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atomicookie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
cellardoor10's review against another edition
4.0
Ants and lobsters! Horrifying stuff, and an effective setup for book 6, which is, in my opinion, where Applegate really starts to get into the good, meaty part of the overall story. The first 5 books are setup - characters, situation, stakes. Excited for one of the moments I remember the clearest from my original read-through, book 6.
This one has good action, ridiculous hijinks from Axe the Idiot and we FINALLY get to hear from our reluctant morpher, Marco. We hear his doubts, insecurities, home issues, and everything else behind the veneer of wit and sarcasm. His character has been built up as being one way - the shield he's put up - but it's really something else entirely underneath the surface. Pretty good narrative structure so far in revealing the actual thoughts of someone who is almost always hiding his actual feelings.
This one has good action, ridiculous hijinks from Axe the Idiot and we FINALLY get to hear from our reluctant morpher, Marco. We hear his doubts, insecurities, home issues, and everything else behind the veneer of wit and sarcasm. His character has been built up as being one way - the shield he's put up - but it's really something else entirely underneath the surface. Pretty good narrative structure so far in revealing the actual thoughts of someone who is almost always hiding his actual feelings.
justagiant's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
eleanorjmca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a difficult one to rate. In general the tone was a lot darker than the preceding books - if that’s possible - and especially a contrast with Cassie’s story in book 4. Here we get to see the two most terrifying morph sequences yet: lobster and ant. Both the descriptions of the morphing process and what happens to them when they’re in morph are pretty horrific and not easy reads even for an adult. Then we have Marco’s POV, a kid grieving his dead mother, experiencing a very difficult home life, who has no love for this fight at all and in fact is strongly considering giving it up. The book essentially gives Marco several excellent reasons to quit the Animorphs followed by one devastating reason to continue, and it’s a plot structure that works very well, also providing important character development for Marco to get him out of the rut of being the naysayer for the first four books.
There were a few things that didn’t work for me. I loved the scenes with Ax at the mall as a kid, but reading back as an adult they don’t quite work - Ax, who has come across as very serious and somewhat sheltered up to now, wouldn’t be so careless about time spent in morph unless his morph was very out of control, which is implied but never addressed; he doesn’t apologise to Jake for losing control or express any worries about morphing again, the way the other kids have in similar situations. Equally, it’s convenient thatthe very first person to morph back to their original form in a panic while surrounded by observers was the Andalite and not any of the humans, thus keeping their cover intact. Other plot holes niggled at me - after loud regrets in previous books about morphing for a mission without testing it first, why didn’t the team test-run the ant morph? There’s a vague implication Jake thought it wouldn’t be a problem because of his previous easy time as a flea, but after several missions where they have almost died even teenagers should probably be more careful. Why did they continue with Ax’s plan after finding out Visser One was scheduled to visit earth ? That seems like the kind of thing Jake or Cassie - or even Marco himself - would have vetoed or at least delayed until a more suitable time. The biggest plot issue for me was Visser One letting the Animorphs go. Is getting one up on Visser Three really more important than eliminating the sole, significant threat to the invasion you personally helped start and have evidently invested a lot in, to the point of staying in a human host when long off the planet? For that matter, why, apart from for emotional reasons for Marco, has Visser One stayed in a human host at all now that that human is presumed dead on earth so no further use for the future, and objectively much weaker than a horn-bajir host, for example? Why not just kill or imprison the host and move on? This seems picky, but it took me out of the story a bit at the most important moment, so it was a little irritating. These books have a slight habit of suspending disbelief or going against things previously established when it suits the plot, which is much more forgivable in a kids’ series than an adult one but still feels a little like a cop out when it happens, particularly because the usual standard of writing and plotting is very high.
It’s an interesting development that Visser Threenow knows one of the Andalite Bandits is a child , and for once when he shows up here it doesn’t feel forced. But it does beg the question of how long the Animorphs will be able to keep on meeting him face to face without revealing that they are humans. (About 40 books if my memory serves?)
The good scenes in this volume arereally good - I found myself almost crying at the end - so even though the plot is a bit tattered, I’m giving this a 4 rather than a 3.5. Plus I liked when they went to space .
One small note - the company-assigned book title really makes next to no sense in this case as I think this is the book with the fewest predators so far, unless you count the lobster orVisser One …
CW for claustrophobia, which isn’t in the Storygraph list but definitely applies to the ant scenes.
There were a few things that didn’t work for me. I loved the scenes with Ax at the mall as a kid, but reading back as an adult they don’t quite work - Ax, who has come across as very serious and somewhat sheltered up to now, wouldn’t be so careless about time spent in morph unless his morph was very out of control, which is implied but never addressed; he doesn’t apologise to Jake for losing control or express any worries about morphing again, the way the other kids have in similar situations. Equally, it’s convenient that
It’s an interesting development that Visser Three
The good scenes in this volume are
One small note - the company-assigned book title really makes next to no sense in this case as I think this is the book with the fewest predators so far, unless you count the lobster or
CW for claustrophobia, which isn’t in the Storygraph list but definitely applies to the ant scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent
lynguafranca45's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This is my first time reading the series and so far I'm enjoying everything.
It's not where it needs to be yet, but I'm enjoying the journey and it's just the right amount of youthful action that I need.
It's not where it needs to be yet, but I'm enjoying the journey and it's just the right amount of youthful action that I need.
rat_girl_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lesserjoke's review against another edition
4.0
The fifth Animorphs novel gets a lot of its impact and forward momentum from a twist reveal near the end, of the sort I'm reluctant to spoil in a review despite the passage of decades. Suffice to say, we learn further details about the Yeerks' internal power structure by meeting the high-ranking Visser One, whose presence opens up key storytelling avenues for the future. That encounter also cements Marco's commitment to the fight, after he's spent much of this volume planning to quit altogether.
And it's hard to fault him for entertaining that thought, given how the book contains one of the more grisly and horrific early morphing experiences. Yes, it's the infamous ant scene, wherein the young teens who are already struggling to resist the empty hivemind of their insect bodies as they travel through a tiny wall tunnel suddenly confront members of an enemy colony who attack in a swarm and begin ripping them limb from limb. (One of those moments when I have to again exclaim: they marketed these books to us as children!) It's shocking in its brutality and humbling in its reminder of the small-scale warfare happening in the natural world around us, and it clearly weighs on the whole team afterwards. The trauma is getting to them, so it's no surprise that at least one of the characters is starting to question if the mission to fend off the alien invasion is even worth it.
With that being said, I have mixed feelings on Marco as a narrator. I understand that his glib humor is a defense mechanism, and I have sympathy for his home life, where he's had to become somewhat responsible for his own dad, stuck in a depressive spiral following the presumed death at sea of the boy's mother. But he's not always the most reflective and insightful about these things, so I tend to like him better through the eyes of his friends. Marco plots have a tendency to skew toward the ludicrous too, as in the opening chapter here when he morphs into a gorilla to stop a neighborhood mugging. He's also our viewpoint later to Ax's troubles with the human form, repeating parts of words that the extraterrestrial is not used to speaking aloud and going wild with his new sense of taste, grabbing bites off everyone's trays in the local food court. There's a slapstick quality to those scenes that feels a little out of place, which the protagonist's sardonic commentary only amplifies.
Still, the title ends on an upswing of action, and is overall another strong look at the cost these kids are paying for stepping up to defend humanity. That adds a definite gravity to the affair, which will grow bleaker yet in the days ahead regardless of this hero's jokes.
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter
And it's hard to fault him for entertaining that thought, given how the book contains one of the more grisly and horrific early morphing experiences. Yes, it's the infamous ant scene, wherein the young teens who are already struggling to resist the empty hivemind of their insect bodies as they travel through a tiny wall tunnel suddenly confront members of an enemy colony who attack in a swarm and begin ripping them limb from limb. (One of those moments when I have to again exclaim: they marketed these books to us as children!) It's shocking in its brutality and humbling in its reminder of the small-scale warfare happening in the natural world around us, and it clearly weighs on the whole team afterwards. The trauma is getting to them, so it's no surprise that at least one of the characters is starting to question if the mission to fend off the alien invasion is even worth it.
With that being said, I have mixed feelings on Marco as a narrator. I understand that his glib humor is a defense mechanism, and I have sympathy for his home life, where he's had to become somewhat responsible for his own dad, stuck in a depressive spiral following the presumed death at sea of the boy's mother. But he's not always the most reflective and insightful about these things, so I tend to like him better through the eyes of his friends. Marco plots have a tendency to skew toward the ludicrous too, as in the opening chapter here when he morphs into a gorilla to stop a neighborhood mugging. He's also our viewpoint later to Ax's troubles with the human form, repeating parts of words that the extraterrestrial is not used to speaking aloud and going wild with his new sense of taste, grabbing bites off everyone's trays in the local food court. There's a slapstick quality to those scenes that feels a little out of place, which the protagonist's sardonic commentary only amplifies.
Still, the title ends on an upswing of action, and is overall another strong look at the cost these kids are paying for stepping up to defend humanity. That adds a definite gravity to the affair, which will grow bleaker yet in the days ahead regardless of this hero's jokes.
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter
melann's review against another edition
5.0
Woah! I really liked this one. Getting to hear more about Marcos backstory was very interesting