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A review by lesserjoke
The Capture by K.A. Applegate
3.0
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 taken over by a Yeerk parasite, providing our first good look at what it's like for someone to experience their body being controlled by one of the aliens, trapped in their own mind and unable to move a muscle while the invader rummages around in their memories to fool everyone else into thinking things are normal.
I like how author K. A. Applegate is able to keep the action compelling despite the protagonist's basic lack of agency during this ordeal, as well as the clever strategies that the team ultimately finds to handle the threat without hurting their stricken leader or raising undue suspicions. It's cool that he can communicate directly with the creature via their private internal dialogue too. At the same time, however, it feels like there's way more that could have been done with this storyline, especially in the period before the imposter is detected.
Moreover, the majority of the novel is just setup leading to that point, leavened with some gross-out morphing into cockroaches and flies. We're introduced to Visser Three's human form, Tom gets switched to be the host of a different Controller, and his brother sees an ominous vision of a glowing red eye that will remain unexplained for now, but that's about it as far as any series plot movement or larger significance. This is also the first time yet that we've repeated a narrator, which makes it even more striking how little is going on here.
Although I admit the endgame is pretty thrilling, I wish the book overall had really been as focused on that portion as the official publisher's description suggests -- and that it hadn't glossed past the arguable war crime of the teen soldiers boiling alive 'a hundred or so' of their defenseless enemies. I have to wonder, where is Cassie's renowned sense of morality, that she stands idly by without objecting in that scene?
[Content warning for claustrophobia, poisoning, and starvation.]
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I like how author K. A. Applegate is able to keep the action compelling despite the protagonist's basic lack of agency during this ordeal, as well as the clever strategies that the team ultimately finds to handle the threat without hurting their stricken leader or raising undue suspicions. It's cool that he can communicate directly with the creature via their private internal dialogue too. At the same time, however, it feels like there's way more that could have been done with this storyline, especially in the period before the imposter is detected.
Moreover, the majority of the novel is just setup leading to that point, leavened with some gross-out morphing into cockroaches and flies. We're introduced to Visser Three's human form, Tom gets switched to be the host of a different Controller, and his brother sees an ominous vision of a glowing red eye that will remain unexplained for now, but that's about it as far as any series plot movement or larger significance. This is also the first time yet that we've repeated a narrator, which makes it even more striking how little is going on here.
Although I admit the endgame is pretty thrilling, I wish the book overall had really been as focused on that portion as the official publisher's description suggests -- and that it hadn't glossed past the arguable war crime of the teen soldiers boiling alive 'a hundred or so' of their defenseless enemies. I have to wonder, where is Cassie's renowned sense of morality, that she stands idly by without objecting in that scene?
[Content warning for claustrophobia, poisoning, and starvation.]
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter