Me as well. I remember being just as confused about some things as I read #8, until I read previous books. I remember being confused about what Jake's battle morph was. It's discribed as liquid steel, or something like that. I was thinking "Wow, that's awesome and mysterious!" then later "Oh wait, it's just a tiger."
Further, why don't they just call it telepathy? Everyone knows what telepathy is. Though thought speak is somewhat self explanatory.