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sarahdm's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I'm absolute here because of the Lord Ravenscraft video essay on Animorphs. (link at the end) I highly recommend you check that out if you are at all interested in this series (and don't mind some light spoilers).
I will start by saying that I did not read these as a child even though I was in the correct age range for them. This is because 1) My school never had book one available and 2) My family did not have money to spend on the Scholastic book fair. So this is my first time interacting with this series at the age of 30.
This shit absolutely slaps. It is incredibly mature and dark for a series targeted at 3rd graders. It has themes about death, war, personal sacrifice, grief, escapism. All while still keeping it appropriate for the 5-8 year old audience. I recently read the first Percy Jackson book as well and in comparison, The Invasion kept my attention, was less repetitive, and had deeper emotional writing. This feels like Coraline meets Power Rangers. Its got the vibe of a weekly children's TV action show while still having the heavy themes of a psychological thriller.
I will say I'm not sure I'm in love with the entire cast yet. This book is in Jake's point of view, so we only really get to know him. He is very much the reluctant leader, Red Ranger type. And he is so emotionally mature and has incredible insight into the danger of the situation they are currently in. But he still feel like a child. He loves video games, as a crush on a girl, doesn't like math homework, is interested in sports, and idolizes his big brother. He isn't just some one dimensional "leader" character and I have a feeling once I get to other books, I will feel the same way about the rest of the cast.
The only negative is that the books have very dated references. Which makes sense given that Applegate has stated that she took a lot of inspiration for the characters from tween magazines of the time. So I guess Animorphs is just a 90's time capsule in that way.
I also wanna shout out the audiobook. MacLeod Andrews does an AMAZING job with all the voices and emotions. I might pick up Warrior Cats just to listen to him read.
I finally decided to take a dive into Animorphs as a pick me up between books. I do not regret it. I can not wait to get to book two. 10/10 would recommend to all ages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRKzwgqvAA&t=1906s
I will start by saying that I did not read these as a child even though I was in the correct age range for them. This is because 1) My school never had book one available and 2) My family did not have money to spend on the Scholastic book fair. So this is my first time interacting with this series at the age of 30.
This shit absolutely slaps. It is incredibly mature and dark for a series targeted at 3rd graders. It has themes about death, war, personal sacrifice, grief, escapism. All while still keeping it appropriate for the 5-8 year old audience. I recently read the first Percy Jackson book as well and in comparison, The Invasion kept my attention, was less repetitive, and had deeper emotional writing. This feels like Coraline meets Power Rangers. Its got the vibe of a weekly children's TV action show while still having the heavy themes of a psychological thriller.
I will say I'm not sure I'm in love with the entire cast yet. This book is in Jake's point of view, so we only really get to know him. He is very much the reluctant leader, Red Ranger type. And he is so emotionally mature and has incredible insight into the danger of the situation they are currently in. But he still feel like a child. He loves video games, as a crush on a girl, doesn't like math homework, is interested in sports, and idolizes his big brother. He isn't just some one dimensional "leader" character and I have a feeling once I get to other books, I will feel the same way about the rest of the cast.
The only negative is that the books have very dated references. Which makes sense given that Applegate has stated that she took a lot of inspiration for the characters from tween magazines of the time. So I guess Animorphs is just a 90's time capsule in that way.
I also wanna shout out the audiobook. MacLeod Andrews does an AMAZING job with all the voices and emotions. I might pick up Warrior Cats just to listen to him read.
I finally decided to take a dive into Animorphs as a pick me up between books. I do not regret it. I can not wait to get to book two. 10/10 would recommend to all ages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRKzwgqvAA&t=1906s
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Kidnapping, War, Grief, Police brutality, Slavery, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Torture
housedesignerking's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I remember seeing these books in my elementary school library as well as in the stores. These were either next to or near the Goosebumps books that were for sale at the time. Gosh, I remember these books and Goosebumps being somewhere between $3.95-$5.95, depending on where you went. At K-Mart, they were always $3.95 a piece in my city.
Someone had told me that each book stood alone much like most of the Goosebumps books, but that's apparently not true. Apparently, it's one big story that spans about 62 books (64 if you count the Altermorphs books, but those weren't written by Applegate). I was also told that each book was about a character slowly morphing into another species, and THAT apparently isn't true, either. This is the stuff that creates trust issues...
We have Jake, the main character, with his friends Marcos, Tobias, and Cassie. There's also Rachel, Jake's cousin, who is a mutual friend of Cassie's. This entire story (62-ish books) starts with all five of them at the mall. After a time at the arcade, they decide to head home. They can either walk the long way home, or get home faster by sneaking through this abandoned construction site. They choose the latter despite Jake's better judgement. What follows is definitely not what I thought would follow.
A space ship flies over head, and before you know it, their seemingly normal life morphs into something off the Syfy/Sci-Fi channel with three different types of aliens eventually appearing. I personally found the one with hundreds of teeth in a huge mouth to be particularly creepy. Honestly, even though this is a "kids' book series" (phooey!), I thought parts of this were a bit creepy and somewhat cringe inducing, and I was a bit surprised by some of the things that appeared in this book. Let's just say some of the things in here would be more expected in a teen fiction than in young adult.
4 out of 5 stars.
Someone had told me that each book stood alone much like most of the Goosebumps books, but that's apparently not true. Apparently, it's one big story that spans about 62 books (64 if you count the Altermorphs books, but those weren't written by Applegate). I was also told that each book was about a character slowly morphing into another species, and THAT apparently isn't true, either. This is the stuff that creates trust issues...
We have Jake, the main character, with his friends Marcos, Tobias, and Cassie. There's also Rachel, Jake's cousin, who is a mutual friend of Cassie's. This entire story (62-ish books) starts with all five of them at the mall. After a time at the arcade, they decide to head home. They can either walk the long way home, or get home faster by sneaking through this abandoned construction site. They choose the latter despite Jake's better judgement. What follows is definitely not what I thought would follow.
A space ship flies over head, and before you know it, their seemingly normal life morphs into something off the Syfy/Sci-Fi channel with three different types of aliens eventually appearing. I personally found the one with hundreds of teeth in a huge mouth to be particularly creepy. Honestly, even though this is a "kids' book series" (phooey!), I thought parts of this were a bit creepy and somewhat cringe inducing, and I was a bit surprised by some of the things that appeared in this book. Let's just say some of the things in here would be more expected in a teen fiction than in young adult.
4 out of 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, and Violence
lanidon's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Death, Torture, Slavery, and Grief
magicalghoul's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a place of unimaginable horror. And we were so few, and so weak.
♢ 1/62 OF THE ANIMORPHS REREAD
⚠ tws for the entire series: war, death, child soldiers, child death, descriptions of gore, body horror, discussions of parental death, slugs, parasites, loss of free will, depictions of PTSD and trauma, ableism, imperialism.
Where to even begin.
Animorphs is one of those pieces of media that I find myself revisiting every few years. It's fantastic despite its flaws and I'm awed and moved by the themes and the treatment every single time. And on a reread it's even more clear that the intent of the animorphs series was never to romanticize war, nor to talk down to its young audience— something crucial, considering the heavy subject matter it was treating.
The Invasion is a great first installment that sets the basics for every character motivation and the future conflicts they'll face just as well as the theme and tone for the rest of the series: a bleak (albeit not completely hopeless) one that's not here to do pro-war apologism, who will take the premise of "Kids given powers to fight in a war" and take it to it's full realistic potential, one that won't shy away from its portrayal of PTSD and the heavy mantle of war on those who have to fight it.
Also: Petition to recategorize these books as horror because wow, certain passages are scarier than some of the horror media I've consumed recently.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Torture and Confinement
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