Worst Moment

[Darth Zakryn]

The worst moment in the ghostwritten books. Which is yours?

Mine would HAVE to be when Aldread specifically told them she didn't know where the weapons were, and then later they acted like she didn't, Aldrea herself even believing this!

[Chad32]

I can't say I remember that book well, so I don't have much to say about it.

BuffaHuman? The plot of 31? There was some pretty bad stuff there. Not that all of KA's stuff was gold, but most of the stupid stuff was ghostwritten as far as I remember.

[yunyun]

Mine would HAVE to be when Aldread specifically told them she didn't know where the weapons were, and then later they acted like she didn't, Aldrea herself even believing this!

Sorry, but personally don't get why that's wrong. It makes sense to me...

[Darth Zakryn]

They asked her on Earth if she knew exactly where the weapons were, and she told them no, she didn't. Then later, they acted as if she never told them, or as if she had lied and said she DID know where they were. Reread #34 and you'll see what I mean.

[Bealocwealm]

Helmacrons. Every goddamn thing with the helmacrons. (Yes, I know I am in VAST disagreement with Cinnamon Bunzuh!)

The starfish episode. There were like, two good moments in that whole book.

[Noelle]

Yeah, I'm going to second the helmacron thing, and I really dislike 42 not just because of the helmacron.


I was re-reading 42 as research, and not only did the author say ringworm was a parasite (it's not, its a fungus, but then again its narrated by Rachel who thought corn grew on trees in MM2, so I suppose you could argue she's just being misinformed.)

But she wrote Ax's eyes were blue...how did that even get past editing?  You'd practically have to not even read the series to know his eyes are green.

I don't know if I can get through the rest of the book, lol.


Edit: book 39, not 31, for buffa-human



The only other book that massively bothered me was 29, the sickness.  Medically, there is just too much to even list.  I mean, I know not everyone has medical knowledge, but at least do a LITTLE bit of research on surgery procedures if you're going to write about surgery.  All I have to say is I'm glad Cassie became a diplomat and not a vet, lol.

And the whole "crisis point" thing made 0 logical sense at all.  I mean, I know he's an alien, and you could technically say "well he's an alien," but that only goes so far.  At least offer a little explanation instead of just inserting a random "OMG ITS A COUNTDOWN BE SCERRED!" tool.  A little bit of research goes a LONG way in writing.



Also, about books like 39 with buffa-human, I really do not understand how creatures are getting morphing ability just by TOUCHING the cube.  In all the books prior the morphing ability had to be GIVEN to the recipients by someone who already had it, or knew how to use the cube (Ax and Elfangor.)  They had to GIVE it to David, who had been touching the cube probably more than the kids ever did.  So how are people like Tom even getting morphing ability?  How did the Yeerks get it?  (Unless Visser Three got it?  Though I was under the impression Tom didn't hand it over, but I could be wrong.)

[Chad32]

Oh, he would have handed it over if he was still alive. Unless Visser Three just didn't know he escaped with it. I assumed he gave it to V3, and V3 gave people morphing power. Buffa-Human was stupid, though. 31 wasn't the buffa-Human book, though, I just listed it as well as the one with the buffalo. 31 was the idiot plot where Tom's best idea to keep from having to travel was killing his host's father, and Jake didn't consider rescuing his brother .

[Noelle]

Oh, yeah, 39 was buffa-human, not 31.  Duh.  I fixed it in my post.


I've noticed a lot of people didn't like 31, though I can't put my finger on a definitive reason why when I read it, I keep thinking I must be missing something.

I know that Tom tried to have his Dad infested, and I do agree that it would make more sense to have him bring in a yeerk in a briefcase or something and just shove it in his head instead of hiring Chapman to make drive-by hit on him, but was there anything else?

I don't know about the starving the Yeerk out of Tom.  I guess the Animorphs could have just taken him out to the woods when he got to the cabin and tied him up, then made Tom go live with the free Hork'Bajir.  Maybe Jake didn't think of that because he was worried it would make the Visser suspicious of his family and then he'd have them all forcibly infested and it would be Game Over for the animorphs.  But that was never stated in the book, and Jake definitely wanted the Yeerk to starve out...

Was there something else I was missing?

[Chad32]

what would they have to be suspicious about. They had no plan for keeping the Yeerk alive while he traveled, so they were basically expecting him to die once he left. If his involuntary host decided to kill himself after the Yeerk died (faked death, of course, using a Chee as the body), then who wouldn't expect that? I suppose they might think Tom said something about aliens, but I don't think that would warrant them being infested unless they actually investigated it. It wouldn't be difficult to work out a system if any Yeerk needs to be away from the main pool for over three days, and rescueing Tom wouldn't be hard at all. It was about the most perfect opportunity to do it that ever came to them. No other opportunity ever came close.

[Pippi]

My sister was the one who brought up this topic with me after she she read the buffulo/human book. It takes concentration (doesn't it?) to acquire DNA from a person/animal so how on earth did the buffulo and ant acquire cassie and chapman. It also take concentration to morph so how did creatures without human intelligence start morphing just like that?

I also have little nit-picks about the way rachel was characterized sometimes like a mad woman. Sometimes it felt like the writers didn't care about her character or just wanted to force the "madwoman" thing on her. In my own opinion rachel isn't as crazy as they make her out to be.

[Chad32]

I get the feeling that the people around her think she's crazy, but when you read the books she narrates, you find out she isn't totally lost in bloodlust and such. The last two books she narrates show this, like when she refused Crayak without any help from anyone else, and when one of her last thoughts was of shopping.

[Liz]

I also have little nit-picks about the way rachel was characterized sometimes like a mad woman. Sometimes it felt like the writers didn't care about her character or just wanted to force the "madwoman" thing on her. In my own opinion rachel isn't as crazy as they make her out to be.

Yes! I think of all the characters the ghostwriters did the worst job with Rachel.  My worst moment is in #37 when Marco yells at Rachel and she starts crying.  At least I think that's what it was, I really dislike that book so I haven't read it in forever.

[Noelle]

The book that REALLY stuck out to me as REALLY demonizing Rachel was 37.  I remember reading it and going "...really?"  I think it didn't do her justice at all.  I mean, it was like reading the starfish book all over again, except there wasn't a good side.

[Kal]

The entire Atlantis book. I hated that one with a passion and I dread rereading it again.

Also the star fish book. It was like the story was included because EVERY sci fi story has one. And yes I know it was to explore Rachel but I didn't buy the "nice" side.

[Alan Fangor]

I think worst moments are in book 39 (totally implausible, even for a sci-fi book...Aldrea's resurrection with Ixcilia is more credible), book 24, 32,  41, 42....quite useless for the naration and in some cases they seem very forced, just to fill the gap, to extend the series.

Particularly, book 32 and 41 seem to be very stereotyped, the typical episode of every children book series or comics...e.g. Disney...I read thousands stories with double personality...Micke y Mouse detective versus Mickey Mouse robber...or the usual Donald Duck versus a very lucky Donald...or something like this. And what about future? "What would happen if"....every sci-fi book, every children series, everything like this has an episode that talks about the characters in an hypotetical future. I think it was not necessary to include these themes in Animorphs, they seem very childish, IMHO.

The Helamcrons may be fun in some cases, but I would have preferred more exciting adventures (and useful to the plot) in their place.