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Animorphs #8
The Alien
What would you do if you were the only alien trapped on a strange planet? Probably freak out, right? But as an Andalite warrior-cadet, Ax has to be pretty cool about stuff like that. He's been hanging with the Animorphs ever since the Dome ship was destroyed by the Yeerks and his brother, Prince Elfangor, was destroyed by Visser Three.
Life on Earth is pretty different for Ax. But there is one thing he, Cassie, Marco, Jake, Rachel, and Tobias have in common. Something that one alien, four kids and a hawk know they have to do: stop the Yeerks. . . .
Life on Earth is pretty different for Ax. But there is one thing he, Cassie, Marco, Jake, Rachel, and Tobias have in common. Something that one alien, four kids and a hawk know they have to do: stop the Yeerks. . . .
159 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
88 people are currently reading
1247 people want to read
About the author
K.A. Applegate
251 books486 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 372 reviews
July 18, 2022
This was my favourite of the Animorphs series. #8 is the first book narrated by Ax, the shape-shifting alien in the group of six teen protagonists fighting an invasion of mind-controlling parasites. Ax in human form, reacting to walking on only two legs, having to speak out loud instead of using telepathy, and experiencing a sense of taste for the first time made for the funniest scenes in the series. Every tenth book, when it was Ax’s turn to narrate, were the installments I most looked forward to, but this one always remained the most enjoyable.
May 26, 2015
The Alien represents the end of the First Age of Animorphs. It is Ax’s first time as narrator, and so with this book, all of the six Animorphs have had a chance to tell their story. As with the introductions to each of the human Animorphs, this book lets us hear in Ax’s own words why he is fighting the Yeerks. Thanks to his knowledge as an Andalite, he also allows Applegate to share more background about the Andalite–Yeerk war. The human Animorphs begin to break down the last of Ax’s barriers, so he can finally become one of them. We and they now have more context, and going forward, this is going to be a whole new war.
Because, thanks to Ax’s brief contact with the homeworld, we know that the humans are on their own for now. The Andalites don’t consider Earth a priority. So it will be up to the Animorphs to do their best to hold the fort until the Andalites get around to sending a fleet. Once again Ax manages to come so close to killing Visser Three, only to be foiled at the last moment by something resembling morality. Pah! If Ayn Rand were writing this, it would be all:
OK, maybe I was channelling Terry Goodkind towards the end there….
Still, my point stands. Ax shows Alloran mercy. Acts of mercy are important moments in Animorphs, because this is a series about war and the effects of war on what, we must remember, are essentially conscript child soldiers. An Andalite warrior, rather than an aristh, might indeed have cut Alloran down to rid the world of the threat of a Visser Three with morphing powers. Ax’s time among humanity must have corrupted him.
And he takes responsibility for Elfangor’s indiscretion. I vaguely remembered this, but it was so chilling to see it happen again. This is the first time Applegate really shows us the level of Grade A Quality Douchebag that the Andalites, like any fictional advanced alien species, tends to be.
Of course, the main attraction of Ax as the narrator is his status as the outsider—not to mention being an alien. In addition to dropping tidbits—or outright sharing information with the reader—he is just hilarious. For example, take this from one of the diary epigrams at the beginning of a chapter:
Oh, those silly humans. Always doing stuff backwards! I have no doubt Applegate includes this as a bit of a shout-out to her devoted fanbase of loyal young readers. Books are amazing. More than that, however, this quote is just one in a long line of examples where Ax expresses his appreciation for human things we consider mundane. Chocolate. Cinnamon buns. Chili. OK, most of it is food. Our technology—excepting books, I guess—is primitive. Yet throughout The Alien, Ax remarks how humans are … well, remarkable. How in a century we’ll be out among the stars, hanging out with Andalites.
Prepare yourselves, hoofies. We’re coming for you.
If this is the end of an era, then it is a great ending. We’ve met all of the team now, gotten to know them, their thoughts, their desires. Up until this point there have already been hints at the deeper, more mature game Applegate wants to play. But with the next book, the series begins its inexorable transformation into a darker, much more adult story. The Animorphs now fully understand the existential ramifications of what it is they are doing. But just how far are they willing to go to protect their planet? Who and what will they sacrifice if it means winning?
And is Ax ever going to learn to control his taste buds?
Tune into the next review to find out!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← Megamorphs #1: The Andalite’s Gift | #9: The Secret →
Because, thanks to Ax’s brief contact with the homeworld, we know that the humans are on their own for now. The Andalites don’t consider Earth a priority. So it will be up to the Animorphs to do their best to hold the fort until the Andalites get around to sending a fleet. Once again Ax manages to come so close to killing Visser Three, only to be foiled at the last moment by something resembling morality. Pah! If Ayn Rand were writing this, it would be all:
<My name is Alloran-semitur-Corrass, and you must kill me, young aristh.> The Randalite and former host of Visser Three, body weakened by the venom as his mind was obviously weakened by a lack of will that allowed the Yeerk to take it over, could not stand on his own. He was weak, and therefore he was useless.
<Yes.> I had nothing but contempt for the older Randalite before me. <For you stand in the way of my obtaining what I truly desire. You cannot help me, and so I have no reason to help you.>
My tail twitched and severed Alloran’s head from his pathetic body. I had briefly wondered what I would feel when I killed one of my own people. Then I realized that was irrelevant. Sentiment had little place when considering how one could best achieve one’s goals. Alloran was weak. I am strong.
Later, Cassie would approach me to discuss these ideas. Of all the humans, she is the one least suitable to living in the perfect society these humans will achieve if they prove strong enough to throw off the shackles of the Yeerk oppressors. Prince Jake has it within him to be a great leader of men, if he can only actualize his self-worth. Rachel understands the need to take what is not offered. Even Marco, beneath his callous veneer of humour, is aware that the objective nature of reality around us means that one must always accept what happens and act accordingly, rather than rejecting events and living in a fantasy of the past.
Cassie said, “You must be sad you had to kill Alloran. He was once a proud warrior of your people, was he not?”
<He was a war-prince. But he lacked the strength and core moral character to succeed.>
“Did no one try to help him when he was taken by the Yeerks?” Cassie and her father run a primitive medical facility where they treat injured members of lesser species on Earth. Her father does not even charge the fair market value for this service! Sometimes, I wonder if Randalites and humans will ever truly be able to co-exist. Despite the greatness of a few individual thinkers in this species, many of them are weak and clamour for hand-outs and “support systems.” It boggles the mind, that an entire species could be so lazy.
<To help another person is to make them weak!> My tail quivered in anger, and a thing rose in me. How could Cassie not see that? Had she already been corrupted by the vile collectivist Yeerk philosophy? I steadied myself, then launched into a six-hour lecture on the nature of individualism and its triumph over collectivism—the benefit of thought-speak, obviously, being that I would not have to pause for breath, and Cassie would be unable to ignore my words of wisdom.
OK, maybe I was channelling Terry Goodkind towards the end there….
Still, my point stands. Ax shows Alloran mercy. Acts of mercy are important moments in Animorphs, because this is a series about war and the effects of war on what, we must remember, are essentially conscript child soldiers. An Andalite warrior, rather than an aristh, might indeed have cut Alloran down to rid the world of the threat of a Visser Three with morphing powers. Ax’s time among humanity must have corrupted him.
And he takes responsibility for Elfangor’s indiscretion. I vaguely remembered this, but it was so chilling to see it happen again. This is the first time Applegate really shows us the level of Grade A Quality Douchebag that the Andalites, like any fictional advanced alien species, tends to be.
Of course, the main attraction of Ax as the narrator is his status as the outsider—not to mention being an alien. In addition to dropping tidbits—or outright sharing information with the reader—he is just hilarious. For example, take this from one of the diary epigrams at the beginning of a chapter:
Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward.
Oh, those silly humans. Always doing stuff backwards! I have no doubt Applegate includes this as a bit of a shout-out to her devoted fanbase of loyal young readers. Books are amazing. More than that, however, this quote is just one in a long line of examples where Ax expresses his appreciation for human things we consider mundane. Chocolate. Cinnamon buns. Chili. OK, most of it is food. Our technology—excepting books, I guess—is primitive. Yet throughout The Alien, Ax remarks how humans are … well, remarkable. How in a century we’ll be out among the stars, hanging out with Andalites.
Prepare yourselves, hoofies. We’re coming for you.
If this is the end of an era, then it is a great ending. We’ve met all of the team now, gotten to know them, their thoughts, their desires. Up until this point there have already been hints at the deeper, more mature game Applegate wants to play. But with the next book, the series begins its inexorable transformation into a darker, much more adult story. The Animorphs now fully understand the existential ramifications of what it is they are doing. But just how far are they willing to go to protect their planet? Who and what will they sacrifice if it means winning?
And is Ax ever going to learn to control his taste buds?
Tune into the next review to find out!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← Megamorphs #1: The Andalite’s Gift | #9: The Secret →
October 10, 2016
AX!
This book was a lot more complicated than I remembered it being. Ax is so frequently the source of comic relief when the other Animorphs are the POV characters. (He was my FAVORITE when I was in middle school.) But here, in his own book for the first time, one of the first things that strikes you is how serious he is in his own mind. I wouldn't say he's *humorless*, but he's very close. It's the only thing that saves his ridiculous behavior while in human morph from collapsing the narrative. He's supposed to be this supremely advanced alien, and he can't even figure out that crawling around on a movie theater floor for discarded candy and then trying to grab more from a little kid isn't a good idea? But it just works because he's so measured otherwise, and it's played off as him not being able to control the human morph, just as the others haven't been able to control previous animal morphs like the ant, the shrew, etc.
Also? Ax is keeping secrets.
The Alien has a really nice arc for our young Andalite aristh. He's dealing with some stuff. All of his life, he's just been Elfangor's younger brother, for one thing. Even here on Earth among his human companions, he's still in Elfangor's shadow. But Ax is also not telling his human friends much of anything, and they are starting to notice. They're doing everything they can to help Ax learn about Earth and fit in, and he won't even tell them how Andalites eat. (It's hooves. They eat and drink through their hooves.)
The Animorphs feeling distrustful of Ax coincides with a sudden onset of Yeerks dying in their host bodies in very public places. It's been several weeks since the Animorphs destroyed the Kandrona ray, so it's strange that only now should they be seeing the effects, when it only takes three days for a Yeerk to starve to death. Ax also inadvertently gifts technology to humans when Marco has to stop by his house to grab something (he'd been set by Jake to try and get Ax to open up about what he was hiding). He thinks he's playing a game on the computer, "correcting errors," when really he's singlehandedly pushed technology ahead about a century. (And keep in mind this is late 1990s computers, those big boxy things. Somehow this makes it way more funny. I have a tiny computer in my back pocket right now that can do about 1000 more things at a million times the speed than Marco's computer could do in 1997). When Ax realizes that his mistake will enable him to communicate with the Andalite homeworld, he risks asking Tobias to help him infiltrate the observatory where Marco's father's software ended up, ostensibly to delete the software.
It kills me that Scholastic originally did not want Ax to have POV books. They thought it would be too weird or something. But Ax books turned out to be extremely popular, and he went from having one book only every other rotation, to being one of the regulars. In retrospect, their popularity should have been obvious. They combine the mass appeal of Ax's weird obsession with food and mouth sounds with the ability to finally convey lots of information about the outside galaxy. Ax brings the alien to this series, and I like it so much.
Ax's humor doesn't amuse me nearly as much as it did when I was a kid, but this book still really worked for me, shading in a bunch of blank spots in Ax's character, the worldbuilding, and in the dynamics of the team going forward. It plants a lot of really interesting seeds. (I can't wait to get to The Andalite Chronicles.)
Next up, our second Cassie book, and I have zero memory of it!
This book was a lot more complicated than I remembered it being. Ax is so frequently the source of comic relief when the other Animorphs are the POV characters. (He was my FAVORITE when I was in middle school.) But here, in his own book for the first time, one of the first things that strikes you is how serious he is in his own mind. I wouldn't say he's *humorless*, but he's very close. It's the only thing that saves his ridiculous behavior while in human morph from collapsing the narrative. He's supposed to be this supremely advanced alien, and he can't even figure out that crawling around on a movie theater floor for discarded candy and then trying to grab more from a little kid isn't a good idea? But it just works because he's so measured otherwise, and it's played off as him not being able to control the human morph, just as the others haven't been able to control previous animal morphs like the ant, the shrew, etc.
Also? Ax is keeping secrets.
The Alien has a really nice arc for our young Andalite aristh. He's dealing with some stuff. All of his life, he's just been Elfangor's younger brother, for one thing. Even here on Earth among his human companions, he's still in Elfangor's shadow. But Ax is also not telling his human friends much of anything, and they are starting to notice. They're doing everything they can to help Ax learn about Earth and fit in, and he won't even tell them how Andalites eat. (It's hooves. They eat and drink through their hooves.)
The Animorphs feeling distrustful of Ax coincides with a sudden onset of Yeerks dying in their host bodies in very public places. It's been several weeks since the Animorphs destroyed the Kandrona ray, so it's strange that only now should they be seeing the effects, when it only takes three days for a Yeerk to starve to death. Ax also inadvertently gifts technology to humans when Marco has to stop by his house to grab something (he'd been set by Jake to try and get Ax to open up about what he was hiding). He thinks he's playing a game on the computer, "correcting errors," when really he's singlehandedly pushed technology ahead about a century. (And keep in mind this is late 1990s computers, those big boxy things. Somehow this makes it way more funny. I have a tiny computer in my back pocket right now that can do about 1000 more things at a million times the speed than Marco's computer could do in 1997). When Ax realizes that his mistake will enable him to communicate with the Andalite homeworld, he risks asking Tobias to help him infiltrate the observatory where Marco's father's software ended up, ostensibly to delete the software.
It kills me that Scholastic originally did not want Ax to have POV books. They thought it would be too weird or something. But Ax books turned out to be extremely popular, and he went from having one book only every other rotation, to being one of the regulars. In retrospect, their popularity should have been obvious. They combine the mass appeal of Ax's weird obsession with food and mouth sounds with the ability to finally convey lots of information about the outside galaxy. Ax brings the alien to this series, and I like it so much.
Ax's humor doesn't amuse me nearly as much as it did when I was a kid, but this book still really worked for me, shading in a bunch of blank spots in Ax's character, the worldbuilding, and in the dynamics of the team going forward. It plants a lot of really interesting seeds. (I can't wait to get to The Andalite Chronicles.)
Next up, our second Cassie book, and I have zero memory of it!
September 18, 2025
(Read in March 2015, February 2020, and August 2025.)
FIRST REVIEW / MAR 12, 2015
This one was actually the first book I ever read of the series – my older cousin handed it to me on a whim, saying she thought I might like it, and I ended up completely addicted. Ax’s first POV book expands the worldbuilding further, offering more information on the Andalites and Yeerks; it’s touching and sad, ‘foreign’ (KAA manages to pull off a narrative voice that sounds genuinely alien, unaccustomed to even the smallest norms), chilling when it comes to what starts happening to the Controllers in this book, and also absolutely hilarious. Mission: Teach Ax More About Earth is AMAZING. His misadventures to the mall and school and movie theatre are just everything I want to read, always. I love him so much, guys.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / FEB 23, 2020
Despite being one of the short regular books, it feels like so so much happens here: you learn more about Andalite society, their history and culture, and you start seeing the beginning of Ax’s split loyalties between the Andalites and the humans, and his eyes opening to the injustice of the Andalites’ laws. Cassie is a stand-out for me as ever, her reaching out to Ax and understanding him in a way that the rest of the team doesn’t – although there’s also Ax’s growing friendship with Tobias, these two lonely outcasts bonding. Ax both loves and misses his older brother, even as he struggles living in Elfangor’s shadow, but he also takes on the burden of clearing his brother’s name. You also start witnessing splits within Yeerk society itself, and them not being quite so monolithically one-sided anymore, and you learn more about the repercussions from what the Animorphs accomplished in #7 The Stranger.
Basically, I love everything that this book does!! It’s our first Ax POV, but it’s also heavy on character moments and plot. Just strong all around.
What also comes up, thematically, is the importance of dumb stupid hope. Back in #6 The Capture, you saw a Yeerk learning that humans will take on hopeless causes against impossible odds, even when it’s practically a guaranteed defeat, even when they’re staring down likely death over it – and now you see Ax learning this fact about them. And it’ll become clear much later in the series, but hope is one of the touchstones of this whole desperate war.
Favourite quotes will be moved to Google Docs.
---------------------------------
THIRD REVIEW / AUG 30, 2025
I'm late on this review so I don't have much to add, but this remains such a strong early book for being our first Aximili POV; great action, great worldbuilding, big feelings.
FIRST REVIEW / MAR 12, 2015
This one was actually the first book I ever read of the series – my older cousin handed it to me on a whim, saying she thought I might like it, and I ended up completely addicted. Ax’s first POV book expands the worldbuilding further, offering more information on the Andalites and Yeerks; it’s touching and sad, ‘foreign’ (KAA manages to pull off a narrative voice that sounds genuinely alien, unaccustomed to even the smallest norms), chilling when it comes to what starts happening to the Controllers in this book, and also absolutely hilarious. Mission: Teach Ax More About Earth is AMAZING. His misadventures to the mall and school and movie theatre are just everything I want to read, always. I love him so much, guys.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / FEB 23, 2020
Despite being one of the short regular books, it feels like so so much happens here: you learn more about Andalite society, their history and culture, and you start seeing the beginning of Ax’s split loyalties between the Andalites and the humans, and his eyes opening to the injustice of the Andalites’ laws. Cassie is a stand-out for me as ever, her reaching out to Ax and understanding him in a way that the rest of the team doesn’t – although there’s also Ax’s growing friendship with Tobias, these two lonely outcasts bonding. Ax both loves and misses his older brother, even as he struggles living in Elfangor’s shadow, but he also takes on the burden of clearing his brother’s name. You also start witnessing splits within Yeerk society itself, and them not being quite so monolithically one-sided anymore, and you learn more about the repercussions from what the Animorphs accomplished in #7 The Stranger.
Basically, I love everything that this book does!! It’s our first Ax POV, but it’s also heavy on character moments and plot. Just strong all around.
What also comes up, thematically, is the importance of dumb stupid hope. Back in #6 The Capture, you saw a Yeerk learning that humans will take on hopeless causes against impossible odds, even when it’s practically a guaranteed defeat, even when they’re staring down likely death over it – and now you see Ax learning this fact about them. And it’ll become clear much later in the series, but hope is one of the touchstones of this whole desperate war.
“Ax, you don’t stop hoping just because it doesn’t always work out,” Cassie said. “You get more careful. You get wiser, maybe. But you keep hoping.”
Favourite quotes will be moved to Google Docs.
---------------------------------
THIRD REVIEW / AUG 30, 2025
I'm late on this review so I don't have much to add, but this remains such a strong early book for being our first Aximili POV; great action, great worldbuilding, big feelings.
July 21, 2022
This is the first time Ax is the point of view and it’s surprisingly refreshing. He is hilarious without even trying to be, simply because he is an alien on earth. And he does something he really shouldn’t have, accidentally upgrading computer technology to a point where it shouldn’t even exist yet on earth. Now he needs to fix the problem he himself created. Here we further explore Ax as a proper intelligent character, with his own motivations to partake in this war.
March 15, 2024
*** 3.65 ***
Ax's book... "ET call home!"
Ax's book... "ET call home!"
December 15, 2011
I was looking forward to this books so much - finally a story told from Ax's perspective! - but I'm sorry to say that I was largely disappointed. Sure, the "Ax doesn't understand everyday things" episodes where amusing enough and actually made me laugh a few times (and the scene with Cassie's mum and dad was one of my favourites from the book), but I can't help but be disappointed that Ax is so... alien in a very superficial way, if that makes sense. Sure, he's overwhelmed by taste and Doesn't Understand Normal Human Things but overall he's just like a slightly weird human. But okay, that I can forgive.
The Human Supremacy thing, not so much. Human supremacy, you ask? But nobody said humans were superior to other species! Not in these words, no. But this touches on the same problem I had with the previous book and the Elimist's view of Earth: Humans are just so special! They are braver than other species, fighting against impossible odds! They are so much more inventive than other species! They develop so much quicker, make inventions much more quickly than other species! Their sense of justice is just so amazing and the Andalites can learn so much from them!
I am certainly not against a "let's learn from each other" narrative, but when do humans ever learn something from Andalites? No, instead Andalites as a whole, with the exception of very few decent individuals like Elfangor or Ax, are set up to be wrong. That's really what a good part of this book is about: How Andalites and their honour-based society are Wrong. How Ax needs to accept the humans as his new people and learn from the humans and understand that the way his new human friends do stuff is much more reasonable than what Silly Impractical Andalite Tradition says.
It's just humans and aliens here, but it still creates an "Us versus Them" narrative that I find a whole lot more poisonous than Ax's new rattlesnake morph.
Add to that that "Oh no I have a secret that I cannot tell you about even though the whole plot would be over if I just talked to you for two minutes but I can't because of, uh... reasons!" is my least favourite kind of plot in anything, even though it's kind-of-sort-of-somewhat justified here... and you'll see why this isn't exactly my favourite Animorphs book.
Oh, and also, SPOILER WARNING: I can't be the only one who was irritated by the sheer stupidity of the showdown. They have Alloran right there! Even if none of them can bring themselves to kill him as he begs them to do, they could at least take him away! Hide him somewhere! Do ANYTHING except letting him just lie there so Visser Three can come back to take him over again. They could've gained an amazing new ally and taken one of the Yeerks strongest Controllers away at the same time! But no, we can't do that. We must properly push the reset button at the end of the episode after all.
But! Big news! Yeerk have infiltrated the Andalite homeworld! Ohmygosh. Now that is quite the plot development. Now why the heck did Ax not tell Alloran's wife about that when he contacted her? Please, plot. You're relying on your characters being insufferably stupid. Stop it.
The Human Supremacy thing, not so much. Human supremacy, you ask? But nobody said humans were superior to other species! Not in these words, no. But this touches on the same problem I had with the previous book and the Elimist's view of Earth: Humans are just so special! They are braver than other species, fighting against impossible odds! They are so much more inventive than other species! They develop so much quicker, make inventions much more quickly than other species! Their sense of justice is just so amazing and the Andalites can learn so much from them!
I am certainly not against a "let's learn from each other" narrative, but when do humans ever learn something from Andalites? No, instead Andalites as a whole, with the exception of very few decent individuals like Elfangor or Ax, are set up to be wrong. That's really what a good part of this book is about: How Andalites and their honour-based society are Wrong. How Ax needs to accept the humans as his new people and learn from the humans and understand that the way his new human friends do stuff is much more reasonable than what Silly Impractical Andalite Tradition says.
It's just humans and aliens here, but it still creates an "Us versus Them" narrative that I find a whole lot more poisonous than Ax's new rattlesnake morph.
Add to that that "Oh no I have a secret that I cannot tell you about even though the whole plot would be over if I just talked to you for two minutes but I can't because of, uh... reasons!" is my least favourite kind of plot in anything, even though it's kind-of-sort-of-somewhat justified here... and you'll see why this isn't exactly my favourite Animorphs book.
Oh, and also, SPOILER WARNING: I can't be the only one who was irritated by the sheer stupidity of the showdown. They have Alloran right there! Even if none of them can bring themselves to kill him as he begs them to do, they could at least take him away! Hide him somewhere! Do ANYTHING except letting him just lie there so Visser Three can come back to take him over again. They could've gained an amazing new ally and taken one of the Yeerks strongest Controllers away at the same time! But no, we can't do that. We must properly push the reset button at the end of the episode after all.
But! Big news! Yeerk have infiltrated the Andalite homeworld! Ohmygosh. Now that is quite the plot development. Now why the heck did Ax not tell Alloran's wife about that when he contacted her? Please, plot. You're relying on your characters being insufferably stupid. Stop it.
April 16, 2020
Ax. Oh man, Ax.
At one point in this book, Marco mentions how Jake and Rachel are both severely ticked off at Ax for withholding information and outright lying to them, and I have to admit I was just as irritated with him as they were. Yes, his play-with-all-the-sounds is cutesy and he loves food. But Aximili is very intelligent, and to knowingly keep important information from the Animorphs team - people he considers friends and who in turn consider him a friend - left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm so pleased, once again, for his character growth in this book.
At one point in this book, Marco mentions how Jake and Rachel are both severely ticked off at Ax for withholding information and outright lying to them, and I have to admit I was just as irritated with him as they were. Yes, his play-with-all-the-sounds is cutesy and he loves food. But Aximili is very intelligent, and to knowingly keep important information from the Animorphs team - people he considers friends and who in turn consider him a friend - left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm so pleased, once again, for his character growth in this book.
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
Read
May 4, 2021I missed this one the first time around (my library must not have had it) so I was unprepared for the BEVY OF AX FEELINGS. Holy cow! From the other POVs he's kind of stiff, vaguely goofy, and does things like go completely bananas when he gets a new food to taste, but inside his head it's different. I think I just sat there flailing at my ereader going "Aaaaax!!" Trying to live up to his brother, not wanting to fail his people, his guilt and sense of duty and the conflicts between his duty as an Andalite and his friendships with the Animorphs and ahhhh.
Conflicting duty/feelings is a trope that slays me every time, so poor dude.
Also I really loved this description of the Andalite notion of friendship:
"A shorm is a deep friend, someone you could never lie to, someone who knows all your secrets. The word shorm means 'tail blade'. See, it's supposed to mean a person you would trust so much they could put your tail blade right up against your throat and you wouldn't even worry."
I have a lot of feelings about friends and trust, and especially love very concrete analogies/metaphors from other languages.
The ending of this book pretty much made me roll on the floor with feelings.
(There are some plot things I am... not a fan of, but I'm just going to go with "they're kids, let's cut them some slack" so that I don't facepalm myself to death.)
Conflicting duty/feelings is a trope that slays me every time, so poor dude.
Also I really loved this description of the Andalite notion of friendship:
"A shorm is a deep friend, someone you could never lie to, someone who knows all your secrets. The word shorm means 'tail blade'. See, it's supposed to mean a person you would trust so much they could put your tail blade right up against your throat and you wouldn't even worry."
I have a lot of feelings about friends and trust, and especially love very concrete analogies/metaphors from other languages.
The ending of this book pretty much made me roll on the floor with feelings.
(There are some plot things I am... not a fan of, but I'm just going to go with "they're kids, let's cut them some slack" so that I don't facepalm myself to death.)
February 21, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
This book was a BIG DEAL when I was a kid because it was the first time a representation of an Andalite would appear on the cover. And trust me, the Andalite illustrations get A LOT better than this.
Ax’s first turn at narration replaces what should have been Tobias’ second go, but that’s OK, because Ax is awesome. In this book Ax makes a huge mistake in accidentally giving humans advanced technology, so he decides to contact his home world before removing it. Meanwhile, the Animorphs are trying to gain his trust by showing him their world: movies, school etc. Ax learns that maybe, when the rest of your species is a gazillion miles away, your home is where you are and your people are the guys looking out for you.
As I read this book I was overcome with an intense feeling of loneliness. Like I said, Ax is a gazillion miles away from his home planet and it will be years before the mighty Andalites can come rescue the humans from the evil Yeerk parasites (sic). Ax lives by himself in the woods behind Cassie’s barn. He’s by himself an awful lot, and even when the humans try to get him to open up, there are reasons why he can’t. It’s against the law, and Ax takes that law very seriously. After all, he’s part of the Andalite military. And as such, when he is given the opportunity to assassinate his brother’s murderer, we discover why it’s so hard for Ax to face his greatest enemy and also to let him live.
However, Ax is just a kid, and is able to learn and grow and think for himself. He’s the only Andalite on Earth and while he can’t do things such as give the humans interstellar spaceflight, he can learn to trust his friends, and trust that his friends won’t abandon him when he reveals the biggest secret: how the Andalites are responsible for the Yeerk’s domination and elimination of so many species through the galaxy.
While it was sad reading this book, it was also hilariously funny. There’s a small section where Ax has to go to Marco’s house in human morph. Marco tells him to only say ‘No’ and ‘Yes’ to Marco’s dad. The resulting conversation is hilariously funny. There’s also a poignant moment with his own father when Ax finally does make contact with his home world. And finally, a lot of questions are answered. How did the Yeerks get so powerful, why are the Andalites the only ones with the power to stop them, and how how HOW does Ax eat without a mouth?
February 18, 2017
Wow... Just wow... I can't even right now...
Gosh I love this series so much, even as an adult. I must say that I read it as a kid and honestly I only remember about 3 books from it and those are The Andalite Chronicles, The Hork Bajir Chronicles and The Deception, Volume 19, so all my reviews for these are pretty much of a first read through.
Ok, so now for coherency. Ax is one of my favorites, along with Cassie and Tobias. And Rachel. And Jake. And Marco. Ok, so it's really hard to pick a favorite narrator.
Ax is really the funniest one. His craziness for chocolate and cinnamon buns, Bun-zah, bunz is awesome. Also, raisinettes are globules hahahaha.
Despite all the funniness of Ax and taste and talking, he is very deep. I enjoy seeing the Andalite mind set and the bit of culture we get in this book. The little twist about the yeerks was not overly surprising with all the hints of something bad in the past, but it was still interesting. I love how Az is starting to grow and change.
So, the first five star Animorphs... What more is in store.
Gosh I love this series so much, even as an adult. I must say that I read it as a kid and honestly I only remember about 3 books from it and those are The Andalite Chronicles, The Hork Bajir Chronicles and The Deception, Volume 19, so all my reviews for these are pretty much of a first read through.
Ok, so now for coherency. Ax is one of my favorites, along with Cassie and Tobias. And Rachel. And Jake. And Marco. Ok, so it's really hard to pick a favorite narrator.
Ax is really the funniest one. His craziness for chocolate and cinnamon buns, Bun-zah, bunz is awesome. Also, raisinettes are globules hahahaha.
Despite all the funniness of Ax and taste and talking, he is very deep. I enjoy seeing the Andalite mind set and the bit of culture we get in this book. The little twist about the yeerks was not overly surprising with all the hints of something bad in the past, but it was still interesting. I love how Az is starting to grow and change.
So, the first five star Animorphs... What more is in store.
June 30, 2017
(Originally reviewed at thelibraryladies.com.)
Narrator: Ax
Plot: The Animorphs’ most pressing mission yet: familiarize Ax with human habits! Movie theaters, trips to their school, meeting their families, this book is jam packed with Ax-as-a-human shenanigans. Intermixed with this all, this is the first full book we have with Ax’s first person narration (he had a few chapters of his own in the first Megamorphs book, but that hardly counts), so through all the comedic hijinks are a lot of rather sad personal reflections from a kid alien who’s been suddenly torn from his people and left on a strange world in the midst of a war he wasn’t trained to fight with no way of contacting home.
Or so he thinks…until he decides to play the “game” on Marco’s dad’s computer and accidentally codes the human race forward several centuries, creating a formula that enabling space communication. Unable to resist the sudden possibly to contact his family (and also get some advice on what the heck he should be doing as the sole Andalite representative on Earth, given the quandaries of the strict “no sharing” policy the Andalites have to other races and the challenges that this causes when trying to fight on a team), Ax recruits Tobias for help breaking into the science center where Marco’s dad works and manages to open a communication channel with the Andalite home world. In an agonizingly brief period of time, Ax’s already tough situation is made all the worse by an Andalite commander who reinforces the idea that Ax is to NEVER share information with the humans, regardless of how close he may come to them, and that he must take the fall for giving the Animorphs their morphing powers (this was a huge no-no, and the commander doesn’t want to damage the heroic reputation of Elfangor who needs to remain a war hero in the people’s minds. Little ole Ax, however…) Even worse, after learning of Elfangor’s death, his father tasks Ax with the tiny, small, very simple job of avenging his brother by killing his murderer who just happens to be Visser Three.
Unsurprisingly, Ax leaves these conversations not feeling too hopeful about his prospects as a member of Team Animorph. An already problematic rift of distrust (a few conversations have already come up where Ax’s shifty answers have angered the Animorphs, most particularly Rachel and Marco who remain suspicious of his true loyalties) can only be made worse by this strict reinforcement of Andalite law, and why even bother when Ax himself must now undertake the almost guaranteed suicide mission of killing Visser Three? After some luck with an angry Yeerk Controller who decides to help Ax to spite Visser Three (who has been letting less important Yeerks die due to the Kandrona shortage taking place due to the events of book #7, one of whom happened to be this Yeerk’s good friend), Ax learns that Visser Three sometimes like to go for a nice jog in an Earth meadow to, you know, leave the stress of being Visser behind him. He orders Tobias not to tell anyone of what he’s planning to do and sets off with the plan to morph a rattlesnake and poison Visser Three. The plan almost works, with Ax getting a good bite in, but loosing Visser Three as he flees his Andalite host body to escape in a river, leaving Ax with the poisoned Andalite and a bunch of Hork-Bajir now closing in. Luckily for him, Tobias has disregarded all of his honor nonsense, and the Animorphs show up to save the day.
After all of this, Ax decides that the whole “Andalites First” mantra really may not be the best approach to inter-galactic peace and winning the war against the Yeerks in general (he questions specifically the fact that the Andalites tried this approach, helping but not sharing technology or wisdom, with the Hork-Bajir and now a whole species and world has been lost to the Yeerks). He finally tells the Animorphs the big secret: the Andalites essentially created the Yeerks as conquerors. An Andalite came to their world and felt sorry for their limited capabilities (both in worm form and with the dull-witted Gedd species they Controlled) and gave them technology. And the rest is history: a devastating war the Andalites have been fighting, and losing, ever since. Now fully on board with Team Animorph, Ax risks one last call home to essentially give the Andalite commander the finger saying that while he remains on Earth, he is fully committed to his friends and to this fight, Andalite pride be damned.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Poor Ax! This book really hits home how tough his whole situation has been. Not only is he marooned on a strange planet, cut off from his people completely, but he’s got to deal with all the political nonsense that his people have come up with, thus alienating (ha!) him even further from his fellow fighters and friends. Ax’s narration was great! So far I’ve liked all the unique voices (though I do find Cassie rather boring and tending towards ridiculous), and the distinction between their voices and viewpoints has really been on of the main traits holding this crazy series together. But Ax takes it to another level! We’re not just talking about a personality change, Applegate needed to write a voice for an alien being who is looking at Earth and humanity through a completely different lens. And I feel like she really pulled it off! Ax’s voice is both more formal than the rest of the characters and more blunt. His descriptions of the other characters are hilarious, always including that they each only have 2 eyes, and they all manage to walk upright without falling often, as if noting these facts individually for each human he sees is important. I also appreciated the deep friendship we see building between him and Tobias. Looking at it from this perspective, it seems natural that these two should become close, given that they are both cut off from their own people, though in very different ways. Plus, they’re meadow roommates. Further, Ax’s struggles between the relationship he is building with his human friends and the duty that he feels to his people is never minimized or made to feel silly. Through his eyes, we see how real these conflicting loyalties would be and how challenging it has been for him up to this point trying to balance both at once. Especially as he sees the distance between himself and the others grow throughout this book. All in all, I really enjoyed Ax’s viewpoint and the breath of fresh air it gives to the series as a whole, bringing something completely new to the series.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake has to make some rough choices in this book, being confronted by the fact that Ax is keeping secrets from them and doesn’t consider himself to be truly one of them. This is especially hard considering that Ax has been with them for several books up to this point and, while they are all still getting to know him, there’s also a type of bond that has been created by going into battle together already several times. Also, it is noted that back in the book where Jake was controlled and Ax was impersonating him that his parents thought Jake was mentally ill, and that once he returned, they forced him to go to psychiatrist to make sure everything was all right. And, considering what we see here of Ax’s abilities to mimic human behavior, this is actually probably the best case scenario of the whole thing!
Xena, Warriar Princess: There’s a funny bit where Ax describes all the Animorphs and notes that Rachel is considered to be very beautiful, but that he doesn’t see it until he morphs human. Just another interesting tidbit on the effects of a morph on the Animorphs’ perceptions of what is around them. Rachel and Marco are also the two Animorphs who are still most reserved and suspicious towards Ax. They both react with much stronger feelings to the fact that Ax continues to hide things from them. And while I think this makes a lot of sense for these two characters, we have now had books from both of their perspectives since Ax arrived on the scene and there really wasn’t a lot of this included? I mean, it’s pretty obvious here that they’re both not fully on board, but in their own books, there wasn’t any mention of this. Just kind of a continuity issue more than anything.
A Hawk’s Life: Finally, Tobias has a major role to play! It makes sense as both he and Ax are both living outside of society in the woods, disconnected from their people in one way or another. It is clear that Ax and Tobias have become close friends throughout the books leading up to this and that most of Ax’s regrets have to do with not being able to be a true best friend with Tobias. And, of course, Tobias is the one he trusts to help him with his plots to break into the science center and track down Visser Three. Tobias has a tough balance to strike here, keeping Ax’s secrets but also staying true to his friends above anything. Ultimately, he manages it quite well using Ax’s own logic about loyalty to one’s Prince against him and summoning Jake and the rest to bail Ax out of his suicidal mission to take down Visser Three.
Peace, Love, and Animals: We get another example of Cassie’s deeper insight into people and how truly useful this skill is. Only she is able to unpack the true motivation behind Ax’s unwillingness to share the Andalites’ secrets with them, that it is shame not pride that holds him back. Ax also runs into Cassie in her farm’s fields in horse morph. So we see another example of an Animorph using a morph as an escape route. And Cassie even asks Ax not to tell Jake because she knows that he disapproves of morphing being used in this way.
The Comic Relief: Marco has a few very frank conversations with Ax. He and Rachel both remain suspicious of him, but it seems that Marco has a closer relationship with Ax to take him aside and really lay out the facts to him. It’s a good scene all around, since Ax can even understand and respect Rachel and Marco’s opinion of him based on his own behavior. Also, can I just admit, if Tobias and Rachel weren’t my favorite couple ever, I might actually ship Marco/Rachel? I mean….they’re a pretty awesome team and they seem to end up on the same side of most arguments in these books.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: The morphs are always bizarre and disgusting, but there is a new level of weirdness listening to Ax describe the morphing process to become human in the same way that the others describe becoming random animals. Also, becoming the rattlesnake wasn’t a lovely picture.
Couples Watch!: Ax notes that Cassie has a picture of Jake in her locker. Awww. Also, when Cassie tries to say that she and Jake are “just friends” like all the rest of them, Ax is quite confused because he says he’s seen them holding hands. And she’s all “…you weren’t supposed to see that…” Oh, young love, where hand holding must be hidden!
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three doesn’t have much time here, though he is discussed a lot and the true terror/horror of a Yeerk-infested-Andalite really hits home in this book, coming from Ax’s perspective. There is also an interesting aspect of Yeerk infestation that is raised here. We know that in morph, the Animorphs must always struggle to balance their own minds as well as that of the animal they’ve become. Here, we see Visser Three following an urge (to run through the grass and graze) that comes purely from his Andalite host, not the Yeerk. So, what is this balance like? Is it a similar struggle to wall out the instincts of the host body? I don’t remember this being addressed in Jake’s book when he was infested. But that was also a much shorter period of time? So maybe over the years this balance being met becomes more important?
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Man, the whole bit when the Andalite is laying there in the field, finally free from the Yeerk, but knowing he will be recaptured any moment. He begs for death and wishes only to let his family know that if he is taken again, he will always keep fighting. It’s tragic in every way, seeing such a proud being so broken down. I mean, it’s hard to imagine surviving as a Controller in any circumstance, but to be a host for Visser Three who’s just so casually evil all the time? And to know that your body and abilities are what’s enabling him to rise so high and commit such terrible deeds? Awful.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: The main action plan was Ax’s attempt to kill Visser Three, and the rattlesnake, that was actually some clever thinking. The worst plan, however, was the idea of taking Ax to the movie theater in the first little caper adventure of the book. I mean, sure, introducing Ax to human culture is good. But you know the guy has got a problem with self-control with food, and even regular humans struggle to not inhale that buttery popcorn! Not to mention, you’re taking him to a closed room, surrounded by tons of people, with only a few exits, where everyone is supposed to sit quietly for hours. It’s just a recipe for disaster for a guy whose two main loves in his human morph are eating everything and talking loudly and weirdly. Any shock on the Animorphs’ part for his behavior is completely unjustified. You brought this embarrassment on yourselves, guys.
Favorite Quote:
Ax’s thoughts on the movie-going plan. Just a perfect example of the type of deadpan delivery that made Ax’s narration so fun.
Of course, I would have to attend the movie in a morph. I couldn’t go around in public in my own Andalite form. Humans would have been terrified. And the Controllers – those humans who are infested by the Yeerk parasites – would have tried to kill me.
Which would have ruined the entire movie experience.
Scorecard: Yeerks 1, Animorphs 4
I’d almost put this down as a win for the Yeerks due to the massive lost opportunity to take out Visser Three. But instead I’ll just leave the scorecard unchanged.
Narrator: Ax
Plot: The Animorphs’ most pressing mission yet: familiarize Ax with human habits! Movie theaters, trips to their school, meeting their families, this book is jam packed with Ax-as-a-human shenanigans. Intermixed with this all, this is the first full book we have with Ax’s first person narration (he had a few chapters of his own in the first Megamorphs book, but that hardly counts), so through all the comedic hijinks are a lot of rather sad personal reflections from a kid alien who’s been suddenly torn from his people and left on a strange world in the midst of a war he wasn’t trained to fight with no way of contacting home.
Or so he thinks…until he decides to play the “game” on Marco’s dad’s computer and accidentally codes the human race forward several centuries, creating a formula that enabling space communication. Unable to resist the sudden possibly to contact his family (and also get some advice on what the heck he should be doing as the sole Andalite representative on Earth, given the quandaries of the strict “no sharing” policy the Andalites have to other races and the challenges that this causes when trying to fight on a team), Ax recruits Tobias for help breaking into the science center where Marco’s dad works and manages to open a communication channel with the Andalite home world. In an agonizingly brief period of time, Ax’s already tough situation is made all the worse by an Andalite commander who reinforces the idea that Ax is to NEVER share information with the humans, regardless of how close he may come to them, and that he must take the fall for giving the Animorphs their morphing powers (this was a huge no-no, and the commander doesn’t want to damage the heroic reputation of Elfangor who needs to remain a war hero in the people’s minds. Little ole Ax, however…) Even worse, after learning of Elfangor’s death, his father tasks Ax with the tiny, small, very simple job of avenging his brother by killing his murderer who just happens to be Visser Three.
Unsurprisingly, Ax leaves these conversations not feeling too hopeful about his prospects as a member of Team Animorph. An already problematic rift of distrust (a few conversations have already come up where Ax’s shifty answers have angered the Animorphs, most particularly Rachel and Marco who remain suspicious of his true loyalties) can only be made worse by this strict reinforcement of Andalite law, and why even bother when Ax himself must now undertake the almost guaranteed suicide mission of killing Visser Three? After some luck with an angry Yeerk Controller who decides to help Ax to spite Visser Three (who has been letting less important Yeerks die due to the Kandrona shortage taking place due to the events of book #7, one of whom happened to be this Yeerk’s good friend), Ax learns that Visser Three sometimes like to go for a nice jog in an Earth meadow to, you know, leave the stress of being Visser behind him. He orders Tobias not to tell anyone of what he’s planning to do and sets off with the plan to morph a rattlesnake and poison Visser Three. The plan almost works, with Ax getting a good bite in, but loosing Visser Three as he flees his Andalite host body to escape in a river, leaving Ax with the poisoned Andalite and a bunch of Hork-Bajir now closing in. Luckily for him, Tobias has disregarded all of his honor nonsense, and the Animorphs show up to save the day.
After all of this, Ax decides that the whole “Andalites First” mantra really may not be the best approach to inter-galactic peace and winning the war against the Yeerks in general (he questions specifically the fact that the Andalites tried this approach, helping but not sharing technology or wisdom, with the Hork-Bajir and now a whole species and world has been lost to the Yeerks). He finally tells the Animorphs the big secret: the Andalites essentially created the Yeerks as conquerors. An Andalite came to their world and felt sorry for their limited capabilities (both in worm form and with the dull-witted Gedd species they Controlled) and gave them technology. And the rest is history: a devastating war the Andalites have been fighting, and losing, ever since. Now fully on board with Team Animorph, Ax risks one last call home to essentially give the Andalite commander the finger saying that while he remains on Earth, he is fully committed to his friends and to this fight, Andalite pride be damned.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Poor Ax! This book really hits home how tough his whole situation has been. Not only is he marooned on a strange planet, cut off from his people completely, but he’s got to deal with all the political nonsense that his people have come up with, thus alienating (ha!) him even further from his fellow fighters and friends. Ax’s narration was great! So far I’ve liked all the unique voices (though I do find Cassie rather boring and tending towards ridiculous), and the distinction between their voices and viewpoints has really been on of the main traits holding this crazy series together. But Ax takes it to another level! We’re not just talking about a personality change, Applegate needed to write a voice for an alien being who is looking at Earth and humanity through a completely different lens. And I feel like she really pulled it off! Ax’s voice is both more formal than the rest of the characters and more blunt. His descriptions of the other characters are hilarious, always including that they each only have 2 eyes, and they all manage to walk upright without falling often, as if noting these facts individually for each human he sees is important. I also appreciated the deep friendship we see building between him and Tobias. Looking at it from this perspective, it seems natural that these two should become close, given that they are both cut off from their own people, though in very different ways. Plus, they’re meadow roommates. Further, Ax’s struggles between the relationship he is building with his human friends and the duty that he feels to his people is never minimized or made to feel silly. Through his eyes, we see how real these conflicting loyalties would be and how challenging it has been for him up to this point trying to balance both at once. Especially as he sees the distance between himself and the others grow throughout this book. All in all, I really enjoyed Ax’s viewpoint and the breath of fresh air it gives to the series as a whole, bringing something completely new to the series.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake has to make some rough choices in this book, being confronted by the fact that Ax is keeping secrets from them and doesn’t consider himself to be truly one of them. This is especially hard considering that Ax has been with them for several books up to this point and, while they are all still getting to know him, there’s also a type of bond that has been created by going into battle together already several times. Also, it is noted that back in the book where Jake was controlled and Ax was impersonating him that his parents thought Jake was mentally ill, and that once he returned, they forced him to go to psychiatrist to make sure everything was all right. And, considering what we see here of Ax’s abilities to mimic human behavior, this is actually probably the best case scenario of the whole thing!
Xena, Warriar Princess: There’s a funny bit where Ax describes all the Animorphs and notes that Rachel is considered to be very beautiful, but that he doesn’t see it until he morphs human. Just another interesting tidbit on the effects of a morph on the Animorphs’ perceptions of what is around them. Rachel and Marco are also the two Animorphs who are still most reserved and suspicious towards Ax. They both react with much stronger feelings to the fact that Ax continues to hide things from them. And while I think this makes a lot of sense for these two characters, we have now had books from both of their perspectives since Ax arrived on the scene and there really wasn’t a lot of this included? I mean, it’s pretty obvious here that they’re both not fully on board, but in their own books, there wasn’t any mention of this. Just kind of a continuity issue more than anything.
A Hawk’s Life: Finally, Tobias has a major role to play! It makes sense as both he and Ax are both living outside of society in the woods, disconnected from their people in one way or another. It is clear that Ax and Tobias have become close friends throughout the books leading up to this and that most of Ax’s regrets have to do with not being able to be a true best friend with Tobias. And, of course, Tobias is the one he trusts to help him with his plots to break into the science center and track down Visser Three. Tobias has a tough balance to strike here, keeping Ax’s secrets but also staying true to his friends above anything. Ultimately, he manages it quite well using Ax’s own logic about loyalty to one’s Prince against him and summoning Jake and the rest to bail Ax out of his suicidal mission to take down Visser Three.
Peace, Love, and Animals: We get another example of Cassie’s deeper insight into people and how truly useful this skill is. Only she is able to unpack the true motivation behind Ax’s unwillingness to share the Andalites’ secrets with them, that it is shame not pride that holds him back. Ax also runs into Cassie in her farm’s fields in horse morph. So we see another example of an Animorph using a morph as an escape route. And Cassie even asks Ax not to tell Jake because she knows that he disapproves of morphing being used in this way.
The Comic Relief: Marco has a few very frank conversations with Ax. He and Rachel both remain suspicious of him, but it seems that Marco has a closer relationship with Ax to take him aside and really lay out the facts to him. It’s a good scene all around, since Ax can even understand and respect Rachel and Marco’s opinion of him based on his own behavior. Also, can I just admit, if Tobias and Rachel weren’t my favorite couple ever, I might actually ship Marco/Rachel? I mean….they’re a pretty awesome team and they seem to end up on the same side of most arguments in these books.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: The morphs are always bizarre and disgusting, but there is a new level of weirdness listening to Ax describe the morphing process to become human in the same way that the others describe becoming random animals. Also, becoming the rattlesnake wasn’t a lovely picture.
Couples Watch!: Ax notes that Cassie has a picture of Jake in her locker. Awww. Also, when Cassie tries to say that she and Jake are “just friends” like all the rest of them, Ax is quite confused because he says he’s seen them holding hands. And she’s all “…you weren’t supposed to see that…” Oh, young love, where hand holding must be hidden!
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three doesn’t have much time here, though he is discussed a lot and the true terror/horror of a Yeerk-infested-Andalite really hits home in this book, coming from Ax’s perspective. There is also an interesting aspect of Yeerk infestation that is raised here. We know that in morph, the Animorphs must always struggle to balance their own minds as well as that of the animal they’ve become. Here, we see Visser Three following an urge (to run through the grass and graze) that comes purely from his Andalite host, not the Yeerk. So, what is this balance like? Is it a similar struggle to wall out the instincts of the host body? I don’t remember this being addressed in Jake’s book when he was infested. But that was also a much shorter period of time? So maybe over the years this balance being met becomes more important?
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Man, the whole bit when the Andalite is laying there in the field, finally free from the Yeerk, but knowing he will be recaptured any moment. He begs for death and wishes only to let his family know that if he is taken again, he will always keep fighting. It’s tragic in every way, seeing such a proud being so broken down. I mean, it’s hard to imagine surviving as a Controller in any circumstance, but to be a host for Visser Three who’s just so casually evil all the time? And to know that your body and abilities are what’s enabling him to rise so high and commit such terrible deeds? Awful.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: The main action plan was Ax’s attempt to kill Visser Three, and the rattlesnake, that was actually some clever thinking. The worst plan, however, was the idea of taking Ax to the movie theater in the first little caper adventure of the book. I mean, sure, introducing Ax to human culture is good. But you know the guy has got a problem with self-control with food, and even regular humans struggle to not inhale that buttery popcorn! Not to mention, you’re taking him to a closed room, surrounded by tons of people, with only a few exits, where everyone is supposed to sit quietly for hours. It’s just a recipe for disaster for a guy whose two main loves in his human morph are eating everything and talking loudly and weirdly. Any shock on the Animorphs’ part for his behavior is completely unjustified. You brought this embarrassment on yourselves, guys.
Favorite Quote:
Ax’s thoughts on the movie-going plan. Just a perfect example of the type of deadpan delivery that made Ax’s narration so fun.
Of course, I would have to attend the movie in a morph. I couldn’t go around in public in my own Andalite form. Humans would have been terrified. And the Controllers – those humans who are infested by the Yeerk parasites – would have tried to kill me.
Which would have ruined the entire movie experience.
Scorecard: Yeerks 1, Animorphs 4
I’d almost put this down as a win for the Yeerks due to the massive lost opportunity to take out Visser Three. But instead I’ll just leave the scorecard unchanged.
March 21, 2022
I was not prepared to be this emotional and start tearing up over ANIMORPHS.
And yet…here we are.
In the most interesting installment of the series yet, we get an entire book from Ax’s perspective with immense background on Andalite culture as well as memories/a deeper understand of his brother, Elfangor.
In a really lovely and fascinating display, we gain more insight when it comes to the Andalites’ morals and values by witnessing a handful of cultural practices and historical moments, like in Ax’s daily warrior ritual.
”From the water that gave birth to us,
From the grass that feeds us,
For the freedom that unites us.
We rise to the stars.
Freedom is my only cause. Duty to the people, my only guide. Obedience to my prince, my only glory.
The destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow.
I, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Andalite warrior-cadet, offer my life.”
Despite Ax no longer being around authority figures to force him to make this daily oath, he begins at sunrise every single morning and thinks of his deceased brother. He thinks about how much of his life was dedicated to looking up to Elfangor. He thinks about living up that name and title.
In this better understanding of Andalite values, history, and rituals, I think there’s something to be said about the really interesting blend of morals that make up Andalite society.
As they dedicate so much of their time and resources to protecting other forms of life in the galaxy, they strictly forbid handing out technology or knowledge in order to allow other life forms to advance onto their level. Although there is a reason for this, Andalites reach this very particular juxtaposition in designating themselves to being the galaxy’s peacemakers and protectors while simultaneously preaching and instilling the importance of vengeance, glory to the crown, and the complete destruction of all their enemies.
In Ax’s morning ritual- a ritual practiced by all Andalite warriors- we are met with extremely violent language coexisting without question alongside a message of love and unity.
On top of all that, we got a solid kick to the chest in seeing how Ax navigates feelings of grief and the desire to bend the rules in order to save his human friends immediately followed up by a brutal confrontation with the Andalite Visser Three has been controlling.
So much happening. So many feelings.
CW: war, slavery, suicidal ideation, violence, murder, death, grief, mentions of genocide
And yet…here we are.
In the most interesting installment of the series yet, we get an entire book from Ax’s perspective with immense background on Andalite culture as well as memories/a deeper understand of his brother, Elfangor.
In a really lovely and fascinating display, we gain more insight when it comes to the Andalites’ morals and values by witnessing a handful of cultural practices and historical moments, like in Ax’s daily warrior ritual.
”From the water that gave birth to us,
From the grass that feeds us,
For the freedom that unites us.
We rise to the stars.
Freedom is my only cause. Duty to the people, my only guide. Obedience to my prince, my only glory.
The destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow.
I, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Andalite warrior-cadet, offer my life.”
Despite Ax no longer being around authority figures to force him to make this daily oath, he begins at sunrise every single morning and thinks of his deceased brother. He thinks about how much of his life was dedicated to looking up to Elfangor. He thinks about living up that name and title.
In this better understanding of Andalite values, history, and rituals, I think there’s something to be said about the really interesting blend of morals that make up Andalite society.
As they dedicate so much of their time and resources to protecting other forms of life in the galaxy, they strictly forbid handing out technology or knowledge in order to allow other life forms to advance onto their level. Although there is a reason for this, Andalites reach this very particular juxtaposition in designating themselves to being the galaxy’s peacemakers and protectors while simultaneously preaching and instilling the importance of vengeance, glory to the crown, and the complete destruction of all their enemies.
In Ax’s morning ritual- a ritual practiced by all Andalite warriors- we are met with extremely violent language coexisting without question alongside a message of love and unity.
On top of all that, we got a solid kick to the chest in seeing how Ax navigates feelings of grief and the desire to bend the rules in order to save his human friends immediately followed up by a brutal confrontation with the Andalite Visser Three has been controlling.
So much happening. So many feelings.
CW: war, slavery, suicidal ideation, violence, murder, death, grief, mentions of genocide
January 16, 2019
Ax and his learning-to-be-human antics are tiresome--I'm not convinced that I ever found them funny, I certainly don't now, and it brings the incompetency/bad decision-making back in force. The second half of the book is more successful. Andalite worldbuilding turns out not to be particularly interesting as yet, but Ax's conflict is significant and, no matter how predictable, the resolution is satisfying.
A moment to consider heteronormativity, here established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms who seem only to live fully when embodied in a host--how does gender work in that situation? What is embodiment-as-gender/-in-sex like for a Yeerk, given that they appear hate their host species? The book doesn't mean to raise these questions, obviously; heteronormativity is just the unconscious result of when it was written and for what audience. But it makes me wonder what fandom has done with Animorphs xenobiology.
A moment to consider heteronormativity, here established to be so universal as to apply even to symbiotic brain worms who seem only to live fully when embodied in a host--how does gender work in that situation? What is embodiment-as-gender/-in-sex like for a Yeerk, given that they appear hate their host species? The book doesn't mean to raise these questions, obviously; heteronormativity is just the unconscious result of when it was written and for what audience. But it makes me wonder what fandom has done with Animorphs xenobiology.
July 17, 2022
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the world would be in a better place right now if more of those of us who grew up in the nineties had chosen Applegate over Rowling. I believed this before Rowling's transphobia came out, and I believe it even more now. I could never stand that bespectacled twerp, even as a child. Applegate show us the only way out of the crisis: eco-maoist guerrilla/gorilla war fought on our behalf by child soldiers.
August 6, 2014
Ax speaks! And he tells you not to eat the bookmark. Sometimes the alien-speak is annoying, but usually it's just entertaining and sort of cool to see the world through the mind and thoughts of a young alien who is probably the one who knows the most about the overarching war but is himself a child (and it shows!).
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
On the back of the book, Ax advises that the free bookmark inside is not meant to be eaten, but that it does taste good.
An inconsistency when it comes to thought-speak appears to come out in this book. At the very beginning, a prologue details Ax with his brother and an Andalite soldier named Captain Nerefir, and Ax's thought-speak is "overheard" when he's "thought-speaking a little loudly." In previous books it's been noted that thought-speak can be publicly sent to everyone in the vicinity like speech, but can also be directed privately like whispering, and it makes no sense that Ax would make a disrespectful joke about the Captain right in front of him and NOT do it in private thought-speak to Elfangor. Targeting thought-speak to a particular individual is not supposed to be difficult, as the humans with no experience grasp it fine.
Ax's last words to his brother were "Go burn some slugs," and his brother's last to him were "That's the plan."
Ax keeps a diary of human-related factoids in this book, and some of the anecdotes are hilarious.
Andalites have three hearts according to Ax's narration, when he explains that his second and third hearts stop beating when he becomes human. It's contradicted in later books when Andalites refer to "both hearts" as though they have two.
Early in the book, Ax suggests that Andalites can tell who is a Controller. (He says that for humans there is no way to tell, and that the only way to tell is if you're an Andalite.) This is not explained, and later doesn't always seem to be true. He could be referring to the fact that Andalites and Yeerks have a visceral hatred reaction to each other, but that only seems to happen if they know what each other are. No magical Yeerk-detecting ability appears to be part of the Andalite experience.
There is a reference to Marco "dressing like Beavis" in this book, which is another bit that dates it.
When the group goes to the movies, they see a Star Trek film and Ax compares the Enterprise to a Hawjabran freighter and a Klingon character to a real race called the Ongachic.
While watching a movie, Ax gets distracted by food and starts crawling around on the floor looking for more, ending up separated from his companions. It seems odd that the Animorphs would not have seated themselves on either side of him and stopped him from going anywhere. It seems like an excuse for hijinks and makes the book seem less realistic.
Ax suggests early in his narration that something Andalites have done cannot be shared with humans because they might turn against him. He is apparently very aware of this and the humans have no idea.
It seems inconsistent that Andalites in human morph cannot thought-speak. (Ax confirms this is the case by saying "And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language.") It makes sense that humans can't do it when they're not in a body made possible by Andalite science, but it seems ridiculous that if a morph can speak, the thought-speak ability goes away. It's also contradicted later in the series. Ax also appears to thought-speak while in human morph in this book, since thought-speak tags are surrounding Ax saying "I win" to himself, but it's possible this was supposed to just be Ax thinking and it was unclearly punctuated.
Ax reveals in this book that Andalites eat with their hooves.
Ax mentions that he has morphed into some animals from the Andalite home world, but so far none of those morphs have shown up in the story. Either they wouldn't be useful, or the author has forgotten he has any options besides Earth animals.
Ax doesn't have a sense of aesthetics for humans when he's in his natural form, but as a human male he finds Rachel attractive. Interesting that this comment makes it clear he is heterosexual while morphed, but no other sexual behavior (except for clear distinctions due to sexual dimorphism in the species) crops up for any of the Animorphs while in animal forms both male and female. Surely this is because it is a children's series, but exploring that aspect would have been interesting.
Cassie has a picture of Jake in her locker. Ooooh.
Ax is estimating and sort of joking when he says it, but at one point he refers to his world as being "about a billion Earth miles from my home world," and later in the story he says his world is "billions of miles away." And interestingly, Ax says "a billion" twice and says "billions" twice in this book. Which is it? "A billion" would make no sense. We have planets in our solar system that are more than a billion miles away.
Apparently Ax can speak English while in human morph, but cannot read it. No real explanation for the language ability (as mentioned in a previous set of notes), since Andalites use thought-speak but specific knowledge does not come with the minds when one morphs. Ax does learn to read English very quickly, also with no real explanation.
Ax tells his new friends that the Hork-Bajir "used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty-two years," which seems unlikely when we find out in a future book that they were created as peaceful creatures by a species called the Arn, and no warring tendencies were likely to have been built into them.
The word for a person with a morphing talent is estreen in the Andalite language. Ax brings it up while watching Cassie morph, and claims it is an art form on his home planet. This is a bit odd because in later books the Andalite morphing technology is referred to as "top secret." Which is it?
The Andalite home world has four moons, and at least two of them are up at all times.
While discussing human rituals, Ax notes that Jake's family has a prayer before meals while Cassie's family doesn't. This suggests that Jake's family is more religious than Cassie's.
Ax compares human male pattern baldness to older Andalites' tendency to get dull hooves.
Tobias once again refers to having a strange fascination with Elfangor, and discusses having been the last to leave the dying alien's side. Again, the reason for this is revealed much later.
Yeerks are suggested to have gender and sex. A Yeerk in this book refers to a female he cared about and assigned her female pronouns even before she was in any kind of human body. This sort of contradicts other parts of the canon because Yeerks' mating and reproduction is nothing like humans; Yeerks don't have parents, and it seems unlikely that they'd mate for life.
It's unclear really what the naming conventions are for Yeerks at this point; previous books suggest that the first word of their names are a rank type and that the numeral is a ranking within that rank group, but in this book the male Yeerk Eslin three-five-nine refers to his female Yeerk mate as "Derane" even though she was introduced as "Derane three-four-four."
Besides the Gedds, it appears that the first alien race to be conquered by the Yeerks was a species called the Nahara.
Ax was addressed by an old Andalite named Lirem who said he served as an aristh under Prince Seerow. He said that this happened "centuries ago." According to the events recorded in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, Seerow's actions made possible the Yeerk/Andalite war in the human year 1966. So either Seerow was a prince for centuries before that, or the Andalites don't count years the same as humans do.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
On the back of the book, Ax advises that the free bookmark inside is not meant to be eaten, but that it does taste good.
An inconsistency when it comes to thought-speak appears to come out in this book. At the very beginning, a prologue details Ax with his brother and an Andalite soldier named Captain Nerefir, and Ax's thought-speak is "overheard" when he's "thought-speaking a little loudly." In previous books it's been noted that thought-speak can be publicly sent to everyone in the vicinity like speech, but can also be directed privately like whispering, and it makes no sense that Ax would make a disrespectful joke about the Captain right in front of him and NOT do it in private thought-speak to Elfangor. Targeting thought-speak to a particular individual is not supposed to be difficult, as the humans with no experience grasp it fine.
Ax's last words to his brother were "Go burn some slugs," and his brother's last to him were "That's the plan."
Ax keeps a diary of human-related factoids in this book, and some of the anecdotes are hilarious.
Andalites have three hearts according to Ax's narration, when he explains that his second and third hearts stop beating when he becomes human. It's contradicted in later books when Andalites refer to "both hearts" as though they have two.
Early in the book, Ax suggests that Andalites can tell who is a Controller. (He says that for humans there is no way to tell, and that the only way to tell is if you're an Andalite.) This is not explained, and later doesn't always seem to be true. He could be referring to the fact that Andalites and Yeerks have a visceral hatred reaction to each other, but that only seems to happen if they know what each other are. No magical Yeerk-detecting ability appears to be part of the Andalite experience.
There is a reference to Marco "dressing like Beavis" in this book, which is another bit that dates it.
When the group goes to the movies, they see a Star Trek film and Ax compares the Enterprise to a Hawjabran freighter and a Klingon character to a real race called the Ongachic.
While watching a movie, Ax gets distracted by food and starts crawling around on the floor looking for more, ending up separated from his companions. It seems odd that the Animorphs would not have seated themselves on either side of him and stopped him from going anywhere. It seems like an excuse for hijinks and makes the book seem less realistic.
Ax suggests early in his narration that something Andalites have done cannot be shared with humans because they might turn against him. He is apparently very aware of this and the humans have no idea.
It seems inconsistent that Andalites in human morph cannot thought-speak. (Ax confirms this is the case by saying "And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language.") It makes sense that humans can't do it when they're not in a body made possible by Andalite science, but it seems ridiculous that if a morph can speak, the thought-speak ability goes away. It's also contradicted later in the series. Ax also appears to thought-speak while in human morph in this book, since thought-speak tags are surrounding Ax saying "I win" to himself, but it's possible this was supposed to just be Ax thinking and it was unclearly punctuated.
Ax reveals in this book that Andalites eat with their hooves.
Ax mentions that he has morphed into some animals from the Andalite home world, but so far none of those morphs have shown up in the story. Either they wouldn't be useful, or the author has forgotten he has any options besides Earth animals.
Ax doesn't have a sense of aesthetics for humans when he's in his natural form, but as a human male he finds Rachel attractive. Interesting that this comment makes it clear he is heterosexual while morphed, but no other sexual behavior (except for clear distinctions due to sexual dimorphism in the species) crops up for any of the Animorphs while in animal forms both male and female. Surely this is because it is a children's series, but exploring that aspect would have been interesting.
Cassie has a picture of Jake in her locker. Ooooh.
Ax is estimating and sort of joking when he says it, but at one point he refers to his world as being "about a billion Earth miles from my home world," and later in the story he says his world is "billions of miles away." And interestingly, Ax says "a billion" twice and says "billions" twice in this book. Which is it? "A billion" would make no sense. We have planets in our solar system that are more than a billion miles away.
Apparently Ax can speak English while in human morph, but cannot read it. No real explanation for the language ability (as mentioned in a previous set of notes), since Andalites use thought-speak but specific knowledge does not come with the minds when one morphs. Ax does learn to read English very quickly, also with no real explanation.
Ax tells his new friends that the Hork-Bajir "used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty-two years," which seems unlikely when we find out in a future book that they were created as peaceful creatures by a species called the Arn, and no warring tendencies were likely to have been built into them.
The word for a person with a morphing talent is estreen in the Andalite language. Ax brings it up while watching Cassie morph, and claims it is an art form on his home planet. This is a bit odd because in later books the Andalite morphing technology is referred to as "top secret." Which is it?
The Andalite home world has four moons, and at least two of them are up at all times.
While discussing human rituals, Ax notes that Jake's family has a prayer before meals while Cassie's family doesn't. This suggests that Jake's family is more religious than Cassie's.
Ax compares human male pattern baldness to older Andalites' tendency to get dull hooves.
Tobias once again refers to having a strange fascination with Elfangor, and discusses having been the last to leave the dying alien's side. Again, the reason for this is revealed much later.
Yeerks are suggested to have gender and sex. A Yeerk in this book refers to a female he cared about and assigned her female pronouns even before she was in any kind of human body. This sort of contradicts other parts of the canon because Yeerks' mating and reproduction is nothing like humans; Yeerks don't have parents, and it seems unlikely that they'd mate for life.
It's unclear really what the naming conventions are for Yeerks at this point; previous books suggest that the first word of their names are a rank type and that the numeral is a ranking within that rank group, but in this book the male Yeerk Eslin three-five-nine refers to his female Yeerk mate as "Derane" even though she was introduced as "Derane three-four-four."
Besides the Gedds, it appears that the first alien race to be conquered by the Yeerks was a species called the Nahara.
Ax was addressed by an old Andalite named Lirem who said he served as an aristh under Prince Seerow. He said that this happened "centuries ago." According to the events recorded in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, Seerow's actions made possible the Yeerk/Andalite war in the human year 1966. So either Seerow was a prince for centuries before that, or the Andalites don't count years the same as humans do.
July 20, 2023
4.5⭐️
Five teenagers gain the ability to morph into any animal they want, to save the world from the Yeerks.
This is by far my favourite Animorphs book yet. K A Applegate having the ✨ brilliant ✨ idea to let Ax have his own POV? Genius.
There are some unbelievable parts in here but apart from that, I absolutely loved this one.
I loved learning more about Ax, the Andalites, as well as the war with the Yeerks. It was interesting to learn more information about why the Andalites have beef with the Yeerks. I absolutely love how this one ends!
⚠️ CWs: Body horror, Death, Grief, Violence, Genocide, War, Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia ⚠️
Five teenagers gain the ability to morph into any animal they want, to save the world from the Yeerks.
This is by far my favourite Animorphs book yet. K A Applegate having the ✨ brilliant ✨ idea to let Ax have his own POV? Genius.
There are some unbelievable parts in here but apart from that, I absolutely loved this one.
I loved learning more about Ax, the Andalites, as well as the war with the Yeerks. It was interesting to learn more information about why the Andalites have beef with the Yeerks. I absolutely love how this one ends!
⚠️ CWs: Body horror, Death, Grief, Violence, Genocide, War, Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia ⚠️
January 20, 2023
THEY TOOK THEIR ALIEN PAL TO SEE A STAR TREK MOVIE OH MY FUCKING GOD
February 13, 2024
Ax it is not very cash money of you to have sooo many secrets
3 stars because you literally had a chance to kill the baddie, honor don’t mean shit compared to saving an entire planet
3 stars because you literally had a chance to kill the baddie, honor don’t mean shit compared to saving an entire planet
March 1, 2024
This one is actually wild. We get a huge helping of Andalite lore, Ax contacts the Andalite homeworld, a Yeerk gone rogue is found....it's a lot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2020
Oh, Ax... 🤣😭
June 17, 2019
This is possibly my favorite of the series so far.
June 18, 2020
I really thought my re-read of Animorphs would only be about nostalgia. I don't read a lot of YA, particularly not YA aimed at pre-teens, and felt that at 33, only nostalgia would make me enjoy those books that were one of the first series I ever fell in love with, one of my first memories as a reader. But those books are good. They are very good. So good that, even as a 33 yo woman that doesn't enjoy the YA genre that much, I still love them. And they make me feel many thinks, not only nostalgia.
Those books were for pre-teens (tweens ?) but treated them like adults and gave them real adult things to think about. Real stories. Real characters. This book centering Ax is so layered I almost want to re-read it again right now just to be sure I didn't miss anything. It talks about being a stranger. About loneliness and belonging. About traditions and when to follow them, when to break them. About, as a kid, knowing when to make your own choices. About finding a family that isn't blood, while still honoring that part of your life. And about so many other things.
I always loved Ax's books, as a kid that didn't always belong, as a kid that felt different. This book gives so much hope about finding a place to belong, people to belong with, even in the worst circumstances. I wish more teens were reading those books today, I think it could help them make sense of things a lot.
Those books were for pre-teens (tweens ?) but treated them like adults and gave them real adult things to think about. Real stories. Real characters. This book centering Ax is so layered I almost want to re-read it again right now just to be sure I didn't miss anything. It talks about being a stranger. About loneliness and belonging. About traditions and when to follow them, when to break them. About, as a kid, knowing when to make your own choices. About finding a family that isn't blood, while still honoring that part of your life. And about so many other things.
I always loved Ax's books, as a kid that didn't always belong, as a kid that felt different. This book gives so much hope about finding a place to belong, people to belong with, even in the worst circumstances. I wish more teens were reading those books today, I think it could help them make sense of things a lot.
December 9, 2014
Disappointed!
Seriously? They got hold of the Andalite body that was taken by Visser 3 and what they did was a pure nothing? The writer obviously could've done better than that! I mean you should always take your readers seriously even if you are writing a book for children. How on earth can one consider that it’s more moral to let a living independent being survive like a zombie than killing it even after the given living being begged to die? Ain’t being dead is better than living under the control of a Yeerk? This is probably the most disappointing book of the whole series. But it could’ve been so much better! After all, this is the first time where we get to know the words of the young Andalite Ax, his thinking style and learn more about Andalites. Some lines were very humorous and good indeed! But this heinous ploy for the unnecessary extension of the series has ruined everything!
Seriously? They got hold of the Andalite body that was taken by Visser 3 and what they did was a pure nothing? The writer obviously could've done better than that! I mean you should always take your readers seriously even if you are writing a book for children. How on earth can one consider that it’s more moral to let a living independent being survive like a zombie than killing it even after the given living being begged to die? Ain’t being dead is better than living under the control of a Yeerk? This is probably the most disappointing book of the whole series. But it could’ve been so much better! After all, this is the first time where we get to know the words of the young Andalite Ax, his thinking style and learn more about Andalites. Some lines were very humorous and good indeed! But this heinous ploy for the unnecessary extension of the series has ruined everything!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2011
A dazzling study of what it feels like to be billions of miles from every member of your own species. Also, a sobering warning against the dangers of tasting chocolate for the first time.
December 29, 2016
i just don't like ax
January 10, 2018
Interesting seeing things from the perspective of Ax, the Andalite. I like that we learn a little bit more about the Andalites and their customs. I'm interested to see more. Love Ax!
June 14, 2020
Finally picked back up on my group re-read of the Animorphs series! (I’m only, oh, a good 20 books behind at this point…oops.) On the plus side, it means that I have books 8, 9, and 10 on audio and ready to go. My audiobook review is here and my original review is below.
This is Ax’s first narrated book, and therefore his introduction into the rotation (he and Tobias switch off in this slot for most of the series). He is a young Andalite, the only survivor of the battle that resulted in his older brother Elfangor’s death at the mouth of Visser Three. The Andalites have a warrior code, and in part, it means that Ax must avenge the death of his brother by killing Visser Three. Though that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t also want to learn as much as he can about human society – the Animorphs are happy to oblige him, taking him to the movies and even to school. But he is also keeping secrets from the Animorphs, secrets that Andalite law requires him to keep. Secrets which may break the trust the other Animorphs have in him, and which may demand more of Ax than any young warrior-cadet ever expected to have to give.
And no matter how much I sometimes wished for a real friend, there had to be a wall between my people and the humans. Between me and the humans.
While we the reader learn much about Andalite culture in this book, Ax is extremely careful about how much he reveals to the Animorphs – the only people he knows and can trust on all of Earth. He is grappling with his loyalty to his people and their laws, to his duty as a warrior-cadet, to his duty as Elfangor’s brother, to his duty to the Animorphs who saved him and alongside whom he fights. While Ax will continue to grapple with the dilemma of loyalty throughout the series, in one way or another, this book really sets the groundwork. We see how much he has come to rely on the Animorphs – as fellow warriors, as sources of information about humans, as trusted friends. We also get to see pieces of his life as an aristh, a warrior-cadet, in the Andalite fleet fighting against the Yeerks, and the duties and responsibilities his culture places on him.
In addition to the question of loyalty, there are other themes introduced (or reintroduced through a different lens) in this book. These include friendship, trust, betrayal, sacrifice, loneliness, and revenge. Usually, we see a lot of all the Animorphs in each book, but this one is most only Ax – a reflection of just how apart he feels himself from the other Animorphs. The only Animorph with anything approaching a “lot” of page time is Tobias, and that is for a very special reason: he and Ax are very alike. Ax reflects: “We are both cut off from our own people. We’re both alone.” (page 40) What’s more, they both call the forest their home, and are, in a way, each other’s company, each other’s confidant, if Ax would really open up.
Basically, there is a lot packed into a scant 159 pages – action, complexity, and so much more. It’s an excellent introduction to Ax directly from him, our first solid glimpse of Andalite culture and how it operates – not to mention how the Andalites got tied up with the Yeerks in the first place – and offers an “outsiders” view of the Animorphs and the guerilla war they are fighting against the Yeerks. More nuanced observations I have included in the quotes/commentary section below, instead of trying to include them all in this part. Proceed at your own risk opening spoiler tags, as the ending spoiler cut includes some allusions to the end of the series/events which happen later in the series. Hey, at least I kept them to “allusions,” right?
Some new/additional favorite quotes, with additional commentary:
Prince Jake said[,] “But maybe it’s finally starting. It may just be this one guy, but there may be more. Finally! I expected this to start happening weeks ago. Yeerks dying! Controllers suddenly free and human again.” He grinned. It was a savage look. “They’ll die, and their hosts will be free! At first, people will think they’re nuts. But when they have ten, twenty, fifty people all yelling about the Yeerks? They won’t be able to cover that up. Not for long!”
His voice had risen, becoming higher, and the words came out faster. He was obviously excited.
[… An ambulance and police cars arrive]
“Hah!” Marco said. “I’m sure some of the cops are Controllers, but they can’t all be. Jake’s right. The truth will get out! This is going to work! The truth is going to come out!”
“The replacement Kandrona is supposed to be here soon,” Rachel pointed out. “We should have seen a lot more of this. The Yeerks must have found a way to keep this from happening till now.”
Rachel is a true warrior. She does not underestimate her enemies. She was not ready to start talking about victory.
But the others were all very happy. They believed that many Yeerks would die, and the hosts would be free to tell the world the truth. – page 29-30 – Already, we see how much the Animorphs want someone to help them, how much they want the Yeerk invasion to get out, by how excited they are that they are finally seeing the fruits of their destruction of the Kandrona in the last (main series) book.
And no matter how much I sometimes wished for a real friend, there had to be a wall between my people and the humans. Between me and the humans.
Getting too close to any alien species is a mistake. We are taught that. We may protect them, defend them, care for them. But they can never be deep friends. – page 41
Original Review: May 15, 2015 - Given 3 stars
Oh, there are going to be so many quotes (and questions) coming out of this book! It's Ax's first time narrating, after all, and our first official look at the way Andalites operate (unless of course, you read The Andalite Chronicles before everything else like I did this round - so, there will be some Andalite Chronicle spoilers in here under cuts).
Possibly my favorite observation by Ax:
Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward.
-From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
- page 67 -- I approve of this statement! Books are a wonderful thing :)
I had morphed into a human. The DNA came from Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Marco. I would have liked to have Tobias's DNA, but that was not possible since he is a nothlit. -- page 15
-- Well that doesn't sound the least bit creepy!
Any human you know might be a Controller. There is no way to tell -- unless you are an Andalite. -- page 17
-- Wait a minute, I don't remember the Andalites having any special way to tell who is a Controller and who is not! Now I'm curious...(Though I also have to wonder: Will this question ever be answered? Somehow, I doubt it.) Edit from June 2020 re-read: I can confirm, this is never addressed again in the series.
Then I found something else beside [the popcorn box] on the floor. It was a smaller box. Inside it were three small, brown globules.
I ate the brown globules.
At that moment, it was as if the entire planet had stopped spinning. The taste! It was beyond description!
Those brown globules were like nothing I had ever experienced. I felt my life hand changed. I felt myself lifted up out of the world of everyday senses to some new level.
More! I wanted more! -- page 23
-- And here we learn why Ax should never, ever be allowed around chocolate.
< Hey, you guys. Was the movie that bad?>
It was Tobias, on patrol far overhead. Of course, no one could answer him. Humans can use thought-speech only when they're in a morph. And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language. -- page 27
-- That doesn't quite make sense to me. Taxxons have a mouth/speaking ability/language. We don't know for sure if an Andalite in Taxxon morph is able to speak out loud, but we do know they can still use thought-speak. Ax is still an Andalite in morph, so why shouldn't he be able to communicate via thought-speak?
Even more spoilers under the cut, as well as observations/commentary/questions. Hey, I said there was going to be a lot as this is Ax's first novel narrating, didn't I?
Rest of the original quotes in the comments below, oops!
This is Ax’s first narrated book, and therefore his introduction into the rotation (he and Tobias switch off in this slot for most of the series). He is a young Andalite, the only survivor of the battle that resulted in his older brother Elfangor’s death at the mouth of Visser Three. The Andalites have a warrior code, and in part, it means that Ax must avenge the death of his brother by killing Visser Three. Though that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t also want to learn as much as he can about human society – the Animorphs are happy to oblige him, taking him to the movies and even to school. But he is also keeping secrets from the Animorphs, secrets that Andalite law requires him to keep. Secrets which may break the trust the other Animorphs have in him, and which may demand more of Ax than any young warrior-cadet ever expected to have to give.
And no matter how much I sometimes wished for a real friend, there had to be a wall between my people and the humans. Between me and the humans.
While we the reader learn much about Andalite culture in this book, Ax is extremely careful about how much he reveals to the Animorphs – the only people he knows and can trust on all of Earth. He is grappling with his loyalty to his people and their laws, to his duty as a warrior-cadet, to his duty as Elfangor’s brother, to his duty to the Animorphs who saved him and alongside whom he fights. While Ax will continue to grapple with the dilemma of loyalty throughout the series, in one way or another, this book really sets the groundwork. We see how much he has come to rely on the Animorphs – as fellow warriors, as sources of information about humans, as trusted friends. We also get to see pieces of his life as an aristh, a warrior-cadet, in the Andalite fleet fighting against the Yeerks, and the duties and responsibilities his culture places on him.
In addition to the question of loyalty, there are other themes introduced (or reintroduced through a different lens) in this book. These include friendship, trust, betrayal, sacrifice, loneliness, and revenge. Usually, we see a lot of all the Animorphs in each book, but this one is most only Ax – a reflection of just how apart he feels himself from the other Animorphs. The only Animorph with anything approaching a “lot” of page time is Tobias, and that is for a very special reason: he and Ax are very alike. Ax reflects: “We are both cut off from our own people. We’re both alone.” (page 40) What’s more, they both call the forest their home, and are, in a way, each other’s company, each other’s confidant, if Ax would really open up.
Basically, there is a lot packed into a scant 159 pages – action, complexity, and so much more. It’s an excellent introduction to Ax directly from him, our first solid glimpse of Andalite culture and how it operates – not to mention how the Andalites got tied up with the Yeerks in the first place – and offers an “outsiders” view of the Animorphs and the guerilla war they are fighting against the Yeerks. More nuanced observations I have included in the quotes/commentary section below, instead of trying to include them all in this part. Proceed at your own risk opening spoiler tags, as the ending spoiler cut includes some allusions to the end of the series/events which happen later in the series. Hey, at least I kept them to “allusions,” right?
Some new/additional favorite quotes, with additional commentary:
Prince Jake said[,] “But maybe it’s finally starting. It may just be this one guy, but there may be more. Finally! I expected this to start happening weeks ago. Yeerks dying! Controllers suddenly free and human again.” He grinned. It was a savage look. “They’ll die, and their hosts will be free! At first, people will think they’re nuts. But when they have ten, twenty, fifty people all yelling about the Yeerks? They won’t be able to cover that up. Not for long!”
His voice had risen, becoming higher, and the words came out faster. He was obviously excited.
[… An ambulance and police cars arrive]
“Hah!” Marco said. “I’m sure some of the cops are Controllers, but they can’t all be. Jake’s right. The truth will get out! This is going to work! The truth is going to come out!”
“The replacement Kandrona is supposed to be here soon,” Rachel pointed out. “We should have seen a lot more of this. The Yeerks must have found a way to keep this from happening till now.”
Rachel is a true warrior. She does not underestimate her enemies. She was not ready to start talking about victory.
But the others were all very happy. They believed that many Yeerks would die, and the hosts would be free to tell the world the truth. – page 29-30 – Already, we see how much the Animorphs want someone to help them, how much they want the Yeerk invasion to get out, by how excited they are that they are finally seeing the fruits of their destruction of the Kandrona in the last (main series) book.
And no matter how much I sometimes wished for a real friend, there had to be a wall between my people and the humans. Between me and the humans.
Getting too close to any alien species is a mistake. We are taught that. We may protect them, defend them, care for them. But they can never be deep friends. – page 41
Original Review: May 15, 2015 - Given 3 stars
Oh, there are going to be so many quotes (and questions) coming out of this book! It's Ax's first time narrating, after all, and our first official look at the way Andalites operate (unless of course, you read The Andalite Chronicles before everything else like I did this round - so, there will be some Andalite Chronicle spoilers in here under cuts).
Possibly my favorite observation by Ax:
Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward.
-From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
- page 67 -- I approve of this statement! Books are a wonderful thing :)
I had morphed into a human. The DNA came from Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Marco. I would have liked to have Tobias's DNA, but that was not possible since he is a nothlit. -- page 15
-- Well that doesn't sound the least bit creepy!
Any human you know might be a Controller. There is no way to tell -- unless you are an Andalite. -- page 17
-- Wait a minute, I don't remember the Andalites having any special way to tell who is a Controller and who is not! Now I'm curious...(Though I also have to wonder: Will this question ever be answered? Somehow, I doubt it.) Edit from June 2020 re-read: I can confirm, this is never addressed again in the series.
Then I found something else beside [the popcorn box] on the floor. It was a smaller box. Inside it were three small, brown globules.
I ate the brown globules.
At that moment, it was as if the entire planet had stopped spinning. The taste! It was beyond description!
Those brown globules were like nothing I had ever experienced. I felt my life hand changed. I felt myself lifted up out of the world of everyday senses to some new level.
More! I wanted more! -- page 23
-- And here we learn why Ax should never, ever be allowed around chocolate.
< Hey, you guys. Was the movie that bad?>
It was Tobias, on patrol far overhead. Of course, no one could answer him. Humans can use thought-speech only when they're in a morph. And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language. -- page 27
-- That doesn't quite make sense to me. Taxxons have a mouth/speaking ability/language. We don't know for sure if an Andalite in Taxxon morph is able to speak out loud, but we do know they can still use thought-speak. Ax is still an Andalite in morph, so why shouldn't he be able to communicate via thought-speak?
Even more spoilers under the cut, as well as observations/commentary/questions. Hey, I said there was going to be a lot as this is Ax's first novel narrating, didn't I?
Rest of the original quotes in the comments below, oops!
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