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Animorphs #39
The Hidden
The Yeerks have discovered and repaired a damaged Helmacron ship. They know of its morph-seeking capabilities, and they plan to use the ship to capture the "Andalite bandits." And to find Elfangor's blue cube. The one that gave the kids the ability to morph.
Cassie, the other Animorphs, and Ax are in a pretty bad situation because they can't leave the cube in one place, they can't morph without being discovered, and they have to keep moving. It looks like this may be a battle the Visser can't lose. . . .
Cassie, the other Animorphs, and Ax are in a pretty bad situation because they can't leave the cube in one place, they can't morph without being discovered, and they have to keep moving. It looks like this may be a battle the Visser can't lose. . . .
121 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2000
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892 people want to read
About the author
K.A. Applegate
251 books486 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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June 23, 2017
Cassie is the Animorph who will kill you kindly, with her apologies.
Rachel, of course, would just flat-out murderize you with her polar bear or grizzly bear or elephant morph, and you would be Dead. Jake would kill you because it was necessary, not because he particularly enjoys it. Marco would make lame jokes about death, then find a way to engineer your death.
Slowly but surely, all the Animorphs are getting far too acquainted with murder and death for their own liking. But I feel like it takes a toll on Cassie most of all, and it’s changing her in the most twisted ways.
The Hidden is very nearly a horror story in its own right. I must have been in the older pre-adolescent range when I read this one, because I don’t remember waking up with night terrors even though I should by all rights have been scared out of my mind. There is some seriously messed up shit in this book, and the descriptions are enough that I was worried 27-year-old me might have a nightmare or two. I mean, at one point a part-ant part-Cassie creature is crawling towards her, and it’s disgusting. I’m not even going to quote it. Or the “buffa-human”?? Animorphs has flirted before with mentioning how disgusting and gross the physical process of morphing must be, both to bystanders and to the morpher themselves, but this is the first book that reifies it in such a visceral way.
The story here is so simple and straightforward: stop a helicopter. The means by which they achieve this end, though, are spectacular. Cassie herself functioning as an anvil, a risky plan that places her in mortal danger, is a harrowing moment. It brings back memories of the days when the Animorphs would go off into a situation with a half-baked plan that would always go awry. Nowadays their plans are more like three-quarters baked (just beginning to go golden-brown at the top but still a little too soft in the centre), but they still jump into action before Ax can say “CINNABON”.
It’s curious, because when you think about the plot, in the hands of a different ghostwriter who used a different tone, this book could have been very silly à la #14: The Unknown. After all, it features Helmacrons (well, only their ship, and only as a mention) and animals getting the ability to morph—hilarious! Also Visser Three is once again impressively inept at his job in the Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain style we’ve grown accustomed to.
But no, rather than play these concepts for laughs, Laura Battyanyi-Weiss shows us more of the Cassie we saw in #29: The Sickness, the Cassie who makes Tough Choices™. The Cassie who finds herself acutely aware that she is becoming a soldier when she always thought she would be a medic, and she is not happy at all but can’t quit—because quitting, in this case, is the same as surrender.
The feels in this one, people. That heartbreaking moment when she tells the buffalo “You are good” is almost too much to bear.
We’re coming up on the last Megamorphs adventure, but first Marco is back for another Andalite story in the next book!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #38: The Arrival | #40: The Other →
Rachel, of course, would just flat-out murderize you with her polar bear or grizzly bear or elephant morph, and you would be Dead. Jake would kill you because it was necessary, not because he particularly enjoys it. Marco would make lame jokes about death, then find a way to engineer your death.
Slowly but surely, all the Animorphs are getting far too acquainted with murder and death for their own liking. But I feel like it takes a toll on Cassie most of all, and it’s changing her in the most twisted ways.
The Hidden is very nearly a horror story in its own right. I must have been in the older pre-adolescent range when I read this one, because I don’t remember waking up with night terrors even though I should by all rights have been scared out of my mind. There is some seriously messed up shit in this book, and the descriptions are enough that I was worried 27-year-old me might have a nightmare or two. I mean, at one point a part-ant part-Cassie creature is crawling towards her, and it’s disgusting. I’m not even going to quote it. Or the “buffa-human”?? Animorphs has flirted before with mentioning how disgusting and gross the physical process of morphing must be, both to bystanders and to the morpher themselves, but this is the first book that reifies it in such a visceral way.
The story here is so simple and straightforward: stop a helicopter. The means by which they achieve this end, though, are spectacular. Cassie herself functioning as an anvil, a risky plan that places her in mortal danger, is a harrowing moment. It brings back memories of the days when the Animorphs would go off into a situation with a half-baked plan that would always go awry. Nowadays their plans are more like three-quarters baked (just beginning to go golden-brown at the top but still a little too soft in the centre), but they still jump into action before Ax can say “CINNABON”.
It’s curious, because when you think about the plot, in the hands of a different ghostwriter who used a different tone, this book could have been very silly à la #14: The Unknown. After all, it features Helmacrons (well, only their ship, and only as a mention) and animals getting the ability to morph—hilarious! Also Visser Three is once again impressively inept at his job in the Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain style we’ve grown accustomed to.
But no, rather than play these concepts for laughs, Laura Battyanyi-Weiss shows us more of the Cassie we saw in #29: The Sickness, the Cassie who makes Tough Choices™. The Cassie who finds herself acutely aware that she is becoming a soldier when she always thought she would be a medic, and she is not happy at all but can’t quit—because quitting, in this case, is the same as surrender.
The feels in this one, people. That heartbreaking moment when she tells the buffalo “You are good” is almost too much to bear.
We’re coming up on the last Megamorphs adventure, but first Marco is back for another Andalite story in the next book!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #38: The Arrival | #40: The Other →
December 9, 2022
The Yeerks have repaired a damaged Helmacron ship and they’re using the ship’s sensors to track morphing energy. Unfortunately for the Animorphs, the blue box that gave them their powers is constantly emitting a little bit of that energy. Cassie is tasked with keeping the blue box safe, while the other Animorphs keep morphing all over the place to throw off the Yeerk sensors. But they all realize it’s only a matter of time before one of them is caught.
An exciting and thrilling premise, executed at a blistering pace. I like that there’s always a sense of danger lurking around every corner. The Animorphs are running around in circles with the Yeerks hot on their tails. Their morphing capabilities have suddenly become more of a burden than a help, so the Animorphs really need to step up their game to get out of danger. Because there’s no room for error this time around.
This is very much a Cassie story. And I love that even under those stressful conditions where they’re hunted and on the run, the Animorphs also have to deal with a whole different animal. Because they’re faced with a moral dilemma. And since it’s a Cassie story, the dilemma is even more important than the threat the Yeerks pose here.
A really good and fast-paced filler story that packs a punch.
An exciting and thrilling premise, executed at a blistering pace. I like that there’s always a sense of danger lurking around every corner. The Animorphs are running around in circles with the Yeerks hot on their tails. Their morphing capabilities have suddenly become more of a burden than a help, so the Animorphs really need to step up their game to get out of danger. Because there’s no room for error this time around.
This is very much a Cassie story. And I love that even under those stressful conditions where they’re hunted and on the run, the Animorphs also have to deal with a whole different animal. Because they’re faced with a moral dilemma. And since it’s a Cassie story, the dilemma is even more important than the threat the Yeerks pose here.
A really good and fast-paced filler story that packs a punch.
October 14, 2015
Ghostwriter: Laura Battyanyi-Weiss. And thank goodness for her, because somehow she's been able to write Rachel, Jake, and now Cassie pitch-perfectly -- she's fantastic, I'm bummed to see that she doesn't write any more after this point!
A nice little summary of Animorphs in general and #38 in specific: I almost started crying on the subway while reading about a buffalo, then cackled over Ax's jokes and the group's wonderful banter, and then despite the entire series fitting this category, I've now explicitly created a shelf called "nightmare fuel" because this book in particular is some shit.
Just fuck me up, KA. Just fuck me up.
I could write more detailed thoughts, but I'll keep it short: The Hidden is thought-provoking and philosophical, as is appropriate for Cassie books. The characters push themselves far, far beyond endurance in terms of morphing, and as usual it's so astonishingly clear how very far they've come since their early days. Now they're hardened soldiers. There are crazy morphing shenanigans, and the plot is reminiscent of (plus there are callbacks to) Megamorphs #1. It also picks up the thread of the Helmacrons book, so I love these increasing experiments in continuity in the series. Jake and Cassie are cute, yet he remains a tough-as-nails leader. Marco's solutions to problems are great. I JUST LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR!!! Also, freaking nightmares about . I can't say anything more coherent than this.
A nice little summary of Animorphs in general and #38 in specific: I almost started crying on the subway while reading about a buffalo, then cackled over Ax's jokes and the group's wonderful banter, and then despite the entire series fitting this category, I've now explicitly created a shelf called "nightmare fuel" because this book in particular is some shit.
Just fuck me up, KA. Just fuck me up.
I could write more detailed thoughts, but I'll keep it short: The Hidden is thought-provoking and philosophical, as is appropriate for Cassie books. The characters push themselves far, far beyond endurance in terms of morphing, and as usual it's so astonishingly clear how very far they've come since their early days. Now they're hardened soldiers. There are crazy morphing shenanigans, and the plot is reminiscent of (plus there are callbacks to) Megamorphs #1. It also picks up the thread of the Helmacrons book, so I love these increasing experiments in continuity in the series. Jake and Cassie are cute, yet he remains a tough-as-nails leader. Marco's solutions to problems are great. I JUST LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR!!! Also, freaking nightmares about . I can't say anything more coherent than this.
January 22, 2022
Come check out my 4 hour 35 minute deep dive into reading every single Animorphs book for the first time on YouTube. I recap and review all of the books from the main series: https://youtu.be/H8kUM2q3CIU
August 24, 2015
There are not enough drugs for the reading of this book.
This is something that could only have come this late in the series when they've built a loyal fan base who could follow what was going on and handle being SO DAMN CREEPED OUT by it. Because man, there is nothing quite so creepy as ant-Cassie, for realz.
I like that this takes a break from the Yeerks (sort of; that plotline gets relegated to a sub-track) to look at the morphing technology itself and how it can go so, so wrong. I do agree with the arguments of some of the other reviewers here that it doesn't make sense for the animals to be able to do any of this considering there should be some focus behind it, as with when the Animoprhs acquire animals, but I think both the ant and the buffalo were very focused on the human they were touching at the moment. If the blue box is that easy, though, it's remarkable this hasn't happened before.
What I really appreciated was the look that only Cassie can provide as to what separates a human from any other animal and where the line is on "human enough" for animalistic characteristics. This is something that the Animorphs have dealt with before in terms of the more intelligent species like dolphins and whales and chimps and such, but here it really is about what makes a human a human. Is the ability to talk? The way a thing looks? The reasoning capabilities? This is yet another entry in the series that blows my mind this was written for kids. This is stuff that's tough to wrestle with as an adult, I can't believe my 9-year-old self was working though this.
Also, that buffa-human BROKE MY DAMN HEART. THE FEELS, YO, THE FEELS.
This is something that could only have come this late in the series when they've built a loyal fan base who could follow what was going on and handle being SO DAMN CREEPED OUT by it. Because man, there is nothing quite so creepy as ant-Cassie, for realz.
I like that this takes a break from the Yeerks (sort of; that plotline gets relegated to a sub-track) to look at the morphing technology itself and how it can go so, so wrong. I do agree with the arguments of some of the other reviewers here that it doesn't make sense for the animals to be able to do any of this considering there should be some focus behind it, as with when the Animoprhs acquire animals, but I think both the ant and the buffalo were very focused on the human they were touching at the moment. If the blue box is that easy, though, it's remarkable this hasn't happened before.
What I really appreciated was the look that only Cassie can provide as to what separates a human from any other animal and where the line is on "human enough" for animalistic characteristics. This is something that the Animorphs have dealt with before in terms of the more intelligent species like dolphins and whales and chimps and such, but here it really is about what makes a human a human. Is the ability to talk? The way a thing looks? The reasoning capabilities? This is yet another entry in the series that blows my mind this was written for kids. This is stuff that's tough to wrestle with as an adult, I can't believe my 9-year-old self was working though this.
Also, that buffa-human BROKE MY DAMN HEART. THE FEELS, YO, THE FEELS.
May 15, 2022
More blue box shenanigans. Kind of a combo of Megamorphs 1: The Andalite's Gift (morphing energy being traced, having to play morph keep-away) and Animorphs 24: The Pretender (the Helmacron ship senses the blue box energy).
But in this one a couple of animals touch the morphing cube and gain morphing power. Which is...unbelievable. Even according to this fantasy/sci-fi universe's rules. So it's a retread AND requires a ton of suspension of disbelief.
The buffalo and the ant both acquire humans, but the series has always implied that acquiring has to be intentional. Like, you don't automatically acquire every animal you touch, you have to think about it. And the buffalo, and certainly not the ant, would "think" about that. Ok, but write that off, but then why would a buffalo think it could morph? It sees Cassie do it? Okaaaaay...less plausible, but at least a buffalo has eyes. But the ant morphing? Uh-uh. No way. There's not a brain, there's not vision, that's just wholly unbelievable.
And their plan at the end was just dumb, geez.
All that aside, I grew to love the buffalo and absolutely cried when it was inevitably destroyed. Pour one out for the African Cape Buffalo, folks.
But in this one a couple of animals touch the morphing cube and gain morphing power. Which is...unbelievable. Even according to this fantasy/sci-fi universe's rules. So it's a retread AND requires a ton of suspension of disbelief.
The buffalo and the ant both acquire humans, but the series has always implied that acquiring has to be intentional. Like, you don't automatically acquire every animal you touch, you have to think about it. And the buffalo, and certainly not the ant, would "think" about that. Ok, but write that off, but then why would a buffalo think it could morph? It sees Cassie do it? Okaaaaay...less plausible, but at least a buffalo has eyes. But the ant morphing? Uh-uh. No way. There's not a brain, there's not vision, that's just wholly unbelievable.
And their plan at the end was just dumb, geez.
All that aside, I grew to love the buffalo and absolutely cried when it was inevitably destroyed. Pour one out for the African Cape Buffalo, folks.
October 14, 2024
*** 3.75 ***
Cassie and some unexpected morphs! That scenario is a nightmare! Actually enjoyed this one 😊👍
Cassie and some unexpected morphs! That scenario is a nightmare! Actually enjoyed this one 😊👍
July 11, 2022
“To morph or not to morph? That is the question…” is the tagline for this installment where we follow Cassie and a wild Buffalo who accidentally gains the ability to morph and roams around in a constant state of panic and confusion as an abomination that is, according to canon, nauseating to look at.
Literally.
Cassie piles on the bulk of emotional responsibilities while constantly having to navigate these very specific and very bizarre traumas. No one is looking out for her like she looks out for them or any living thing.
She desperately wants this Buffalo to thrive and have a full life despite the risks of keeping it around her and the team.
And any energy out into this effort was all for nothing in the end.
Wtf.
CW: war, violence, slavery, death, grief, brief use of dated language referencing disability
Literally.
Cassie piles on the bulk of emotional responsibilities while constantly having to navigate these very specific and very bizarre traumas. No one is looking out for her like she looks out for them or any living thing.
She desperately wants this Buffalo to thrive and have a full life despite the risks of keeping it around her and the team.
And any energy out into this effort was all for nothing in the end.
Wtf.
CW: war, violence, slavery, death, grief, brief use of dated language referencing disability
September 9, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
When the Yeerks find the Helmacron ship and learn how to pinpoint the morphing technology to go after the Escafil device/blue box, Cassie and the Animorphs have to play a dangerous game of keep-away.
To put it politely, this is one of the worst Animorphs books, if not the worst book, in the series. And that’s saying a lot because the Helmacrons don’t even show up in this novel, although they are an important plot point. I hate the Helmacrons, but who wouldn’t? All their novels suck.
The reason this novel sucks so much is two points. Point the first is that apparently animals can brush against the blue box, receive the morphing technology (without the tingly good feeling the Animorphs experienced when Elfangor gave it to them, also without an Andalite to somehow magically pass it on like in the very first novel) then randomly touch or brush against other animals and acquire them with absolutely no willpower, concentration, thought or intent.
The second reason why this book sucks is that once again the Animorphs rely on Cassie’s anvil trick, where she flies up super high, demorphs to human and morphs to whale while falling. This is the third freaking time she’s done it, and the second time she’s done it to attempt to destroy something Yeerkish. I mean come on, a little originality please? And in the end she fails and the helicopter she’s trying to smash out of existence by dropping a freaking humpback whale on it is blown up because a seagull got too close to its rotors and caused it to explode.
It hurts my brain to think how stupid it all is.
I also get the feeling that this book, despite being a Cassie book, isn’t actually all that into preserving nature and all that shit. First there’s a buffalo that morphs humans, which Cassie somehow means to think that the buffalo is part human because he can access a human brain (does that make Cassie part buffalo when she morphs a buffalo? I DIDN’T THINK SO!). The buffalo has no choice but to die because he’s seen Cassie in human form, morphing. If the Yeerks infest him either as a buffalo or as a human, he’s gone, and so are all the Animorphs. Then there’s the ant-Cassie she has absolutely no qualms about murdering the fuck out of. Then the day is saved by a rogue kamikaze seagull.
And sure, Cassie’ moralizing and protectiveness of the buffalo is heroic, but come on! There’s way too many innocent animal deaths in this. It’s worse than the time an innocent orca was sliced in half a few books ago.
Gah. Just don’t read this book. The best part is when the Animorphs are running for their lives, and Cassie drops the blue box to save Tobias, then Jake yells at her for dropping the box even though she saved Tobias’ life, then Rachel takes up a defensive position on Cassie’s flank and says something like “Jake trusts you to do the right thing, and he trusts me to do the necessary thing.” So the best part isn’t even a Cassie moment.
OK well there is another good part when Cassie is trapped by the Yeerks and she and the buffa-human jump over this cliff and almost kill themselves. That was pretty cool.
OK read it if you want. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
July 2, 2016
As usual, this series delivers.
January 28, 2016
Let’s ignore one little tiny fact in order to talk about this book:
In this book, an animal has only to touch the blue box in order to gain the morphing ability.Any other time the blue box was used to give someone the morphing ability, an Andalite had his hand on one side of it and the human had his/her hand on another side. Plus when David handled the blue box, he was not suddenly able to morph. It was only once Ax held it and David touched it that he obtained the power to morph (so far as we know – and it is unlikely that the blue box gives out the morphing power willy-nilly – the Andalites are smarter than that).
ANND once you disregard the above inconsistency created to have one major part of this plot work - namely the part where a buffalo and later an ant obtain the morphing ability by merely touching the morphing cube - well, here is what I have found to talk about. Admittedly when I started writing this review yesterday, I was all ready to chew out the book. I guess sleeping on it helped me mellow, though it was not enough to change the 3 star rating I’m giving it, other than to not have me bump it down to a 2, even though it really is just “okay” as a series installment. I'd probably really rank it as a 2.7, just enough to bump it up. The rest of the plot is the Animorphs trying to play hide-and-keep-away-from-the-Yeerks as they have repaired the Helmacron ship Visser Three had captured. The Helmacron ship, which is the size of a toy, and can track morphing energy – both the latent type inside the cube and in the Animorphs, as well as the active morphing energy when they morph.
Possibly the best part of this book is the humor which gets worked into it. After the seriousness of Ax’s last book, a little extra light-hearted banter is welcome and amusing. Especially Ax trying to be humorous and all he gets is silence. Some of the humor is off-color/distasteful (looking at you, Marco), but the rest ends up working out.
What is relatively solid is Cassie’s moral dilemmas in this book. Or at least as solid as you can get given the circumstances. It falls into character with her to be reluctant to take the buffalo’s life as he is a living creature. The extra reasoning she has though – “Because there is human DNA floating in his blood!” goes a bit too far, as the other Animorphs initially recognize. Referring to him as the “buffa-human” was not exactly accurate either. Even though the buffalo mind will keep the memory of what it was like to become a human, can he really, on a complex level, understand what it means? It is not like by briefly experiencing the capabilities for higher intelligence that the buffalo will be able to learn enough to truly understand the complexity of it all with his normal buffalo mind – though Cassie would like to believe so (more on this in the quotes section). Practically speaking though, a buffalo brain is not as complex as a human or a great ape brain – or at least not in any way we truly understand yet. Plus, as all the other Animorphs point out, should he be captured he is potentially a huge liability not only with his inability to really understand what is going on, but also because he has the memories of seeing Cassie go from buffalo to human floating around his brain. And if the Yeerks can infest a horse brain, and keep Alloran under control when Visser Three feeds, surely they can infest a buffalo brain without too much trouble.
I seem to remember that when I was a kid, Cassie was my second favorite Animorph. I think the reason for it is that I could understand the moralizing she did much better than say, Rachel slowly breaking down, or Marco’s cold-bloodedness, or Jake growing into a leadership role. She was easier to relate to, and the internal/moral dilemmas she experienced were more realistic to me. Now, reading her books, I see the promise and the potential in her being the moralizing member of the team, but it just keeps falling flat. Or at least not being as fulfilling as it could be, as it really should be given the difficult circumstances the Animorphs are in.
He should trust me to do the right thing
Quotes and Comments:
This [morphing] power is the only real weapon we have in our fight to save humanity.
But it’s more than that. For me, at least.
Every time I morph an animal, I experience the world as that animal does, sensing it, sharing its instincts. That’s knowledge my parents will never have. And I’m not sure not having it is such a bad thing.
[…] The only way to really understand is to become that creature, and they can’t teach that in vet school.
But this isn’t just about becoming an animal. It isn’t just about the morphing. See, we use our morphs to fight this war. – page 2 – Ah, at last Cassie states in her own book that they are fighting a war.
A red-tailed hawk circled high above me.
Two identical seagulls landed near the buffalo wallow. A third landed on a nearby Dumpster. A fourth strutted past, eyeing up a little girl eating french [sic] fries.
That one had to be Ax.
The kid giggled and threw him a fry.
He gobbled it down and screeched for another. And another.
The kid giggled and threw him a fry.
< Hey, Ax-man, want to try and get a grip? > Marco quipped, swooping down and chasing Ax away from the kid. – page 11-12
< Okay, let’s do it, > Jake said. < Sorry, Rachel. That’s your line. >
< I’ll let it slide this time, > she said. < But don’t let it happen again. > -- page 71 – Haha!
< Marco, y]ou weren’t thinking it, you were screaming it, > Rachel said sweetly.
< Screeching like a bad set of brakes, > Jake teased.
< Emitting a loud and continual series of high-pitched shrieks similar to an unauthorized entry into a Dome ship air lock, > Ax added.
Silence.
< Well, it was an accurate comparison, > Ax said defensively.
< Yeah. > Marco giggled. < But it sure wasn’t funny, Ax-man, > he said, poking his sleek head up out of the water and giving one of those crazy, Flipperesque cackles.
< Your humor is highly overrated, > Ax muttered.
< It certainly is when Marco uses it, > Jake said. – page 117-118
In this book, an animal has only to touch the blue box in order to gain the morphing ability.Any other time the blue box was used to give someone the morphing ability, an Andalite had his hand on one side of it and the human had his/her hand on another side. Plus when David handled the blue box, he was not suddenly able to morph. It was only once Ax held it and David touched it that he obtained the power to morph (so far as we know – and it is unlikely that the blue box gives out the morphing power willy-nilly – the Andalites are smarter than that).
ANND once you disregard the above inconsistency created to have one major part of this plot work - namely the part where a buffalo and later an ant obtain the morphing ability by merely touching the morphing cube - well, here is what I have found to talk about. Admittedly when I started writing this review yesterday, I was all ready to chew out the book. I guess sleeping on it helped me mellow, though it was not enough to change the 3 star rating I’m giving it, other than to not have me bump it down to a 2, even though it really is just “okay” as a series installment. I'd probably really rank it as a 2.7, just enough to bump it up. The rest of the plot is the Animorphs trying to play hide-and-keep-away-from-the-Yeerks as they have repaired the Helmacron ship Visser Three had captured. The Helmacron ship, which is the size of a toy, and can track morphing energy – both the latent type inside the cube and in the Animorphs, as well as the active morphing energy when they morph.
Possibly the best part of this book is the humor which gets worked into it. After the seriousness of Ax’s last book, a little extra light-hearted banter is welcome and amusing. Especially Ax trying to be humorous and all he gets is silence. Some of the humor is off-color/distasteful (looking at you, Marco), but the rest ends up working out.
What is relatively solid is Cassie’s moral dilemmas in this book. Or at least as solid as you can get given the circumstances. It falls into character with her to be reluctant to take the buffalo’s life as he is a living creature. The extra reasoning she has though – “Because there is human DNA floating in his blood!” goes a bit too far, as the other Animorphs initially recognize. Referring to him as the “buffa-human” was not exactly accurate either. Even though the buffalo mind will keep the memory of what it was like to become a human, can he really, on a complex level, understand what it means? It is not like by briefly experiencing the capabilities for higher intelligence that the buffalo will be able to learn enough to truly understand the complexity of it all with his normal buffalo mind – though Cassie would like to believe so (more on this in the quotes section). Practically speaking though, a buffalo brain is not as complex as a human or a great ape brain – or at least not in any way we truly understand yet. Plus, as all the other Animorphs point out, should he be captured he is potentially a huge liability not only with his inability to really understand what is going on, but also because he has the memories of seeing Cassie go from buffalo to human floating around his brain. And if the Yeerks can infest a horse brain, and keep Alloran under control when Visser Three feeds, surely they can infest a buffalo brain without too much trouble.
I seem to remember that when I was a kid, Cassie was my second favorite Animorph. I think the reason for it is that I could understand the moralizing she did much better than say, Rachel slowly breaking down, or Marco’s cold-bloodedness, or Jake growing into a leadership role. She was easier to relate to, and the internal/moral dilemmas she experienced were more realistic to me. Now, reading her books, I see the promise and the potential in her being the moralizing member of the team, but it just keeps falling flat. Or at least not being as fulfilling as it could be, as it really should be given the difficult circumstances the Animorphs are in.
He should trust me to do the right thing
Quotes and Comments:
This [morphing] power is the only real weapon we have in our fight to save humanity.
But it’s more than that. For me, at least.
Every time I morph an animal, I experience the world as that animal does, sensing it, sharing its instincts. That’s knowledge my parents will never have. And I’m not sure not having it is such a bad thing.
[…] The only way to really understand is to become that creature, and they can’t teach that in vet school.
But this isn’t just about becoming an animal. It isn’t just about the morphing. See, we use our morphs to fight this war. – page 2 – Ah, at last Cassie states in her own book that they are fighting a war.
A red-tailed hawk circled high above me.
Two identical seagulls landed near the buffalo wallow. A third landed on a nearby Dumpster. A fourth strutted past, eyeing up a little girl eating french [sic] fries.
That one had to be Ax.
The kid giggled and threw him a fry.
He gobbled it down and screeched for another. And another.
The kid giggled and threw him a fry.
< Hey, Ax-man, want to try and get a grip? > Marco quipped, swooping down and chasing Ax away from the kid. – page 11-12
< Okay, let’s do it, > Jake said. < Sorry, Rachel. That’s your line. >
< I’ll let it slide this time, > she said. < But don’t let it happen again. > -- page 71 – Haha!
< Marco, y]ou weren’t thinking it, you were screaming it, > Rachel said sweetly.
< Screeching like a bad set of brakes, > Jake teased.
< Emitting a loud and continual series of high-pitched shrieks similar to an unauthorized entry into a Dome ship air lock, > Ax added.
Silence.
< Well, it was an accurate comparison, > Ax said defensively.
< Yeah. > Marco giggled. < But it sure wasn’t funny, Ax-man, > he said, poking his sleek head up out of the water and giving one of those crazy, Flipperesque cackles.
< Your humor is highly overrated, > Ax muttered.
< It certainly is when Marco uses it, > Jake said. – page 117-118
August 7, 2014
Tiny virus-sized aliens ATTACK! Their megalomaniacal nature is amusing, but it kinda gets tiresome after a while.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss. Her name's misspelled in the credits page.
It makes no sense that an animal like a buffalo could "accidentally" morph since it's been said many times that both acquiring and morphing take concentration and intent. How could a buffalo do it randomly?
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss. Her name's misspelled in the credits page.
It makes no sense that an animal like a buffalo could "accidentally" morph since it's been said many times that both acquiring and morphing take concentration and intent. How could a buffalo do it randomly?
March 23, 2018
Why even was this? New level of weird.
November 13, 2018
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
Narrator: Cassie
Plot: I had zero memory of this book when I picked it up again. I think if you had asked me whether there was an Animorphs cover with Cassie morphing a buffalo, I wouldn’t have been entirely sure you were even serious. That’s how fully I’d forgotten this book.
Erek shows up at Cassie’s barn with bad news: the Yeerks have discovered how to use the Helmacrons’ morphing tracker and are even now on their way towards the blue box that emits a low level morphing energy. Cassie quickly nabs the cube and hops a ride to The Gardens with her mother. There, the others in seagull morph show up and they try to decide what to do, since any morphing will draw the attention of the Yeerks. Before they can form a plan, helicopters begin circling the area and Cassie makes a break for it, hiding in a van that is exiting the park. Inside she confronts a cape buffalo. She acquires it to keep it calm, but chaos suddenly erupts when the van is intercepted by the Yeerks, including Chapman and Visser Three. She morphs the buffalo and barges out of the van. The real buffalo attacks the Controllers and head butts Chapman. Cassie is able to escape into the nearby woods, with the real buffalo trailing behind.
Back as a girl in the woods, she witnesses something horrific: the buffalo must have touched the blue box and acquired Chapman when he headbutted him. He wildly morphs and demorphs partially between his true buffalo body and the human Chapman form. By morphing the buffalo again herself, Cassie is able to get the buffalo to mimic her actions and return to its true form as well. The others arrive and are caught up to speed on the horror of the situation. What’s worse, the buffalo has now witnessed Cassie morphing, so if the Yeerks capture or infest it, the Animorphs’ secret will be out.
The helicopters are still circling, so they morph wolves and take off once again, leaving the buffalo behind. They hide in a cave and continue to discuss what to do not only about the tracker, but about the buffalo. They all know that the buffalo can’t be left alive, though Cassie is hesitant to kill it, now that it has human DNA in its system. As for the tracker, the challenge will be getting to it when it’s up in a helicopter. So they decide to go with the tried and true method of dropping something heavy on the bad guys over water. But before they can move on this plan, they hear the buffalo in distress. Knowing they can’t let the Yeerks capture it, they head off.
They find the buffalo surrounded by Controllers with Visser Three himself yelling at the “Andalite” to reveal himself and tell the Visser where the cube is. The buffalo manages to acquire the Visser and begins morphing him. The group uses this as a distraction to escape (sorry, but I just can’t help but interrupt myself…didn’t they JUST say they were there to rescue the buffalo? And then immediately ditch said buffalo to escape the situation they willingly put themselves in in the first place? Ugh.) As they run off, they see the Andalite!buffalo and Visser Three go at it with their tail blades. The Andalite!buffalo gets in a lucky shot and knocks out Visser Three and then comes running after them.
The group decides that the majority of them will continue on to the ocean, but that Cassie will stay behind with the buffalo to distract the following Yeerks. She manages to get the buffalo to again demorph into its natural state before the Yeerks show up once again. She takes off, buffalo following, and jumps off a minor cliff to escape. They both crash to the bottom and are horribly injured. Cassie demorphs and gets the buffalo to also morph human to heal its own injuries. She then catches up with the group again.
The others wonder at how the buffalo managed to survive the fall and Cassie tells a white lie that the buffalo simply mimicked her morphing, leaving out that she was actively trying to save it. In human form, the buffalo begins mimicking their speaking patterns. Cassie insists that it is learning, but the others push back saying that it is only mimicking and that she is making too much out of this. As they are talking, Cassie brushes an ant off of the cube that she is holding. She finally gets the buffalo to morph back to buffalo and then they have to leave it behind once again when they hear the helicopters approaching.
As the others continue forward, Cassie begins to demorph again to put the plan in action. But before she can get far, she sees something truly nightmare-inducing: an ant morphing into a version of Cassie herself. She realizes that the ant that had crawled on the box and her hand earlier must have acquired morphing abilities and her own DNA. The Cassie!ant goes crazy half way through morph and attacks her with gigantic pincers. The buffalo shows up and attacks the Cassie!ant, but the ant begins demorphing. Cassie rushes over and stomps everything in sight. She then quickly begins morphing the osprey, finally ready to put their plan into action. As she gets ready to leave, the Yeerks show up and kill the buffalo with a Dracon beam.
Osprey!Cassie flies out to sea where the Yeerks are now shooting down at the rest of the Animorphs in dolphin morph. Gaining altitude, Cassie positions herself directly above the helicopter and begins to demorph. But it goes wrong and she loses her wings too quickly and begins to fall too fast. She makes it back to human and is partially through her whale morph when she realizes that she won’t be big enough when she hits the helicopter and will likely be cut to pieces by the blades. What’s worse, the helicopter pilot looks up and spots her, veering out of her line of descent. Luckily for everyone, a rogue seagull gets sucked into the engine and the helicopter blows up, destroying the Helmacron sensor within it. Cassie is badly burnt, but wakes up again in the ocean in her human form and surrounded by her friends. They call it a success and head home.
Peace, Love, and Animals: This is one of the better Cassie books as far as characterization of Cassie herself goes. The book is a hot mess in every other way, but her sympathy and struggle with how to resolve the buffalo situation is a very sympathetic cause. Any animal lover would understand just how difficult this situation would be. Though, that being said, her nonsense about the human DNA part of it is just that: nonsense. And what makes that worse is not only does this line of thought just seem ridiculous and undermines Cassie’s character as a rational, thoughtful being, but it was completely unnecessary. As an animal lover myself, the idea of having to kill an innocent animal, especially one that has bounded with you and trusts you, is just agonizing. We don’t need any silly other justifications to explain Cassie’s hesitancy.
The one question I do have about her handling of this situation is the balance between her repeatedly saying that she understand the buffalo can’t be allowed to live but then her willingness to essentially draw out its torment. We’ve seen some really good examples in the past of Cassie knowing that sometimes the harder choice is the right one, specifically when she was trying to save the Hork Bajir the Yeerks had experimented on back in the Atlantis book and knows that in the end it is best to let him die then to keep trying to fix the unfixable. That was an excellent scene that highlighted that mercy some times comes in strange forms. But here, the poor buffalo is repeatedly being abandoned by the Animorphs, drawn into battles with the Yeerks to protect the Animorphs, lead of a cliff to plummet to a painful end, and then finally killed by the Yeerks. It’s a tough situation, but it would have been another good opportunity to highlight this particular strength of Cassie’s, had she realized that this ongoing torment was not actually better.
Our Fearless Leader: At one point in the story, Cassie is upset with Jake for “not trusting her to do what is right.” But….really? I mean, for better or worse, Cassie has a long history of not necessarily doing the “right” thing objectively, even if she feels it is right for herself and her moral code. From a team leader perspective, I can absolutely understand Jake not trusting Cassie to do the “right” thing. Girl let herself be infested by a Yeerk! She asked Jake to outright murder a Controller on her behalf! Just a few books ago, she was all set to go on a mission purely based on revenge! She lost the right to feel miffed about casual distrust like this quite a while ago. And really, at this point, after being in Jake’s head, we know that some level of casual distrust goes out to all of the Animorphs at various times, it’s just one of the struggles of being a leader. Jake knows the weaknesses of them all, and thus can’t always trust them to do the right thing in specific scenarios that play to those weaknesses.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Along with Marco, Rachel is quite clear from the very beginning that the buffalo will have to go. She also firmly tells Cassie to stop making more out of the human DNA thing than it deserves, which, thank you!
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias has practically nothing. I mean, you could probably count his lines of dialogue on one hand.
The Comic Relief: As expected, Marco is not very sentimental about the fact that the buffalo can’t be left alive. He and Rachel both team up on this position right away, and there’s really no arguing with their reasoning. The case could maybe be made for getting the buffalo to acquire some similar animal, morph that animal, and then get itself stuck in that form and then have Cassie “adopt” it at her farm. Seems like something that Cassie or even Tobias would think of, but we can say that they were all too frazzled from the constant running to really think of this solution.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax has a running joke with Marco where he’s trying to still understand humor. He even joins in the fun with what he thinks are good jokes only to be met with silence and thus concluding that humor is over-rated. So there’s some good dialogue bits with that, but not much else for him in this book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: I mean, the entire concept of this book is pretty horrifying, but I will reserve the honor of this section for the Cassie!ant. It just had to be ants, didn’t it? It’s not like the poor Animorphs haven’t suffered enough trauma at the hands (pincers?) of ants already, but now one has to go and partially morph Cassie and then almost bite her arm off with its ginormous pincers. Then Cassie gets to watch the buffalo start tramping something that looks just like her to death. Though, I will note that apparently human DNA is only morally impactful in mammals, since she had zero concerns about stomping all over that ant once it was small again, human DNA or no human DNA.
Couples Watch!: Not much really. After Cassie’s fall from the sky, Jake remarks privately to her how glad he is that she is ok and since she’s in human form, she has to respond out loud, cluing in everyone as to what’s going on. Marco teases them some, but she says she doesn’t care since everyone knows how much Jake and Cassie “like” each other. This might just be my age speaking, but it gets more and more uncomfortable as the series progresses to hear about these relationships in terms of “liking” each other, especially when the “love” word has been thrown around. It just doesn’t ring true to the level of maturing and closeness that has built after fighting a war like this for as long as they have. I get that its done for the age-level of the audience, but I still find it weird. I honestly don’t think teens would have been weirded out if the writers had just gotten over it and said “love” already.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: So, Visser Three loses a tailblade fight to a buffalo….there’s just no getting around that fact. A mammal, in a completely foreign body, with a very low-level of intelligence, somehow managed to knock him out cold pretty quickly. I’m not sure who this is worse for, Visser Three and his ego, or all of the others (including Ax!) who have failed to take Visser Three down themselves in a fight! It’s not a good look for any of them that’s for sure. Also, I’ll add, this is yet another supremely unbelievable element of the book, so even talking about this in any verging-on-serious manner is pretty pointless. But the fact remains: it’s now canon that a buffalo is a better tailblade fighter than Ax.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Ok, as dumb as the whole buffalo morphing plot was, I have to admit that there was a good amount of tearing up in this book for me. I’m a sucker for animals and I particularly have a hard time with descriptions of animals suffering and not understanding why. So all of the scenes of the Animorphs running off and the poor buffalo trying to follow behind just really got to me. And then it goes and saves them several times and just casually gets blown up, right after Cassie is saying goodbye and doesn’t know what else to do but tell it that it has been good, one of the few words it seems to understand.
I said, knowing it couldn’t understand me.
The buffalo’s ears twitched. And then I knew what to say.
I said softly. Its ears came forward and it made a soft, almost friendly sound.
So stupidity aside, they definitely got me invested in this buffalo storyline in the end and there may, MAY, have been some tears.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Oh man, this entire book, again was full of terrible plans. But two big ones come to mind. 1.) They keep insisting that the buffalo can’t be allowed to be captured by the Yeerks, even going so far as to run back towards danger to “rescue” it at one point. And then they repeatedly abandon it and leave it behind to potentially be captured. And their “rescue” attempt was the worst example of it. They literally run back to it, find themselves surrounded, and then immediately use the buffalo itself as a distraction to bail, leaving it behind once again. What was the point of even going back if this was the plan?? And like I said, that was just the worst example. They leave the buffalo behind at least 4-5 times, any of which could have resulted in its capture by the Yeerks. 2.) The “anvil” plan with whale!Cassie. I mean, this was implausible enough the first time it showed up in Megamorphs #1 and in no way deserved a second showing. Not only am I getting sick and tired of this “wash and repeat” attitude towards past plot devices, but this one in particular was rather hard to swallow the first time and is even dumber here. At least it didn’t work, which is shouldn’t have for all the reason we saw here, mainly that it’s pretty easy for a helicopter pilot to become aware of a whale plummeting towards them and move out of the way. Luckily, a convenient sea gull was just where the author wanted it.
Favorite Quote:
I said. [said Rachel]
(Inset long rant about the difference between doing the the right vs. necessary thing. It’s a nice distinction that Rachel is drawing here, but I’m pretty sure Jake’s version of it was not trusting Cassie to do the right OR necessary thing.)
Scorecard: Yeerks 10, Animorphs 15
I’m going to give a point to the Yeerks just because they were the only ones with the semblance of a clever plan here with the idea to use the Helmacron ship this way. The Animorphs only survived this out of sheer luck, with the Yeerks taking care of the buffalo and a random seagull sacrificing its life for the cause.
Rating: I liked this book as far as Cassie’s characterization goes. I hated this book for its bizarre ret-conning of the blue box. And I couldn’t care less about this book for the fact that I honestly couldn’t even remember the order of events during the middle third since all it was was running around randomly stopping/splitting up/getting attacked by Yeerks and repeat.
But man, that blue box thing. That’s pretty out of line as far as completely disregarding past precedent for a pretty important artifact. Not only does the box thing itself make zero sense (it’s not like David suddenly had morphing abilities after just touching the box), but the fact that animals would then be able to acquire DNA and morph?? In every book, EVERY BOOK, we hear the Animorphs talk about having to concentrate to both acquire DNA initially and then to morph. There is no way the buffalo, let alone the ant, would be able to do anything like this. It’s so stupid and there’s no getting around the fact that the majority of this book is hanging on this idiotic concept.
Then add in the fact that we have yet another repeated story that involves essentially just re-writing a previous book. The entire Megamorphs #1 book was about some Yeerk controlled thing tracking morphing and then ends with whale!Cassie crashing it into the sea. And here, YET AGAIN, we have the Yeerks tracking morphing and whale!Cassie trying to crash it into the sea. Like I said in the Marco book that did this, at least mix and match. At least TRY to pretend you’re doing something original. Or…maybe don’t, if what you consider original is ret-conning the blue box and pretending that ants/buffalo are capable of the intelligence required to morph.
Narrator: Cassie
Plot: I had zero memory of this book when I picked it up again. I think if you had asked me whether there was an Animorphs cover with Cassie morphing a buffalo, I wouldn’t have been entirely sure you were even serious. That’s how fully I’d forgotten this book.
Erek shows up at Cassie’s barn with bad news: the Yeerks have discovered how to use the Helmacrons’ morphing tracker and are even now on their way towards the blue box that emits a low level morphing energy. Cassie quickly nabs the cube and hops a ride to The Gardens with her mother. There, the others in seagull morph show up and they try to decide what to do, since any morphing will draw the attention of the Yeerks. Before they can form a plan, helicopters begin circling the area and Cassie makes a break for it, hiding in a van that is exiting the park. Inside she confronts a cape buffalo. She acquires it to keep it calm, but chaos suddenly erupts when the van is intercepted by the Yeerks, including Chapman and Visser Three. She morphs the buffalo and barges out of the van. The real buffalo attacks the Controllers and head butts Chapman. Cassie is able to escape into the nearby woods, with the real buffalo trailing behind.
Back as a girl in the woods, she witnesses something horrific: the buffalo must have touched the blue box and acquired Chapman when he headbutted him. He wildly morphs and demorphs partially between his true buffalo body and the human Chapman form. By morphing the buffalo again herself, Cassie is able to get the buffalo to mimic her actions and return to its true form as well. The others arrive and are caught up to speed on the horror of the situation. What’s worse, the buffalo has now witnessed Cassie morphing, so if the Yeerks capture or infest it, the Animorphs’ secret will be out.
The helicopters are still circling, so they morph wolves and take off once again, leaving the buffalo behind. They hide in a cave and continue to discuss what to do not only about the tracker, but about the buffalo. They all know that the buffalo can’t be left alive, though Cassie is hesitant to kill it, now that it has human DNA in its system. As for the tracker, the challenge will be getting to it when it’s up in a helicopter. So they decide to go with the tried and true method of dropping something heavy on the bad guys over water. But before they can move on this plan, they hear the buffalo in distress. Knowing they can’t let the Yeerks capture it, they head off.
They find the buffalo surrounded by Controllers with Visser Three himself yelling at the “Andalite” to reveal himself and tell the Visser where the cube is. The buffalo manages to acquire the Visser and begins morphing him. The group uses this as a distraction to escape (sorry, but I just can’t help but interrupt myself…didn’t they JUST say they were there to rescue the buffalo? And then immediately ditch said buffalo to escape the situation they willingly put themselves in in the first place? Ugh.) As they run off, they see the Andalite!buffalo and Visser Three go at it with their tail blades. The Andalite!buffalo gets in a lucky shot and knocks out Visser Three and then comes running after them.
The group decides that the majority of them will continue on to the ocean, but that Cassie will stay behind with the buffalo to distract the following Yeerks. She manages to get the buffalo to again demorph into its natural state before the Yeerks show up once again. She takes off, buffalo following, and jumps off a minor cliff to escape. They both crash to the bottom and are horribly injured. Cassie demorphs and gets the buffalo to also morph human to heal its own injuries. She then catches up with the group again.
The others wonder at how the buffalo managed to survive the fall and Cassie tells a white lie that the buffalo simply mimicked her morphing, leaving out that she was actively trying to save it. In human form, the buffalo begins mimicking their speaking patterns. Cassie insists that it is learning, but the others push back saying that it is only mimicking and that she is making too much out of this. As they are talking, Cassie brushes an ant off of the cube that she is holding. She finally gets the buffalo to morph back to buffalo and then they have to leave it behind once again when they hear the helicopters approaching.
As the others continue forward, Cassie begins to demorph again to put the plan in action. But before she can get far, she sees something truly nightmare-inducing: an ant morphing into a version of Cassie herself. She realizes that the ant that had crawled on the box and her hand earlier must have acquired morphing abilities and her own DNA. The Cassie!ant goes crazy half way through morph and attacks her with gigantic pincers. The buffalo shows up and attacks the Cassie!ant, but the ant begins demorphing. Cassie rushes over and stomps everything in sight. She then quickly begins morphing the osprey, finally ready to put their plan into action. As she gets ready to leave, the Yeerks show up and kill the buffalo with a Dracon beam.
Osprey!Cassie flies out to sea where the Yeerks are now shooting down at the rest of the Animorphs in dolphin morph. Gaining altitude, Cassie positions herself directly above the helicopter and begins to demorph. But it goes wrong and she loses her wings too quickly and begins to fall too fast. She makes it back to human and is partially through her whale morph when she realizes that she won’t be big enough when she hits the helicopter and will likely be cut to pieces by the blades. What’s worse, the helicopter pilot looks up and spots her, veering out of her line of descent. Luckily for everyone, a rogue seagull gets sucked into the engine and the helicopter blows up, destroying the Helmacron sensor within it. Cassie is badly burnt, but wakes up again in the ocean in her human form and surrounded by her friends. They call it a success and head home.
Peace, Love, and Animals: This is one of the better Cassie books as far as characterization of Cassie herself goes. The book is a hot mess in every other way, but her sympathy and struggle with how to resolve the buffalo situation is a very sympathetic cause. Any animal lover would understand just how difficult this situation would be. Though, that being said, her nonsense about the human DNA part of it is just that: nonsense. And what makes that worse is not only does this line of thought just seem ridiculous and undermines Cassie’s character as a rational, thoughtful being, but it was completely unnecessary. As an animal lover myself, the idea of having to kill an innocent animal, especially one that has bounded with you and trusts you, is just agonizing. We don’t need any silly other justifications to explain Cassie’s hesitancy.
The one question I do have about her handling of this situation is the balance between her repeatedly saying that she understand the buffalo can’t be allowed to live but then her willingness to essentially draw out its torment. We’ve seen some really good examples in the past of Cassie knowing that sometimes the harder choice is the right one, specifically when she was trying to save the Hork Bajir the Yeerks had experimented on back in the Atlantis book and knows that in the end it is best to let him die then to keep trying to fix the unfixable. That was an excellent scene that highlighted that mercy some times comes in strange forms. But here, the poor buffalo is repeatedly being abandoned by the Animorphs, drawn into battles with the Yeerks to protect the Animorphs, lead of a cliff to plummet to a painful end, and then finally killed by the Yeerks. It’s a tough situation, but it would have been another good opportunity to highlight this particular strength of Cassie’s, had she realized that this ongoing torment was not actually better.
Our Fearless Leader: At one point in the story, Cassie is upset with Jake for “not trusting her to do what is right.” But….really? I mean, for better or worse, Cassie has a long history of not necessarily doing the “right” thing objectively, even if she feels it is right for herself and her moral code. From a team leader perspective, I can absolutely understand Jake not trusting Cassie to do the “right” thing. Girl let herself be infested by a Yeerk! She asked Jake to outright murder a Controller on her behalf! Just a few books ago, she was all set to go on a mission purely based on revenge! She lost the right to feel miffed about casual distrust like this quite a while ago. And really, at this point, after being in Jake’s head, we know that some level of casual distrust goes out to all of the Animorphs at various times, it’s just one of the struggles of being a leader. Jake knows the weaknesses of them all, and thus can’t always trust them to do the right thing in specific scenarios that play to those weaknesses.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Along with Marco, Rachel is quite clear from the very beginning that the buffalo will have to go. She also firmly tells Cassie to stop making more out of the human DNA thing than it deserves, which, thank you!
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias has practically nothing. I mean, you could probably count his lines of dialogue on one hand.
The Comic Relief: As expected, Marco is not very sentimental about the fact that the buffalo can’t be left alive. He and Rachel both team up on this position right away, and there’s really no arguing with their reasoning. The case could maybe be made for getting the buffalo to acquire some similar animal, morph that animal, and then get itself stuck in that form and then have Cassie “adopt” it at her farm. Seems like something that Cassie or even Tobias would think of, but we can say that they were all too frazzled from the constant running to really think of this solution.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax has a running joke with Marco where he’s trying to still understand humor. He even joins in the fun with what he thinks are good jokes only to be met with silence and thus concluding that humor is over-rated. So there’s some good dialogue bits with that, but not much else for him in this book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: I mean, the entire concept of this book is pretty horrifying, but I will reserve the honor of this section for the Cassie!ant. It just had to be ants, didn’t it? It’s not like the poor Animorphs haven’t suffered enough trauma at the hands (pincers?) of ants already, but now one has to go and partially morph Cassie and then almost bite her arm off with its ginormous pincers. Then Cassie gets to watch the buffalo start tramping something that looks just like her to death. Though, I will note that apparently human DNA is only morally impactful in mammals, since she had zero concerns about stomping all over that ant once it was small again, human DNA or no human DNA.
Couples Watch!: Not much really. After Cassie’s fall from the sky, Jake remarks privately to her how glad he is that she is ok and since she’s in human form, she has to respond out loud, cluing in everyone as to what’s going on. Marco teases them some, but she says she doesn’t care since everyone knows how much Jake and Cassie “like” each other. This might just be my age speaking, but it gets more and more uncomfortable as the series progresses to hear about these relationships in terms of “liking” each other, especially when the “love” word has been thrown around. It just doesn’t ring true to the level of maturing and closeness that has built after fighting a war like this for as long as they have. I get that its done for the age-level of the audience, but I still find it weird. I honestly don’t think teens would have been weirded out if the writers had just gotten over it and said “love” already.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: So, Visser Three loses a tailblade fight to a buffalo….there’s just no getting around that fact. A mammal, in a completely foreign body, with a very low-level of intelligence, somehow managed to knock him out cold pretty quickly. I’m not sure who this is worse for, Visser Three and his ego, or all of the others (including Ax!) who have failed to take Visser Three down themselves in a fight! It’s not a good look for any of them that’s for sure. Also, I’ll add, this is yet another supremely unbelievable element of the book, so even talking about this in any verging-on-serious manner is pretty pointless. But the fact remains: it’s now canon that a buffalo is a better tailblade fighter than Ax.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Ok, as dumb as the whole buffalo morphing plot was, I have to admit that there was a good amount of tearing up in this book for me. I’m a sucker for animals and I particularly have a hard time with descriptions of animals suffering and not understanding why. So all of the scenes of the Animorphs running off and the poor buffalo trying to follow behind just really got to me. And then it goes and saves them several times and just casually gets blown up, right after Cassie is saying goodbye and doesn’t know what else to do but tell it that it has been good, one of the few words it seems to understand.
I said, knowing it couldn’t understand me.
The buffalo’s ears twitched. And then I knew what to say.
I said softly. Its ears came forward and it made a soft, almost friendly sound.
So stupidity aside, they definitely got me invested in this buffalo storyline in the end and there may, MAY, have been some tears.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Oh man, this entire book, again was full of terrible plans. But two big ones come to mind. 1.) They keep insisting that the buffalo can’t be allowed to be captured by the Yeerks, even going so far as to run back towards danger to “rescue” it at one point. And then they repeatedly abandon it and leave it behind to potentially be captured. And their “rescue” attempt was the worst example of it. They literally run back to it, find themselves surrounded, and then immediately use the buffalo itself as a distraction to bail, leaving it behind once again. What was the point of even going back if this was the plan?? And like I said, that was just the worst example. They leave the buffalo behind at least 4-5 times, any of which could have resulted in its capture by the Yeerks. 2.) The “anvil” plan with whale!Cassie. I mean, this was implausible enough the first time it showed up in Megamorphs #1 and in no way deserved a second showing. Not only am I getting sick and tired of this “wash and repeat” attitude towards past plot devices, but this one in particular was rather hard to swallow the first time and is even dumber here. At least it didn’t work, which is shouldn’t have for all the reason we saw here, mainly that it’s pretty easy for a helicopter pilot to become aware of a whale plummeting towards them and move out of the way. Luckily, a convenient sea gull was just where the author wanted it.
Favorite Quote:
I said. [said Rachel]
(Inset long rant about the difference between doing the the right vs. necessary thing. It’s a nice distinction that Rachel is drawing here, but I’m pretty sure Jake’s version of it was not trusting Cassie to do the right OR necessary thing.)
Scorecard: Yeerks 10, Animorphs 15
I’m going to give a point to the Yeerks just because they were the only ones with the semblance of a clever plan here with the idea to use the Helmacron ship this way. The Animorphs only survived this out of sheer luck, with the Yeerks taking care of the buffalo and a random seagull sacrificing its life for the cause.
Rating: I liked this book as far as Cassie’s characterization goes. I hated this book for its bizarre ret-conning of the blue box. And I couldn’t care less about this book for the fact that I honestly couldn’t even remember the order of events during the middle third since all it was was running around randomly stopping/splitting up/getting attacked by Yeerks and repeat.
But man, that blue box thing. That’s pretty out of line as far as completely disregarding past precedent for a pretty important artifact. Not only does the box thing itself make zero sense (it’s not like David suddenly had morphing abilities after just touching the box), but the fact that animals would then be able to acquire DNA and morph?? In every book, EVERY BOOK, we hear the Animorphs talk about having to concentrate to both acquire DNA initially and then to morph. There is no way the buffalo, let alone the ant, would be able to do anything like this. It’s so stupid and there’s no getting around the fact that the majority of this book is hanging on this idiotic concept.
Then add in the fact that we have yet another repeated story that involves essentially just re-writing a previous book. The entire Megamorphs #1 book was about some Yeerk controlled thing tracking morphing and then ends with whale!Cassie crashing it into the sea. And here, YET AGAIN, we have the Yeerks tracking morphing and whale!Cassie trying to crash it into the sea. Like I said in the Marco book that did this, at least mix and match. At least TRY to pretend you’re doing something original. Or…maybe don’t, if what you consider original is ret-conning the blue box and pretending that ants/buffalo are capable of the intelligence required to morph.
May 13, 2024
Random animals just morphing Cassie and acting like themselves is veeery uncanny
January 16, 2025
F all the haters I love this book. A new twist on morphing tech that had me whirring through The Hidden.
A friend in our book club mentioned that this book read as a (unintentional?) discussion about abortion.
I love the new moral quandary Cassie has to confront as well as the uncanny horror in this one. Some of the imagery was so novel (somewhat rare in this series) and freaky.
The repetitive action and prose, as well as the short page count, makes me imagine the writer(s) scrabbling to get this one long enough. Which is absurd because there's so much potential meat here.
A friend in our book club mentioned that this book read as a (unintentional?) discussion about abortion.
I love the new moral quandary Cassie has to confront as well as the uncanny horror in this one. Some of the imagery was so novel (somewhat rare in this series) and freaky.
The repetitive action and prose, as well as the short page count, makes me imagine the writer(s) scrabbling to get this one long enough. Which is absurd because there's so much potential meat here.
December 1, 2020
This is one weird book that feels like a filler to me. The Animorphs must stop a helicopter that is tracking the blue cube and morphing energy. A Buffalo accidentally touches the cube and then touches Chapman and Visser Three and somehow squires them (how? The Animorphs have to think about the animal they’re touching to acquire it- does the Buffalo have this ability?) and then later on an ant somehow develops the ability to morph and acquires Cassie and there’s nothing more creepy than seeing a Buffalo and an ant be “human.” Random aside- I assume they must be stark naked as humans, which would be even more terrifying, especially the ant-Cassie, but this is never mentioned by the Animorphs.
Cassie is traumatized by the idea of having to kill the Buffalo, who seems to maybe be learning and actually helping the Animorphs, but luckily the Yeerks shoot it down. Right before the Buffa-human (what they call it) is killed, it kills the ant-Cassie, and Cassie stomps the shit out of it as it attempts to semipro back into ant.
It all feels very Frankenstein’s monster, now that I think about it. There’s been lots of creepy stuff in these books, but I can’t imagine anything worse than an ant morphing into.. yourself. Nope nope nope.
Ironically, after being saved by the Buffalo, a random seagull is caught in the helicopter’s engine and thus the helicopter... blows up, I guess? Would that even happen? I feel like no, but hey, let’s run with it. The seagull saves Cassie’s life, as she was planning to morph to whale in midair and land on the helicopter like an anvil, but she timed the morph poorly, so thank god for that seagull, right? Ah, the theme of innocent animals giving up their lives for the Animorphs!
Cassie is traumatized by the idea of having to kill the Buffalo, who seems to maybe be learning and actually helping the Animorphs, but luckily the Yeerks shoot it down. Right before the Buffa-human (what they call it) is killed, it kills the ant-Cassie, and Cassie stomps the shit out of it as it attempts to semipro back into ant.
It all feels very Frankenstein’s monster, now that I think about it. There’s been lots of creepy stuff in these books, but I can’t imagine anything worse than an ant morphing into.. yourself. Nope nope nope.
Ironically, after being saved by the Buffalo, a random seagull is caught in the helicopter’s engine and thus the helicopter... blows up, I guess? Would that even happen? I feel like no, but hey, let’s run with it. The seagull saves Cassie’s life, as she was planning to morph to whale in midair and land on the helicopter like an anvil, but she timed the morph poorly, so thank god for that seagull, right? Ah, the theme of innocent animals giving up their lives for the Animorphs!
March 26, 2019
I'm of mixed minds. The morph-capable animals morph too easily and the buffalo learns too quick, but hardly the least feasible thing the series has come up with and it's more than worth it. The concepts here are bizarre, thorny, and extra horrifying--again, even for the Animorphs series! It's a natural fit to a Cassie PoV, and she's appropriately ambivalent. But the pacing, length, and ending are a little weak (the strain of making dozens of rapid morphs is particularly poorly handled), so this lacks some of the impact that it needs in order to drive its points home.
March 8, 2012
Really, this book should probably be struck out of the canon. The absurdity of animals gaining the ability to morph from merely touching the morphing cube is too much, even for me. Plus, there is no insight into any of the characters, no growth, no interesting conflicts -- nothing. Cassie almost jumps the shark by being hesitant to kill an animal that merely has human DNA in its bloodstream. Yeah. Insane.
Not worth reading.
Not worth reading.
March 19, 2025
i forgot how much of a mindfuck the buffa-human is.
Read
January 19, 2020What. the. ever. loving. hell.
September 5, 2020
Original Review at Jaunts & Haunts
4.5/5
Yes, another great Animorphs book!
I gave this one four and a half stars.
I'm really happy this one turned out well. When the blurb referenced the Helmacrons I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling. They are literally the worst alien species in this universe. However, I was delightfully surprised with this read.
This time around we are in Cassie's POV, and once again we are given a thought-provoking journey.
This is one of the shortest Animorphs books and things kick off quickly. Erek warns Cassie that the blue box is in danger and that the Yeerks are using Helmacron technology to track it. The Animorphs jump into gear, playing a game of hide-and-seek until they can figure out a way to stop their evil plans.
Cassie was great this time around. She's clearly the hero of this whole operation, and she showcases her love of animals this time in unexpected ways. Seeing her go through these emotions as the plot developed actually made me feel really sad, and I loved every minute.
The other characters don't really get too much limelight, but they're there and portrayed well.
The plot was great, probably because most of this story was action. If the Yeerks get their hands on the blue box it's all over. I liked how things developed, and there wasn't a dull moment. Oh, and I'm super happy the focus is on the Helmacron technology, not the actual Helmacrons themselves. Jesus they are annoying.
Some of the morphing philosophies they developed didn't always make the most sense, but other than that, most everything was in its right place, and I loved this book.
Definitely worth a read!
4.5/5
Yes, another great Animorphs book!
I gave this one four and a half stars.
I'm really happy this one turned out well. When the blurb referenced the Helmacrons I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling. They are literally the worst alien species in this universe. However, I was delightfully surprised with this read.
This time around we are in Cassie's POV, and once again we are given a thought-provoking journey.
This is one of the shortest Animorphs books and things kick off quickly. Erek warns Cassie that the blue box is in danger and that the Yeerks are using Helmacron technology to track it. The Animorphs jump into gear, playing a game of hide-and-seek until they can figure out a way to stop their evil plans.
Cassie was great this time around. She's clearly the hero of this whole operation, and she showcases her love of animals this time in unexpected ways. Seeing her go through these emotions as the plot developed actually made me feel really sad, and I loved every minute.
The other characters don't really get too much limelight, but they're there and portrayed well.
The plot was great, probably because most of this story was action. If the Yeerks get their hands on the blue box it's all over. I liked how things developed, and there wasn't a dull moment. Oh, and I'm super happy the focus is on the Helmacron technology, not the actual Helmacrons themselves. Jesus they are annoying.
Some of the morphing philosophies they developed didn't always make the most sense, but other than that, most everything was in its right place, and I loved this book.
Definitely worth a read!
July 25, 2018
3.5 rounded to 4/5
Not sure why so many people hated this! I loved the WEIRD aspect!
SPOILERS
I've often wondered
ONE ISSUE I had was that morphing REQUIRES concentration on the act. Without sentience, I can't really see this happening. The rest of this book was pretty interesting, so I'm going to let this big flaw SLIDE.
What I LIKED about this, in spite of the aforementioned massive flaw, was the fucked up mutant chapman African cape bull. The fact that the bull seems to almost talk was pretty fucked up. I liked that actually.
Sure sure, this isn't the best book, but honestly it WAS a fun book to read. The whole MUTANT ANT CASSIE was cool.
Now, I almost wanna downstar this, because of that big flaw. I know, I know, it makes no sense. The ghost writer takes some pretty creative license here, but it was still interesting.
I usually don't much care for Cassie, but this one wasn't too bad.
Not sure why so many people hated this! I loved the WEIRD aspect!
SPOILERS
I've often wondered
ONE ISSUE I had was that morphing REQUIRES concentration on the act. Without sentience, I can't really see this happening. The rest of this book was pretty interesting, so I'm going to let this big flaw SLIDE.
What I LIKED about this, in spite of the aforementioned massive flaw, was the fucked up mutant chapman African cape bull. The fact that the bull seems to almost talk was pretty fucked up. I liked that actually.
Sure sure, this isn't the best book, but honestly it WAS a fun book to read. The whole MUTANT ANT CASSIE was cool.
Now, I almost wanna downstar this, because of that big flaw. I know, I know, it makes no sense. The ghost writer takes some pretty creative license here, but it was still interesting.
I usually don't much care for Cassie, but this one wasn't too bad.
January 20, 2023
love how these kids can experience trauma the likes of which have never before been seen ("it had to be dead because such a hideous abomination could never, ever be allowed to live") and then five minutes after yet again nearly bleeding to death marco cracks a "dharma and greg" joke. y2k baby.
Read
January 5, 2021Every now and then the ghost writers have really good bits of prose in otherwise pretty standard text. It's easy to read with a dash of "oh that's a good moment. That stands out." This had some really moving moments in it. It's also one of the more tragic and traumatic of the series because of the very complex moral dilemma that faces Cassie. No spoilers but damn! This one is another of those "and now the main character has trauma that'll stay with them forever" books in this series. Definitely a good read.
October 13, 2023
Applegate, when writing Animorphs, is not often in the habit of giving the reader nor our characters much of a break between their horrific, traumatic experiences, and Cassie has probably had the worst of it. After this book, there is no doubt.
March 14, 2023
Give animal sentience, proceed to blow it up into meaty chunks.
March 28, 2023
Enjoyable but felt like filler. Got nothing new from Cassie really although it was an interesting ending.
September 14, 2024
This one's fucked up oO
January 19, 2025
This was so sad wtf
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