After all these years...

[Chad32]

I get that feeling sometimes too. Like, I'll find something I loved as a kid, but it just doesn't hold me as an adult. But Animorphs will always be great.

[esplin]

I still love animorphs, but a lot of things that could be improved on.  It seems that we all agree on that, but sometimes we give it a lot of credit.

[AniDragon]

Yeah, there were tons of mistakes. There were inconsistancies. And some of the books really weren't that great. But even with all of that, the books were still amazing. And I think the fact that we can acknowledge the mistakes and inconsistancies and the not-so-great book and still enjoy the series means a lot. It means it can stand up beyond its mistakes.

Take nearly any other series, once you start noticing the mistakes and stuff, it starts being kinda meh, and your enjoyement drops. But that doesn't happen with Animorphs. With Animorphs you just look at it and go "Oh, a KASU", then keep reading because the KASUs somehow don't manage to ruin the books.

[VisserZer0]

I find all the typos and other mistakes now, as well, but I still love Animorphs, no matter what. I plan on reading them to my 7 month old cousin so I can trap her into liking them. Mwahaha. 

[Alexandra]

This is an interesting question, and one that I've considered before.

I think that KAA is a great writer, and books like THBC, Visser, #26 and #53-54 prove that in particular, because the prose itself is so much more sophisticated. It's as if the further she got into the series, the more free she felt with using more sophisticated language meant for older and/or more experienced readers. Maybe Scholastic also became more comfortable with her using darker stroylines as time went on, too, rather than just providing little tastes of things in the books.

While it was made up as she went along to a certain extent, elements of the stories - such as Marco's mother being Visser One's host, Tobias being trapped in morph, Elfangor being Tobias' father and Ax's brother, Crayak and the Ellimist, "stacking the deck" - and so on illustrate that sophistication and an ability to plan and execute great stories that go above and beyond the idea of children's fiction.

Animorphs certainly isn't perfect, but it's still a great series.

[Darth Revan]

Oh yeah. Definitely.

[Breakability]

I definitely liked it, since I was around the same age as them when I first started reading it.

I still like it because the concept is great. For a lot of books, such as Twilight (imo), the concept can be freaking awesome but the author doesn't know how to create an engaging plot with the characters and story elements they have. That wasn't so for Animorphs. Applegate really hit the nail on the head.

[Alexandra]

For a lot of books, such as Twilight (imo), the concept can be freaking awesome but the author doesn't know how to create an engaging plot with the characters and story elements they have. That wasn't so for Animorphs. Applegate really hit the nail on the head.

I agree with you whole-heartedly.

Twilight suffers awfully from Meyer's complete inability to write a coherent story. It's one of those situations where you wonder where the hell the editorial team were. Were they not paying attention to important elements such as language or the overall pace of the story? Jeez!

Even Harry Potter suffers somewhat from lazy and simplistic writing in certain sectors of the books, although the sheer detail of the whole mythology of the series lifts it above flaws in the prose. Mostly, anyway.

It's a pity that so many of the middle Ani-books were written by ghostwriters (and bad ones at that!) Even the earlier books, wherein KAA tends to use a simpler prose (obviously meant for younger readers), there is still a flair and a depth to her writing that very much makes its presence known in books like MM4 and Visser. If she'd written all of them - or, I suppose, had better ghostwriters - the series would certainly be the better for it.

[Darth Revan]

Oh, yeah. Definitely. When the subject of ghostwriters came up, she should've told them to shove it up their asses. Those GWs completely skewed the series.

[Fwahm]

I'm always confused at how Animorphs was targeted at preteens.

There's a lot of gore, discussion of suicide, the value of freedom, depression, sacrificing things for the greater good, and seeing things in more than black and white.

I certainly wouldn't give this series to a preteen if I was a parent.

[anijen21]

I would

then again I plan on sitting my kids down at 6 years old to watch the Exorcist

I DON'T BELIEVE IN PROTECTING THE INNOCENT

[Darth Revan]

It wasn't preteens, per se, it was young adults. 13+, so it was fun for preteens, but it was mostly for teens, who do already experience these things through other forms of media and personal experience.

I believe in not dumping the whole truth at one time. Let the truth out a bit at a time. Don't sugar coat anything, but don't unload on them. Let them discover the truth, and explain to help them understand it. I believe parents are like an Encyclopedia for children. If the child wants to know, then let them ask. When they ask, don't withhold any truths, tell them as much as they can handle.

[anijen21]

the back of the books say RL5, 009 - 012

I always assumed those were ages

[Darth Revan]

True, but Harry Potter is also Reading level 5. So it doesn't really mean what the author's target audience is, it's just saying what ages would be able to read the material.

[Breakability]

I agree with you whole-heartedly.

Twilight suffers awfully from Meyer's complete inability to write a coherent story. It's one of those situations where you wonder where the hell the editorial team were. Were they not paying attention to important elements such as language or the overall pace of the story? Jeez!

Even Harry Potter suffers somewhat from lazy and simplistic writing in certain sectors of the books, although the sheer detail of the whole mythology of the series lifts it above flaws in the prose. Mostly, anyway.

It's a pity that so many of the middle Ani-books were written by ghostwriters (and bad ones at that!) Even the earlier books, wherein KAA tends to use a simpler prose (obviously meant for younger readers), there is still a flair and a depth to her writing that very much makes its presence known in books like MM4 and Visser. If she'd written all of them - or, I suppose, had better ghostwriters - the series would certainly be the better for it.

And I agree with your statements on Harry Potter. A lot of people herald Rowling as an amazing author, but she wasn't that great of a writer. Damn, could that woman weave a tale, but her writing definitely needed help. I did not understand a thing in HP5. It took me awhile to realize that he wasn't being emo, but that his emotions were really Voldemort's and that his mood swings weren't because he was growing a vagina and that PMS was taking over x.x

I definitely agree with Applegate's writing style. I remember being extremely bored with the GW books, simply because they were so bland. They completely lacked the personality Applegate added to the ones she wrote.

I still need to get my hands on Visser ;-; I think that's the only book I haven't read.