Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Adrian Malacoda on October 10, 2009, 10:24:31 PM
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The situation: I have a long distance girlfriend who I've been dating for about 2 years now. As she's long distance, I can't do much with her, but I enjoy reading to her over the phone. I've read her Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, one of the Series of Unfortunate Events books, and a few others.
I decided I wanted to get her onto Animorphs. She likes animals, so I figured she'd like the series. She's read a couple of Animorphs books a while ago but hasn't really been into the series. I was struggling over which book to introduce her to the series with. The obvious would be #1, but I wasn't sure that book was "good" enough to start off with. I briefly considered HBC too, but then I thought that HBC probably required a good bit of beforehand knowledge. I then decided that TAC, being just before the beginning of the series proper, and therefore not needing much prior knowledge of the series (it lays down the fundamentals of Yeerks, Andalites, and morphing in the first few chapters).
I started reading the book to her a month ago, so this isn't really a search for advice. I'm just wondering if my choice was a good one. Thoughts?
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Actually, TAC was the first Animorphs book I read. I had known about the Animorphs series before but hadn't paid much attention to it. I actually didn't know TAC was related to Animorphs and when I found out, I decided to read the rest of the series. I haven't read it in years but I do know that it's a good book to start off with.
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I personally think it's more fun to first get a brief glimpse of Elfangor in book #1 and not learn about him until later, rather than already knowing all about him by the time the Animorphs meet him.
But I'm sure there are worse places one could start with :P
And I don't think I even read the series in order originally, so whatever.
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The geek in me says start with #1. It may be the most obvious choice, but that's only because it's also the best one, as it really is meant to be read as the introduction to the series.
TAC might be confusing if you don't know anything about Andalites, and like Liz said above, it's much more fun to have a little mystery behind Elfangor's past when we're introduced to him in the first book, than to have everything revealed about him all at once.
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All good points and I agree that you should really read them in the actual order, but I don't think it's a problem starting with The Andalite Chronicles. It's probably my favourite book in the series and I wouldn't say you definitely need any prior knowledge of the series for it to make sense.
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I'd say just start with #1, and go by release date. But if you start with a Chronicles book, then it should go Ellemist, HBC, TAC, Visser, then #1. Ignoring framing stroies like Tobias visiting the HBC before being told the story.
For first time readers, #1 is the easiest to begin with.
Or you could start with book 8. Why? well, that was the first oen I picked up, and I did fine. except for thinking Jake morphed into molten lead or something, since I didn't know he was using a Tiger morph.
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I'm a strong supporter of reading book series in the order in which they were released, as this is how the author(s) wanted to reveal information to you. Imagine if you saw the Star Wars prequels FIRST, and then saw the original trilogy. "Luke, I am your father" wouldn't have any effect at all, we're not meant to know that yet.
While Animorphs doesn't have any problems that big, I think it's best for readers to gradually learn how complicated the characters and issues are. If you read the Andalite Chronicles first, here's the effect as I see it:
-Vissor Three and Elfangor are far more complicated characters in Chronicles then they appear to be in #1, so a reader might wonder why these guys are acting so wooden here when they didn't in Chronicles.
-Elfangor calls the Taxxons "pure evil" in #1, but we learn from Chronicles that this isn't exactly the case.
-No surprise reveal of Elfangor being Tobias' father.
Just my two cents.
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reading the andalite chronicles before #1 is sort of like watching the three prequel star wars movies before the original three. I'm not even talking about quality here, I just mean the prequels in both cases were constructed with a healthy amount of knowledge and information already on the table. It would be an interesting experiment, to see her reaction to how things unfold later (but before, if you know what I mean) but if you really want to do the series justice I would present it the way it was presented to us.
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That's sweet. Where does your girlfriend live?
I read the last david book first - that's what hooked me. But saying that, my boyfriend also read that book first (before we met, weird) and he thought the series was 'gay'.
I say go for number one, and assure her it'll get better! ;D
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I think the Andalite Chronicles is a good book to begin with. Or just begin with #1 and do it in order. If you begin by the Andalite Chronicles, it's better to continue with #1.
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I think it would be awesome to have started with this book! Just for a chance to learn more about the rich history of the war before getting into the actual series would of been quite an experience.
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Yeah, I think TAC has a few plot spoilers in it like the reveal of Ax.
In the book series, you think it's 5 humans against all of these aliens, then you find they get an alien ally, then they get a Diety ally and so on and so forth
When you start with TAC, it gives a lot of stuff away.
Sure you don't need to know much to understand the book, but reading that book gives you answers before you form a question.
Though it's too late, I would've gone in order of release.
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I started with #1 myself, and then couldn't locate book #6. Not wanting to read them out of order (espeically that early in the series when it was pretty important to read them in order, so you learn things the same time the characters do), I was given TAC for my birthday and - not knowing it was meant to be read after #13 - I read that one right after #5. While perhaps not ideal, I have to say it was TAC, with the history of the war and the Elfangor/Loren/Tobias sotryline that really hooked me in regards to Animorphs.
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Ah, I was hooked after chapter one of book one. ;D
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Ah, I was hooked after chapter one of book one. ;D
Truth be told, so was I! I was introduced to the series by a friend of mine, who told me to get book #2 from the library as well as the first one, because it would be a case of I-need-to-know-what-happens-next-right-NOW!
And she was so right.
But it was TAC that really locked in my undying dedication to the series, and motivated me to keep persevering with Animorphs, even throigh some of those God-awful middle books, written by ghostwriters with no interest in the series, and even less talent.
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Yeah, I didn't even notice the writing change when I was a kid. I was so into the story, that I skipped over most of the writing flaws and just went with it.
I first found Animorphs for Free Reading in my 6th grade English class. I saw a kid turn into a lizard and thought, <I'm reading that!>
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You were thought-speeching to yourself since before you started reading? wow, that's real dedication
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Haha, yes, yes I was.
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Starting with TAC is not a bad idea. But like others have said you don't get the whole mystery feeling.
Also Kudos on the long distance relationship. I'm like you 3 years and counting . I got my long distance boyfriend into Animorphs too and also started him with TAC bought him a copy and had it delivered to his house by mail. My personal copy vanished I couldn't read it to him like you do. plus our long distance is huge and the bills would be horrible. but yeah TAC is a good book to start with. Especially if you are not sure if they will be that into the series.
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Heck I just read em
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i say go by release date.
it's a great book, but not one i'd start with.
but better than starting with #54, right? ;)
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I, too, am a strong advocate for reading the books in the order they were presented to us, or at least completing a series on at a time.
That being said, I think TAC was a good set of books from what I remember.
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i say go by release date.
it's a great book, but not one i'd start with.
but better than starting with #54, right? ;)
Well <_< he kind of read #3 on his own before getting TAC so him starting on teh beginning was not gona happen anyway. I read 4, 3, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 2 yeah horrible order but well i read what i had available
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Haha, that's a ****ed up order, Sharky! ;D Randomness FTW!!
I got into the series before #5 was even released, so I had no choice but take it one book at a time when they were released.
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I personally think it's more fun to first get a brief glimpse of Elfangor in book #1 and not learn about him until later, rather than already knowing all about him by the time the Animorphs meet him.
But I'm sure there are worse places one could start with :P
And I don't think I even read the series in order originally, so whatever.
yeah like starting with book three like I did. The bird with a mind of a human who ate a rat and it was an incredibly descriptive moment to boot. I was incredibly disgusted for a couple of days after I read that.
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Ermm, I haven't really caught up with the conversation, but I don't really think TAC would be a good book to start with. It has too many spoilers. True, it would give you a lot of knowledge as you read through the series, but it would also ruin some of the surprise moments of the series, like when Tobias learns about Elfangor being his father and such. I think it would get people hooked on the books, but isn't the greatest place to start. I think it should be read directly after #23.
The order I read the books was: 1, 10, then complete randomness the rest of the way. I remeber checking #10 out about 5 times before I actually read it.
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i say go by release date.
it's a great book, but not one i'd start with.
but better than starting with #54, right? ;)
Well <_< he kind of read #3 on his own before getting TAC so him starting on teh beginning was not gona happen anyway. I read 4, 3, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 2 yeah horrible order but well i read what i had available
Hey, when I started reading, up through #24 had been released. :P I read the first 25 (it took me up until a little before #26 was released XD) books out of order. I can't remember what it was, but I remember 10 was the last one I read like that, and the first five I read in this order: 3, 23, 13, 1, 11.
You can probably guess how confused I was pretty early on. :P
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I was wondering this too when I introduced Animorphs to my gf and decided to go in the time-line order of the Animorphs universe. I started with the Ellimist Chronicles -> Hork Bajir Chronicles -> Andalite Chronicles -> Animorphs #1. It was a different approach to what I and I'm sure 99% of the readers on this site did but it worked out. She had a rich knowledge of the Animorphs universe including the history of other races such as Taxxons and Hork Bajir and the epic battle between the Yeerks and Andalites that preceded years before Elfangor landed on Earth.