Animorphs: The Reckoning

by TK17, Duncan Sabien

AU/multiple points of departure, with the intent to fix/sane-itize/create internal consistency, allowing rational agents to take things to the extreme. Visser Three is competent, the Yeerks are moving rapidly, and the Animorphs are actually trying to win (but are inexperienced and unprepared). Inspired by Worm and HPMOR.

Cover image by CopperZirconium.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Fan Fiction

ebook

Reviews

[Death_au · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came for the Animorphs nostalgia, stayed for the writing, and now find myself questioning my sense of self.
The story starts a bit slow and quite different from canon Animorphs for seemingly arbitrary reasons, but as the story goes on and the characters discover more information you start to realise that the author has taken some of the more fantastical elements of the original source, rationalised their existence in a way the source never could, then worked backwards and crafted an entirely new story which explores the main characters' motivations in a compelling way.

The most interesting thing to me is how the story starts to explore the topic of "self" from all these different perspectives, including alien ones, and the use of clones/duplicates to get even more perspectives. You start to come to a much deeper understanding of each of the characters, their personalities and motivations. Even as the war and the overall story expand in scope, the story seems to get more personal and engaging. At least, in my opinion.

[Daystar Eld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is everything I ever wanted in a rational animorphs story, and more importantly, what I didn't even know I wanted. If you're a fan of the canon work at all, you owe it to yourself to check it out. If you're a fan of compelling characters, interesting plot, and superb writing, you also owe it to yourself. In a just world, this story would become even more popular than the canon series, for its excellent and entertaining explorations of rational decision making, the harsh realities of war against a ruthless and intelligent opponent, and the difficulties of figuring out what the right thing to do is when there are no good options.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, boy, do I have thoughts on this one. At first, this didn't really grab me, which really persuaded me to just cut the shit and find the original books again. Which I did and have already blown through the first four. Unfortunately, I like this even less in retrospect. Instead of some serial fiction reimagining with a forgivable amateurish writing style, I realized how much the author uses this as a vehicle to mine others' notstalgia for their own self-indulgence and misses what made the originals so appealing.

Firstly, TK17 makes an absurd amount of changes to the originals' premise, some for seemingly no reason:

- Tobias lives in a youth home rather than his aunt and uncle
- Elfangor gives the kids some magical Can't-Get-Infected-By-Yeerks earpiece
- Elfangor gives the kids the morph power cube thing
- Elfangor has the kids all acquire himself as a morph, despite presumably knowing about:
-Acquired morphs actually transport the kids' bodies into a pocket dimension, which has all kinds of implications, namely:
- Two people cannot morph the same specific animal at the same time without serious repercussions and...
- Morphs can be acquired from other morphs
- The Yeerks believe the kids are Andalite warriors specifically because, and this is an explicit textual reference, they do not believe humans to be intelligent enough to wage war against the Yeerks
- Yeerks kill off Chapman almost immediately and have also decided Cassie's parents were the first people to acquire, and again this is explicitly in the text, because Cassie's mom works at the zoo
- All the kids want to fight in the war from the get-go
- The kids don't really trust each other
- Ax speaks to all the kids rather than specifically Tobias and Cassie hearing it in their dreams
- Tobias doesn't get stuck in hawk morph in their first mission

And I think all this either misses why the originals were so appealing, introduces some new holes the author didn't think of, or both.

- Tobias lives in a youth home to introduce the author's self-insert character, the seventh POV character that never needed to exist.
- Since morphs can be acquired from other morphs, the kids immediately figure out that they can morph into each other then acquire themselves from that morph and then thought-speak to each other. Only, if you're going to introduce all these changes to the mechanics of the Animorphs universe... why not just let them thought-speak to each other out of morph? The reason is because the author had to "solve" Animorphs, that's why.
- Tobias turned into a hawk in the original and never got himself back as a morph for multiple more books because it set the stakes for the series. Very amateurish change that really takes a lot away from the series and a common problem I see in a lot of serial, rational, and fan fiction in general.
- Ax jut kinda blindly sending out the SOS and everyone hearing it really sucks away the mystery and tension of the original mission where he is introduced. It's the entire arc Cassie goes through in the fourth book, dealing with self-confidence and realizing the implications her opinions have on her friends.
- If the Yeerks think humans are so stupid and are only useful for cannon fodder, why bother infecting humans at all? Humans are actually kinda useless at fighting, take a long time to gestate and mature, and aren't particularly prolific numbers-wise. We're so dominant because we're smart. But if a Yeerk is already smart, which it is, it doesn't need to be a human they're infecting, it could be literally anything. Infect cows and sheep and chickens and humans would probably be extinct in a week. If the Yeerks are smart enough to realize they need proximity to zoos to acquire morphs, why don't they just drop right into the ocean and infect sea creatures since the ocean, you know, takes up a majority of the Earth's surface and Yeerks live in the water on their home planet anyway. In the original, there was an underlying assumption that the Yeerks understand why humans are the dominant species and prolific enough as to be worth taking over (as opposed to other intelligent but critically endangered species like other great apes). There's also a comment made by Elfangor implying Andalites like to keep their morphing abilities to themselves (supported by the entire Andalite Chronicles book and their origin as a species), so there's reason to believe Visser Three has an implicit understanding from his Andalite-controlled mind why Elfangor likely wouldn't have given the powers to some dumb human kids. This quote unquote "rational logic" change completely falls apart if the Yeerks assume we're dumb, useless animals.
- Morphs send the morpher into some pocket dimension, with the first big revelation meaning no two people can morph into the same animal at the same time because they're affecting the same multi-dimensional space. Which, on the face of it, is stupid. Again, if you're going to introduce new Rational rules, why make new rules that don't require all these loopholes and instruction manuals? It's not like the author isn't happy with introducing magic "fix things" rules, because he does it with those earpieces the kids are given. And again, the answer is so the author can show off their Rational Logic chops by showing you the solutions to the problems they have created.

The other changes are just fine, I guess, but don't really serve any purpose in my opinion. Why are the kids so set on joining the war? Why are they so untrustworthy of everybody? Why kill Chapman so quickly before even really introducing his character? Just for the sake of it. At best, they make the main characters somewhat one-dimensional. At worst, they turn them all into Rachel but also somewhat caricatured to be more badass, but badass like a video game character where they're loners and work on their own. It's just a silly change to have made.

Ultimately, all these changes and it really misses some core appeal of the original series. There was an underlying, and probably accidental, environmentalist message that's completely gone. Which isn't bad but isn't replaced by any other message. Themes of loss, dehumanization, and the morality of war aren't really carried over, either, so charitably speaking, I wonder if the author missed them or disagreed with them or tried to make some other point and missed the mark. And finally, what it really gets wrong is the descriptions of what being an animal is like. Endless soliloquizing about pocket dimensions and hacking the rules of a childrens' book to show how smart they are and they missed that, of all things, in a book about turning into animals. The freedom of a bird's flight, the sheer uncaring confidence of a cat, the gentleness and brute strength of a gorilla, the majesty of a whale, they playfulness of a dolphin, the scale of a bug's world. All of it is completely gone. We get to know that a tiger is strong and also that a bear is strong and also that a gorilla is strong. I didn't need to read a book or fic to know that. That's just a boring action story, one that doesn't translate very well to written language. KA Applegate made an old house cat seem like the strongest, most impressive animal to ever grace this earth and this fic couldn't even put in the effort to rip that passage off. I think that sums up most of the problems with this fic.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this retelling of Animorphs. I think the author does a good job keeping me engaged. There are parts that I'm not super keen on. I understand this is rationalist fiction, but I feel like the kids know way more about rational thought and philosophy than the average young teen. This does not take away entirely from the story though. I like that the aliens are more well thought out in terms of intelligence and physiology. Without spoilers, I think the way the author goes about explaining how certain elements of the story exists is really good. The whole idea in the original series that injuries could be healed by going into morph and coming out always stuck out to me. Or the fact that the kids could demorph and not have to worry about things like hair growth and the like. If morphing tech was based soley off DNA, then returning from morph shouldn't preserve things like hair length/scar tissue/tan and any other things that are not based off DNA. Even things like freckles, moles, and beauty marks wouldn't be preserved soley off DNA. I think the author uses a good mechanism to solve this issue, which also opens up the morphing ability to other uses.

I started reading because of nostalgia, but I keep reading because characters make interesting choices and alien species that has traveled across the galaxy is not dumb enough to be entirely outsmarted and thwarted by 5 human teenagers on the regular.

[Hiram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short summary: if you like (well-done, non-mary sue-ish) competence porn, and/or have read & liked Worm, you're going to like this.

Loved the original animorphs series as a kid, for all its cheesiness.
This gives it a very good 'ratfic' treatment - I'm a sucker for making fictional settings make more sense (admittedly hard with Animorphs, but managed well here) and for believable smart characters. I'm glad that of the two non-animorphs inspirations cited (HPMOR, Worm) it leans more towards the latter, the rationality component coming organically from thinking along with the protagonists, rather than cluster-bombing the reader with study references. Have occasionally copied out some quotes / passages from this that I thought were memorable or insightful, rarely do that with other books.

It's been a very addictive read, have spent significant fraction of last few days reading up to current point in story, not realising it's still being updated. Plot gets very complex near the final arc (which I think we are nearing), which is fine for the most part, as the new concepts introduced usually add interesting food for thought. I'm ready for the concluding chapters and hope I'll still be able to follow along by the end :)

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read animorphs so keep that in mind, I don't know about any changes to canon - this story kept me hooked through the majority of it but the writing style just began to become so tedious and give me a headache, and the stakes kept incessantly increasing with the main characters only relevant to the story because 'prophecy' which as we all know is one of the worst tropes out there.

As I mentioned the main problem is that the author leaves half of everything unstated and expects us to work out what they mean when they constantly

Leave sentences un-

But then that would mean-

/No. Not that./

The other main problem is that half of the story seems to take place inside the mental monologues of the various characters, which is really not very compelling after the 20th time. Overall I wish the author would have kept things more small scale and not rushed the plot forwards into higher and higher levels of power creep. The last ten or so chapters especially left a sour taste in my mouth as I could no longer understand at all the motivations of the characters and their seeming complete psychopathy.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally read this monumental rationalist retelling of Animorphs. It's very far off from the original canon - much farther than HPMOR is from canonical Harry Potter; little is preserved aside from basic premise and character names. The rules of morphing are changed; the yeerks' personality and basic facts are changed; the way the war is fought and the strings pulled on to fight it are dramatically changed. The normal teenage life that forms the background of canon vanishes almost immediately to be replaced by original dynamics.

This's good most of the way through, in a new way totally unlike how I enjoyed canon Animorphs as a kid. But the ending, I feel, is unworthy of the story. Going up the power scale isn't unwarranted given how the story has gone so far - but it trivializes the first two-thirds of the story by making it feel like nothing happening there matters. It's understandable in-universe, but it makes the whole story lose something to feel that the ending turned completely on the Ellemist, Rachel, and Visser Three.

[Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to review something as monumental as Animorphs: The Reckoning. I could spend hours waxing philosophical about its frightening, challenging themes (no doubt, I eventually will). For now, all I can say is this: Duncan Sabien has accomplished something truly special with this re-telling of the Animorphs universe. Perhaps it's something that's only possible in fan-fiction, since readers will often come in with preconceived notions about certain characters, only to have their expectations flipped upside-down and turned inside-out.

Having said that, I recommend Animorphs: The Reckoning to everyone I know. Even if they haven't read the original Animorphs series (even if they've never *heard* of Animorphs), I am confident that this ambitious re-telling will shake any dedicated reader to their core. I will never forget it, and I'm eternally grateful for its existence.

[Seed · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked Ender's Game, Worm, HPMOR, Asimov's Foundation, and other stories where clever competent characters actually try to solve nontrivial problems...

If you liked ASOIAF, Worm (again!), Watts' Sunflower, and other stories where characters have believable blue and orange morality - instead of the overused good vs evil trope...

If you like good "show don't tell" writing...

Then I'd bet you will love this one!

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

read up to DC arc, will continue later. most intense competence porn ive seen yet.

[Zenandroid · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be written soon

[Blory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a lot of thoughts but I don't want to be mean so I'll keep them to myself

[Kenan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a long fanfic, but the author did an amazing job, developing fantastic characters and a brilliant plot that keeps on giving throughout its 656k words.

The main characters: each one has to grapple with new powers and responsibilities that require them to rethink what identity and survival mean, and their various perspectives see them cope with the stress and moral quandaries in different ways. The characters introspect frequently, but do so in a coherent, interesting manner that made them much more sympathetic to me as the story progressed.

The villain(s) are coherent about their motives (which is really the main thing I love about rationalist fiction) and we get chapters from their perspective which help me model them, if not sympathize with them.

In contrast, some others' feedback complains about bad character writing, and there are a few reasons for that:
- The characters are almost all unusually competent
- The characters may have different personalities versus the original Animorphs series
- The revelation of most characters' backstories are spread throughout the long narrative, such that a reader may have good questions that aren't answered for another 30 chapters.

These weren't an issue for me, but I was already a fan of the genre and thus used to these sorts of compromises for the sake of a well-paced, coherent plot.

This was a joy to read, and I'll definitely check out other work from the author!

[Denver Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed reading this series so far. This is the 3rd rationalist fanfic I've read and I am very happy that I did. I'm just slightly bummed that it's not complete yet so I have to wait for it to finish.

I've had a good time reading all of the different twists and turns that happen, which really seem to take me off guard, but then actually makes a lot of sense after the fact. I also really like all of the slight tweaks to the morphing power, and then how all of the implications of those seem very consistent and interesting. I love reading about the creative ways people think about war and subterfuge and the planning that goes into missions and everything else.

There are some things that the original series did better, that I think could be done here better, if that is what the author is going for. For example some of the body horror, which then leads to the PTSD that characters experience. Granted that did happen later in the original books, so maybe it's part of the plan. I do think a bit more exposition on the animals experience would also be really cool.

Overall it's been a great experience reading the series and I look forward to what is next to come.

[Joeli Après Noonsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a wild-ride, rational fan fic. Relatively based on the original series in a way that it becomes it’s own story. It is a -reimagining- of the original story. I don’t want to give anything away but I was hooked in the first chapter. I recommend reading to anyone who really loved the canon. Especially if you read and reread and reread them over and over as a kid. This was the second rational fan fic I read, the first being Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Animorphs: The Reckoning is more story and flow aware and less about stopping and doing experiments to the point where you forgot why they were necessary. The plot in A:TR is breakneck! So keep up!

[Max]

didn't finish it, but got rather boring after a strong start

[Leor · Rating 4 out of 5]

was an interesting read.
I'd like to see original work from the author in the future.

[Charles]

No rating til it's finished. If it finishes.