Reviews of the books

[Chad32]

Saved some birds from being poached in Book 2, saved a hawk from captivity in Book 3, and saved some injured birds on Cassie's farm from a fox in Book 4.

The birds being shot at in book two were them. They were being shot at, so they took that one guy's gun. In book four, Cassie is doing her job. She's just using morphing power to help her do it.

I wouldn't count those two instances against them.

[Slushie Man]

There were other birds in the sky with them that were also being targeted. And my point is, it doesn't matter what the circumstances were, in every single book so far, they morph to save birds. It's redundant as hell. I'm sorry if you have a problem with that, but that's my opinion. It may not bother you, and that's fine and dandy, but since this thread is for my thoughts on each book after I read them, I'm posting just my opinion and feelings on those books, and they're not going to change. I'm just saying it'd be nice to see them try and save other animals once in awhile, other then just birds.

[Slushie Man]

Animorphs: Book 5: The Predator:

So in Book 5, which is from Marco's POV, they all agree to steal a Yeerk Bug Fighter so Ax can get back to his home planet. Also, this will be Marco's last mission before he steps out of the group, that is, until he finds out that his supposedly dead mother is actually Visser 1, the Yeerk in charge of the Earth invasion.

With all the other Animorphs out of the way, its finally time to get a book from the POV of the group's token comedic member, Marco. Which makes it all the more surprising that this is actually one of the more serious books in the series so far as it gives one of the teens a very personal stake in the entire thing, that's actually been haunting him since before he got involved in the War. And if that wasn't enough to make this the most serious book yet, it also has a very deadly serious morph that will haunt the teens, and us as a reader, for a long time to come. It's also the most interesting morph yet - I was surprised, but the ant morph ended up being my favorite so fart. It was just so much more different and thus interesting, compared to anything else they've morphed thus far, and the ant mind and the dangers they come across while in ant morphs (Such as an enemy ant faction) made it extremely intense. With everything they went through as ants (Getting their limbs ripped off by enemy ants among that), I have a feeling this is the last time we'll be seeing the ant morph in action, but I hope I'm wrong. The psychological scars they get from that will make it very interesting if they ever have to return to that morph in the future.

I found it interesting that when faced with seeing a man get robbed by a mugger, Marco make the EXACT same decision he gave Rachel so much hell for back in book 2 when she morphed into an animal to scare off a potential rapist. This go around, Marco did the exact same thing to scare off a mugger. Good to know he's really not that different, despite his whining and moaning and lecturing. And speaking of that, now that he's emotionally invested in the war with the Yeerks due to finding out about his mom, maybe he won't be doing as much whining and moaning from now on when it comes to them having to fight and go on missions to cripple the Yeerks, cause I have to say, its getting very annoying very fast.

One last scene I feel I have to mention because you can't talk about this book without talking about this scene - Ax in the mall, both in his human morph tryign to blend in and then also in his regular Andalite form after he morphs back in public, and the hilarious hijinxs that followed. Good stuff there. He's diffinitly a great and unique addition to the series and I hope to see more of that in the future.

Overall, this was another really damn good entry that I don't really have any complaints about whatsoever.

[morfowt]

just wait, the ant morph will be used and mentioned a few more times in the series.

[Slushie Man]

Sweet 

[Slushie Man]

Animorphs: Book 6: The Capture

Book 6 starts off with the Animorphs finding out about a new Yeerk plan to use a hospital to infest 200 people a month, one of which would the state Governor, who will soon be running for president. They launch an attack to put an end to the hospital plan, but something goes wrong, as it always does, and Jake falls in the mini-Yeerk Pool, and gets a Yeerk in his head and becomes a Controller.  And he doesn't get just any Yeerk in his head – he gets his brother's Yeerk in his head.

What I liked most about this book, is that it was so different then any of the ones before it. It broke what became a very predictable formula for the books and gave us something new to read about, which kept the book interesting and never had a dull moment, plus they really raised the stakes with the whole Governor aspect. Add to that, some interesting new morphs, comedy from Ax, Tobias saving the day in a way only Tobias can, and we have a very good time reading. Also, now after the events of the previous book, Marco is no longer whinny and ****ing about everything. He's just as headstrong and ready to rush into danger as Rachel is.

Something I do find funny though, is Jake killed hundreds of defenseless Yeerks in their natural state – while Elfangor almost fought Alloran to the death, to try and STOP him from doing the exact same thing in the Andalite Chronicles. Would Elfangor be upset with Jake if he were still alive? That's just some food for thought. It was also interesting to see that once Jake was down and out, Rachel took immediate charge as the group leader, and these scenes got me to thinking that maybe Rachel would be better suited to be the full-time leader with Jake as her second. We also start to see the very beginnings of Rachel's future cold-hearted self.

Anyway, the Message, book 4, is still my favorite so far, but this one is a very close second at the moment, both for its uniqueness and for the fact that I have absolutely no complaints about anything in this book.

Edit: I forgot to mention this above, but I also really liked the Crayak reference at the very end.

[Slushie Man]

Animorphs: Book 7: The Stranger:

So in this book, the Animorphs finally find a new entrance into the Yeerk Pool after the original entrance was shut at the end of the very first book. During their assault, things go wrong, but right before they get eaten by a Taxxon, everything freezes and they get introduced to...The Ellimist! Making his first appearance in the actual series, and his third appearance overall. He gives them a choice, stay and fight a war they WILL loose, or get whisked away to a safe zone planet with their friends and family.

Much like the previous book, this book introduces tons of stuff that hasn't been in the previous books, and a different format then normal. This book is also filled to the brim with all kinds of struggles, both internal and external. Apart from the obvious physical battles with the Yeerks, we have Rachel's dad offering her to move away with him, so Rachel has to struggle with if she wants to do that or not, if she wants to vote for moving her family to another planet and running from the fight, plus she has a huge blow-up on Marco, and Jake has a huge blow-up, for the first time, on her.

And best of all, the Animorphs are brought to the future that Earth faces, which is a very dark and disturbing future, which hits home hard with them. Luckily they find out that it's not THE future, but just one of many possible futures.

Rachel also gets her bear morph in this one, which is put to very good use, Tobias, my favorite character, is featured a bit more in this one then he was in the last couple, plus has a short return to his human body, and Marco's change in attitude from a couple books back, is noted by the other characters in this one, which is nice.

Also, Rachel uses her morphing to save some Elephants from a trainer that loves using a cattle prod on them. Nice to see that they do use their powers to save animals other then birds, lol. Oh, and in the Future scenes, when the Future Rachel and Visser Three state that time has been changed slightly – I wonder if that's from when the Ellimist changed history by making Elfangor not stay on Earth in the Andalite Chronicles. Something to think about.

Anything negative? It seems Applegate is back to being a tad bit redundant with the over-explaining of things that has been explained in almost every single book, and it seemed like this time, she took longer to re-explain some of those then she did in the last couple books. Also, despite my joy at finally having the Ellimist introduced in the series, some of the Ellimist stuff kind of contradicts what we know about him from The Ellimist Chronicles, although don't get me wrong, his scenes were nothing short of fantastic.

[morfowt]

Oh, and in the Future scenes, when the Future Rachel and Visser Three state that time has been changed slightly – I wonder if that's from when the Ellimist changed history by making Elfangor not stay on Earth in the Andalite Chronicles. Something to think about.

interesting...yeah, didn't the ellimist say in the andalite chronicles that if elfangor stayed on earth, his brother wouldn't have been born? that would explain why ax didn't exist...but then that also means they wouldn't have gotten the power to morph, so there would've been no bandits...

Also, despite my joy at finally having the Ellimist introduced in the series, some of the Ellimist stuff kind of contradicts what we know about him from The Ellimist Chronicles

wouldn't be surprised. KA might not have completely figure out everything about the ellimist yet. She might've knew she wanted an almost all-powerful being of some sort, but not much other than that.

[Slushie Man]

but then that also means they wouldn't have gotten the power to morph, so there would've been no bandits...

They could have gotten it another way. maybe a different Andalite gives it to them, but there are some minor differences, like the location the Andalite crashes or something, that can drastically change the outcome.

[morfowt]

um...could you use quotes next time please...for quotes use [*quote][/quote] (minus the *), or you could just press the quote button at the top right corner of the post.

[Slushie Man]

Why does it matter? That's how I reply and I don't plan on changing, and honestly, I really don't see why the heck it matters. I think the whole Quoting thing looks really ugly, and that looks so much better and more in-flow with the rest of the post.

[morfowt]

cuz it can be hard to tell what's a quote and what's a reply.

[Slushie Man]

If you don't know it's something you said yourself, then maybe you shouldn't be replying in the first place.

I'll tell you this right now, and I thought it was pretty obvious, but I guess not; the only things I bold, are titles, and things other people have said. That's it.

[morfowt]

it doesn't necessarily be something I said. you could've been quoting someone else.

and no it wasn't that obivous to me.

[Slushie Man]

Megamorphs: Book 1: The Andalite's Gift

This is the first Megamorphs book, and the only one I read when I was younger. Does it still stand up to the test of my time as my current favorite Animorphs-related thing? That is a definite yes!

I keep saying, if the book series of Animorphs was a TV series itself, then the Megamorphs books would be the theatrical movies. It seems the adventures are bigger and more grander, the books themselves are far thicker, and each chapter is told from the POV of a different character, instead of the full book, and so because of that, we get to read about the same event a couple times over, but through the eyes of separate characters, which is pretty neat and not nearly as redundant as you'd think.

In this, after Rachel looses her memory due to being attacked by some birds while in Eagle-morph, a strange alien creature made out of dust particles and gnashing teeth keeps attacking the Animorphs and going on wild destructive rampages whenever they morph, which causes some really nice 'theatrical-quality' action scenes, such as the highway attack, and it also means the Animorphs are unable to morph without attracting it.

Part way through, Rachel, after having lost her memory, comes across a crazy lady in the forest that knows of the Yeerks. I wonder if this is the same person that they got out of the Yeerk Pool, way back in Animorphs Book 1? They never did say what happened to her, but it would make sense. And while we're on the topic of Rachel, I'm not exactly fond of her loosing her memory and coming across a crazy person in the woods that tries to lock her away. Seems way too much of a Kim Bauer-kind of side-plot. Those that watch 24, more-so Season 2 of 24, will know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Marco and Ax (This being the first book where Ax actually gets something from his POV, as his POV book isn't until after this) both have their humor levels raised even higher in this one then normal, bringing in a much-needed counter-balance of comedy to the otherwise all-serious and sort of dark entry in the series. It was also awesome seeing the return of the Wolf morph, as that is my favorite one.

Even though the book is longer then the average Animorphs book, it really doesn't read longer, because most of it is non-stop action, and there are quite a lot of really nice action scenes, both on Earth and off of it (On the Blade ship).

I do have one minor complaint though, and that is with Ax's narration. He comes across way too 'human' in this book. he thinks like a human, talks like a human, and acts like a human, which is really out of character for Ax. But as I said, that is only a minor nagative thing in a book full of nothing else but positives.