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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