Animorphs 54

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41 | 42-45 | 46-49 | 50-53

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret | Back to Before

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser | The Ellimist Chronicles

Wow. It feels weird to say this after two years but I am finally at the end of my retrospective look at K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs series. The series in question ran from 1996 to 2001 and consisted of fifty-four main novels and eight specials. It was also a massive part of my childhood and a source of huge nostalgia for me. For the purpose of this review, I’m only going to be looking at the final novel – The Beginning (2001). Please note that this post will contain massive spoilers for the entire series. You have been warned.

The end has finally come. Visser One has been defeated and the Animorphs have control of the Pool Ship. However, the battle is not over yet. Tom’s rebel band of Yeerks has taken the Blade Ship. The Animorphs have no chance of out-manoeuvring them and their weapons have been drained. Their only hope lies in the Rachel, who has stowed away as a flea on Tom’s head. With the future of the human race hanging the balance, Jake gives the one command he has always feared. He orders Rachel to stop his brother by whatever means necessary.

Rachel’s actions are enough to end the war, allowing the Animorphs to create a hasty agreement with the Andalites and save the Earth. However, it all comes at a terrible price. Not all of them came away from the Pool Ship unharmed. While some of Animorphs use their skills and fame to thrive in the years following the war, others sink further into despair. Jake, in particular, is unable to come to terms with the decisions that he was forced to make in the heat of battle. In some ways, he worries that he was as bad as Visser One.

Yet, even though the Yeerks have been defeated, danger still lurks at the edge of space. An entity that calls itself the One has begun to move, capturing any ship that it encounters and assimilating its crew into a greater whole. When Ax becomes a victim of the creature, the Andalite’s turn to the remaining Animorphs for assistance. However, are the Animorphs prepared relinquish their safety and head into battle once again?

Animorphs 50-53

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41 | 42-45 | 46-49

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret | Back to Before

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser | The Ellimist Chronicles

If this is the first of my retrospective posts that you have seen; welcome. This is where I’ve been gradually taking a look back at one of my childhood obsessions – K.A. Applegate’s epic Animorphs series. This science fiction series ran for fifty-four books (as well as a bunch of specials) and was published between 1996 and 2001. For the purpose of this review, I’m going to be looking at books fifty through fifty-three only – The Ultimate, The Absolute, The Sacrifice and The Answer. Oh, and there will be spoilers…

The end that the Animorphs feared has finally come. The Yeerks have discovered their identities and forced them into hiding. Although most of the Animorphs managed to at least save their parents, Jake was not so lucky. Now he struggles with his depression, knowing that his mum and dad could well be Controllers. To make matters worse, Visser One has declared open warfare. There is no hiding now. The Yeerks seem to have won.

Yet the Animorphs will not accept defeat so easily. There is now no time to play fair. Jake and the others know that the only way that they can win is to take risks and do things that they previously would never have dreamed of. They share the morphing technology with others to bolster their ranks, make contact with politicians and members of the military, and even launch a final attempt to destroy the Yeerk Pool beneath the city.

Finally, they find themselves in a unique position to mount an attack on the most valuable ship in the Yeerk armada – the Pool Ship. With the help of unexpected allies, they launch a full-scale assault on the vessel. Their victory could very well save the human race. However, Jake knows that there is a good chance that, this time, they may not all make it out alive…

The Ellimist Chronicles

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41 | 42-45 | 46-49

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret | Back to Before

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser

Well, it’s been an age and for that I can only apologise, but I think it’s about time I pushed through the remaining Animorphs books and finished up this long-running series of retrospective reviews.

In case this the first of these that you’ve read one of these, this is my look back over my childhood favourite series – Animorphs by K.A. Applegate. The main series ran for fifty-four novels and focused on five teenagers who were given the power to become any animal they could touch in order to battle invading parasitic aliens. The series was also complimented by a number of specials and spin-off novels and it is the last of these that I am going to look at today. The Ellimist Chronicles was first published in 2000 and focuses on one of the series’ most mysterious characters. While the book can really be read at any point in the series after The Attack (book twenty-six), it is intended to fall after The Resistance, which is the forty-seventh instalment of the main series.

You should probably be aware that this review contains spoilers. You have been warned.

Before he was known as the Ellimist, he was Azure Level, Seven Spar, Extension Two, Down-Messenger, Forty-one. Or Toomin to his friends. Toomin was a Ketran – a peaceful species that lived in symbiosis with the floating crystals of his home world, but he was not a very accomplished one. While successful Ketrans became scientists or engineers, Toomin and his friends wasted time by playing immersive simulation games. However, he wasn’t even very good at that. Toomin was determined to win games through compassion but aggression almost always seems to be the winning strategy.

When Toomin is awarded a position on an experimental spacecraft, he is overjoyed. Perhaps it is finally time to stop playing games and make something of himself. Yet things quickly go wrong. A different tribe of Ketran have developed a way of sending communications beyond their planet and foolishly tested it by broadcasting a game without explanation. Thinking that the Ketrans pose a threat, a rival alien race arrives and wipes them out without warning. With no hope but to flee, Toomin and small group of others escape in their ship. They know that they are now the last of the Ketrans and – removed from their home crystal – they are shadow of their former selves.

This unthinkable tragedy sets in motion a string of events that causes a transformation in Toomin. He finds himself facing horrors that he could never have imagined but emerges from them changed – with knowledge and powers that far exceed anything else. He decides to put these to use by playing the ultimate game – one that helps him to preserve and advance other species. However, its not long before a rival player emerges and the Crayak’s motivations are far less altruistic than his own…

Animorphs 46-49

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41 | 42-45

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret | Back to Before

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser

It’s been ages since I posted one of these and for that, I can only apologise. However, I think that its about time that I take another look at K.A. Applegate’s classic science fiction series. Please note that this post is a retrospective and so will contain spoilers for the novels in question. For the purpose of this review, I’m going to be talking about books forty-six through forty-nine: The Deception, The Resistance, The Return and The Diversion.

Everything has changed for the Animorphs since the rescue of Marco’s mother. With the original Visser One dead, Visser Three has been rapidly promoted to take her place. Now, the Earth is in greater danger than ever before. Visser Three does not favour stealth and has always wanted to take the planet in open warfare. Now that he is in charge, there is no one who can stop him from pursuing this goal.

For the first time, the Animorphs are forced to decide whether or not they want to reveal their secret to the world. They have managed to slow the invasion so far but the six of them know that they will not stand a chance against the full force of the Yeerk army. However, revealing themselves will only put their loved ones in greater danger. If the Yeerks know who they are – and that they are human – they will surely target their families first.

However, as the Animorphs contemplate this difficult choice, they are hit by a number of other challenges. Rachel struggles with her dark side as the Crayak pits her against an old enemy, Jake contemplates what it means to be a leader as he protects the Hork-Bajir valley from discovery and Tobias finally learns the truth about what happened to his mother. Relationships between the Animorphs start to fray as they are forced to confront the very real prospect that they could lose the war…

Animorphs 42-45

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret | Back to Before

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser

It’s been quite a while since my last Animorphs review so I think we should probably take a look at the next few novels in this series. In case you haven’t read any of these posts before, these reviews are intended to be a retrospective look at K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs series and so may contain spoilers. For the purpose of this review, I’ll be talking about books 42 to 45 only – The Journey, The Test, The Unexpected and The Revelation.

The Animorphs thought that they had seen the last of the Helmacrons, but the minuscule aliens are still determined to take over the world. To do this, they know that they need the Escafil Device to power their engines but they know that the Animorphs will not just hand this over. In order to convince them, a group of Helmacrons enter Marco’s body and threaten to stop his heart. His friends have no choice but to shrink themselves down and follow the invaders. But Marco’s body is a hostile battlefield and could kill them long before they catch up with their foes.

However, this is not the only threat that the Animorphs face. Tobias is forced to relive his traumatic past when he is captured by Taylor once again. Taylor claims to have switched sides and wants to help them to destroy Visser Three, however the Animorphs are not sure if she can be trusted. If she is lying, she could be leading them to a fate worse than death. Cassie is also put in danger when a mission goes wrong and she is separated from the others. Trapped on a plane heading to Australia and surrounded by Controllers, she is forced to do everything that she can to survive.

Yet all of this pales in the face of their biggest challenge. When Marco’s father discovers Z-Space, he becomes a target for the Yeerks. As he is captured and taken to be made into a Controller, Marco is forced to make a terrible choice. Either he reveals to his father the truth about the invasion, or he loses another parent to the enemy…

Megamorphs #4: Back to Before

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs:  1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37 | 38-41

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser

This review has been a long time coming, but I think it’s about time that I took a look at the final Megamorphs book. In case you haven’t read any of the previous instalments of my retrospective, this series is a spin-off of K.A. Applegate’s epic Animorphs series. There are four of these books in total and they stand out from the main series as they tend to be a little longer and contain more narrators. For today’s review, I’m going to be talking about Back to Before which was first published in 2000. In terms of chronology, it should be noted that this novel is designed to be read after The Other (the 40^th book in the main series).

Jake just wants the war to be over. After a particularly brutal battle, he reaches his limit and finally considers throwing in the towel. It’s in his moment that the Drode appears before him. It brings a deal from the Crayak. His master has the power to erase all the horrors that Jake has experienced, to make it so the Animorphs never met Elfangor and got their powers. All he has to do is say please.

When Jake awakes, it is like nothing ever happened. He just gets on with his normal teenage life with no clue that things could have been very different. But then the changes start happening. Cassie begins to have dreams of a strange blue creature trapped beneath the sea and Tobias, with no one else to protect him, begins to take an interest in The Sharing.

When Marco comes face to face with his supposedly dead mother and gets fired at by thugs wielding ray guns, the teens suddenly realise that nothing is quite right. But, as bug fighters fill the skies and the full invasion begins, what can a group of ordinary kids hope to do to stop it?

Animorphs 38-41

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs:  1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles | Visser

Wow, it’s been a couple of months since my last retrospective. I think it’s about time that we take another look at K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs series. As with previous posts, please note that there will be spoilers in this review. In case you’ve never heard of it before, Animorphs was a science fiction series that ran from 1996 to 2001. It consisted of fifty-four novels, as well as eight specials and two choose-your-own-adventure stories. For the purpose of this review, I’m going to be looking at books thirty-eight to forty-one – The Arrival, The Hidden, The Other and The Familiar.

The Animorphs have now been defending Earth for a long time and know that they can’t keep it up forever. There are only six of them and, if the Andalite fleet don’t arrive to help them soon, they know that they will be inevitably overpowered by the Yeerks. However, their hopes rise when they learn that a small team of Andalites have arrived on Earth. They claim that their mission is to assassinate Visser Three but Ax begins to doubt this when cracks in their story start to show.

Yet these four soldiers may not be the only Andalites on Earth. It’s not long before the Animorphs encounter another. Gafinilan is a war hero who claims to be caring for his friend Mertil, who was injured in a crash. Yet, when Jake and Ax go to meet with him, they detect no trace of his supposed friend. Could it be that Gafinilan is lying and, if so, what could he possibly want with them?

Yet not all of the Animorphs missions revolve around the Andalites. When the Yeerks develop a machine that can track the Escafil device, Cassie is forced to keep it moving to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Jake also has a weird experience when he wakes up one morning to find that he has aged ten years. Trapped in a dystopian future where the Yeerks have won, he must find a way to locate his friends and make it back to his own time…

Visser

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs:  1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32 | 33-37

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

For today’s review, I’m going to be taking a look back at the third of K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs Chronicles. These books are designed to be read alongside the main Animorphs series as they help to expand on the universe by giving more background to the different alien races. Today’s novel – Visser – focuses on how Visser One first began the invasion of Earth and is designed to be read directly after The Proposal (book thirty-five of the main series).

Edriss 562 has never been in so much danger. Following a string of mistakes in the invasion of Earth, she has found herself stripped of her rank as Visser One and brought before the Council of Thirteen to answer for her crimes. The charges stacked against her carry a dozen different death charges but the worst thing is that Visser Three is her prosecutor. The Andalite Controller has hated Edriss for as long as she can remember and will stop at nothing to see that she is found guilty.

As the trial progresses, Edriss recounts how she and her friend Essam discovered Earth and took the very first Human Controllers. However, as she is subjected to an invasive memory probe, it quickly becomes apparent that her early years on Earth did not go smoothly. Visser One has many secrets, ones that not even her host is aware of. Secrets that are enough to shock even the most hardened of Yeerk generals.

It’s not long before Edriss realises that she has no hope of being found innocent. The only thing that she can do is make Visser Three seem worse. His incompetence in dealing with the Andalite Bandits has made him look a fool time and time again, but Edriss knows something that he doesn’t – the fact that they’re not Andalites at all. Slowly, she begins to form a plan to use this information to her advantage…

Animorphs 33-37

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs:  1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs | Elfangor’s Secret

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

Welcome again to my retrospective of K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, this is my gradual look back over a popular-science fiction series that ran between 1996 and 2001. The series consisted of fifty-four main books and ten spin-offs, though for the purpose of this review I’m only going to be looking at volumes thirty-three to thirty-seven – The Illusion, The Prophecy, The Proposal, The Mutation and The Weakness. Be warned, there will be spoilers below the cut…

Due to Rachel’s struggle against herself, the Animorphs failed to stop the development of the Anti-Morphing Ray. Now that it’s ready to be tested, the team know that it could reveal that they’re really human and put all of their lives in danger. Their only hope is to fool Visser Three into believing that it’s broken and the only way to do this is to use Tobias. The hawk is his true form and so if the ray is turned upon him, nothing would happen. However, tricking the Yeerks requires for him to first become their prisoner.

Following this, the Animorphs are contacted by the last of the Arn. He wishes to breed a new strain of Hork-Bajir to free his plant for the Yeerks, but to do so he needs to find a cask of armaments that was once hidden by Aldrea. To locate this, he needs to transfer Aldrea’s consciousness into a willing host. However, there is no way of knowing if Aldrea will be prepared to give the person their body back.

Yet some of the Animorph’s biggest challenges occur close to home. Marco struggles to control his morphing power when put under stress by the possibility of his father remarrying, and Jake is forced to make difficult decisions when the team are taken captive by a race of aquatic humanoids. Yet the biggest challenge comes when Rachel is left in charge while Jake takes a vacation. Her reckless plan to show up Visser Three puts the lives of her friends in danger. Just how far will she go before she realises that she is in over her head?

Megamorphs #3: Elfangor’s Secret

Please note that this review may contain spoilers for earlier instalments of this series. You can read my reviews of these novels by clicking the links below:

Animorphs:  1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 | 20-22 | 23-27 | 28-32

Megamorphs: The Andalite’s Gift | In the Time of Dinosaurs

Animorphs Chronicles: The Andalite Chronicles | The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

It’s been a while since I looked at one of the Megamorphs books, so here’s a little background. This is a spin-off of K.A. Applegate’s popular Animorphs series. There are four Megamorphs books and they’re characterised by being longer and containing more narrators than a typical Animorphs book. For today’s review, I’m going to be looking at the third of these – Elfangor’s Secret – which was first published in 1999. It should also be noted that this book is designed to be read after The Sickness (the 29^th instalment of the main series).

When Elfangor tried to escape the war, he did so using the Time Matrix – the most powerful device in the universe. He knew that if the machine fell into the wrong hands it could be used to alter the history of the world, and so he hid it. Unfortunately, things don’t remain hidden forever. The device has fallen into the hands of Visser Four, and he intends to use it to ensure that Yeerks can easily dominate the Earth.

When the Drode is sent to request the Animorphs’ assistance, they know that something is wrong. The Crayak is their most powerful enemy – why ever would he need their help? Yet it quickly becomes clear that neither side wants to see the Yeerks with such power. The Crayak offers to give them the ability to pursue Visser Four across history, but he will only do so for a price. One of the Animorphs must die.

This is naturally not something that they want to agree to, yet they have no choice. They can’t value one of their lives over those of every human on the planet. Therefore, they begin to chase Visser Four in an attempt to stop him from changing history. However, they know that they must be careful. The Yeerk is not the only threat. Any wrong move that they make could also change the future for the worse…