A review by eleanorjmca
The Predator by K.A. Applegate

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 that
the 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 Three
now 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 are
really
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 or
Visser One
…

CW for claustrophobia, which isn’t in the Storygraph list but definitely applies to the ant scenes.
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