A review by ramiel
The Andalite's Gift by K.A. Applegate

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

"<What are you singing?> Jake asked her. <What are the words?>
<It isn't words, exactly,> Cassie said. <But if it were, it would be just one word: hope.>"

This Megamorphs book is Not one of my favorites in the series. Compared to everything that's come before it, it reads very clunky, especially at first. It also includes a very weird amnesia subplot for ??? some reason? which, despite centering around my favorite character (Rachel), I would say was the worst chapters to follow up until the end. I can't say anything about that, but the clunkiness can probably be attributed to the fact that this is the first time all character POVs are being used in the same book, which I'm sure it took some getting used to to write. 



A short description of it would be: the kids have to deal with a strange monster chasing them and also Rachel is missing (her chapters also including some ableism with a strange woman who's yeerk had been starved out of her head who appears, burns down a house, and then... never shows up again). The first 20 chapters or so are the kids switching POV chapters where... not a lot happens, everyone is confused and things don't move much. However, despite not loving it, I can pinpoint things I enjoyed very much. The dialogue between Marco and Ax is always appreciated, the "Marco can't drive" gag is always good, and the closer we got to the end of the story - the more the kids started to understand what was going on with the creature chasing them, the more invested I felt to the story itself. 

I also liked the creature itself, the Veleek - Animorphs has some fascinating and creative aliens and the Veleek is no different. 

It held within it what I called "a rare gem", as one of the last chapters had a very good moment between Cassie and Tobias where they talk about fear and bravery. Cassie feels like a coward for allowing the monster to take Marco because she was too scared to morph in some earlier chapters, and it dwells in her up until the end, where she makes a plan and requests to be the one who carries it out. It's especially poignant as the last book was Rachel's, where she also struggles with feeling "weak" for being afraid and wanting to leave the war altogether. This, I would say, is the best side plot or storyline in the book, though it only takes up the last few chapters.
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