Book #271 of 2021: The Departure by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #19) Cassie is in crisis. The latest Animorphs battle wasn’t even that bad by the scale of what they’ve faced before, but as sometimes happens, it was enough to push her to a breaking point. A pacifist teen forced yet again to kill, she …
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Book #265 of 2021: In the Time of Dinosaurs by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Megamorphs #2) I’m rather lukewarm on the first Megamorphs release, but this is the sort of big blockbuster adventure that the line seems built for, an over-the-top extravaganza that might strain the limits of the regular Animorphs series and benefits from …
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Movie #5 of 2021: Star Wars (1977) As expected, this sci-fi classic absolutely still holds up. The worldbuilding is naturalistic and immersive, the characters are compelling, and the stakes of the storyline make sense at every stage. The pacing is excellent throughout, up until arguably the final attack on the Death Star, which maybe drags …
Book #229 of 2021: The Andalite Chronicles by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Chronicles #1) I’m still too early in my Animorphs reread to definitively call this prequel my single favorite entry, but it is certainly a strong contender for that eventual claim. In its first half in particular, it’s a sweeping space opera that takes …
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TV #61 of 2021: The Americans, season 6 A time-skip is an inherently risky creative maneuver, introducing discontinuities that can suspend audience investment in the ongoing narrative and generate boring mysteries of the what-do-these-characters-know-that-we-don’t variety. (Both examples are apparent in the final season of Parks and Recreation, to note just one prominent example.) There are …
Book #193 of 2021: The Alien by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #8) The first Animorphs book narrated by Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill is a roaring success. (Strictly speaking, his viewpoint was introduced in the previous volume, Megamorphs #1, but it feels richer here where it doesn’t have to share space with any others.) We get new terminology for …
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Book #181 of 2021: The Stranger by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #7) My favorite book of this adult reread yet. The action is exciting and the dilemmas are clearly defined, and that’s even before the surprise pivot into a genuinely unexpected development around a third of the way through the text (much earlier than the …
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Book #164 of 2021: The Briar King by Greg Keyes (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone #1) This early 2000s fantasy series is a real hidden gem, one that I’ve always been surprised isn’t more popular. I wouldn’t call it a ripoff of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, but that …
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Book #163 of 2021: The Message by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #4) Cassie’s first Animorphs novel is an absolute delight. Plotwise, it pushes the narrative further than any volume since the premiere, adding in one final teammate to join the group of morphing teens. (I’ll avoid spoilers beyond that here, but this new ally will …
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Book #145 of 2021: The Invasion by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #1) At the start of this long-overdue series reread, I am struck by how well the first Animorphs book holds up decades on, both from the perspective of a now-older reader and as a cultural artifact removed from its original pre-9/11 context. (The last …
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