Worst animorphs books

[Snakie]

#42 The Journey and #44 The Unexpected are the ones that I really hate.

#42 does absolutely nothing that the Magic School Bus didn't do better, and its also a recycling of a plot point that wasn't very good to begin with.

#44 The Unexpected was equally unwelcome

I'm glad to see that #48 got some mention here.  I was perfectly fine with the closure we got from the David Trilogy and that book did absolutely nothing but disrupt that.  I remember being excited that the book would have the Crayak, Drode, and David (3 characters I always enjoyed) and being completely floored by how terrible it was.

[Chad32]

I will admit the part about David was disappointing. He could have made a nice mutual villain for the Animorphs and yeerks, and have been brought back as early as 27. 26 being when Jake screws up the Howlers for Crayak.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Oh, heh, right, we're supposed to be talking about books we don't like, rather than defending the ones we do.    Back on topic:

I can't believe #37 (the one where Rachel is instated as temporary leader of the Animorphs, for those who have repressed the memory of that book) hasn't been so much as mentioned yet.  Of all the 'bad' Animorphs books, most of them, yeah, I can admit were bad.  But, in every other case, I can still sorta kinda justify them somehow.  This one, though, is just straight-up wrong.  Hardly the first book to flanderize Rachel, but without doubt this is the one to butcher her character the most thoroughly.  Painting her as not only stupidly bloodthirsty, but willing to sacrifice her friends for her own recklessness.  Just, no.  Rachel wouldn't act like that, not ever.

I'm also not a fan of #47.  That's the one where they defend the Hork-bajir colony from the Yeerks (which gets compared to the Civil War for . . . reasons?).  Unlike the previously mentioned book, I can at least justify (the non-historical parts) in my mind.  But it's worth noting that this book is the primary reason Toby Hamee is my second-least favorite character in the whole series (but, really, she probably only loses out to Cassie because the latter had more screen-time to wear on my patience).  She ruthlessly sacrifices a large portion of the last remnants of her people, for absolutely no good reason, and certainly no reason that any Hork-bajir (yanno, the ones actually getting killed for these concepts?) could possibly comprehend.

And, for the record, I'd like to point out that there are absolutely excellent reasons why Toby Hamee would be so screwed-up that she'd go and do completely psychotic things like that.  She was expected to lead her people by the time she could talk, she passed her parents intellectually within months of her birth, and her only intellectual-equivalent role models have belonged to different (and, generally, far more ruthless) species than herself.  It makes sense that her entire psyche is a total clusterfest.  But it's a giant missed opportunity for character development, that this is never so much as hinted at, let alone explored.  All the characters she ever interacts with are convinced of her leadership ability.  And, why?  Because she could put a grammatically correct sentence together?  Jara would have been a better leader than her.  I'm not even kidding.

[/rant]

[Adam]

I'm also not a fan of #47.  That's the one where they defend the Hork-bajir colony from the Yeerks (which gets compared to the Civil War for . . . reasons?).  Unlike the previously mentioned book, I can at least justify (the non-historical parts) in my mind.  But it's worth noting that this book is the primary reason Toby Hamee is my second-least favorite character in the whole series (but, really, she probably only loses out to Cassie because the latter had more screen-time to wear on my patience).  She ruthlessly sacrifices a large portion of the last remnants of her people, for absolutely no good reason, and certainly no reason that any Hork-bajir (yanno, the ones actually getting killed for these concepts?) could possibly comprehend.

And, for the record, I'd like to point out that there are absolutely excellent reasons why Toby Hamee would be so screwed-up that she'd go and do completely psychotic things like that.  She was expected to lead her people by the time she could talk, she passed her parents intellectually within months of her birth, and her only intellectual-equivalent role models have belonged to different (and, generally, far more ruthless) species than herself.  It makes sense that her entire psyche is a total clusterfest.  But it's a giant missed opportunity for character development, that this is never so much as hinted at, let alone explored.  All the characters she ever interacts with are convinced of her leadership ability.  And, why?  Because she could put a grammatically correct sentence together?  Jara would have been a better leader than her.  I'm not even kidding.

[/rant]

That may be totally down to lack of character detailing. Not only did she not get much screen time, but she was never shown to be explaining her decisions or giving her reasoning, because there never was the chance to. If the parts about the civil war were taken out (which I think just cuts the time for the main plotline to stretch out), she could have been given more development. That book was just a missed opportunity for her and the other Horks. Let's face it, they never get any development, aside from Jara and Ket's rescue (book 13).

I think the problem was ghost-writers. A seer entering the series, especially after the writing of the HBC, was a really exciting and promising concept, and one that had the potential to really mix things up. Instead, Toby's birth came at the time when ghost-writers really took over, and we got filler books when we could have had more relevant ones that would utilise that story line a lot better.

[donut]

I forgot about the one Rachel takes over.  That was really bad. The first time I read through I only got about halfway through the series, and didn't think much of Rachel.  The second time I realized she's one of the more complex and in depth characters, and she's a lot more intelligent than she gets credit for, until the ghost writers take over.  37 really screwed that up.

[Chad32]

I forget that part in 47. I don't think I read all that much of it, since I really didn't care for the civil war sections. I think I only read 37 once, but I'm pretty sure they did Rachel's character wrong.

Rachel is probably right up there with Marco in character complexity and conflict, and they really don't do her much justice.

[Bootlebat]

Anyone have book they liked as a kid but not now? I feel that way about #36.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Not only did she not get much screen time, but she was never shown to be explaining her decisions or giving her reasoning, because there never was the chance to.

You know, Toby actually does give her reasons for her actions in 47.  They're just really horrible ones.  Something about 'freedom cannot be given, it must be earned.'  Which is just, well, blatantly untrue.  Freedom must be given, it cannot be earned.  If it could, then no form of oppression could exist.

And even if her logic was sound, it would still have nothing to do with the situation at hand.  Obviously, the Hork-bajir are already free (that's kinda the whole point).  And THEN, even if the logic was sound AND it had something to do with anything, it STILL would have gone right over the other Horks' heads, rendering the idea pointless anyway.

You can't even really blame it on a lack of screen-time for development, either.  She features pretty prominently in 23, 34, and especially 47.  It's just that every author who writes her seems to have completely missed it.  Heck, there's a point in 47 where Tobias asks her how she knows something, and she straight-up tells him that the trees talk to her.  HOW WAS THIS NOT A HINT TO ANYBODY THAT SHE WAS BAT-S**T CRAZY?!

Anyone have book they liked as a kid but not now? I feel that way about #36.

Well, I've been working my way through Poparena's Opinionated Animorphs Book Guide, and I'd have to say that Megamorphs #2 is pretty much now ruined for me forever (thanks, Poparena), whereas it used to be one of my favorites as a kid.  Of course, anything with dinosaurs in it generally makes me go completely blind to all its faults.  I used to like the Land Before Time sequels, as a kid, too, so . . . yeah.

Other than that . . . well, I think I liked just about every book on the first read-through.  Just the feeling of a new Animorphs book in my hands was a wonderful thing.  *reminisces*  So, yeah, any book I don't like now, it's generally a pretty safe bet that I did like it as a kid.  Except possibly the ending of the series (but I doubt I'm alone on that).  And maybe one or two Cassie books that I had vague reservations about.  Not really 'dislike' but just a general sense of 'well that was a bit silly.'

[Adam]

Not only did she not get much screen time, but she was never shown to be explaining her decisions or giving her reasoning, because there never was the chance to.

You know, Toby actually does give her reasons for her actions in 47.  They're just really horrible ones.  Something about 'freedom cannot be given, it must be earned.'  Which is just, well, blatantly untrue.  Freedom must be given, it cannot be earned.  If it could, then no form of oppression could exist.

And even if her logic was sound, it would still have nothing to do with the situation at hand.  Obviously, the Hork-bajir are already free (that's kinda the whole point).  And THEN, even if the logic was sound AND it had something to do with anything, it STILL would have gone right over the other Horks' heads, rendering the idea pointless anyway.

You can't even really blame it on a lack of screen-time for development, either.  She features pretty prominently in 23, 34, and especially 47.  It's just that every author who writes her seems to have completely missed it.  Heck, there's a point in 47 where Tobias asks her how she knows something, and she straight-up tells him that the trees talk to her.  HOW WAS THIS NOT A HINT TO ANYBODY THAT SHE WAS BAT-S**T CRAZY?!

Yeah, I actually agree with that first point. Freedom shouldn't be earned. Forgot that part. =P I suppose what she was getting at was that the Hork-Bajir didn't free themselves or find themselves a place to live - it was all done for them! She probably thinks that, for once, they should do something for themselves. I agree that it's not good reasoning though, because it's not the Horkies fault that they're in such a bad situation, so they should have done whatever sustained them best, which in that case was probably to run and get a new place to hide.

You could say she was being quite selfish, because the other Horks wouldn't understand what her decisions rested on, so it wasn't so much down to a vote but the loyalty of the Horks towards her. But then, we didn't get a chance to hear of any of the other Horks decisions, because the author never really wrote about it - maybe they talked to Toby beforehand and said that they would prefer to fight for their homes over running, and she was their mouthpiece.

I wouldn't say that she features prominently in any of those books. She played a role in a sub-plot in 23, only really reporting to the Animorphs at the beginning and making a couple of other minor appearances later. In 34, she's just... there, and contributes little. In 47, half of the book is filler about the civil war, so even if her role is prominent, it's half a book. I don't think she ever had a real prominent role, and that's a real shame.

No character is perfect, and maybe Toby was quite cold and reckless compared to other Horks (who, let's face it, are too sweethearted to really be cold and reckless), but I don't think we saw her enough to know what her consistent characteristics were, because the ghost-writers didn't seem to know how to deal with her. Remember how Rachel's character was often compromised by them? I think it's the same thing here.

Oh, and talking to trees is definitely a sign of craziness =P

[Chad32]

Anyone have book they liked as a kid but not now? I feel that way about #36.

I thought the ending of book 9, when Cassie sprayed V3 with skunk musk, was hilarious when I first read it. Though later I realized how bad it was that V3 suffered so much villain decay that he's be made the butt of a joke. This was the guy that practically made them crap their pants in the first two book. He was in almost every one of the earlier books, and it all culminates into them tricking him with grape juice instead of tomato juice and laughing at him afterwards.

[Bootlebat]

To elaborate I thought the whole thing with the Nartec was cool as a kid but now it just seems dumb. Like for one thing how can radioactive rocks turn humans into fish people? And if they are that radioactive why don't the Animorphs get radiation poisoning from being there?

[Chad32]

It would have been cool if there was some alien species deep under the sea that the animorphs found. There's so much stuff down there that looks alien that I believe an actual sentient alien species could be down there without looking out of place. Now that would have made an interesting book, especially if they had very little knowledge that Humans even existed.

[donut]

Anyone have book they liked as a kid but not now? I feel that way about #36.

I thought the ending of book 9, when Cassie sprayed V3 with skunk musk, was hilarious when I first read it. Though later I realized how bad it was that V3 suffered so much villain decay that he's be made the butt of a joke. This was the guy that practically made them crap their pants in the first two book. He was in almost every one of the earlier books, and it all culminates into them tricking him with grape juice instead of tomato juice and laughing at him afterwards.

Yeah, that's really how I thought about it.  The first time I thought it was great.  I reread it and all I could think is why doesn't the Visser doesn't kill them anyway?

[DinosaurNothlit]

But then, we didn't get a chance to hear of any of the other Horks decisions, because the author never really wrote about it - maybe they talked to Toby beforehand and said that they would prefer to fight for their homes over running, and she was their mouthpiece.

That's not a bad point there.  I can pretty easily picture Jara or Ket deciding to take a stand and fight rather than running (perhaps not completely understanding that they'd need to run away in the end, anyway), and I'm sure other Hork-bajir in the colony may have felt the same way.  So, yeah, maybe we can chalk that up to something that happened off-screen.

I wouldn't say that she features prominently in any of those books. She played a role in a sub-plot in 23, only really reporting to the Animorphs at the beginning and making a couple of other minor appearances later. In 34, she's just... there, and contributes little. In 47, half of the book is filler about the civil war, so even if her role is prominent, it's half a book. I don't think she ever had a real prominent role, and that's a real shame.

That's not really fair, though, because the fault lies in how those books were written.  I will give #23 a pass, because it had enough of a complex series of plots that anything about the Hork-bajir was going to get squeezed out, at least to some degree (yet, of the three, #23 is probably one of the better character-development books for Toby).  In #34 and #47 though?  Toby should have had a huge role in #34 (hell, she should have been the one possessed by Aldrea, the whole "Aldrea picked somebody similar to her" thing was bullcrap considering that Cassie and Aldrea could not have been more different), and the only reason Toby didn't get fleshed out more was because she was keeping to herself that whole book.  Again, like I said, it was simply how the book was written, keeping Toby quiet, when it could easily have developed her character to a far greater degree.  Same with #47, just, ugh, the Civil War chapters did not need to be there at all.

Oh, hey!  On the subject of books we don't like!  #34!

I actually rather liked the general concept for #34, but I think the problem lies in where the book falls in the narration order.  Cassie, being the narrator, was contractually bound to be the one who ended up getting possessed.  And, since gender-bending was probably out of the question, it had to be Aldrea who possessed her.  *sigh*  Which is where we have the problem.  Seriously, Dak would have been a MUCH better fit for Cassie.  Two people who wanted desperately to keep to a non-violent lifestyle, while being forced into a war.  Heckuva lot better than trying to shoehorn pacifist Cassie into being anything like the ruthless Aldrea.

Ideally, though, I'd have loved to see Dak and Jake be the co-stars in this book.  Both of them shoved into a position of leadership in a war they'd never asked for, and both of them just doing the best they could.  I would have loved to see them compare their own lives to one another.

*sigh*  I guess I don't like #34 for much the same reason I don't like #47.  Missed opportunities. 

[Chad32]

34 was pretty weird. They probably could have made it a jake book, where Dak possessed him. Of course it would have been nice to just let Toby narrate the book, and at the end she could stay with the new rebellion like she should have. Instead she gets kidnapped by the group to go back to earth, and at the end of the series she doesn't even take her people back to her planet. She somehow gets a position in congress, and her people are in Yellowstone.