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Animorphs #28
The Experiment
The Yeerks are ready to control humans where it counts--in their D.N.A. They're working on a drug that saps humans of their free will. But the Animorphs show them that human free will runs deeper than any drug can reach.
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1999
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938 people want to read
About the author
K.A. Applegate
251 books489 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
May 13, 2015
Ghostwriter: Amy Garvey. I'm sort of hit-or-miss on this one, so I'm going to itemise.
The good:
- Ax gets a TV!! This is significant because it leads to a new pop cultural obsession on his part, and his declaring that he is young and occasionally restless, and wanting to go around shirtless, and basically it's the best thing ever. Ax is hilarious in this book. His little asides and malapropisms and internal monologue assumptions are wonderful.
- The questions of sentience, and Cassie's objections to animal testing. Marco still teases her for it, but her anger in this one feels real, and not like something we're meant to laugh off.
- The slaughterhouse was one of the most traumatising scenes in the whole series, lodging in my memory. Like, a lot. I feel like it's another notch in KAA's quest to create little animal activists of us all
- More Erek!
- Cassie is fierce in this one, keeping her cool and wrestling bull!Ax & bull!Tobias into submission while everyone else is losing it. I love it when you get to see her as calm and pragmatic and problem-solving rather than just the 'weak hippie' box she's sometimes boxed into.
- The sycophantic computer, and the idea of Yeerks falsifying results because they're just that freaking terrified of Visser Three and he is just that oppressive to his underlings. It's the perfect natural consequence of his off-the-rails behaviour. There are downsides to being a megalomaniacal tyrant, y'all.
The meh:
- Ax is hilarious, but he's also not much more than that? Garvey nailed his comedic aspect (some of his best quotes are from this book), but I missed his more thoughtful and introspective streak from the earlier books. Because he's a source of comedy, but he should also be a ruthlessly pragmatic scientist with a streak of honour and arrogance. I think one way of accomplishing this could have been to delve more into his horror at the humans' animal testing, his shock at what we're capable of; there was a bit of it, with his wondering about the chimpanzees, but not a lot. Mostly he comes off as really one-note.
- "In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions, that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all," Marco said. This is a stupid book that accomplishes absolutely nothing, but at least it acknowledges it.
People have compared this to the Area 51 book (which some people utterly hated but it almost made me cry laughing, and I'm fond of that one for a variety of reasons). There's more good than bad in my list, I guess, but it's suuuuch an inconsequential book that I can't give it any more than 3 stars.
The good:
- Ax gets a TV!! This is significant because it leads to a new pop cultural obsession on his part, and his declaring that he is young and occasionally restless, and wanting to go around shirtless, and basically it's the best thing ever. Ax is hilarious in this book. His little asides and malapropisms and internal monologue assumptions are wonderful.
- The questions of sentience, and Cassie's objections to animal testing. Marco still teases her for it, but her anger in this one feels real, and not like something we're meant to laugh off.
- The slaughterhouse was one of the most traumatising scenes in the whole series, lodging in my memory. Like, a lot. I feel like it's another notch in KAA's quest to create little animal activists of us all
- More Erek!
- Cassie is fierce in this one, keeping her cool and wrestling bull!Ax & bull!Tobias into submission while everyone else is losing it. I love it when you get to see her as calm and pragmatic and problem-solving rather than just the 'weak hippie' box she's sometimes boxed into.
- The sycophantic computer, and the idea of Yeerks falsifying results because they're just that freaking terrified of Visser Three and he is just that oppressive to his underlings. It's the perfect natural consequence of his off-the-rails behaviour. There are downsides to being a megalomaniacal tyrant, y'all.
The meh:
- Ax is hilarious, but he's also not much more than that? Garvey nailed his comedic aspect (some of his best quotes are from this book), but I missed his more thoughtful and introspective streak from the earlier books. Because he's a source of comedy, but he should also be a ruthlessly pragmatic scientist with a streak of honour and arrogance. I think one way of accomplishing this could have been to delve more into his horror at the humans' animal testing, his shock at what we're capable of; there was a bit of it, with his wondering about the chimpanzees, but not a lot. Mostly he comes off as really one-note.
- "In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions, that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all," Marco said. This is a stupid book that accomplishes absolutely nothing, but at least it acknowledges it.
People have compared this to the Area 51 book (which some people utterly hated but it almost made me cry laughing, and I'm fond of that one for a variety of reasons). There's more good than bad in my list, I guess, but it's suuuuch an inconsequential book that I can't give it any more than 3 stars.
May 6, 2016
I am ambivalent about this one. On the one hand, Ax! Being delightfully too human! Soaps! On the other hand … everything else.
The plot of #28: The Experiment is a mess. It’s backwards, in fact, with the big reveal delayed and stuck at the end as some kind of huge twist when it should have been up front. What we’re left with is a couple of attempts by the Animorphs to infiltrate a meat-packing plant, some righteous indignation from Cassie, and Visser Three being played for laughs. In my opinion, the series is at its worst when it undermines Visser Three’s callous disregard for laugh for humourous purposes—there are plenty of other ways to be funny in these books, as every time Ax describes a human activity can attest.
So I’m not even going to mention the plot. It’s dumb and forgettable, and it didn’t have to be that way, but it is. Enough of that.
Ax is lovely. While the ghostwriter for this one probably over-emphasized his goofy obsession with, say, food, or bemused relationship with human clothing, I love the Ax books, because they provide a different perspective on humans and the other Animorphs. He is able to be a bit more honest when describing, say, Cassie’s conflicted position on morphing sentient beings. As an alien, he has a less biased vision of how the Animorphs interact with each other.
There are some awkward moments in this book, moments where Marco or someone else butts heads with Cassie and her moral nature. Indeed, perhaps The Experiment’s greatest success is in how it reminds us that, prior becoming the Animorphs, these kids didn’t really hang out much. They weren’t always a social group. Jake and Marco were besties, and Jake and Cassie were kind of friends, and Jake and Rachel were cousins … but that was it. And I think it is a nice way to introduce young readers to the idea that you don’t have to be friends, or even really get along with, coworkers: sometimes you just have to do a job with people you don’t much like, and you have to be professional about it. Marco and Cassie might have very different priorities when it comes to saving and rescuing animals, but at the end of the day, they have to work together here.
OK, that’s all I have for this one. Next time, on a Very Special Episode, Ax gets deadly sick. We continue reading … after These Messages….
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #27: The Exposed | #29: The Sickness →
The plot of #28: The Experiment is a mess. It’s backwards, in fact, with the big reveal delayed and stuck at the end as some kind of huge twist when it should have been up front. What we’re left with is a couple of attempts by the Animorphs to infiltrate a meat-packing plant, some righteous indignation from Cassie, and Visser Three being played for laughs. In my opinion, the series is at its worst when it undermines Visser Three’s callous disregard for laugh for humourous purposes—there are plenty of other ways to be funny in these books, as every time Ax describes a human activity can attest.
So I’m not even going to mention the plot. It’s dumb and forgettable, and it didn’t have to be that way, but it is. Enough of that.
Ax is lovely. While the ghostwriter for this one probably over-emphasized his goofy obsession with, say, food, or bemused relationship with human clothing, I love the Ax books, because they provide a different perspective on humans and the other Animorphs. He is able to be a bit more honest when describing, say, Cassie’s conflicted position on morphing sentient beings. As an alien, he has a less biased vision of how the Animorphs interact with each other.
There are some awkward moments in this book, moments where Marco or someone else butts heads with Cassie and her moral nature. Indeed, perhaps The Experiment’s greatest success is in how it reminds us that, prior becoming the Animorphs, these kids didn’t really hang out much. They weren’t always a social group. Jake and Marco were besties, and Jake and Cassie were kind of friends, and Jake and Rachel were cousins … but that was it. And I think it is a nice way to introduce young readers to the idea that you don’t have to be friends, or even really get along with, coworkers: sometimes you just have to do a job with people you don’t much like, and you have to be professional about it. Marco and Cassie might have very different priorities when it comes to saving and rescuing animals, but at the end of the day, they have to work together here.
OK, that’s all I have for this one. Next time, on a Very Special Episode, Ax gets deadly sick. We continue reading … after These Messages….
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #27: The Exposed | #29: The Sickness →
January 12, 2018
This one was amusing to read. I'm not sure how to rate it, so I'm giving it a 4/5 because it was a humorous read. But really it should be 3/5, because the story defies logic quite a few times...
What's not to like?
The constant 90s pop culture reference?
Ax's love for commercials, and his acting dramatic like the closing scenes in a soap opera before commercial break?
Marco saying "We can go as burgers ... or boogers", meaning they can go in as either cows or flies. HA.
SPOILERS
There isn't really any forward story momentum here. It's just an amusing and entertaining filler book. I liked it. It was a silly read. Lots of lame jokes, cheesy reference, and just silliness.
This book, while not a forward plot progression, gives me hope that there are still more good books to come in this excellent series. I may be 32 years old, but these are still fun reads.
Growing up is for boring people. Fun people never grow up, they just "grow wiser" and more knowledgeable. With that sentiment, I recommend reading this series... especially if you remember the 90s. Ahh, the flashbacks. The days of tube tvs and ancient computers. The days when I actually played outside as a kid. The days when my parents would tell me it's sunny out, go out and play somewhere, and I'd just wander away all day, them not knowing where I was, nor caring, nor worrying. Then me coming home and watching my 3 television channels on an old black and white tube TV my grandfather got out of the garbage pickup. I would watch the fuzzy channels... hockey (typical Canadian child), or Tin Tin in french (because there weren't many options... not that I actually understood french). Ahh, the 90s...
BUT I DIGRESS
In this book the story is pretty basic. Eric of the Chee, the androids the pemalites created, show up disguised as a FedEx truck... yup... dog droids dressed up as a van.... hilarious.
We find out there is a meat packing plant and a animal testing lab that the Yeerks have bought recently.
Basically it turns out Visser Three was trying to remove human free will. It didn't work of course, but in the end the Animorphs break in and save some chimps, and later some humans.
There was a ridiculous scene wherein the animorphs get on top of a truck, and break into the back of it to figure out what kind of animal the Yeerks are using (whether it's a chimp or something else)... the plan was that they would morph those animals, and release the real ones.
They did this, and it what positively bizarre and amusing. One guy in a car actually seemed to be cheering them on as they broke into the back of the truck.
They caused a car accident too. Fun.
Then we have the hilarious scenes with Marco driving a truck... again... and going on two wheels... and the human controller guards criticizing his driving...
All is all a very fun book to read. This one probably made me smile, and burst out with "HA!!", in reaction to funny scenes, more than most other books. That's a plus in my opinion. Way to go Ghost Writer.
What's not to like?
The constant 90s pop culture reference?
Ax's love for commercials, and his acting dramatic like the closing scenes in a soap opera before commercial break?
Marco saying "We can go as burgers ... or boogers", meaning they can go in as either cows or flies. HA.
SPOILERS
There isn't really any forward story momentum here. It's just an amusing and entertaining filler book. I liked it. It was a silly read. Lots of lame jokes, cheesy reference, and just silliness.
This book, while not a forward plot progression, gives me hope that there are still more good books to come in this excellent series. I may be 32 years old, but these are still fun reads.
Growing up is for boring people. Fun people never grow up, they just "grow wiser" and more knowledgeable. With that sentiment, I recommend reading this series... especially if you remember the 90s. Ahh, the flashbacks. The days of tube tvs and ancient computers. The days when I actually played outside as a kid. The days when my parents would tell me it's sunny out, go out and play somewhere, and I'd just wander away all day, them not knowing where I was, nor caring, nor worrying. Then me coming home and watching my 3 television channels on an old black and white tube TV my grandfather got out of the garbage pickup. I would watch the fuzzy channels... hockey (typical Canadian child), or Tin Tin in french (because there weren't many options... not that I actually understood french). Ahh, the 90s...
BUT I DIGRESS
In this book the story is pretty basic. Eric of the Chee, the androids the pemalites created, show up disguised as a FedEx truck... yup... dog droids dressed up as a van.... hilarious.
We find out there is a meat packing plant and a animal testing lab that the Yeerks have bought recently.
Basically it turns out Visser Three was trying to remove human free will. It didn't work of course, but in the end the Animorphs break in and save some chimps, and later some humans.
There was a ridiculous scene wherein the animorphs get on top of a truck, and break into the back of it to figure out what kind of animal the Yeerks are using (whether it's a chimp or something else)... the plan was that they would morph those animals, and release the real ones.
They did this, and it what positively bizarre and amusing. One guy in a car actually seemed to be cheering them on as they broke into the back of the truck.
They caused a car accident too. Fun.
Then we have the hilarious scenes with Marco driving a truck... again... and going on two wheels... and the human controller guards criticizing his driving...
All is all a very fun book to read. This one probably made me smile, and burst out with "HA!!", in reaction to funny scenes, more than most other books. That's a plus in my opinion. Way to go Ghost Writer.
January 22, 2022
Come check out my 4 hour 35 minute deep dive into reading every single Animorphs book for the first time on YouTube. I recap and review all of the books from the main series: https://youtu.be/H8kUM2q3CIU
August 3, 2024
*** 3.65 ***
Ax's POV is always fun. However, not much of a story... Ax's observations on human behavior are amusing though 😊😎
Ax's POV is always fun. However, not much of a story... Ax's observations on human behavior are amusing though 😊😎
July 25, 2022
The Yeerks are experimenting on humans and chimpanzees, hoping to find a formula to take away free will. This is another forgettable filler episode. The plot is just ridiculous and pointless. Though the book itself does acknowledge this.
February 19, 2022
Lol what even was this plot? But all the stars to Ax's sense of humor and a couple of extra for Cassie's heart. 🐄
December 11, 2022
Don’t judge a book by its cover, even when they’re both completely embarrassing
January 22, 2015
Again, the series' usual recap intro is more enjoyable in Ax POV, but having to explain Andalite things helps make the diary structure unrealistic. Granted, those explanations are the kind of canon information I love. Of course, his descriptions of and comparisons to humans are funny like usual.
Again, Ax is too hard on himself. Maybe that's a side effect of playing up Elfangor as well as Andalite culture in general.
Uncle as an Earth term was an addition to expected Ax and Tobias exposition. Maybe Andalites don't think about extended families because they have so few siblings. Maybe they have the concept but don't count it when the people are about the same age.
When Marco shows up is a great portrayal of his relationship with Ax as well as providing an opportunity for asides about Ax and Tobias.
Oh great. Hearing from Erek is never good. Joking about the truck helped lighten the mood. However, this seems too soon since the last book was so Chee-heavy.
I really am curious about what the Yeerks are up to with the animal facilities. So that part seemed well done. Explaining human things to Ax helped the 'diary for Andalites' device work a bit better in-character. Cassie's rant aobut animal testing was actually informative to me.
Getting onto the truck was indeed dangerous - both the activity itself and the degree to which they were publically exposed. Granted, it could be passed off as a stunt by animal rights activists.
Primates being similar to humans has come up before, but mainly as the hands of Marco's gorilla morph being useful. Ax had a great bit of philosophizing and practical description upon morphing the chimp. Also, it fits with something in the last book, where Drode said the great whale was just over the line into sentience. Maybe we humans fail to notice those kinds of things because of communication barriers.
The nerd in me loved Ax's point about how evolution is about survival rather than improvement. I like how evolution is present as commonsense knowledge to Andalites.
The cow tipping was great as a combination of comic relief and mission roadblock.
"Barefoot *black* chick in Day-Glo spandex" is how Cassie describes herself in the cow pen. Her race rarely comes up, and this is as an inconsequential appearance descriptor. It reminded me of one of the series' missed opportunities for minority representation.
I promptly realized that their bovine morphs wouldn't be castrated. I noticed that Ax presented the ear tag stapler as a dull sensation, which seems to be another animal cruelty comment.
Marco attempting to drive was great comic relief. A factory staffer thinking it was a drunk driver makes sense as an in-character excuse. Yet it seems riduculous to dismiss the realization that the bulls are morphed. Yes, it is nuts - I see what you did there. There was a dark novelty in this battle scene. Maybe letting them in gave a false sense of security while Controllers sounded the alarm.
The computer brownnosing Visser Three was a great bit of comic relief mixed with the deadly serious reveal. I really thought the Yeerks had engineered humans to be compliant until it was revealed that the scientists had faked the results to placate the Visser. That's another example of how his abuse of subordinates backfires, but also seems like a comment about scientific ethics in general. There was a great point about free will as an inherent characteristic of sentient species. Narratively, I was glad to see the ambiguity about chimpanzees mentioned again.
I figured the project had something to do with making the invasion full-scale rather than just being another step. I figured the Yeerks would be getting ahead of themselves to think about how to feed hosts en masse - I was right, it wasn't that.
The comic relief, dark stuff, philosophical musings, animal facts and several other elements of the series came together well here.
Again, Ax is too hard on himself. Maybe that's a side effect of playing up Elfangor as well as Andalite culture in general.
Uncle as an Earth term was an addition to expected Ax and Tobias exposition. Maybe Andalites don't think about extended families because they have so few siblings. Maybe they have the concept but don't count it when the people are about the same age.
When Marco shows up is a great portrayal of his relationship with Ax as well as providing an opportunity for asides about Ax and Tobias.
Oh great. Hearing from Erek is never good. Joking about the truck helped lighten the mood. However, this seems too soon since the last book was so Chee-heavy.
I really am curious about what the Yeerks are up to with the animal facilities. So that part seemed well done. Explaining human things to Ax helped the 'diary for Andalites' device work a bit better in-character. Cassie's rant aobut animal testing was actually informative to me.
Getting onto the truck was indeed dangerous - both the activity itself and the degree to which they were publically exposed. Granted, it could be passed off as a stunt by animal rights activists.
Primates being similar to humans has come up before, but mainly as the hands of Marco's gorilla morph being useful. Ax had a great bit of philosophizing and practical description upon morphing the chimp. Also, it fits with something in the last book, where Drode said the great whale was just over the line into sentience. Maybe we humans fail to notice those kinds of things because of communication barriers.
The nerd in me loved Ax's point about how evolution is about survival rather than improvement. I like how evolution is present as commonsense knowledge to Andalites.
The cow tipping was great as a combination of comic relief and mission roadblock.
"Barefoot *black* chick in Day-Glo spandex" is how Cassie describes herself in the cow pen. Her race rarely comes up, and this is as an inconsequential appearance descriptor. It reminded me of one of the series' missed opportunities for minority representation.
I promptly realized that their bovine morphs wouldn't be castrated. I noticed that Ax presented the ear tag stapler as a dull sensation, which seems to be another animal cruelty comment.
Marco attempting to drive was great comic relief. A factory staffer thinking it was a drunk driver makes sense as an in-character excuse. Yet it seems riduculous to dismiss the realization that the bulls are morphed. Yes, it is nuts - I see what you did there. There was a dark novelty in this battle scene. Maybe letting them in gave a false sense of security while Controllers sounded the alarm.
The computer brownnosing Visser Three was a great bit of comic relief mixed with the deadly serious reveal. I really thought the Yeerks had engineered humans to be compliant until it was revealed that the scientists had faked the results to placate the Visser. That's another example of how his abuse of subordinates backfires, but also seems like a comment about scientific ethics in general. There was a great point about free will as an inherent characteristic of sentient species. Narratively, I was glad to see the ambiguity about chimpanzees mentioned again.
I figured the project had something to do with making the invasion full-scale rather than just being another step. I figured the Yeerks would be getting ahead of themselves to think about how to feed hosts en masse - I was right, it wasn't that.
The comic relief, dark stuff, philosophical musings, animal facts and several other elements of the series came together well here.
June 28, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
Ax and the Animorphs discover that the Yeerks have acquired (NOT the DNA!!) an animal testing laboratory and a slaughterhouse, and think the two are related. In the ensuing shenanigans to infiltrate and figure out what the Yeerks are up to (and investigate if they can fuck it up) the Animorphs morph chimpanzees and Ax has a crisis of sentience, and Ax also morphs a bull and steps into a slaughterhouse. And they say the Andalites are meant to be the geniuses of the galaxy...
I didn’t much like this book when I was a kid. For some reason I felt that it was preachy and way too tree-hugging for me. Upon initial reflection as an adult though, I find no clearly defined messages subliminal in the text about the evils of animal testing or the inhumaneness of the slaughterhouse. Maybe this is because the book is told from Ax’s point of view. The Andalite society is completely fucked up like a sinister alien dystopian – they are anti-disabled people, yo. Ax isn’t much bothered by testing on inferior species and can see the benefit. His major crisis comes when he morphs a chimpanzee, which we know to be fairly intelligent. Cassie believes the chimpanzees to be sentient, although Ax never decides. This is interesting because in the previous book we are explicitly told that whales are sentient.
It’s a well-written book and each of the three acts move smoothly from one to the other. There is a distinct lack of description in some areas – the most memorable on being “Cassie turned the stasis field off.” First of all, Cassie’s a wolf, so how does she turn it off? This whole scene seemed completely rushed as the homeless people seemed perfectly happy to escape with a blue centaur alien with a scorpion tail with little more than a ‘What the heck is that?”. Also, apparently they just manage to escape the slaughterhouse and everyone lives happily ever after. Seriously, the book is supposed to end before they even reach the final door. What happens when they get out? Wouldn’t the Controllers chase them down in cars and shoot them? Where it he logic in this? The book is littered with these vague assertions that you wish you get more detail in. It didn’t bother me as a kid, but it bothers me as an adult.
On the plus side, Ax has started watching TV, is obsessed with soap operas and 'these messages' - commercials. He's getting all hip with the pop culture and it's driving everyone else crazy.
As an aside, I heard a rumour that Applegate was so unhappy with the way this book was written (by an environmentalist ghostwriter, yo) that she added in the final scene where the Animorphs chow down on some hamburgers (after Ax nearly got slaughtered).
April 7, 2020
Original Review at Jaunts & Haunts
4/5
I gave this book four stars!
I really enjoyed this book.
This time around we are in Ax's POV, which we don't get to see often enough if you ask me.
Tipped off by Erek their Chee friend, the Animorphs learn of a set of facilities run by the Yeerks. The only problem is, they aren't really sure what their enemy's goal is. Forced into yet another impossible mission, the Animorphs assemble, determined to halt the Yeerks' plans however they can.
There were plenty of great elements to this book and one not so great element.
First and foremost, the writing level was wonderful. I don't really know of the ghostwriter Amy Garvey, but she really nailed all of our favorite characters. What's better is that she instilled so much comedy into this book. I couldn't stop laughing!
Ax doesn't quite understand humans as much as he thinks he does, and its humorous to see him using cultural references in odd and unexpected ways after he acquires a TV. I loved every minute of it, so much that I'm going to briefly quote a small passage I couldn't stop laughing from.
"How about putting on a shirt?" Marco asked.
"The men who are young and restless do not wear shirts. I am young. And I am occasionally restless."
"Ax?"
"Yes, Marco?"
"Put on a shirt."
This level of cheese was just the right amount to make me set down the book so I could laugh my butt off. Moving on.
The premise was interesting enough to keep my attention, and it includes cows and chimpanzees! Take it on this series to put the Animorphs in the strangest situations.
The one thing that really didn't work for me was the actual conclusion behind this book. The plot essentially becomes meaningless in the end, and as much as I loved the writing and humor of this book, that can't go unpunished starwise.
That being said, if it wasn't for that element this would easily be a five star read.
Ultimately, this installment of the Animorphs series is fun, light, and a brief departure from the more serious books. Is it a necessary read? Probably not. Entertaining? You betcha!
4/5
I gave this book four stars!
I really enjoyed this book.
This time around we are in Ax's POV, which we don't get to see often enough if you ask me.
Tipped off by Erek their Chee friend, the Animorphs learn of a set of facilities run by the Yeerks. The only problem is, they aren't really sure what their enemy's goal is. Forced into yet another impossible mission, the Animorphs assemble, determined to halt the Yeerks' plans however they can.
There were plenty of great elements to this book and one not so great element.
First and foremost, the writing level was wonderful. I don't really know of the ghostwriter Amy Garvey, but she really nailed all of our favorite characters. What's better is that she instilled so much comedy into this book. I couldn't stop laughing!
Ax doesn't quite understand humans as much as he thinks he does, and its humorous to see him using cultural references in odd and unexpected ways after he acquires a TV. I loved every minute of it, so much that I'm going to briefly quote a small passage I couldn't stop laughing from.
"How about putting on a shirt?" Marco asked.
"The men who are young and restless do not wear shirts. I am young. And I am occasionally restless."
"Ax?"
"Yes, Marco?"
"Put on a shirt."
This level of cheese was just the right amount to make me set down the book so I could laugh my butt off. Moving on.
The premise was interesting enough to keep my attention, and it includes cows and chimpanzees! Take it on this series to put the Animorphs in the strangest situations.
The one thing that really didn't work for me was the actual conclusion behind this book. The plot essentially becomes meaningless in the end, and as much as I loved the writing and humor of this book, that can't go unpunished starwise.
That being said, if it wasn't for that element this would easily be a five star read.
Ultimately, this installment of the Animorphs series is fun, light, and a brief departure from the more serious books. Is it a necessary read? Probably not. Entertaining? You betcha!
August 6, 2014
In 28, the Animorphs have to stop an anti-free-will drug from making it into the hamburger supply . . . by becoming cows. Their lives are just weird.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Amy Garvey.
Ax has a photo of a cinnamon bun in his scoop.
Bodily functions aren't discussed very often in the Animorphs books, despite its being a kids' series (which usually tempts authors into making gross-out jokes). Every once in a while Animorphs involves bird poop or something like that, but in this book we have the Animorphs throwing monkey poop as a weapon while in chimpanzee form, as well as another mention of a real chimp peeing. A rather odd first, but a first all the same.
If part of their plan rested on becoming specific animals--to the point where they tagged themselves to specifically replace those animals--it seems unlikely that Ax would accidentally acquire a cow first, then not have to seek out a particular steer to become. It seems sloppy. Especially since they could have just all hidden inside cows' noses in fly morph if that's what most of them were going to do. Having two of them in the morphs of animals that could easily get slaughtered in that environment seems so pointlessly dangerous that it reads like it was a situation deliberately created to induce suspense.
Despite their moral objections to morphing sentient creatures, it seems Jake and Marco should have acquired and morphed the Controllers instead of just stealing their clothes. If they wanted the mission to go without a hitch, this seems like a risk they should have taken.
The group elects Marco to drive the truck "because he has experience." The only other experiences he has involved very bad driving and accidents. It seems very impractical to let him drive again. This also causes something else that's pretty much unprecedented so far: Marco mentions being given the finger in response to his driving. Obscene gestures aren't usually referred to in these books.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Amy Garvey.
Ax has a photo of a cinnamon bun in his scoop.
Bodily functions aren't discussed very often in the Animorphs books, despite its being a kids' series (which usually tempts authors into making gross-out jokes). Every once in a while Animorphs involves bird poop or something like that, but in this book we have the Animorphs throwing monkey poop as a weapon while in chimpanzee form, as well as another mention of a real chimp peeing. A rather odd first, but a first all the same.
If part of their plan rested on becoming specific animals--to the point where they tagged themselves to specifically replace those animals--it seems unlikely that Ax would accidentally acquire a cow first, then not have to seek out a particular steer to become. It seems sloppy. Especially since they could have just all hidden inside cows' noses in fly morph if that's what most of them were going to do. Having two of them in the morphs of animals that could easily get slaughtered in that environment seems so pointlessly dangerous that it reads like it was a situation deliberately created to induce suspense.
Despite their moral objections to morphing sentient creatures, it seems Jake and Marco should have acquired and morphed the Controllers instead of just stealing their clothes. If they wanted the mission to go without a hitch, this seems like a risk they should have taken.
The group elects Marco to drive the truck "because he has experience." The only other experiences he has involved very bad driving and accidents. It seems very impractical to let him drive again. This also causes something else that's pretty much unprecedented so far: Marco mentions being given the finger in response to his driving. Obscene gestures aren't usually referred to in these books.
February 20, 2019
Disclaimer: I'm reading this series for the first time as an adult. (Unfortunately) I have no fond memories coloring my reading.
"In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all," Marco said.
Well said, Marco.
On one hand, the plot of this book was stupid and pointless. But on the other, at least it put the Animorphs into an interesting situation (which was probably the point of the stupid plot).
Blah blah something something evil alien plot. All that was setup for the Animorphs to be cows in a slaughterhouse. Chilling much? This book was also a nice look into how the Animorphs really aren't friends -- most of them didn't know each other before they were given the power to morph. I actually enjoyed seeing how much they disagreed in this book.
I think it's telling that even a book with a stupid plot could get an 'okay' rating, now that we're in the ghostwritten part of the series. Even with the stupid plot and completely unbelievable things repeatedly happening, I didn't dislike this book.
"In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all," Marco said.
Well said, Marco.
On one hand, the plot of this book was stupid and pointless. But on the other, at least it put the Animorphs into an interesting situation (which was probably the point of the stupid plot).
Blah blah something something evil alien plot. All that was setup for the Animorphs to be cows in a slaughterhouse. Chilling much? This book was also a nice look into how the Animorphs really aren't friends -- most of them didn't know each other before they were given the power to morph. I actually enjoyed seeing how much they disagreed in this book.
I think it's telling that even a book with a stupid plot could get an 'okay' rating, now that we're in the ghostwritten part of the series. Even with the stupid plot and completely unbelievable things repeatedly happening, I didn't dislike this book.
March 26, 2024
“You see Cassie is on her own private mission here. She wants to save the chimps, so her usual moralizing doesn’t apply. Animals lovers typical, they care more about animals than they do about humans. If we were doing this for some other reason we’d have Cassie giving us a bunch of crap about not using sentient creatures. But she’s thinking maybe she can save some chimpanzees so hey, if it’s for the sake of animals.”
READ HER TO FILTH MARCO, CALL HER HYPOCRITE ASS OUT
Turns out any negative comments about Cassie result in a 5 ⭐️ rating
READ HER TO FILTH MARCO, CALL HER HYPOCRITE ASS OUT
Turns out any negative comments about Cassie result in a 5 ⭐️ rating
January 24, 2024
This one is pretty dumb but at least These Messages is funny.
May 30, 2018
(Full review here at the thelibraryladies.com.)
Narrator: Ax
Plot: I have clear memories of the cow portions of this book, but as I discovered reading this again, that’s only, like, that last third of the whole thing! So let’s get started on all the rest of the book that I had somehow completely forgotten!
Ax has built himself a scoop and also managed to get a TV. He and Tobias now have an afternoon ritual of watching some good, old quality “The Young and the Restless.” One afternoon, Marco shows up, bored, looking for mall trip buddies. On the way, they run in to Erek who has a possible mission. Apparently the Yeerks have been involved in some animal testing facility. The Chee don’t know what they’re doing, but with the Yeerks, it’s always safe to say it’s bad.
The group meets up in the barn and decide that yes, of course they must check it out. They all fly over to scout the place out. The building is highly fortified behind an invisible force shield that has been frying any animal that gets too close. But as they scout, they see a van pull up full of chimpanzees. There’s their in. The next day, Ax and Tobias scout out the route that the van with the chimps takes and note that it goes through a very long tunnel. And thus a very insane plan is sprung!
Together, all of the Animorphs in bird morph dive bomb the truck just as it heads into the tunnel. There, they all demorph and form a human chain, lowering Cassie down to open the back of the truck. They all jump in and quickly acquire the chimps. At a stop light, they release the other chimps (this doesn’t go well for some passing cars), and lock themselves in instead. At the facility, they are all carted into another room that is full of other caged chimps. Cassie demorphs to let them out, but just then they hear none other than Visser Three approaching down the hall. She races back to her cage and begins remorphing. To distract Visser Three and the others, they, of course, throw poo at him. Enraged, he leaves and they overhear him saying to release the Taxxons on the chimps, as that stage of testing is finished anyways. In chimp morph, the Animorphs release the others and fight off the Taxxons, making their way out of the facility. However, the mission is a success and they learn that the “next stage” of whatever is going on is taking place a meat packing plant.
Again, the next day Tobias and Ax scout out the plant. Later, in the barn, they report on what they found. While not covered with a force field, the plant is using the same Gleet BioFilters that now guard the entrances to the Yeerk pool, making it impossible to get in as anything but the poor, doomed cattle. The steer, however, are kept in a field some distance away. Cassie, however, comes up with a solution. Two of them morph steer, and the rest hide up in the steer’s nostrils as flies: organisms within other living creatures don’t trigger the BioFilters. Jake decides that Ax and Tobias will morph the steer, as they can demorph without revealing that they’re all humans if things go south.
That night, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, and Ax head out to acquire the morphs. While there, they have a close run-in with a few drunken cow tippers. Ax tries to disguise himself as a cow, but they spot him, and it’s only with some quick tail blade action that he able to knock them out.
The next day, they all head back to the field. Tobias and Ax aren’t concerned about the morph, as, obviously, cows are pretty docile. That is until they actually do the morph and realize that while they acquired steer, the DNA was that of bulls, so that’s what they become. Cassie is barely able to stop them from charging each other or her. But they now have a problem: any transport unit will definitely notice the fact that their cargo are bulls, and will call in about it. Jake has another brilliant plan: Marco driving, take two! Gorilla!Marco knocks out the two men when they arrive with the truck. Jake, being fairly tall, puts on the uniform of the passenger with the clipboard to confirm their cargo at the checkpoint. And gorilla!Marco, puts on what clothes he can manage (he’s too short to reach the truck petals in his human form).
What follows is yet another example of Marco’s terrible driving. The truck almost goes over on its side at least once, and several fences are damaged in the process of getting to the plant. Once there, the guards are convinced the driver is drunk, but pass off on letting them in. After they park, they morph flies and join Cassie and Rachel in bull!Ax and bull!Tobias’s noses and are able to successfully get through the Gleet Biofilters.
Once in, the others bail to begin scouting and create a diversion. Ax and Tobias are left in the line, slowly making their way towards execution. Ax is in front. They wait as long as they can, but Ax reaches the front of the line. He tries to avoid the man with the gun, but he gets tasered several times. Just before he’s shot, grizzly!Rachel shows up to rescue them. Controllers and Hork Bajir pour into the room, and Tobias and Ax frantically demorph.
The three of them charge off to find the others, who are not doing well, backed into a corner with a locked door. Visser Three shows up and begins his usual threats. Grizzly!Rachel can’t force the door, but Ax manages to quickly hard wire the key pad, and they flee into the next room. Ax rips out the wires behind him, effectively barricading it.
In the room, there are several cages with humans who look to be in some sort of bio-stasis. A computer screen is open and on it they discover what is going on. The computer, with lots of sucking up to Visser Three included, informs them that this is Project Obedience, a biochemical component that can be injected into the food supply and remove the free will of anyone who eats it. The others are horrified and feel defeated, but Cassie scoffs, saying that it is impossible to remove free will. Even Controllers have free will beneath the Yeerk who is forcing them to do things.
They then notice a lab worker who has been hiding in the corner. He quickly breaks down, saying that they might as well kill him since Visser Three soon will anyways, once he learns that the lab worker lied. He confirms what Cassie said, that the whole project was impossible from the start, but that Visser Three wouldn’t accept failure, so the lab worker has been faking it. Just then, the door begins to give behind them.
They quickly wake up the sleeping humans and get them out of their cages. The lab worker would rather make a run for it than confront Visser Three, so he leads the Animorphs and confused humans out of the plant.
The next day they meet back up at the mall. Cassie is feeling smug that she called it on the free will thing, but Marco says that she’s the only one who could look at the last few days as anything other than a giant waste of time: at least they saved some animals! Other than that, the whole project had been a bust from the start, so all of their work was for nothing. But at least they can enjoy some tasty burgers free of concern! Cassie is horrified, but the others all chow down.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: For an Ax book, he doesn’t really have a whole lot as far as character moments in this book. There’s the running gag about various TV shows he’s watching, and his general narrating voice is as great as always. We again get to see his morning rituals, and it’s nice to see that he’s finally built himself a scoop.
Towards the middle of the book, he does reflect on the different challenges that humans face living on a world that still has predators that could kill them and by being omnivores. He reflects on the easy balance on the Andalite homeworld, that they have no natural predators and that they are vegetarian. It’s a nice exploration of the balance that has to be struck between being a human capable of moralizing, but also being a type of being that evolved to supplement its diet by eating meat.
More clearly, he is horrified by the treatment of chimpanzees, especially after they all morph them and he realizes how closely related they are to humans. Cassie, of course, has many strong opinions on this, and Ax becomes equally perturbed by whether they crossed a line morphing them. Towards the end of the book, he asks the scientist whether the free will injections worked on chimpanzees, in an attempt to finally answer the question about their sentience. The scientist says it didn’t work on them either, but wasn’t sure whether that’s because they had free will and it was affected, or whether they didn’t have free will to begin with.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake doesn’t have a lot in this book, other than the HIGHLY questionable decision of putting gorilla!Marco behind the wheel again. He also quickly picks Ax and Tobias to morph the steer, because they can demorph more easily without giving away their secret. I feel like this same reasoning would come into play more often than it seems to, but it’s a solid choice here as well.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel also doesn’t have much in this book. She comes to the rescue as a grizzly just in time at the meat packing plant. Tobias is fairly sarcastic about this, but she handles it well (aren’t they cute??). She also tells Marco to shut up quite a lot, but nothing new there!
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias gets a lot of action and page time in this book. Ax spends a good amount of time discussing his close friendship with Tobias, and the fact that, by earth standards, he is Tobias’s uncle as well. It’s nice to read their little friendship moments. Tobias trying to explain TV and that maybe Ax shouldn’t remove power lines to enhance his TV as it caused a power outage in Jake’s neighborhood. Tobias saying that he sometimes wishes he had a ritual similar to Ax’s that could help him prepare on days where they have dangerous missions. He’s also, notably, the other one to go in with the bull morph.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie, of course, has a lot of thoughts about the morality of animal testing, as well as the Animorphs’ own code of not morphing sentient species. Aside from these opinions, she also has a good amount of action in this book. She’s the one who is lowered down to open the door on the moving truck. She stands between two bulls (Ax and Tobias) and manages to get them calmed down. And she also immediately call the bluff on Project Obedience’s supposed success.
The Comic Relief: Marco, too, has a decent amount in this book. He’s pretty harsh on Cassie as far as some of her double standards go, and she doesn’t really even deny it. He notes that Cassie seems fine with morphing chimps since their mission will also save animals, but had they been doing it for any other reason (to save humans), she would have been very against it. She doesn’t really defend this point, which is kind of unfortunate for her. There’s also the highly entertaining driving sequence.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: When Ax first morphs human in the very beginning of the book, there are some overly graphic descriptions of his mouth forming first, but without lips to speak of. Also, when they’re all flies up the nose. As we know with some upcoming Marco book, I think, this “in the body” stuff gets much worse before it gets better!
Couples Watch!: Really, nothing at all. Fly!Rachel hangs out in bull!Tobias’s nostril? Super romantic, that. I guess, also, Ax is very confused by the whole process and point of kissing as he’s seen it on his favorite soap opera. Tobias assures him it has a purpose, but awkwardly evades any further questions on the subject.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: I’m still never a fan of times when these books fall back on the body humor, like the poo throwing at Visser Three. But it did lead to him cutting off some poor Controller’s hand, and Ax commenting that Visser Three was not the type of leader who thinks it’s important to be popular with his subordinates. Also, when Visser Three shows up at the meat packing plant, he makes some pretty great, campy orders to the Controllers to “butcher” the Andalite bandits. Very clever, Visser Three. The best part was probably the sycophantic manner in which the computer program spoke about the Visser’s role in Project Obedience.
“Project Obedience is the brilliant insight of our great and glorious leader, Visser Three, hero of the Taxxon rebellion, Scourge of the Andalite fleet, Conqueror of Earth.”
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: This was definitely one of the more comedic books, so there wasn’t that much sadness to go around. As they are running out of the animal testing facility, Ax doesn’t describe what he sees, but that’s because he says it’s too terrible to discuss, likening it to torture. He also mentions that though they all tried, they didn’t have much success leading the freed chimps out, as they were still chimps, and not capable of really understanding what was happening.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!:
Rachel demanded.
“Oh man, don’t even mention that,” Cassie said. “My dad cried over the twisted remains of that truck.”
Um, Jake? You do remember Marco’s last experience at “driving”? I mean, technically this plan works, but there is definite damage done. It’s a fun scene and call back to that book though!
Favorite Quote:
Good Rachel snark after they get to the meat packing plant:
Rachel said.
And, of course, just Ax’s general way of narrating the story:
[Human humor] is inexplicable, and Andalite readers should simply resign themselves to never understanding.
Scorecard: Yeerks 6, Animorphs 12
No change! Marco says it best (though it was still a fun ride from the reader’s perspective!):
“In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all,” Marco said.
Rating: For all that this story does nothing to progress the plot, it’s just a fun ride! Ax is always a great narrator, and his thoughts on TV (and his preference for the show “These Messages”) was a fun running gag throughout the story. There’s also some good action scenes, like the caper getting into the truck through the tunnel, and their various escapes from the facilities. I also enjoyed the trifecta that was Marco, Cassie, and Ax as far as the moral aspects of this story. The three provided a good spectrum of perspectives, and it was particularly interesting seeing much of it through Ax’s point of view, an alien who comes from a world where these challenges don’t exist. So, a pretty solid entry, all told!
Narrator: Ax
Plot: I have clear memories of the cow portions of this book, but as I discovered reading this again, that’s only, like, that last third of the whole thing! So let’s get started on all the rest of the book that I had somehow completely forgotten!
Ax has built himself a scoop and also managed to get a TV. He and Tobias now have an afternoon ritual of watching some good, old quality “The Young and the Restless.” One afternoon, Marco shows up, bored, looking for mall trip buddies. On the way, they run in to Erek who has a possible mission. Apparently the Yeerks have been involved in some animal testing facility. The Chee don’t know what they’re doing, but with the Yeerks, it’s always safe to say it’s bad.
The group meets up in the barn and decide that yes, of course they must check it out. They all fly over to scout the place out. The building is highly fortified behind an invisible force shield that has been frying any animal that gets too close. But as they scout, they see a van pull up full of chimpanzees. There’s their in. The next day, Ax and Tobias scout out the route that the van with the chimps takes and note that it goes through a very long tunnel. And thus a very insane plan is sprung!
Together, all of the Animorphs in bird morph dive bomb the truck just as it heads into the tunnel. There, they all demorph and form a human chain, lowering Cassie down to open the back of the truck. They all jump in and quickly acquire the chimps. At a stop light, they release the other chimps (this doesn’t go well for some passing cars), and lock themselves in instead. At the facility, they are all carted into another room that is full of other caged chimps. Cassie demorphs to let them out, but just then they hear none other than Visser Three approaching down the hall. She races back to her cage and begins remorphing. To distract Visser Three and the others, they, of course, throw poo at him. Enraged, he leaves and they overhear him saying to release the Taxxons on the chimps, as that stage of testing is finished anyways. In chimp morph, the Animorphs release the others and fight off the Taxxons, making their way out of the facility. However, the mission is a success and they learn that the “next stage” of whatever is going on is taking place a meat packing plant.
Again, the next day Tobias and Ax scout out the plant. Later, in the barn, they report on what they found. While not covered with a force field, the plant is using the same Gleet BioFilters that now guard the entrances to the Yeerk pool, making it impossible to get in as anything but the poor, doomed cattle. The steer, however, are kept in a field some distance away. Cassie, however, comes up with a solution. Two of them morph steer, and the rest hide up in the steer’s nostrils as flies: organisms within other living creatures don’t trigger the BioFilters. Jake decides that Ax and Tobias will morph the steer, as they can demorph without revealing that they’re all humans if things go south.
That night, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, and Ax head out to acquire the morphs. While there, they have a close run-in with a few drunken cow tippers. Ax tries to disguise himself as a cow, but they spot him, and it’s only with some quick tail blade action that he able to knock them out.
The next day, they all head back to the field. Tobias and Ax aren’t concerned about the morph, as, obviously, cows are pretty docile. That is until they actually do the morph and realize that while they acquired steer, the DNA was that of bulls, so that’s what they become. Cassie is barely able to stop them from charging each other or her. But they now have a problem: any transport unit will definitely notice the fact that their cargo are bulls, and will call in about it. Jake has another brilliant plan: Marco driving, take two! Gorilla!Marco knocks out the two men when they arrive with the truck. Jake, being fairly tall, puts on the uniform of the passenger with the clipboard to confirm their cargo at the checkpoint. And gorilla!Marco, puts on what clothes he can manage (he’s too short to reach the truck petals in his human form).
What follows is yet another example of Marco’s terrible driving. The truck almost goes over on its side at least once, and several fences are damaged in the process of getting to the plant. Once there, the guards are convinced the driver is drunk, but pass off on letting them in. After they park, they morph flies and join Cassie and Rachel in bull!Ax and bull!Tobias’s noses and are able to successfully get through the Gleet Biofilters.
Once in, the others bail to begin scouting and create a diversion. Ax and Tobias are left in the line, slowly making their way towards execution. Ax is in front. They wait as long as they can, but Ax reaches the front of the line. He tries to avoid the man with the gun, but he gets tasered several times. Just before he’s shot, grizzly!Rachel shows up to rescue them. Controllers and Hork Bajir pour into the room, and Tobias and Ax frantically demorph.
The three of them charge off to find the others, who are not doing well, backed into a corner with a locked door. Visser Three shows up and begins his usual threats. Grizzly!Rachel can’t force the door, but Ax manages to quickly hard wire the key pad, and they flee into the next room. Ax rips out the wires behind him, effectively barricading it.
In the room, there are several cages with humans who look to be in some sort of bio-stasis. A computer screen is open and on it they discover what is going on. The computer, with lots of sucking up to Visser Three included, informs them that this is Project Obedience, a biochemical component that can be injected into the food supply and remove the free will of anyone who eats it. The others are horrified and feel defeated, but Cassie scoffs, saying that it is impossible to remove free will. Even Controllers have free will beneath the Yeerk who is forcing them to do things.
They then notice a lab worker who has been hiding in the corner. He quickly breaks down, saying that they might as well kill him since Visser Three soon will anyways, once he learns that the lab worker lied. He confirms what Cassie said, that the whole project was impossible from the start, but that Visser Three wouldn’t accept failure, so the lab worker has been faking it. Just then, the door begins to give behind them.
They quickly wake up the sleeping humans and get them out of their cages. The lab worker would rather make a run for it than confront Visser Three, so he leads the Animorphs and confused humans out of the plant.
The next day they meet back up at the mall. Cassie is feeling smug that she called it on the free will thing, but Marco says that she’s the only one who could look at the last few days as anything other than a giant waste of time: at least they saved some animals! Other than that, the whole project had been a bust from the start, so all of their work was for nothing. But at least they can enjoy some tasty burgers free of concern! Cassie is horrified, but the others all chow down.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: For an Ax book, he doesn’t really have a whole lot as far as character moments in this book. There’s the running gag about various TV shows he’s watching, and his general narrating voice is as great as always. We again get to see his morning rituals, and it’s nice to see that he’s finally built himself a scoop.
Towards the middle of the book, he does reflect on the different challenges that humans face living on a world that still has predators that could kill them and by being omnivores. He reflects on the easy balance on the Andalite homeworld, that they have no natural predators and that they are vegetarian. It’s a nice exploration of the balance that has to be struck between being a human capable of moralizing, but also being a type of being that evolved to supplement its diet by eating meat.
More clearly, he is horrified by the treatment of chimpanzees, especially after they all morph them and he realizes how closely related they are to humans. Cassie, of course, has many strong opinions on this, and Ax becomes equally perturbed by whether they crossed a line morphing them. Towards the end of the book, he asks the scientist whether the free will injections worked on chimpanzees, in an attempt to finally answer the question about their sentience. The scientist says it didn’t work on them either, but wasn’t sure whether that’s because they had free will and it was affected, or whether they didn’t have free will to begin with.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake doesn’t have a lot in this book, other than the HIGHLY questionable decision of putting gorilla!Marco behind the wheel again. He also quickly picks Ax and Tobias to morph the steer, because they can demorph more easily without giving away their secret. I feel like this same reasoning would come into play more often than it seems to, but it’s a solid choice here as well.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel also doesn’t have much in this book. She comes to the rescue as a grizzly just in time at the meat packing plant. Tobias is fairly sarcastic about this, but she handles it well (aren’t they cute??). She also tells Marco to shut up quite a lot, but nothing new there!
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias gets a lot of action and page time in this book. Ax spends a good amount of time discussing his close friendship with Tobias, and the fact that, by earth standards, he is Tobias’s uncle as well. It’s nice to read their little friendship moments. Tobias trying to explain TV and that maybe Ax shouldn’t remove power lines to enhance his TV as it caused a power outage in Jake’s neighborhood. Tobias saying that he sometimes wishes he had a ritual similar to Ax’s that could help him prepare on days where they have dangerous missions. He’s also, notably, the other one to go in with the bull morph.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie, of course, has a lot of thoughts about the morality of animal testing, as well as the Animorphs’ own code of not morphing sentient species. Aside from these opinions, she also has a good amount of action in this book. She’s the one who is lowered down to open the door on the moving truck. She stands between two bulls (Ax and Tobias) and manages to get them calmed down. And she also immediately call the bluff on Project Obedience’s supposed success.
The Comic Relief: Marco, too, has a decent amount in this book. He’s pretty harsh on Cassie as far as some of her double standards go, and she doesn’t really even deny it. He notes that Cassie seems fine with morphing chimps since their mission will also save animals, but had they been doing it for any other reason (to save humans), she would have been very against it. She doesn’t really defend this point, which is kind of unfortunate for her. There’s also the highly entertaining driving sequence.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: When Ax first morphs human in the very beginning of the book, there are some overly graphic descriptions of his mouth forming first, but without lips to speak of. Also, when they’re all flies up the nose. As we know with some upcoming Marco book, I think, this “in the body” stuff gets much worse before it gets better!
Couples Watch!: Really, nothing at all. Fly!Rachel hangs out in bull!Tobias’s nostril? Super romantic, that. I guess, also, Ax is very confused by the whole process and point of kissing as he’s seen it on his favorite soap opera. Tobias assures him it has a purpose, but awkwardly evades any further questions on the subject.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: I’m still never a fan of times when these books fall back on the body humor, like the poo throwing at Visser Three. But it did lead to him cutting off some poor Controller’s hand, and Ax commenting that Visser Three was not the type of leader who thinks it’s important to be popular with his subordinates. Also, when Visser Three shows up at the meat packing plant, he makes some pretty great, campy orders to the Controllers to “butcher” the Andalite bandits. Very clever, Visser Three. The best part was probably the sycophantic manner in which the computer program spoke about the Visser’s role in Project Obedience.
“Project Obedience is the brilliant insight of our great and glorious leader, Visser Three, hero of the Taxxon rebellion, Scourge of the Andalite fleet, Conqueror of Earth.”
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: This was definitely one of the more comedic books, so there wasn’t that much sadness to go around. As they are running out of the animal testing facility, Ax doesn’t describe what he sees, but that’s because he says it’s too terrible to discuss, likening it to torture. He also mentions that though they all tried, they didn’t have much success leading the freed chimps out, as they were still chimps, and not capable of really understanding what was happening.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!:
Rachel demanded.
“Oh man, don’t even mention that,” Cassie said. “My dad cried over the twisted remains of that truck.”
Um, Jake? You do remember Marco’s last experience at “driving”? I mean, technically this plan works, but there is definite damage done. It’s a fun scene and call back to that book though!
Favorite Quote:
Good Rachel snark after they get to the meat packing plant:
Rachel said.
And, of course, just Ax’s general way of narrating the story:
[Human humor] is inexplicable, and Andalite readers should simply resign themselves to never understanding.
Scorecard: Yeerks 6, Animorphs 12
No change! Marco says it best (though it was still a fun ride from the reader’s perspective!):
“In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all,” Marco said.
Rating: For all that this story does nothing to progress the plot, it’s just a fun ride! Ax is always a great narrator, and his thoughts on TV (and his preference for the show “These Messages”) was a fun running gag throughout the story. There’s also some good action scenes, like the caper getting into the truck through the tunnel, and their various escapes from the facilities. I also enjoyed the trifecta that was Marco, Cassie, and Ax as far as the moral aspects of this story. The three provided a good spectrum of perspectives, and it was particularly interesting seeing much of it through Ax’s point of view, an alien who comes from a world where these challenges don’t exist. So, a pretty solid entry, all told!
April 20, 2022
The Yeerks have taken over a meat packing plant and on the Animorphs’ mission to infiltrate it to uncover their purpose, they come across evidence of human experimentation.
I think this installment is very meaningful and important in how it focuses very heavily on the innate conflict the Yeerks are consistently met with when pursuing the enslavement of humanity. We’ve seen examples of a humans deep-rooted connection to free will be detrimental to attempts at Yeerk control and seeing an example of the Yeerks’ attempts (and failure) to destroy that sense of free will shows great promise for the future of this war.
CW: war, slavery, violence, references to human experimentation, animal cruelty, blood, death
I think this installment is very meaningful and important in how it focuses very heavily on the innate conflict the Yeerks are consistently met with when pursuing the enslavement of humanity. We’ve seen examples of a humans deep-rooted connection to free will be detrimental to attempts at Yeerk control and seeing an example of the Yeerks’ attempts (and failure) to destroy that sense of free will shows great promise for the future of this war.
CW: war, slavery, violence, references to human experimentation, animal cruelty, blood, death
June 19, 2025
Oh Ax, he never fails to crack me up. His understanding of TV in particular hits the spot this time. And his ick with mouths. Marco comes to the rescue in this one up ups the humor anti. This volume starts off a bit unsure why they are doing what they were doing but I soon found myself caught back up in the adventure (because: why not?) And why do the small morphs they do always have an "ewww..." moment? I appreciated Ax sharing his loyalty and his thoughts toward his human friends and espcially the complex relationship with Tobias.
January 14, 2026
2026: This was so underwhelming. The ghost writer did not have a grasp on Ax, his voice was wrong, the focus of the story was on the humor not the mission, and the interpretation of the other characters was way off
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Original Review 2016: Um...umm...moo? I never know what to expect from Ax books, they are the wild cards for me. And this particular volume is a solid 3-stars for me. I really enjoyed the premise, the Yerks are looking for a way to expand and quicken their invasion of Earthlings. To do so, they open two plants; a testing facility and a slaughter-house/meat packaging facility. The idea is to create this drug that makes humans compliant by taking away their free-will and Visser 3 is going to poison their hamburgers to do it. I loved the concept of the Yerks getting smarting and expanding their attacks in such away. The execution, however, was disappointing. It was really slow moving, focusing instead on a humorous look at Ax trying to figure out how to work a television. And by cramming the two mini-adventures together it ended up being a rushed mess. Cassie was over stereotyped and really didn't make much sense in her righteousness this time round. Visser Three didn't get beat up, instead had poo flung at him. It was painfully obvious this was ghost-written as this writer plucked at many straws to try to capture the Ax-essence. Though not a favorite, certainly intriguing in parts.
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Original Review 2016: Um...umm...moo? I never know what to expect from Ax books, they are the wild cards for me. And this particular volume is a solid 3-stars for me. I really enjoyed the premise, the Yerks are looking for a way to expand and quicken their invasion of Earthlings. To do so, they open two plants; a testing facility and a slaughter-house/meat packaging facility. The idea is to create this drug that makes humans compliant by taking away their free-will and Visser 3 is going to poison their hamburgers to do it. I loved the concept of the Yerks getting smarting and expanding their attacks in such away. The execution, however, was disappointing. It was really slow moving, focusing instead on a humorous look at Ax trying to figure out how to work a television. And by cramming the two mini-adventures together it ended up being a rushed mess. Cassie was over stereotyped and really didn't make much sense in her righteousness this time round. Visser Three didn't get beat up, instead had poo flung at him. It was painfully obvious this was ghost-written as this writer plucked at many straws to try to capture the Ax-essence. Though not a favorite, certainly intriguing in parts.
June 2, 2019
I stand by the opinion that Animorphs need these light, funny books. Even though I may have wondered why the Animorphs needed to go into the slaughterhouse in the first place ('just to check it out' seems a bit holey!), Ax is hilarious and that is the main thing!
Well, the other main thing as well is that this story shows that the Yeerks sometimes get it wrong and the Animorphs sometimes waste their time on the crazy leads they get. Nobody's perfect, after all!
Well, the other main thing as well is that this story shows that the Yeerks sometimes get it wrong and the Animorphs sometimes waste their time on the crazy leads they get. Nobody's perfect, after all!
February 27, 2016
Yet another excellent installment.
November 16, 2020
This is fine, but Ax watching Young and the Restless and attempting to utilize what he’s learned from the soap in real life is GOLD.
January 21, 2021
Ax is one of the best things to happen to the Animorphs series. Time to go eat some cinnamon buns!
February 25, 2019
Now this feels ghostwritten: numerous vaguely effective action sequences; exaggerated dialog that sketches caricatures of the cast; a throwaway episodic plot; themes that have come up elsewhere in the series, but are here more inflammatory and less successful. When these books came out I was deep into the ethics of animal testing and the meat industry, yet this left no lasting impression on me. All I remember of it from childhood is the homework/TV scenes--and while I've always loved the action-free intimacy, that's still not a good sign. It's the most routine investigation of the issue, a run of the mill YA problem novel, and has none of the effective nuance found in Cassie's larger character arc. A bad book.
With probably the funniest cover of the entire series.
With probably the funniest cover of the entire series.
February 22, 2021
4.45 for me.
As someone who's always enjoyed contemplating the moral quandaries and more existential elements presented in the series, I found the points this adventure raises about the free, indomitable will of the human spirit -- as well as the questions it poses about the consumption of meat/treatment of livestock -- thematically appealing.
Other highlights include Marco being at the top of his game wit-wise, Ax's appreciation for daytime television, and the surprisingly chilling gore factor. (I can't believe we were reading this shit at, like, 8-12 years old! xD Very thankful my media consumption wasn't censored -- thanks, Mom!) Animorphs not only belongs in a time capsule for the late '90s, it *is* a time capsule for the late '90s, and I LOVE IT.
On the other hand, some of the details of the group's plan are a bit hit or miss (Marco driving the truck while half gorilla? Jake not really obscuring his features at all????) and everything wraps up a touch too swiftly and neatly at the end, imo. Similarly, Cassie's speech is nice but a little corny as well...and this is coming from someone who generally appreciates schmaltz. It's becoming more obvious, as the series progresses, which installments are ghost-written; they're not as tightly constructed as they once were. Not poorly constructed, per se -- just not as well done.
Overall, despite some logistical shortcomings and the pacing toward the end, #28 feels like more of a plot than mere filler, which is a plus, but it'd be an even bigger one if the dilemmas at hand had more of a long-standing impact.
(They'll serve as a nice transition into the premise of #29, though, so there's that.)
As someone who's always enjoyed contemplating the moral quandaries and more existential elements presented in the series, I found the points this adventure raises about the free, indomitable will of the human spirit -- as well as the questions it poses about the consumption of meat/treatment of livestock -- thematically appealing.
Other highlights include Marco being at the top of his game wit-wise, Ax's appreciation for daytime television, and the surprisingly chilling gore factor. (I can't believe we were reading this shit at, like, 8-12 years old! xD Very thankful my media consumption wasn't censored -- thanks, Mom!) Animorphs not only belongs in a time capsule for the late '90s, it *is* a time capsule for the late '90s, and I LOVE IT.
On the other hand, some of the details of the group's plan are a bit hit or miss (Marco driving the truck while half gorilla? Jake not really obscuring his features at all????) and everything wraps up a touch too swiftly and neatly at the end, imo. Similarly, Cassie's speech is nice but a little corny as well...and this is coming from someone who generally appreciates schmaltz. It's becoming more obvious, as the series progresses, which installments are ghost-written; they're not as tightly constructed as they once were. Not poorly constructed, per se -- just not as well done.
Overall, despite some logistical shortcomings and the pacing toward the end, #28 feels like more of a plot than mere filler, which is a plus, but it'd be an even bigger one if the dilemmas at hand had more of a long-standing impact.
(They'll serve as a nice transition into the premise of #29, though, so there's that.)
October 28, 2023
this was a really fun book. ax books are fun in general because he’s just a really enjoyable narrator and they mostly fucked around and bickered in this book so i’m all for it. and ax LOVING tv and constantly referencing it Oh he is so me. he would LOVE abed community. great book people laughed and cheered and jumped for joy
September 24, 2024
has all the components to make an awesome book. I loved the meat factory, the animal testing element, and Ax’s characterization throughout is entertaining— but this should have been a Cassie book or a Marco book. It just doesn’t do everything it could have been and that’s disappointing.
June 12, 2020
This one was kind of goofy. Didn’t really care for it and it had at least one typo. I also think it’s the shortest Animorphs book yet.
June 13, 2020
The Animorphs reread continues! This one was pretty fun. I liked the twist with the scientist Ann's Visser Three. Very in character. Also liked the morality bit in this one.
August 1, 2020
godddddd i LOVE ax books and i LOVE cassie (and i love them all and i love k.a. applegate and i l)
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