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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Jellicle Cat Lookin’ Ass
Alright suckers, you asked for it. I’m here to give you AniMOREphs content.
Before we get into book 2, let's review the happenings of book 1, which somehow managed to pack a whole fucking SAGA into a mere 184 pages. Five teens, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, and Cassie are taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site when they see a UFO. They go towards an injured figure who turns out to be a prince from an alien race called the Andalites. The Andalities have sworn to chase their enemies, the Yeerks, throughout the galaxy to prevent them from enslaving other planets. The yeerks are some nasty slug boys who can crawl into host organisms, control the brain, and use the husk of the body to do their bidding. And bad news, kids, those nasty slug boys are here on earth, and they’ve already started infesting humans. Yeerk hosts are called Controllers, and they look and act totally normal! They could be anyone! :(
Good news is, Andalites have the power to acquire DNA from any animal they touch and transform into that animal (and also to telepathically converse to other andalites when one is in an animal form? It’s not explained, just accept it). The andalite prince makes these five random teenagers touch a cube that gives them sweet sweet morphin’ powers, and then a Yeerk spaceship arrives carrying Visser Three, a yeerk commander whose host is the only Andalite ever to be taken over by a Yeerk. Visser Three comes with some super tough looking Tyrannosaurus Rex-esque aliens, the Hork Bajir (The italics here were K.A Applegate’s inexplicable choice, not mine), and some giant centipedes, the Taxxons (Side note, I wish I could put a Taxxon Marco’s bad jokes. You’re desperate and pathetic, Marco. Grow up). Then Visser Three KILLS THE ANDALITE PRINCE IN FRONT OF THE KIDS.
To quote my friend Nikki:
“Most children's authors: how shall I teach the kiddies important life lessons like sharing?
KA Applegate: THEY MUST LEARN THAT LIFE IS PAIN
--
The kids manage to escape with their lives, and then get into a debate over what they should do with their new information and their new powers. Cassie suggests they go to the police, which leads to my favorite conversation in the whole book:
“Why would the police be...I mean, why would they lie?” I wondered aloud. But the answer was pretty obvious.
Marco laughed his sardonic laugh, “Let’s see, Captain Brilliant--Would it be because the cops are controllers?”
Thanks for this, K.A. Applegate. Teaching kids to question the authoritarian state and mistrust the police is good praxis, and we salute you!
OK, before I go on with this review I just want to mention: All this happened in the first 3 chapters or so. K.A Applegate don’t fuck around.
ANYWAY. The rest of the book the kids practice morphing around, Marco makes a bunch of dumb jokes, comes up with the term “animorphs,” and is a poop-butt about wanting to save the world, which the rest of the team is on board with. Marco can eat a bag of dicks. Marco sucks.
The animorphs learn that their vice principal is a controller, and that Yeerks need to go recharge in a mineral pool every three days. The animorphs sneak in with the controllers and see a hundreds of humans enslaved and by the yeerks. When the yeerks leave their bodies, the humans try to fight the yeerks, only to be enslaved again once the yeerks are done with their spa treatment. Jake learns his brother Tom is a controller. All the teens morph to try to save the people, but get fought off by the Hork Bajirs and the Taxxons. Visser Three has also been roaming the galaxy just collecting monsters to morph into, and he turns into a cthulhu-like Eldrich horror and tries to eat the teens. They escape with their lives, but are unable to save Tom or the other controllers. Tobias is trapped in hawk form in the underground cavern when the rest of the teens escape. The Animoprhs learn a horrible secret--if they stay morphed for more than two hours, they’re an animal forever. Tobias is forever stuck as a hawk.
-----
Okay, so onto book 2!
Before I get into the plot, I’mma just talk about my initial thoughts
Still love bisexual icon Tobias, and love that he does not let his hawk form interfere at all with attempting to flirt with Rachel.
At one point Rachel says, "Let me tell you--watching someone morph is not a pretty sight. It's the kind of thing that would give you screaming nightmares if you didn't know it was going to be alright.” We’ve seen the covers, Rachel, WE KNOW. It’s the stuff of horrors. I wish I could have lived 30 years without seeing you mid-morph, jellicle cat lookin’ ass.
Rachel is quickly emerging as my favorite animorph, mostly because she calls Marco on his bullshit and reads him for the trash he is. Every time Marco attempts a pitiful, unfunny joke, Rachel responds with a savage roast that shuts him up. Bless me, Saint Rachel, with the wit to silence inferior men who talk too much.
I asked my friend Lauren, resident Animorphs expert, when the teens figure out that they can touch other humans to transform into them. She said probably around book 10 or so. Me, “When do they use that power to start making out with themselves?” She, “HA. Doesn’t happen in the books, but I’m sure the fandom has fic for that.” Me, “What a relief.”
After the non-stop intensity of The Invasion, The Visitor feels like a zen meditation. Most of the book takes place in Principal Chapman’s house, where Rachel turns into a cat to spy on him talking to Visser Three. Plot-wise not a lot moves forward in the overall story, but the world building is very nice. It’s the first time that the readers begin to see the human side of Yeerk control. The reader gets to see the sorrow of Melissa, Chapman’s daughter, who lives in a house with two controllers who mimic human expression and behavior, but who can’t recreate love and affection. Chapman and his wife also try to fight off the Yeerks controlling them, at one point with Melissa’s mother trying to strangle herself to to prevent the Yeerk in her body from harming Melissa (If you read Animorphs as a kid, please @ me with how traumatizing scenes like this were for you. My adult self is giving this book some serious, “You did a-what now?!” side eye). The Visitor did a lot better job keeping me emotionally engaged than The Invasion; for the first time I want to see the Animorphs actually defeat the Yeerks.
4 Stars for Rachel positively dragging Marco.
Alright suckers, you asked for it. I’m here to give you AniMOREphs content.
Before we get into book 2, let's review the happenings of book 1, which somehow managed to pack a whole fucking SAGA into a mere 184 pages. Five teens, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, and Cassie are taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site when they see a UFO. They go towards an injured figure who turns out to be a prince from an alien race called the Andalites. The Andalities have sworn to chase their enemies, the Yeerks, throughout the galaxy to prevent them from enslaving other planets. The yeerks are some nasty slug boys who can crawl into host organisms, control the brain, and use the husk of the body to do their bidding. And bad news, kids, those nasty slug boys are here on earth, and they’ve already started infesting humans. Yeerk hosts are called Controllers, and they look and act totally normal! They could be anyone! :(
Good news is, Andalites have the power to acquire DNA from any animal they touch and transform into that animal (and also to telepathically converse to other andalites when one is in an animal form? It’s not explained, just accept it). The andalite prince makes these five random teenagers touch a cube that gives them sweet sweet morphin’ powers, and then a Yeerk spaceship arrives carrying Visser Three, a yeerk commander whose host is the only Andalite ever to be taken over by a Yeerk. Visser Three comes with some super tough looking Tyrannosaurus Rex-esque aliens, the Hork Bajir (The italics here were K.A Applegate’s inexplicable choice, not mine), and some giant centipedes, the Taxxons (Side note, I wish I could put a Taxxon Marco’s bad jokes. You’re desperate and pathetic, Marco. Grow up). Then Visser Three KILLS THE ANDALITE PRINCE IN FRONT OF THE KIDS.
To quote my friend Nikki:
“Most children's authors: how shall I teach the kiddies important life lessons like sharing?
KA Applegate: THEY MUST LEARN THAT LIFE IS PAIN
--
The kids manage to escape with their lives, and then get into a debate over what they should do with their new information and their new powers. Cassie suggests they go to the police, which leads to my favorite conversation in the whole book:
“Why would the police be...I mean, why would they lie?” I wondered aloud. But the answer was pretty obvious.
Marco laughed his sardonic laugh, “Let’s see, Captain Brilliant--Would it be because the cops are controllers?”
Thanks for this, K.A. Applegate. Teaching kids to question the authoritarian state and mistrust the police is good praxis, and we salute you!
OK, before I go on with this review I just want to mention: All this happened in the first 3 chapters or so. K.A Applegate don’t fuck around.
ANYWAY. The rest of the book the kids practice morphing around, Marco makes a bunch of dumb jokes, comes up with the term “animorphs,” and is a poop-butt about wanting to save the world, which the rest of the team is on board with. Marco can eat a bag of dicks. Marco sucks.
The animorphs learn that their vice principal is a controller, and that Yeerks need to go recharge in a mineral pool every three days. The animorphs sneak in with the controllers and see a hundreds of humans enslaved and by the yeerks. When the yeerks leave their bodies, the humans try to fight the yeerks, only to be enslaved again once the yeerks are done with their spa treatment. Jake learns his brother Tom is a controller. All the teens morph to try to save the people, but get fought off by the Hork Bajirs and the Taxxons. Visser Three has also been roaming the galaxy just collecting monsters to morph into, and he turns into a cthulhu-like Eldrich horror and tries to eat the teens. They escape with their lives, but are unable to save Tom or the other controllers. Tobias is trapped in hawk form in the underground cavern when the rest of the teens escape. The Animoprhs learn a horrible secret--if they stay morphed for more than two hours, they’re an animal forever. Tobias is forever stuck as a hawk.
-----
Okay, so onto book 2!
Before I get into the plot, I’mma just talk about my initial thoughts
Still love bisexual icon Tobias, and love that he does not let his hawk form interfere at all with attempting to flirt with Rachel.
At one point Rachel says, "Let me tell you--watching someone morph is not a pretty sight. It's the kind of thing that would give you screaming nightmares if you didn't know it was going to be alright.” We’ve seen the covers, Rachel, WE KNOW. It’s the stuff of horrors. I wish I could have lived 30 years without seeing you mid-morph, jellicle cat lookin’ ass.
Rachel is quickly emerging as my favorite animorph, mostly because she calls Marco on his bullshit and reads him for the trash he is. Every time Marco attempts a pitiful, unfunny joke, Rachel responds with a savage roast that shuts him up. Bless me, Saint Rachel, with the wit to silence inferior men who talk too much.
I asked my friend Lauren, resident Animorphs expert, when the teens figure out that they can touch other humans to transform into them. She said probably around book 10 or so. Me, “When do they use that power to start making out with themselves?” She, “HA. Doesn’t happen in the books, but I’m sure the fandom has fic for that.” Me, “What a relief.”
After the non-stop intensity of The Invasion, The Visitor feels like a zen meditation. Most of the book takes place in Principal Chapman’s house, where Rachel turns into a cat to spy on him talking to Visser Three. Plot-wise not a lot moves forward in the overall story, but the world building is very nice. It’s the first time that the readers begin to see the human side of Yeerk control. The reader gets to see the sorrow of Melissa, Chapman’s daughter, who lives in a house with two controllers who mimic human expression and behavior, but who can’t recreate love and affection. Chapman and his wife also try to fight off the Yeerks controlling them, at one point with Melissa’s mother trying to strangle herself to to prevent the Yeerk in her body from harming Melissa (If you read Animorphs as a kid, please @ me with how traumatizing scenes like this were for you. My adult self is giving this book some serious, “You did a-what now?!” side eye). The Visitor did a lot better job keeping me emotionally engaged than The Invasion; for the first time I want to see the Animorphs actually defeat the Yeerks.
4 Stars for Rachel positively dragging Marco.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
In this week's episode of Animorphs (and truly, the pacing of these books makes each one seem like an episode of a TV show, it would have been the perfect adaption) we get to look at the world through Rachel's point of view, which is, honestly, very fun. Rachel is passionate, and caring, and not great at taking advice from her friends.
Most of this book focuses on the animorphs' newest plan to take down the yeerks --infiltrate their vice-principal's house by becoming his cat, learn his secrets, and maybe save his daughter (and Rachel's friend) from becoming a controller. However, because Rachel is so focused on her friend, rather than her own safety, she does ignore the advice of the other animorphs and gets caught by Visser 1.
That really brings us to one of the shining lights of this book; despite how horrifying the first book was, this one really drives home that these are child soldiers trapped in a war they didn't want or understand. After she's captured by her controller vice -principal, Rachel is convinced that she will die, and she comes to terms with that, as long as she doesn't betray her friends. It's an incredibly dark moment, and, as I look ahead to the later books in the series, I'm sure this isn't even the worse to come.
Over all, this is a very solid book. I like Rachel, she's a much more compelling character than Jake, and KA Applegate really shows how even just the few weeks that have passed since the first book have allowed the animorphs to grow and learn. There is one weird moment I feel is worth mentioning; Rachel does randomly get stalked on her way home from the mall and harassed by some guy in a car, because apparently despite this being a book for and about kids, it's really important to drive home how girls shouldn't be walking by themselves.
I would give this book an 8/10 on the nostalgia scale, because I don't remember reading this one as a kid but it was nice to see my friend Rachel again. Overall I would give it an 8/10, because the kids do seem to think that a tom cat is more vicious than any of the other animals they've dealt with so far.
Most of this book focuses on the animorphs' newest plan to take down the yeerks --infiltrate their vice-principal's house by becoming his cat, learn his secrets, and maybe save his daughter (and Rachel's friend) from becoming a controller. However, because Rachel is so focused on her friend, rather than her own safety, she does ignore the advice of the other animorphs and gets caught by Visser 1.
That really brings us to one of the shining lights of this book; despite how horrifying the first book was, this one really drives home that these are child soldiers trapped in a war they didn't want or understand. After she's captured by her controller vice -principal, Rachel is convinced that she will die, and she comes to terms with that, as long as she doesn't betray her friends. It's an incredibly dark moment, and, as I look ahead to the later books in the series, I'm sure this isn't even the worse to come.
Over all, this is a very solid book. I like Rachel, she's a much more compelling character than Jake, and KA Applegate really shows how even just the few weeks that have passed since the first book have allowed the animorphs to grow and learn. There is one weird moment I feel is worth mentioning; Rachel does randomly get stalked on her way home from the mall and harassed by some guy in a car, because apparently despite this being a book for and about kids, it's really important to drive home how girls shouldn't be walking by themselves.
I would give this book an 8/10 on the nostalgia scale, because I don't remember reading this one as a kid but it was nice to see my friend Rachel again. Overall I would give it an 8/10, because the kids do seem to think that a tom cat is more vicious than any of the other animals they've dealt with so far.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So this one wasn't as good as the first. Not as though the first was anything to write home about, but at least it was a nice surprise that [b:The Invasion|776877|The Invasion (Animorphs, #1)|Katherine Applegate|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456853880s/776877.jpg|356806] wasn't garbage.
The second entry into the series was fine, it was just a lot slower than the first. In The Visitor, we see through the eyes of a different one of the Animorphs, the cousin of our primary protagonist from the first book. We get a little bit more on transformations, aliens and their technology, and the severity of what's happening to Earth.
I'll read the next book in the series, but it needs to get a lot better for me to continue caring.
The second entry into the series was fine, it was just a lot slower than the first. In The Visitor, we see through the eyes of a different one of the Animorphs, the cousin of our primary protagonist from the first book. We get a little bit more on transformations, aliens and their technology, and the severity of what's happening to Earth.
I'll read the next book in the series, but it needs to get a lot better for me to continue caring.
I always find it interesting when a series tries to do a different pov every book. I'm finding it easier to get to know the characters and understand their friend dynamic as well. Also the fear!
adventurous
Well I don't think I will be writing a review for ALL of these books because I think they'll pretty much have all the same pros and cons. This book was just as enjoyable as the last one. The only complaint I have is that the ending wasn't as epic as it was in the first book. I don't think I've ever read a series as long as this one that has a continuous plot (instead of being episodic) and the pacing seems like it might suffer a little but whatever. It's still all very fun to read.
Most disturbing thing from this volume: The taxxons eating each other alive while the one being eaten screams -shudder- Of course I don't doubt kids can handle this. I can picture a little boy reading this being like "heh heh sweeeet." Me, it kinda creeps me out.
Most disturbing thing from this volume: The taxxons eating each other alive while the one being eaten screams -shudder- Of course I don't doubt kids can handle this. I can picture a little boy reading this being like "heh heh sweeeet." Me, it kinda creeps me out.
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've decided to re-read this series since I now have them all in one form or another. I remember this one being one of my favorites when I was a kid because it was A) The first one I read; and B) I have always adored cats.
The writing style was good for the grade level and even at my age, I still enjoyed it. The characters for the most part are unique and likable. I think Cassie is my favorite. Then Tobias. Jake is probably the character I like the least because he's bland.
I liked Rachel's POV because she's a strong character and I think it's important for young girls to have strong female characters to read about. The plot in this one was more interesting than the last as well. This book made me wish that I had the ability to morph into an animal. How cool would that be?
The writing style was good for the grade level and even at my age, I still enjoyed it. The characters for the most part are unique and likable. I think Cassie is my favorite. Then Tobias. Jake is probably the character I like the least because he's bland.
I liked Rachel's POV because she's a strong character and I think it's important for young girls to have strong female characters to read about. The plot in this one was more interesting than the last as well. This book made me wish that I had the ability to morph into an animal. How cool would that be?