Book #103 of 2022: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami First published in 1999 (or 2003, for the English translation), this controversial thriller posits a dystopian Japan where school classes of fifteen-year-olds, selected by random lottery, are forced to fight one another to the death each year. The children are kidnapped, locked into metal collars lined …
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Book #100 of 2022: The Resistance by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #47) Although the Animorphs books are short, they tend to be rich in heavy and complicated thematic material, which is why my reviews discussing them often wind up quite extensive. But there’s honestly not much to say about this one. The plot is half …
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Book #94 of 2022: The Deception by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #46) We’re in the Animorphs endgame now, as is perhaps best indicated by the numbering convention breaking down. For the first forty-five novels of the main series, the narrators followed a predictable loop, with Jake at the start of each cycle telling stories #1, …
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Book #88 of 2022: The Revelation by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #45) [Note: Spoiler warning! It was too hard to write a review for this book without going into significant detail about its various surprises.] This series has been spinning its wheels for a while now, putting out volumes that are sometimes better and sometimes …
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Book #82 of 2022: The Unexpected by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #44) Pretty much the definition of a filler adventure, and another story where the heroes’ only real victory is living through to the end of it, rather than any strategic objective they’ve been aiming to achieve. This particular mission to stop the Yeerks from …
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Book #79 of 2022: Archer’s Goon by Diana Wynne Jones This 1984 sci-fi / fantasy novel, which I read and reread countless times as a child and is apparently one of Neil Gaiman’s favorites as well, opens with an irresistible premise: a hulking enforcer camps out in the thirteen-year-old hero’s kitchen, saying his mysterious employer …
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Book #76 of 2022: The Test by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #43) This Animorphs novel is a direct sequel to ghostwriter Ellen Geroux’s earlier story #33 The Illusion, in which Tobias gets tortured by the unhinged sub-visser “Taylor.” The same antagonist is back for this tale, quickly recapturing the hawk boy after he makes the …
Book #70 of 2022: The Journey by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #42) In another riff on a classic sci-fi premise, this Animorphs novel by ghostwriter Emily Costello — fresh off her dubious success with Alternamorphs #2 — finds the team shrinking down to microscopic size, in order to chase a squad of Helmacrons who have …
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Book #64 of 2022: The Familiar by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #41) Following another particularly gruesome battle in which the Animorphs barely escape with their lives, their leader Jake staggers home, too exhausted to comfort his traumatized girlfriend Cassie or take his usual precautions like changing clothes or checking himself for signs of blood. He’s …
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Book #58 of 2022: The Next Passage by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Alternamorphs #2) Here is the nicest thing I can say about this second Animorphs choose-your-own-adventure title: it is better than the first one. (It’s not a sequel, though: the “you” before was another kid who was wandering through the abandoned construction site of …
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