Book #28 of 2022: The Weakness by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #37) I’ve used the word “goofy” in the past to describe the handful of Animorphs volumes that I haven’t really cared for in this reread, reflecting those one-off premises that are simply too outlandish to take seriously even in the context of a YA …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Weakness by K. A. Applegate”
Book #22 of 2022: The Mutation by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #36) Another somewhat-middling Animorphs adventure, this time by one-off ghostwriter Erica Bobone. The initial premise is fine: the Yeerks are apparently still searching for the sunken Pemalite craft from #27 The Exposed, and have built an advanced heavy-duty submarine that the heroes decide they …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Mutation by K. A. Applegate”
Book #16 of 2022: Visser by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Chronicles #3) The Chronicles have been a consistently strong corner of the Animorphs franchise — perhaps surprisingly so, given how little they feature of our familiar teenage animal-morphing freedom fighters. In this third volume, for example, the spotlight lands on Visser One, the Yeerk commander …
Book #10 of 2022: The Proposal by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #35) This is ghostwriter Jeffrey Zeuhlke’s second and final contribution to the Animorphs series, and I must say, I like it a lot less than his previous outing, #25 The Extreme. The best part is the focus on a crisis in narrator Marco’s mental …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Proposal by K. A. Applegate”
Book #4 of 2022: The Prophecy by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #34) Another strong Animorphs adventure ghostwritten by Melinda Metz, who likewise penned the previous Cassie volume, #29 The Sickness. (Alas, it appears to be her final contribution to the series.) Surprisingly enough, this one is also a direct sequel to The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, revisiting …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Prophecy by K. A. Applegate”
Book #373 of 2021: The Illusion by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #33) Remember that Scholastic Book Fair series from the 90s with all the wacky covers of kids turning into animals? Haha, anyway, this is the volume where one of those middle-schoolers gets captured and violently tortured in excruciating detail for a good portion of …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Illusion by K. A. Applegate”
Book #367 of 2021: The Separation by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #32) I realize suspension of disbelief is an odd criterion for a series about middle-schoolers changing into animals to fight aliens, but I find this book with the two Rachels particularly hard to swallow. I actually dig the initial premise: the protagonist is injured …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Separation by K. A. Applegate”
Book #361 of 2021: The Conspiracy by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #31) Kudos to Laura Battyanyi-Wiess, our first repeat ghostwriter: this Animorphs novel is possibly Jake’s strongest outing as narrator yet, and I love that it springs from such a simple premise. The hero’s great-grandfather has died, and his dad is insisting the family take …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Conspiracy by K. A. Applegate”
Book #355 of 2021: The Reunion by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #30) I’m not a fan of the coincidence-heavy setup to this Animorphs volume — Marco has a nightmare involving his mom, the Controller to the Yeerk Visser One, which leads him to skip school and randomly go to the city’s business district, where she …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Reunion by K. A. Applegate”
Book #343 of 2021: Elfangor’s Secret by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Megamorphs #3) Is there any Animorphs opening more unsettling than this one, with its in-media-res presentation of an alternate universe where our heroes are still fighting the same covert alien invasion, but as citizens of a racist, slave-holding empire? Rachel is nowhere to be …
Continue reading “Book Review: Elfangor’s Secret by K. A. Applegate”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more