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housedesignerking's review
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
** spoiler alert **
Bleak.
I'm using a word used by other reviewers because there isn't a better word for this that that one.
Bleak.
Applegate did a lot of research on Hawks for this book, and it shows. But it's like she spent more time researching than she did on making sure the story flowed well. This next book in this series feels like someone telling you stuff in the vaguest way possible. Most of this book is about Tobias being stuck in his bird form, and the rest about it comes off as fogginess.
There's very little about the story that actually progresses with a logical step by step method where the reader will understand how we get somewhere. Like if we're going from point A to point F, we're gonna need points B, C, D, and E for it to be coherent. What we have here is mostly an installment in the series which is infused with the bird research she did, but there's very little explanation of the main story line.
That main story line being their (Tobias's, Jake's, Rachel's, Marco's, and Cassie's) role in the alien takeover happening on their planet, which they only know about because they accidentally stumbled upon the invasion by taking a shortcut through an in-progress construction site in book one (random note, in my notes for some reason I didn't write construction site. I wrote architecture zone. Wth Andrew? š)
In books 1 and 2, Applegate brought flow into the story by writing in conversations and private thoughts of first Jake's mind (1) and then Rachel's (2). In this one, though, it goes from Tobias starting to stress out about being a bird and worrying if he is becoming more of a bird everyday (which is the bleakest part) to what the five are gonna do next about the Yeerks, Andalites, Hork-Bajirs, Human-Controllers, and Visser Three with extremely little to no explanation whatsoever.
For example, there's a scene where Tobias is flying around feeling hopeless when who should randomly be brought into the chapter but Rachel on a stage, balancing on a balance beam. I felt like Applegate should've done more to describe the audience's reaction to a seemingly-deranged bird randomly flying into a teenage girl. There's some, but more would've been helpful. It came off more as they were first amazed by the hawk flying around them and then became emotionless as they wanted to touch the bird more than help get the bird away from her.
For second example, after reading through chapters about Tobias's horror at the fact that his bird instincts lead him to successfully preying on a rat, we go immediately into them going back to the forest area. The only segue way we get is on page 104. In literally one sentence: "The next day, we went ahead with the mission." There's barely any talk in here about the mission, though.
This reminds me of a Jimmy Neutron book I read once while bored in a Goodwill. It was for kindergartners and younger, and the crisis in the little book is fixed in just one sentence with an improbable outcome (Spoiler alert: Jimmy's parents save the day despite that being uncharacteristic of both Jimmy and the show). The point is, this one sentence Applegate gave us at the start of chapter 18 isn't very explanatory. Where's the chapters of them planning this and going through "side missions" to prepare for basically the boss fight? Did they just decide by way of some psychic emotion to just show up at the forest the day after Tobias's episode? Hopefully book 4 does better in that department. š¤·š»āāļø
On pg 136, I was confused by Applegateās decision to not include what happened to a Hork-Bajir that had done something that upset Visser Three. āTobiasā just says that he wonāt tell us what happened to it, but Iām the time heād looked away and looked back, the Hork-Bajir was no more. Was it eaten like in book one? š¤·š»āāļø
Not everything I have to say about this book is negative though. I do like how the author didnāt jumble reminders into the first chapter a la Rowling. Some reminders were WAY into the latter half of this and it was an interesting change. It was helpful, too.
On page 124, Cassie is the first to morph into a fish (as camo), and its described with her eyes swinging āaround to the sides of her head.ā Imagine seeing that with todayās computer graphics if they made this into a tv show or movie.
Also on pages 129 and 134, I found quotes to add to my page; and on 130, thereās a hilarious random Hawk attack (Tobias).
That was all written up BEFORE I finished this book. Now that I've finished it, I gotta say the "boss fight" was better than the rest of the book. Again, the author did enough research, but didn't bring an equal amount of story progressing content. This book in the series is mostly Tobias's mental health amid plans that may or may not have been made mostly without him being there. I'm going with two stars. This is clearly not one of Animorphās best books.
Bleak.
Bleak.
I'm using a word used by other reviewers because there isn't a better word for this that that one.
Bleak.
Applegate did a lot of research on Hawks for this book, and it shows. But it's like she spent more time researching than she did on making sure the story flowed well. This next book in this series feels like someone telling you stuff in the vaguest way possible. Most of this book is about Tobias being stuck in his bird form, and the rest about it comes off as fogginess.
There's very little about the story that actually progresses with a logical step by step method where the reader will understand how we get somewhere. Like if we're going from point A to point F, we're gonna need points B, C, D, and E for it to be coherent. What we have here is mostly an installment in the series which is infused with the bird research she did, but there's very little explanation of the main story line.
That main story line being their (Tobias's, Jake's, Rachel's, Marco's, and Cassie's) role in the alien takeover happening on their planet, which they only know about because they accidentally stumbled upon the invasion by taking a shortcut through an in-progress construction site in book one (random note, in my notes for some reason I didn't write construction site. I wrote architecture zone. Wth Andrew? š)
In books 1 and 2, Applegate brought flow into the story by writing in conversations and private thoughts of first Jake's mind (1) and then Rachel's (2). In this one, though, it goes from Tobias starting to stress out about being a bird and worrying if he is becoming more of a bird everyday (which is the bleakest part) to what the five are gonna do next about the Yeerks, Andalites, Hork-Bajirs, Human-Controllers, and Visser Three with extremely little to no explanation whatsoever.
For example, there's a scene where Tobias is flying around feeling hopeless when who should randomly be brought into the chapter but Rachel on a stage, balancing on a balance beam. I felt like Applegate should've done more to describe the audience's reaction to a seemingly-deranged bird randomly flying into a teenage girl. There's some, but more would've been helpful. It came off more as they were first amazed by the hawk flying around them and then became emotionless as they wanted to touch the bird more than help get the bird away from her.
For second example, after reading through chapters about Tobias's horror at the fact that his bird instincts lead him to successfully preying on a rat, we go immediately into them going back to the forest area. The only segue way we get is on page 104. In literally one sentence: "The next day, we went ahead with the mission." There's barely any talk in here about the mission, though.
This reminds me of a Jimmy Neutron book I read once while bored in a Goodwill. It was for kindergartners and younger, and the crisis in the little book is fixed in just one sentence with an improbable outcome (Spoiler alert: Jimmy's parents save the day despite that being uncharacteristic of both Jimmy and the show). The point is, this one sentence Applegate gave us at the start of chapter 18 isn't very explanatory. Where's the chapters of them planning this and going through "side missions" to prepare for basically the boss fight? Did they just decide by way of some psychic emotion to just show up at the forest the day after Tobias's episode? Hopefully book 4 does better in that department. š¤·š»āāļø
On pg 136, I was confused by Applegateās decision to not include what happened to a Hork-Bajir that had done something that upset Visser Three. āTobiasā just says that he wonāt tell us what happened to it, but Iām the time heād looked away and looked back, the Hork-Bajir was no more. Was it eaten like in book one? š¤·š»āāļø
Not everything I have to say about this book is negative though. I do like how the author didnāt jumble reminders into the first chapter a la Rowling. Some reminders were WAY into the latter half of this and it was an interesting change. It was helpful, too.
On page 124, Cassie is the first to morph into a fish (as camo), and its described with her eyes swinging āaround to the sides of her head.ā Imagine seeing that with todayās computer graphics if they made this into a tv show or movie.
Also on pages 129 and 134, I found quotes to add to my page; and on 130, thereās a hilarious random Hawk attack (Tobias).
That was all written up BEFORE I finished this book. Now that I've finished it, I gotta say the "boss fight" was better than the rest of the book. Again, the author did enough research, but didn't bring an equal amount of story progressing content. This book in the series is mostly Tobias's mental health amid plans that may or may not have been made mostly without him being there. I'm going with two stars. This is clearly not one of Animorphās best books.
Bleak.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
phillyhufflepunk's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dysphoria, Mental illness, Animal death, Body horror, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and War
Minor: Gore and Grief
lh_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, and Violence
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