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A review by the1germ
The Andalite Chronicles by K.A. Applegate
3.0
At last, I've reached the first Chronicle in my Animorphs reread. I've wanted to read these again, since... well, the 90's. Lucky still have my copy on hand - it's a tragedy that they're not doing these in the recent audiobook releases.
The Chronicles are prequels to the main Animorphs books, and dramatically expand the universe by giving you a look at the alien cultures that started all this mess. The Andalite Chronicles was the first, originally released in 3 slim volumes (that to this day, I am bitter for no longer owning). It tells the tale of Elfangor, the Andalite who crash landed on earth and gave the Animorphs their powers.
This book freaking blew my mind as a kid. I remember it being more "mature" than the usual books in the series, and considered it adult sci-fi for a long time. Of course I did! It was probably my first ever sci-fi book. The cover art was beautiful. Mature. It looked like any other in the adult sci-fi section. You get your first look at Andalite culture, how the war with the Yeerks is going, and even a foray into the Taxxon home world. It also introduces the first game changing plot twist in the series regarding one of the Animorphs, demonstrating what this series was capable of despite the "one-a-month" episodic & disposable format.
How does it stand up as a fully grown ass man?
Wow. This is unexpected: The Andalite Chronicles is probably my first big disappointment in the reread so far.
There's a lot of inconsistencies here from what's previously been established. The Andalites here are much less "stiff" and methodical, the way they've been portrayed through Ax up until now - what primarily grated me here was the "hip" 90's language they were suddenly using. The inclusion of Chapman as a great big asshole was unnecessary and cheapens the gut punch of #2 where you found him actually pretty sympathetic. This character easily could have just been someone new. Most surprising of all is that the writing here actually feels MORE juvenile than the main books, despite my prior opinion that the Chronicles were "adult". The slang and humor work well from the point of view of a bunch of teens in the 90's - less so from alien warriors.
I think what bothered me most about this book is how much it reminded me of the Star Wars film Solo and how much I hate prequels like it: when they condense everything you know about a character's past into one story, as if it all happened in one event. In Solo, it was meeting Lando, Chewbacca, getting the Millenium Falcon, even the weird notch in the Falcon's hull. Here, it's the genesis of Visser Three, Chapman, the Time Matrix, the Yeerks discovering Earth, and The Big Plot Twist.
As a kid, it didn't phase me, but with many more books and stories under my belt now it feels lazy and the character is less fleshed out than they were before. If everything we know about this character's past happened in two weeks of their life, who were they before this one event? Apparently nobody.
The plot twist at the end will overshadow this for a first time reader. There are a few other great moments as well, like what happens with Elfangor's frienemy Abron. But it turns out that most of what I remember this book for boils down to 20 pages at the end, and there's probably good reason for me forgetting the rest. If this had spent less time with the Taxxons, and more in the epilogue, this would have had a strong [b:11/22/63|10644930|11/22/63|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327876792l/10644930._SY75_.jpg|15553789] vibe; which would have bored a child to tears, but delighted me now.
5 enthusiastic stars from 11 year old me. Still a 3* rating from 35 year old me, despite how hard I've trashed it here. This book was a game changer, and most of what I ranted about won't and didn't matter to its target audience.
Back to the main series! Here's hoping the following Chronicles hold up a bit better.
The Chronicles are prequels to the main Animorphs books, and dramatically expand the universe by giving you a look at the alien cultures that started all this mess. The Andalite Chronicles was the first, originally released in 3 slim volumes (that to this day, I am bitter for no longer owning). It tells the tale of Elfangor, the Andalite who crash landed on earth and gave the Animorphs their powers.
This book freaking blew my mind as a kid. I remember it being more "mature" than the usual books in the series, and considered it adult sci-fi for a long time. Of course I did! It was probably my first ever sci-fi book. The cover art was beautiful. Mature. It looked like any other in the adult sci-fi section. You get your first look at Andalite culture, how the war with the Yeerks is going, and even a foray into the Taxxon home world. It also introduces the first game changing plot twist in the series regarding one of the Animorphs, demonstrating what this series was capable of despite the "one-a-month" episodic & disposable format.
How does it stand up as a fully grown ass man?
Wow. This is unexpected: The Andalite Chronicles is probably my first big disappointment in the reread so far.
There's a lot of inconsistencies here from what's previously been established. The Andalites here are much less "stiff" and methodical, the way they've been portrayed through Ax up until now - what primarily grated me here was the "hip" 90's language they were suddenly using. The inclusion of Chapman as a great big asshole was unnecessary and cheapens the gut punch of #2 where you found him actually pretty sympathetic. This character easily could have just been someone new. Most surprising of all is that the writing here actually feels MORE juvenile than the main books, despite my prior opinion that the Chronicles were "adult". The slang and humor work well from the point of view of a bunch of teens in the 90's - less so from alien warriors.
I think what bothered me most about this book is how much it reminded me of the Star Wars film Solo and how much I hate prequels like it: when they condense everything you know about a character's past into one story, as if it all happened in one event. In Solo, it was meeting Lando, Chewbacca, getting the Millenium Falcon, even the weird notch in the Falcon's hull. Here, it's the genesis of Visser Three, Chapman, the Time Matrix, the Yeerks discovering Earth, and The Big Plot Twist.
As a kid, it didn't phase me, but with many more books and stories under my belt now it feels lazy and the character is less fleshed out than they were before. If everything we know about this character's past happened in two weeks of their life, who were they before this one event? Apparently nobody.
The plot twist at the end will overshadow this for a first time reader. There are a few other great moments as well, like what happens with Elfangor's frienemy Abron. But it turns out that most of what I remember this book for boils down to 20 pages at the end, and there's probably good reason for me forgetting the rest. If this had spent less time with the Taxxons, and more in the epilogue, this would have had a strong [b:11/22/63|10644930|11/22/63|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327876792l/10644930._SY75_.jpg|15553789] vibe; which would have bored a child to tears, but delighted me now.
5 enthusiastic stars from 11 year old me. Still a 3* rating from 35 year old me, despite how hard I've trashed it here. This book was a game changer, and most of what I ranted about won't and didn't matter to its target audience.
Back to the main series! Here's hoping the following Chronicles hold up a bit better.