Jake used to be an ordinary American kid. His biggest problems were running out of quarters for the video games at the mall and not making the cut for the junior
high basketball team. Then he, his best friend Marco, his cousin Rachel and her friend Cassie, and the strange new boy Tobias decided to take a shortcut home from the
mall, through the abandoned construction site. That's when they saw the UFO... and when their lives as ordinary kids ended.
Prince Elfangor, a centaur-like Andalite, is dying when his battered ship landed. He tells the children that he is not the first alien to come to Earth; he fell while
fighting Yeerks. Little more than an outsized slug, a Yeerk crawls into a victim's brain, taking over their bodies and memories and turning their victim into a
Controller. Some entire species in the galaxy have succumbed to the parasites. It may be years before more Andalites arrive, and by then it may be too late for Earth.
To fight back, Elfangor defies his race's protocols about sharing advanced technology, giving Jake and his friends the Andalite power to morph into any animal they can
touch. Morphing proves as much a danger as a strength, but it's the only tool they have.
Now Jake and his friends are Earth's only defense against the Yeerk invaders, their terrifying alien host-bodies, and their foul leader: the only Andalite-Controller in
the galaxy, with his own array of monstrous alien morphs... the abomination known as Visser Three.
Review
This book reads like a pilot episode for a TV series, down to the sometimes-awkward setups and the details that change once the series gets picked up. It starts fairly
fast, introducing the characters, establishing the "game rules" for the universe, and giving a taste of the action, paranoia, and occasional humor that form the bulk of
the 54-plus book series. Jake finds himself unexpectedly - and unwillingly - thrust into the role of group leader, a job he almost refuses until the Yeerk invasion hits
too close to home. With his friends, he has a good support team, even if - like Jake - none of them feel up to the monumental task of saving humanity. Applegate creates
some nicely non-humanoid aliens, and if a few of them stretch the laws of physics and nature, well, Animorphs is ultimately an alien-blasting action series, not
hard sci-fi. Some fact issues bugged me (such as the "backwards knee" on dogs; as digitigrade walkers, that's the ankle, not the knee, as a quick glance at a dog skeleton
proves), but on the whole it intrigued me just enough to keep reading... which is just as well, as I originally bought this book because I wanted to read Book 2. (It had
a cat on the cover. I never pretended to be a sophisticated reader.)
As for the new run (which I've seen on the job at the library shipping center), I have to say that, while I liked the original "morphing image" covers of the originals,
the new ones are pretty cool in a shiny-object way. (Hey, I already said I wasn't particularly sophisticated...) What I'm not so sure about is reported attempts to
"update" the series with modern pop culture references. First off, it insults the target audience - the very thing Applegate never once did in the entire series run.
Secondly, too much updating will destroy things; they'll have to go beyond mere pop culture references to include all the technology that wasn't available in the 1990's
- smartphones and GPS and texting and such, not to mention emerging forensic and medical technologies that would make it much more difficult to hide traces of human DNA
left after battles - that will ruin the flow of several key stories. (They're also moving so slowly that new readers will plow clear past the "updated" books in a flash;
are new fans supposed to just sit around waiting for Scholastic to catch up, with 50-odd books already waiting on the library shelves?) And what next - give Dorothy a
GPS to get out of Oz? Add a rap number to Alice in Wonderland? Release a revised Harry Potter series with spells cast by iPhone apps? How little credit do
publishing houses give kids, anyway? But, hey, I'm not Scholastic... (Incidentally, the "updates" appear to have officially been cancelled.)
A week ago, Rachel was no different than most of the girls at junior high. Then she and her friends met the dying alien Elfangor, and everything changed... even her.
Elfangor, in his final moments, gave the kids the power to morph into animals, a weapon to use against parasitic Yeerk invaders. Now Rachel and her friends are the
Animorphs, Earth's only defense in a war that nobody knows about... nobody who doesn't already have an alien slug in their brains, at least.
In hopes of finding the Kandrona, a vital component of the Yeerks' survival in their native form, the kids decide to track Assistant Principal Chapman, whom they know
hosts a highly-ranked Yeerk. Rachel used to be close to Chapman's daughter Melissa, and while they've drifted apart, she still feels bad betraying a friend. What starts
as an infiltration mission quickly becomes more personal - and more dangerous - than Rachel could ever have imagined.
Review
Again, while The Visitor is a fast-paced, action-oriented story, I never foresaw myself reading the entire Animorphs series when I read it. The kids still
struggle to accept the responsibility that's been dropped onto their shoulders, with Marco as the most vocal opponent to risking their lives against impossible odds. In
this book, Rachel finds her own reason to fight, much as Jake found his in the first volume. Applegate manages to visualize the world as seen through animal eyes, a gimmick
that could've easily misfired in the wrong hands. Like most serial stories, for all the struggle the characters go through and the dangers they face, little has changed by
the end, with just enough advancement to crawl into the next adventure. I also thought it tried a little too hard to drive home the emotional toll of the Yeerk
invasion.
When I saw that the third book would feature Tobias, the Animorph who found himself trapped in hawk form in the first book, I told myself I'd read just one more. Famous
last words...
A few weeks ago, five ordinary kids took a shortcut home through an abandoned construction site. They didn't know about aliens. They'd never heard of the parasitic
Yeerks, the blade-festooned Hork-Bajir, the giant scavenger-centipede Taxxons, or the deer-centaur Andalites who opposed them. They had no idea Earth was already under
attack by the Yeerks, or that the popular civic organization The Sharing was the front for their recruitment forces. And they had no idea that, with a little help from
Andalite technology, a person could morph into any animal they can touch: the one weapon the dying Andalite Prince Elfangor was able to give them to defend their
homeworld. That gift transformed them from five children to five warriors. The Animorphs.
Now, they are only four kids: Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco. And one red-tailed hawk named Tobias.
Stuck in animal form after their disastrous first mission, Tobias clings to the hope that, when the Andalites return to this sector of the galaxy, they'll have a cure
for his condition. In the meantime, he acts as the ultimate spy, harnessing a hawk's vision and flight with a human brain. It was he who first spotted the peculiar
ripple in the sky - a ripple caused by a cloaked Yeerk ship, traveling to and from the mountains on a regular schedule. Even as the Animorphs investigate, however,
Tobias feels his humanity slipping away. To be in a morph is to share an animal mind, with animal instincts, and the longer he's trapped, the more powerful those
instincts become. How long can Tobias the human survive in the brain of a wild hawk?
Review
This was the one that hooked me, taking the story from a simple alien-invasion/paranoia action series to something else altogether. All along, the kids have had to
struggle with their animal morphs almost as hard as they've struggled to fight the Yeerks and avoid revealing their identities; Visser Three still thinks he's fighting
Andalites escaped from their doomed ship, a delusion the Animorphs happily perpetuate to spare their families the danger. This book brings the struggle with the animal
mind to the forefront. Tobias wrestles with his new identity, torn between two seemingly incompatible worlds, that of the compassionate human and that of the predatory
hawk. The fight nearly leads to his own death, more than once... and at his own talons. His friends, too, must come to terms with their own feelings on his condition -
a fate they all could share if they stay in animal form for too long. The fight against the Yeerks continues, of course, but this installment is really more about the
people... and the animals whose minds they're obligated to share. I clipped it for a few forced scenes, and one continuity error that, while minor, bugged me.
Cassie never asked for the power to morph, any more than she asked to fight against parasitic alien slugs intent on taking over the human race. As an animal lover,
she can't deny that the ability to become any animal - to see the world through their senses, to peer into their inhuman minds - holds a certain fascination. It's the
rest of the job - the whole fight against ruthless enemies who would kill or enslave her given half a chance - that scares her. She's no leader, like Jake, nor a
warrior at heart, like her friend Rachel. But she knows she wasn't given this gift simply to commune with the beasts; it would be an insult to the memory of Prince
Elfangor, who died after giving her and her friends the Andalite technology to morph, to not use it as he'd intended, to fight the Yeerk invasion until more Andalite
forces arrive. Unfortunately, nobody knows when that will be...
Lately, Cassie's been having some very strange dreams. A voice seems to be calling to her... a voice that, she realizes, isn't human. When Tobias admits to having had
similar dreams, she starts to wonder if it's all in her mind. Then Jake mentions the segment on the news the night before, about a strange piece of metal that washed
up on the shore: a piece of the lost Andalite warship. Maybe Cassie and her friends don't have to wait for more Andalites to come; maybe some of them survived, as
Elfangor did, only to be trapped in the wreckage under the sea. If so, their time may be running out, for the Animorphs aren't the only ones who watch the news.
Certainly some Controllers, Yeerk-infested humans, saw it, too. And if Cassie and Tobias are hearing the dream-messages calling for help, then Visser Three - the only
Andalite-Controller in the galaxy - has no doubt heard them
as well.
Review
Another action-filled adventure in the life of the Animorphs. Alongside the superficial action, the characters continue to deal with the stresses of fighting an
invisible enemy, not to mention the morality shifts required when one is forced into the life of a guerilla warrior. With each book rotating through a different
character's point of view, Applegate establishes each member of the team as an individual, with different thoughts and feelings and motivations. Cassie's love of
nature and respect for animals causes her to question the ethics of morphing; she doesn't find any easy answers, but she does find acceptance, after a fashion. Fairly
fun, and it reads fast, even if it wandered a little close to New Age territory while exploring the minds of dolphins and whales.
If anyone had asked Marco whether he'd wanted to be part of Earth's only resistance to parasitic alien invaders, he'd have told them no. His life was already in
shambles, with his mother drowned in a boating accident and his once-brilliant father a broken shell of a man who barely manages to hold on to a part-time job. But
it's hard to say no when a dying alien is offering you the only chance for your species's long-term survival... and when your best friend, like the natural-born
leader he is, has already made up his mind. (Also, Cassie and Rachel were there. How could he say no in front of two girls without looking like a total
coward?)
Since then, Marco's faced down death more times than he cares to count, living a shadow life that would drive many people insane. He's felt his own body rearrange
its bones and organs, growing flippers or fur or even an exoskeleton. Now, he's facing something even more dangerous than the usual Animorphs job. Aximili, Elfangor's
younger brother, whom the team rescued from the wreckage fo the Andalite warship, wants to steal a Yeerk spacecraft and go home - hopefully to help speed up
reinforcements. A suicide mission, surely... and Marco's last. He knows the battle against the Yeerks is important, but so is his family, or what's left of it. How
long can he play the odds and expect to win? Does he want to end up dead or, like Tobias, trapped in an animal body forever? His mother's death nearly killed his
father - his own would finish the man. But even as Marco prepares to leave the fight to his friends, the Yeerks are about to make the battle personal. Very, very
personal...
Review
With this book, Marco, last and most reluctant of the Animorphs, takes center stage. All along, he's been the holdout, the pessimist, constantly arguing that the
fight is just too big for five middle-schoolers to handle, even as he provides much-needed humor with smart-aleck remarks - just the thing to break the tension in the
face of impossible odds. His reluctance almost got to be too much. Here, at last, he finds redemption as he reveals just why he's having so much trouble committing to
the battle. Ironically, the same reasons that made him reluctant to be an Animorph become the very reasons that draw him back into the fight. We readers also get to see
more of Ax, rescued at the end of Book 4. The alien works surprisingly well with the team, being neither too superior nor too stupid; as an Andalite, he obviously knows
more about the Yeerks, aliens, and technology in general, but he's also a kid, an untested warrior with no practical battle experience and no clue about how to survive
on Earth. The action and danger continues to build as the mytharc grows in new and unexpected directions.
It seems so long ago, when the lives of Jake and his friends changed so drastically - and so literally. Before then, they had no idea that aliens were real, let
alone visiting Earth. They'd never heard of the Andalites and their enemies, the parasitic Yeerks who, even now, were invading the planet in their endless quest for
new host species. And they certainly never thought that, thanks to the technological gift of a dying Andalite warrior, they'd be able to transform into animals,
their one weapon against the Yeerk invasion. But now, life as an Animorph almost seems normal.
Jake's brother, Tom, has been rising swiftly through the Yeerk ranks as a Controller. Now, Tom's part of a new scheme to use hospitals as "recruitment" centers. As
an Animorph, Jake knows he has to stop them by any means. As a boy, he can't reconcile himself to the cost: if Tom's plan fails, the invasion leader Visser Three
won't spare the innocent host body when punishing the Yeerk. Then a scouting mission goes horribly wrong. Suddenly, it's no longer just Tom's life on the line. It's
Jake's... because, now, Jake isn't just an Animorph.
He's a Controller.
Review
The whole Animorphs series has the feel of episodic TV. (There was, actually, a short-lived Animorphs TV series on Nickelodeon, but the less said
about that, the better...) In that context, The Capture would've been the sweeps-week special. Like the best of the books, Applegate delivers an action-packed
story that's not afraid of introspection or emotional growth. Jake's experience as a Controller gives him some surprising insights into the mind of his enemy, not to
mention the invasion as a whole. As the Yeerk learns, it's not just the Animorphs the invaders have to worry about on this planet - a theme that's picked up in several
later installments. A great installment in a fun thrill-ride of a series.
Rachel has always been one of the most enthusiastic of the Animorphs, ready to fight from the start. But even as she's dealing out death and destruction to the Yeerks,
she's also still a kid, with little sisters and a lawyer mother and a newscaster father who have recently divorced. Now, her dad's moving halfway across the country...
and he wants Rachel to come with him.
Even as she struggles with that problem, the Animorphs face another: during their latest attempt to infiltrate the underground Yeerk pool, they find themselves confronted
with a brand-new alien. Known as an Ellimist, he can fold space and time like cheap origami paper - and, according to him, the fight to save Earth is already lost. A
select few humans might be saved on a distant, safe world beyond the reach of the Yeerks... if the Animorphs agree. Now, everyone wants Rachel to make up her
mind.
Leave the city? Leave the fight? Or leave the planet? What's a girl supposed to do... and will she live long enough to make the decision at all?
Review
If this book seems a little weaker than the previous installment, it's because so much is shoehorned into the story. Some very mytharc-pivotal stuff is going on here,
from the introduction of the Ellimist to the possibility of the Animorphs' first decisive victory in the war, and the plot has to do some stretching to accommodate it.
Rachel, always the strong one, finds herself on the verge of crumbling under the pressure she faces from so many different fronts. Her family matters might seem laughably
trivial compared to the fight to save Earth, but to a middle-school-age girl they carry similar weight; it's a credit to Applegate that I, as a reader, was able to
understand that she couldn't just "get over it" and focus on the "big" stuff, as Rachel's struggles become real for the reader. It all comes together in the end, moving
both mytharc and characters forward for the next book.
In rereading the series, I keep finding myself noting how quickly times change. None of the Animorphs own cell phones. In a previous book, Cassie talks about setting the
VCR to record a TV show. Even Marco's nickname for Rachel, Xena, probably seems dated to modern middle-schoolers, though it was a prominent pop-culture reference in the
late 1990's. (I'd say it makes me feel old, but I was over the target age when I first read these books anyway... and my dad always swiped them as soon as I got through
with them.)
Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Marco - plus Tobias, the boy-turned-hawk, and Ax, the Andalite - have been fighting the invading Yeerks ever since that fateful night when
they met the dying Andalite, Prince Elfangor, in the abandoned construction site. Given the alien technology to morph into animals, they've struck some serious blows to
the invading parasites and caused major troubles for the leader of the invasion, the foul Visser Three. But they're also still human kids, and even superheroes need a
weekend off once in a while. With Rachel on her way to a gymnastics camp and Cassie and Jake going to a pool party, they figured they'd leave off the fight for
humanity's freedom for a couple days and take some time to just be normal kids.
They figured wrong.
When Rachel goes missing and a new threat appears - an unnatural whirlwind of dust that can form itself into a hideous alien killing machine - the Animorphs realize that
their R-&-R will have to wait for a while. The Yeerks have just unleashed a new terror to combat the "Andalite bandits" who have been harrying their invasion efforts.
But how can they fight a dustcloud that chews up houses and trees like a living woodchipper... a cloud that can follow them anywhere, through any morph?
Review
The Megamorphs books are "super-edition" installments - the TV movie specials of the series run, so to speak - rotating through multiple character POVs. It works, more
or less, telling a longer and somewhat more intense story than the usual Animorphs book. The amnesia storyline with Rachel felt more like a worn plot-extending chestnut
than a genuine plot twist, and Ax's chapters also leaned a little heavily on Earth-based terminology for a supposedly alien character, but for the most part it's on par
with the bulk of the series.
Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill should never have been on the Andalite Dome ship that came to Earth. As an underaged aristh, a warrior-cadet, he had no place among
the full-fledged warriors and princes of his people. But with Prince Elfangor, the great hero, as his older brother, certain exceptions tended to be made. Even then,
nobody expected an exceptionally fierce battle... just as nobody expected the Blade ship the Yeerks had hidden on the Earth's moon, the ship that turned the tide against
the Andalites. Only when he was rescued from the wreckage on the ocean floor by four humans did he learn the full devastation of the battle... that he was the last free
Andalite alive on Earth, that his brother had been killed by the foul Andalite-Controller Visser Three.
And that, in his last moments, the hero Prince Elfangor had broken the greatest law of the Andalite race by giving five human children the technology to morph.
As days turn to weeks, Aximili joins the Animorphs in thier battle against the Yeerk invasion, but he is not one of them. He can never be one of them, never be a true
and full companion to these primitive aliens. To share information about his people and their technology would only further compound Elfangor's crime. Besides, as
trusting as the Animorphs are now, how could they continue to be his friends if they were to learn the reason for the very law Elfangor broke - the secret shame of the
Andalites that drives them to hunt the Yeerks across the galaxy?
Review
Ax the alien finally gets his book-length debut, telling the story from his point of view. As with his chapters in the first Megamorphs book, his narrative leans a bit
heavily on Earth-based terminology. The humor of Ax's near-complete inability to function in human morph also grows a bit stale; I understand that he's still a kid, but
he's also supposed to be reasonably intelligent. Those issues aside, Ax finally has to confront his conflicting loyalties and decide which master - which world - he
ultimately serves. He has an understandably difficult time with this, worsened when he discovers a means of communicating with his homeworld. Overall, while not a stellar
installment in the franchise, it's still reasonably entertaining, and Applegate manages to explain some cultural and physical anomolies of the Andalite people.
I also have to say that the original artistic interpretation of the Andalite here doesn't quite match the descriptions given in the book.
The Animorphs hurt the Yeerks bad when they destroyed the Earth-based Kandrona, but the war isn't over yet. Visser Three still thinks he's fighting Andalite bandits,
and he knows Andalites need a place to feed and hide while in their native form. A place like the national forest... where Aximili, the only Andalite of the group,
lives. Under the guise of a logging company, the Yeerks mean to hunt down the bandits or destroy their sanctuary trying.
As the Animorphs scramble to stop the plan, Cassie finds herself facing a crisis. For years, she's been an animal lover, a defender of the environment. Being up close
and personal with the world as seen through animal eyes has given her a whole new perspective on the natural world, where the primary rule of survival isn't love thy
neighbor. It's kill or be killed.
Review
Once more, the series turns its eye on the natural world as a source of conflict, rather than just the alien invaders. Cassie has to come to terms with the harsh
reality of Nature and her place as both human being and soldier. Applegate doesn't foist off easy answers on her, because there are none. In some ways, this is the tale
of a girl growing up, forced to leave behind the simple ideals of childhood as she discovers just how complicated the world really is. One of the stronger books thus
far, in part because it doesn't shy away from thorny morality issues.
Marco used to be the most reluctant of the Animorphs... that is, until the Yeerks gave him a very good reason to fight. His mother, supposedly drowned in a boating
accident, is the host of Visser One, instigator of the invasion that is now under the command of Visser Three. He knows he may never get his mom back, but he also knows
that the Yeerks will pay for what they've done to his family... even if it costs him his own life.
While in morph, Marco discovers something very strange about an old friend, Erek - a friend who is now handing out flyers for the Yeerk front organization The Sharing.
As he and the Animorphs investigate, they discover a secret older than the pyramids... and face a choice that could change the course of the war.
Review
Human drama, difficult choices, new morphs, new secrets, danger, plenty of action and a nice dose of humor... The Android represents the Animorphs series at its
finest. Wisecracking Marco deals with some very heavy problems, especially when the Yeerks make a play for his father. Applegate introduces the Chee, the alien android
race living in hiding on Earth, who are not only an intriguing addition to the Animorphs universe but prove very useful in later installments. The whole combination just
clicks here. The only real drawback is the spider morph on the cover, but I'm not (quite) arachnophobic enough to let that affect the rating.
Since that first night, back in the abandoned construction site, Jake has been the unofficial leader of the Animorphs team. It wasn't something he ever asked for, or
even wanted, but somehow everyone looked to him for answers, for decisions, for battle plans. So now he's the head of the only morph-capable humans on Earth, the only
ones who know of the Yeerk invasion. Even the young Andalite warrior-cadet Ax looks to him for decisions. Why can't they see that he's not a leader, that he's just as
scared and insecure as any middle-school-aged boy faced with impossible choices? It's to drive a boy crazy... and maybe it has.
All day, Jake has been having hallucinations. Strange, hyper-realistic hallucinations of a green world full of danger and death. Then Tobias relays a message: something's
happened downtown that has the high-level Controllers in a frenzy to cover it up. Guards, machine guns, even Hork-Bajir... whatever's gone wrong, it's something big.
Something that could really hurt the Yeerks. Do the Animorphs go in to investigate, or do they stay back? Everyone's waiting on Jake's word - but how is Jake supposed to
be a leader when he can't even keep hold of his sanity?
Review
Applegate flirts with trouble by bringing in the sci-fi chestnut of time travel, but manages to skirt the line... admittedly by using high-level action and the
dangerous wonders of the Amazon as distractions. But I was willing to let myself be distracted. Though the serial format of the series (mostly) ensures major characters
passage through a given adventure, they do so by the skins of their teeth, with enough problems and setbacks and doubts along the way to still make for an exciting read.
While not quite the triumph that The Android was, The Forgotten's still a strong chapter in a remarkable series.
Rachel's never been one to hesitate when something needs doing. When she's on a class trip to The Gardens and sees the young boy fall into the crocodile exhibit, she
jumps right in to save him. But when she acquires a crocodile's DNA as part of her impromptu rescue plan, something doesn't feel right. Nevertheless, she manages to make
it out without being spotted, so even though Jake's angry, it's no big deal.
The Animorphs have just learned that the popular teen actor Jeremy Jason McCole is being recruited to promote The Sharing, the civic organization that's a front for the
Yeerks. Rachel and Cassie, like most every girl between the ages of ten and twenty in the country, know from personal experience just how much influence he has - if he
says jump, millions of potential hosts won't bother asking how high before throwing themselves into a Yeerk pool. As luck would have it, McCole's coming to town to kick
off the promotion... but even as the Animorphs plan to crash the party, Rachel finds herself morphing out of control. The Andalite technology that gives her the power to
morph seems to be going haywire - and the very ability that lets her fight just might get the entire group killed.
Review
Applegate sure knows her target audience, the power of celebrity crushes, and fandom in general: PR tactics like this would've handed Earth to the Yeerks on a silver
platter. (Just look at the damage done in 2016 by celebrity power... but, I digress.) The story itself just doesn't hold together as well as previous books, unfortunately,
drifting close to goofiness at the climax. I almost wonder if this wasn't the effort of an early ghostwriter. But it's still readable.
Tobias has come to terms with his new life... mostly. Trapped in the body of a red-tailed hawk, he finds himself living in two worlds. In one, he is an
Animorph like his friends, helping to fight the invading Yeerks, a human boy who happens to have wings and feathers and laser-sharp vision. In the other, however, he's a hunter,
a bird of prey who feeds on mice and sleeps in a tree. In neither world does he feel entirely comfortable; a hawk's life is a hard one for the once-gentle boy he used to be, and
he doesn't consider himself much of an Animorph anymore since he's stuck forever in an animal body. But he has no choice in the matter. It's not like he can ever be human
again.
While spying on Controllers, Tobias suddenly finds himself watching the impossible: a pair of Hork-Bajir escape into the woods. They are the only free members of their species
in the galaxy, and the Yeerks are pulling out all the stops to recapture the refugees. Forces greater than he can understand seem to want Tobias to help the pair. If he succeeds,
those forces might grant the wish he's been too afraid to voice, the wish that he thought had died when he passed the fateful two-hour limit in hawk morph: the wish to be human
once more.
Review
Another plot-pivotal episode in the series, it maintains the action-heavy pace while allowing for the occasional introspective break. Tobias has to admit that he hasn't
reconciled himself to his strange new life as fully as he thought he had... just as he has to admit that, even if he regains his human form, he can never be the boy he used
to be. By the end, a few new wrinkles have been added to the mytharc.
Just before his death, the Andalite Prince Elfangor, having given the morphing power to five human children, downloads his death-statement to his ship's computer. This
is the story of his first glimpse of the Yeerk War as a young aristh (warrior cadet) under War-Prince Alloran, a veteran of the failed attempt to free the Hork-Bajir
of the parasitic Yeerks. Elfangor's tale covers his trip to the home world of the cannibalistic centipede-like Taxxons, most of whom are voluntary collaborators with the
Yeerks, and his first encounter with humans. It also tells how he is responsible for the Abomination - the only Andalite-Controller - who is now Visser Three.
This was sometimes marketed as three volumes: Elfangor's Journey, Alloran's Choice, and An Alien Dies.
Review
At last, Elfangor's story is told, a tale with deeper connections to the would-be Animorphs and Earth. It faltered a little in parts, but if you chalk it up to
English/Andalite translation errors and just ride out a couple rough spots, it's just as fun as the rest of the series. Lots of action, some seriousness, and touches of
humor mark this Animorph prequel. Since I'm writing this after I've read The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, I can say that this is the weaker of the two, but only
by a tiny margin. I also can't quite pinpoint why - it's just a feeling. Overall, this book offers an intersting glimpse into the history of one of the most pivotal -
if shortest-lived - characters in the series.
Cassie may be part of the Animorphs, secretly fighting the hidden Yeerk invasion with the Andalite power to morph animals, but she also has other responsibilities,
such as helping her father run the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in the family barn. When Crazy Helen, an eccentric woman in the remote Dry Lands, calls about a sick
horse, Cassie and her father - and Rachel, who happened to be visiting - drive out to help. They find a staggering and snake-bitten horse, barely able to stand up. But,
just as it collapses, the girls see something very disturbing: a large slug crawling from the horse's ear. A Yeerk.
The other Animorphs don't really believe them. Why would a Yeerk make a Controller out of a horse? It just doesn't make sense. Even the blast that destroyed the horse's
body could've been old army munitions, and not the alien Dracon beams Cassie and Rachel swore they heard. But in the middle of the Dry Lands is the top-secret military
base Zone 91, where fringe elements claim that the government's been keeping alien technology hidden for decades. Of course, only people like Crazy Helen believe the
rumors; there's nothing alien about the operations at Zone 91... or is there?
Review
The series has settled into a nice pattern by now, with bursts of action and humor amid incremental progress in the overall war. Not so profound or serious as some of
the best books, it nevertheless entertains. As a former X-Phile, I especially enjoyed the Animorphs' thinly-veiled take on that favorite target of conspiracy theorists,
Area 51 and its ilk. It earned an extra half-star for the real secret hidden at the base, one that would've made for an absolutely priceless "moment" for Agents Mulder
and Scully.
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