal groups.
Title: The Exposed (Animorphs Book 27)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 296,930
Text Number: 983
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I still don't buy Rachel's reaction to Tobias's choices. I understand that she might want one normal thing to balance all the weird in her life, but I think that she, more than anyone, would respect his decision to stay in the fight. And that isn't quite the conflict that's rendered; her death-drive, and her appreciation of the death-drive, doesn't always manage to make it into her PoV. But it makes it into the scenes themselves, and the interaction with other characters; the short straw picking is a phenomenal scene, so tense, so evocative of these particular issues.
Otherwise, this book is just okay, a routine action plot only memorable for its underwater setting.
Title: The Experiment (Animorphs Book 28)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 140
Total Page Count: 297,070
Text Number: 984
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Now this feels ghostwritten: numerous vaguely effective action sequences; exaggerated dialog that sketches caricatures of the cast; a throwaway episodic plot; themes that have come up elsewhere in the series, but are here more inflammatory and less successful. When these books came out I was deep into the ethics of animal testing and the meat industry, yet this left no lasting impression on me. All I remember of it from childhood is the homework/TV scenes—and while I've always loved the action-free intimacy, that's still not a good sign. It's the most routine investigation of the issue, a run of the mill YA problem novel, and has none of the effective nuance found in Cassie's larger character arc. A bad book.
With probably the funniest cover of the entire series.
Title: The First Journey (Alternamorphs Book 1 / Animorphs Book 28.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 130
Total Page Count: 290,590
Text Number: 953
Read Because: reading the series
Review: A chose your own adventure rehash of previous events means few plot developments and no character growth, so while this is a perfect fit to the intended audience and the series's power fantasy wish-fulfillment, it's just ... not very good; the writing also feels weaker here than in previous books. But the prevalence of death is fascinating—in the CYOA books I remember from my childhood, the wrong ends were frequently ridiculous, fun black humor; the tone here is different, as the ends parallel the violence and close calls native to the series (sometimes exactly, like being eaten when in an insect morph) and Jake's recent parallel-timeline death in particular. To explore that in second person echoes the insistence that opens each book that this series is taking place in the reader's own world. It's not a particular robust reading, and not a good book, but it speaks to one of the throughlines I'm enjoying most in this series.
Title: The Sickness (Animorphs Book 29)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 150
Total Page Count: 297,510
Text Number: 986
Read Because: reading the series
Review: I wish this book were ten pages longer, to give more time to the numerous ethical issues of morphing/possessing sentient beings—not just because it's in Cassie's wheelhouse, but because consent is a central theme. Further, I'm not entirely convinced by the experience of a Yeerk morph, which is heavily informed by an instinctual desire to inhabit a host. Where's that gray area of sentient morphs, which are uncomfortably devoid of animal instinct? I make these complaints because this book is inches from greatness, and I want it to reach that—but it's still so good. The illness B-plot is top grade tropey feels; Cassie's A-plot is punishing and engages all my symbiont feelings. This book feels ghostwritten with love—Metz grabs on to interpersonal and worldbuilding elements that I really enjoy. And the ending left me teary-eyed.
Mr. Tidwell tilted his right ear toward the table.
I leaned down. My eyes locked themselves on the hole at the ear's center. I couldn't look away.
The opening to the hole began to glisten. Then a pencil-thin wand of wet gray flesh slid out. It wiggled this way and that. Almost as if it were tasting the air.
Shh-lop. Shh-lop. Shh-lop.
More of the gray flesh squeezed itself out of Mr. Tidwell's ear.
Plop!
The Yeerk fell the few inches to the table. Its body had been stretched and flattened by crawling out the ear canal.
As I watched, the Yeerk's gray flesh contracted, like a hand closing into a fist. Forming its slug-like body.
I jerked back. The legs of my chair squealed against the kitchen floor.
It's Illim, I told myself, trying to control my revulsion.
Mr. Tidwell grabbed a dishtowel from the table and scrubbed at his ear. "It always makes me feel ... I don't know. Empty."
Title: Elfangor's Secret (Megamorphs 3 / Animorphs 29.5)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 210
Total Page Count: 297,800
Text Number: 988
Read Because: reading the series
Review: Time travel is hard to pull off, and this doesn't manage it. There's no stakes, because the reader can assume status quo will resume (and it does, too much: Crayak is still owed a for-real life) and "what does it mean to rewrite history?" is perhaps too broad an issue for a 200-page MG book. Animorphs frequently tackles these overlarge, impossible questions, and is content to leave them unanswered—and that approach almost works here, in the unresolved questions about the nature of evil and the evils of history. But it falls apart when determining which events created history as we know it, and whether we live in the good timeline; in short, "America, F* Yeah!" is weird as hell to read in 2019, especially given the intents of this series and the fact that this is the book which reveals Jake and Rachel are patrilineal Jews. That reveal is the best takeaway; also Rachel and Tobais's first kiss, also the sense of grief and loss at apparent deaths, which is better rendered here than in In the Time of Dinosaurs (Megamorphs 2) or, perhaps, anywhere so far in the series. But this just didn't work for me, both in overarching one and in niggling details like the research-dumping of how a flintlock works.
Another one I didn't read as a kid! Of the core series, I read all but "the one with the spider cover," which, again, I think is fair. I read The Andalite Chronicles but, afaik, none of the other Chronicles books; I read The Andelite's Gift and In the Time of Dinosaurs, but none of the other Megamorphs; I didn't read any of the Alternamorphs. I can't remember if we bought these books as a family or if I read them through schools, but either way it makes sense that the core series was the most readily accessible, followed by early spin-offs, and that later spin-offs were less accessible.
I still don't know when I stopped reading, and which spin-offs I don't remember fall under that bracket.
Title: The Reunion (Animorphs Book 30)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 1999
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 298,605
Text Number: 991
Read Because: reading the series
Review: This is grim—moreso than the average Animorphs book, and that's saying something. I've always had a hard time getting a grasp on Marco's character; I'm not wholly convinced by this version of him, but Jake is very good and there's a consistent emphasis on group dynamics, manipulation, shared responsibilities, interdependencies—it feels like the ghostwriter's hobbyhorse, but it's often mine too, so I appreciate it. But the highlight is the more-than-usual ethical ambiguity and explicit acknowledgement that this war is having, will have, permanent negative effects on the Animorphs.
"She's your mother!" Cassie exploded. "She's not 'Visser One.' She's your mother! Is everyone just going to let this happen?"
Jake sent her a cold look. "This is not the time, Cassie."
"When is it going to be the time? When Marco's mind is screwed up forever by this? He's in denial. This is his mother, for God's sake."
Jake said nothing. No one said anything. Cassie's words just hung in the air.
This one feels ghostwritten—the language and characterization feel a little off; the themes are fairly heavy-handed—but in that good, fanfic-adjacent way: a heightened, deeper exploration of the base text's underlying themes.
Jake has changed a lot over the months we've been fighting this little war. The look he gave me did not come from my boy Jake, my bud, my pal. It came from a battle commander.
Freaky seeing how old Jake has gotten.
"Marco, you're my best friend. But if you ever go off like that again you and I will have serious problems."
In the old days I'd have said "Bite me," or something equally brilliant.
Now I said, "Okay, understood."
It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, "Yes, sir."
*adds Jake/Marco to list of interesting dynamics*