The first Megamorphs book–with the point of view switching each chapter rather than per book–and almost twice as long! (apparently it was originally published as two books?) It’s a neat concept and a good way to shake up the series.

Other than that, it’s summer time. The Animorphs are coming off a big win. So it’s time to relax.

Until a living tornado from Saturn comes to visit–seemingly focussed on finding and shredding our friendly neighborhood Animorphs.

Also, an amnesia plot. Which morphing for some reason didn’t heal?

It’s… fine? The other Megamorphs books are better.

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Given how super formulaic these books are, I was actually really surprised with how good this one is. You have a (very) old arms family with a flare for the dramatic, the lost city (no, not that one, this one), killer … algae?, all the Edgar Allen Poe and The Island of Dr. Moreau references you could want (plus some!).

Man there are some awesome action scenes in this book (which is really a large part about why you read them). Escaping from the castle? Excellent. (Actually the whole castle scene leading up to it was delightfully creepy). Escaping from the island? Even better.

Overall, I had vaguely considered giving up on this series after the last few, but this one is more than good enough to keep me going for a while longer. Onward and NUMAward!

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<Hi, Josep,> I said, using thought-speak.

“What the . . . Who? Who said that? I’m hearing voices!”

<Me,> I replied. <I said it. See, Josep, I am from the International Elephant Police. We have had some complaints about you.>

“This is crazy! This is crazy! What are you? Is this some sort of a joke?”

…

Right.

So… remember that big weird biomechanical appearance at the end of The Capture?

“I am an Ellimist,” he said, speaking with an actual voice, “as your Andalite friend guessed.”

Ax was shaking so badly he looked like he might fall down.

“Be at peace, Andalite,” the Ellimist said. “Look at your human friends. They do not fear me.”

<They don’t know what you are,> Ax managed to say.

The Ellimist smiled. “Neither do you. All you know are the fairy stories your people tell to children.”

I remember The Ellimist Chronicles being one of my favorite books of the series. I did not remember that they showed up quite so early. An interesting bit of worldbuilding, if nearing on an almost literal deus-ex-machina.

It’s a good book, but it’s tonally weird compared to any of the books thus far–quite a jump in scope/scale.

Although I do like Rachel’s cover / new combat morph though. Not quite as many size issues as she had with the elephant.

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A look far deeper than anyone wanted into what it’s like to be a Yeerk/controller.

And some actual plans to take over some more high powered individuals than High School kids and Assistant Principals. 😄

It’s an intense book, only slightly weakened by a few ‘unlikely at best’ moments that are needed to drive the plot forward.

It’s a good one.

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The one with Marco’s backstory.

Two years ago his mother died/disappeared at sea. In that time, his father has not really taken that well, leading to a somewhat rough home life.

Meanwhile, Ax tries to call home. This also goes poorly, although probably not how you’d expect.

Capture! A trip to SPACE! Power struggles among the Yeerks! And… a surprise visit from Visser One.

An interesting twist that. Doesn’t make any more sense than a random Assistant Principal being a high placed local Controller, but it works for the book.

Slightly weaker than The Encounter and The Message, but there’s potential for some interesting stories in the future.

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“How about my dream of living long enough to get a driver’s license?”

And so we have upper bound on their current ages. They’re so young…

On re-reading this, I’d forgotten how early Ax was introduced. It’s such a neat story. The young alien left behind. Another child, just like them. And then you have the ocean morphs–dolphins!–and talking(ish) whales.

A lot to like about this one.

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Tobias, this time.

He’s such a fascinating character. In the very first book he broke the number one rule of morphing–if you stay in morph for more than two hours, you’re stuck like that. Forever.

So now Tobias is a red-tailed hawk, with the mind of a boy (and also somewhat a hawk, because that’s how morphing works).

Which is just such a fascinating way to do it. And leads to some really interesting digging into what it actually even means to be human… and what it might mean to lose that little bit of yourself…

It worried me a little. It made me wonder. Was he right about other things as well?

How many risks could we take before we lost? How long till the five of us were four? Or two?

Or none?

And now we have more than 50 books to find out!

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The one where the big bad alien controlled Assistant Principal… has a touch of humanity after all.

“He wasn’t a Controller,” I said scornfully. “Why would the Yeerks want to make a Controller out of a punk? They want people in positions of power.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Jake said. “Tom isn’t in a position of power.”

A good question that. Or why Chapman for that matter…

It’s still so very weird what random people the Yeerks chose to take over.

It’s a decent story. Making some Yeerks all the more terrifying while at the same time humanizing others. Makes everything all the more complicated…

Onward!

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And so… the Animorphs.

I’ve read the entire series a couple times, but it’s also been at least a decade. I remember that they’re very light reads, at times a bit dated (which I expect hasn’t gotten better), and… surprisingly good! Let’s see if they hold up.

We start with The Invasion!

5 kids walking home from the mall (do kids ever go to malls any more?) and stumble upon an alien. Dying from his wounds, hunted by his enemies.

And oh what enemies they are… the Yeerks. Alien slugs that can slither into your ear and take you over. And for some reason, they’re taking over this unspecified (probably West Coast US, we’ll come back to that) small city, starting with… high schoolers and Assistant Principals?

Big battle ensues, one alien kills another, but just before, the kids are given the power to fight back–by turning (morphing) into any animal they can touch (acquire).

Initially, they’re (rightfully) not willing to fight back, but of course things go sideways.

“Oh, I’m sure we could talk them into letting us in for nothing,” Marco said. “Just tell them we’re Animorphs.”

“Tell them we’re what?” Rachel asked.

“Idiot teenagers with a death wish,” Marco said.

“Animorphs.” I tried the word out. It sounded okay.

And… so it begins.

I enjoyed it. And I’m looking forward to re-reading the series!

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