Book #211 of 2021: The Forgotten by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #11) In the first half of this story, the Animorphs are investigating a spaceship crash site, eventually embarking on a plan to steal the vessel and fly it to the White House. It’s one of those tossed-off elements that the series never really thinks …
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Book #205 of 2021: The Android by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #10) I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a series-best Animorphs volume, but it’s one of the stronger entries for sure. It’s also the rare case of an item in this franchise with an unambiguous, straightforward title: this is in fact a …
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Book #204 of 2021: The Born Queen by Greg Keyes (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone #4) This high fantasy quartet never quite regains the propulsive rush of its initial entry, and there are a few too many dramatic reversals and reveals in the lengthy climax of this last novel for each to land with …
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Book #199 of 2021: The Secret by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #9) This is perhaps the classic example of a disposable Animorphs volume, one which doesn’t really move the plot forward or tell us anything new about the characters or their universe. The crisis du jour is so quintessentially 90s too: the Yeerks are illegally …
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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 #191 of 2021: The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone #3) Another strong fantasy adventure, following the returning heroes — by this point fairly scattered across the realm — as they navigate civil war, political intrigue, and unjust imprisonment amid the prophesied apocalypse still unfolding all around them. It’s …
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Book #187 of 2021: The Andalite’s Gift by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs Megamorphs #1) The first Animorphs release outside of the main series is this ‘Megamorphs’ title, which is supersized both in literal page count and in including all six potential narrators, rather than just one. (Even Ax the resident alien gets a voice, right …
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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 #176 of 2021: The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone #2) Another strong entry in this unfairly-obscure fantasy quartet. I don’t like it quite as much as the previous volume, in part since a couple of the new storylines — Anne’s to some extent, but especially Aspar’s — seem …
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Book #175 of 2021: The Capture by K. A. Applegate (Animorphs #6) The big hook to this sixth Animorphs volume — the premise alluded to on the front cover and plainly stated on the back — doesn’t actually occur until about two-thirds of the way through the text. Spoiler alert: it’s that Jake himself is …
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