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Animorphs #18.5
In the Time of Dinosaurs
We could blame everything that happened on Marco. He was the one who heard about the downed submarine. He was the one who thought we should check it out. And everyone knows that if Marco's up to a challenge, I'm definitely there.
Everything was going fine. Until the explosion. An explosion that blows us millions of years back in time. Back to the age of dinosaurs. Now Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, Jake and I are fighting for our lives with every step we take. But that's not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is we have no idea how to get back to our own time. . . .
Everything was going fine. Until the explosion. An explosion that blows us millions of years back in time. Back to the age of dinosaurs. Now Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, Jake and I are fighting for our lives with every step we take. But that's not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is we have no idea how to get back to our own time. . . .
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
32 people are currently reading
873 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 209 reviews
October 4, 2015
I want to say that I don’t remember these books being as dark as they seem now, but I think that would be a lie. Young!Ben recognized the darkness—but for me, at that age, that wasn’t even the draw. I was more about the adventure and the heroism of these young characters—the science-fictional elements were really the coolest thing. Now when I read Megamorphs #2: In the Time of the Dinosaurs I’m focusing more on how messed up these situations are.
So in this, our second blockbuster-style Animorphs novel, K.A. Applegate is all, “Oh, you want a longer book with a punchier plot so you can sell it for a couple dollars more and market the hell out of it? OK, then. Be careful what you wish for!” The Animorphs go back in time (again), 65 million years to be (more or less) precise. Indeed, they conveniently arrive just before the comet that triggers the extinction of the dinosaurs hits the Earth. (Well, whether the comet would have hit the Earth if the Animorphs hadn’t shown up is another question.)
It’s worth noting that there is not a Yeerk in sight in this book. The Animorphs go play superhero to help rescue people from a sunk nuclear submarine, and that precipitates their temporal incursion. (There is literally no debate about risking exposure by playing superhero like there has been in the past.) Once thrown back in time through that ol’ pal of theirs, the Sario Rip, the Animorphs scrabble to survive amidst dinosaurs and two alien species fighting for dominance of the planet.
Let’s be perfectly clear here: if I were an Animorph, I would not survive in this book. Can we count the ways I would not survive?
I mean, I always talk about how badass Rachel is, and that’s the common refrain among her friends. But she is literally swallowed by a prehistoric sea creature in this book, demorphs into a human, and then morphs into a grizzly bear to fight her way out of the creature’s stomach. While being dissolved by stomach acid.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Animorphs—who are still, let’s remember, kids—are forced to walk through a prehistoric jungle in bare feet, with just leotards and T-shirts and tight shorts, surviving without any technology or survival gear. I would not survive this. Unless you are Bear Grylls, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you would probably not survive this either. These kids are tough. Ford wishes their trucks were built as tough as these kids.
And that’s just the physical trauma. There’s also plenty of psychological trauma to go around in this book.
Tobias almost eats grizzly Rachel when he morphs a deinonychus.
Cassie gets overpowered by a T-rex morph and freaks out, kills a triceratops, and loses her shit.
Oh, and Tobias and Ax sabotage a nuclear bomb in order to preserve the future, even though it makes them all complicit in wiping out a sentient species that was kind enough to help them obtain the bomb in the first place so they could get back to their own time.
I love that whole doublecross and the way Applegate reveals it. The Mercora show up and ask for the bomb, and Jake asks them for time to make a group decision. The group votes to give them the bomb—and then Tobias reveals what he did. It is a betrayal of everyone. Until now the group has been united in how it proceeds—either by vote or by Jake’s leadership. Tobias acted unilaterally (albeit with assistance from Ax) because he felt it was “the right thing to do.” This was a dangerous, perhaps even reckless act, despite being necessary from the perspective of someone who wants to get back to their own time.
But it has such an element of classical tragedy to it. The whole idea of Tobias taking this guilt on his own shoulders, and the fact that the rest of the Animorphs have to live with the burden of this knowledge. There are definite, if unspoken, comparisons to Yeerk behaviour here. Applegate wants her readers to think about how our decisions affect other lives, and how very often we rationalize something as being “noble” or “right” when in reality it’s just preferable for our survival. Marco is more correct than he knows, earlier in the book, when he speaks the harsh truth about this being a struggle for survival.
Damn, these psychological scars are piling on faster than Lindsay Lohan’s court appearances. I sure hope it doesn’t cause one of the Animorphs to want to quit….
Next time, Cassie quits!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #18: The Decision | #19: The Departure →
So in this, our second blockbuster-style Animorphs novel, K.A. Applegate is all, “Oh, you want a longer book with a punchier plot so you can sell it for a couple dollars more and market the hell out of it? OK, then. Be careful what you wish for!” The Animorphs go back in time (again), 65 million years to be (more or less) precise. Indeed, they conveniently arrive just before the comet that triggers the extinction of the dinosaurs hits the Earth. (Well, whether the comet would have hit the Earth if the Animorphs hadn’t shown up is another question.)
It’s worth noting that there is not a Yeerk in sight in this book. The Animorphs go play superhero to help rescue people from a sunk nuclear submarine, and that precipitates their temporal incursion. (There is literally no debate about risking exposure by playing superhero like there has been in the past.) Once thrown back in time through that ol’ pal of theirs, the Sario Rip, the Animorphs scrabble to survive amidst dinosaurs and two alien species fighting for dominance of the planet.
Let’s be perfectly clear here: if I were an Animorph, I would not survive in this book. Can we count the ways I would not survive?
I mean, I always talk about how badass Rachel is, and that’s the common refrain among her friends. But she is literally swallowed by a prehistoric sea creature in this book, demorphs into a human, and then morphs into a grizzly bear to fight her way out of the creature’s stomach. While being dissolved by stomach acid.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Animorphs—who are still, let’s remember, kids—are forced to walk through a prehistoric jungle in bare feet, with just leotards and T-shirts and tight shorts, surviving without any technology or survival gear. I would not survive this. Unless you are Bear Grylls, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you would probably not survive this either. These kids are tough. Ford wishes their trucks were built as tough as these kids.
And that’s just the physical trauma. There’s also plenty of psychological trauma to go around in this book.
Tobias almost eats grizzly Rachel when he morphs a deinonychus.
Cassie gets overpowered by a T-rex morph and freaks out, kills a triceratops, and loses her shit.
Oh, and Tobias and Ax sabotage a nuclear bomb in order to preserve the future, even though it makes them all complicit in wiping out a sentient species that was kind enough to help them obtain the bomb in the first place so they could get back to their own time.
I love that whole doublecross and the way Applegate reveals it. The Mercora show up and ask for the bomb, and Jake asks them for time to make a group decision. The group votes to give them the bomb—and then Tobias reveals what he did. It is a betrayal of everyone. Until now the group has been united in how it proceeds—either by vote or by Jake’s leadership. Tobias acted unilaterally (albeit with assistance from Ax) because he felt it was “the right thing to do.” This was a dangerous, perhaps even reckless act, despite being necessary from the perspective of someone who wants to get back to their own time.
But it has such an element of classical tragedy to it. The whole idea of Tobias taking this guilt on his own shoulders, and the fact that the rest of the Animorphs have to live with the burden of this knowledge. There are definite, if unspoken, comparisons to Yeerk behaviour here. Applegate wants her readers to think about how our decisions affect other lives, and how very often we rationalize something as being “noble” or “right” when in reality it’s just preferable for our survival. Marco is more correct than he knows, earlier in the book, when he speaks the harsh truth about this being a struggle for survival.
Damn, these psychological scars are piling on faster than Lindsay Lohan’s court appearances. I sure hope it doesn’t cause one of the Animorphs to want to quit….
Next time, Cassie quits!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #18: The Decision | #19: The Departure →
June 14, 2020
FIRST REVIEW / MAR 30, 2015
AT LAST!!! I've been waiting in happy anticipation to finally reach this Megamorphs, which was always one of my favourites of the entire series because DINOSAURS. What's notable is that the Yeerks aren't even involved at all; the Animorphs embark on an altruistic mission to help a downed nuclear submarine, and are blasted back to the Cretaceous for their trouble. They have to avoid getting chomped by a ton of different dinosaurs (T-rexes!!) and end up caught between two warring alien races as well.
In short, it is the COOLEST.
Cassie also has another one of her moralistic freakouts, which are mildly annoying but segues well into the issues of the next book.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / MAY 11, 2020
I've mentioned it before but in this, my second grand reread, I have an increased appreciation for Cassie and her moral center. And also, there's such adorable Rachel & Cassie bff content here, like this:
And other scenes that got me Real Emotional, like Cassie losing control of her T-rex morph and Jake HAVING FAITH AND DEMORPHING TO HUMAN IN FRONT OF HER BECAUSE HE KNEW SHE WOULDN'T HURT HIM:
My heart!!
The ending of this book is also devastating, with Tobias and Ax making an awful, genocidal choice for the greater good -- which is a running trend with this series, if you haven't realised yet. They make the choice and hide it from the others in order to spare them the weight of that choice. Which also dovetails really well with a decision that Ax will make make some thirty books from now(!), so in a sense, some of the seeds are being planted now for those future choices.
This book also has such a huge scope that it merits being a Megamorphs, while also digging into all these individual relationships. Also, there is that absolutely horrifying scene where Rachel is unconscious in grizzly morph and being eaten alive by ants.
This! is! supposedly! a children's! series!!!!
Favourite quotes moved to Google Docs.
AT LAST!!! I've been waiting in happy anticipation to finally reach this Megamorphs, which was always one of my favourites of the entire series because DINOSAURS. What's notable is that the Yeerks aren't even involved at all; the Animorphs embark on an altruistic mission to help a downed nuclear submarine, and are blasted back to the Cretaceous for their trouble. They have to avoid getting chomped by a ton of different dinosaurs (T-rexes!!) and end up caught between two warring alien races as well.
In short, it is the COOLEST.
Cassie also has another one of her moralistic freakouts, which are mildly annoying but segues well into the issues of the next book.
---------------------------------
SECOND REVIEW / MAY 11, 2020
I've mentioned it before but in this, my second grand reread, I have an increased appreciation for Cassie and her moral center. And also, there's such adorable Rachel & Cassie bff content here, like this:
‹Rachel?› Cassie cried. ‹Is that you?!›
‹Of course, it's me,› Rachel said, sounding as if the idea of her being some little dinosaur who'd just jumped off a cliff, grabbed a pair of giant leather-wing dinosaurs and landed on an alien force field was totally normal. ‹Who else would it be?›
We were all treated to the utterly bizarre sight of an osprey attempting to hug a dinosaur.
And other scenes that got me Real Emotional, like Cassie losing control of her T-rex morph and Jake HAVING FAITH AND DEMORPHING TO HUMAN IN FRONT OF HER BECAUSE HE KNEW SHE WOULDN'T HURT HIM:
‹Jake, you have to stay back,› Tobias said. ‹You are invading her territory. That's her prey. She'll have no choice but to defend it. She'll annihilate you.›
‹No. She might annihilate this Tyrannosaurus morph,› I said. ‹But she would never hurt me.›
I knew what I had to do. I began to demorph.
My heart!!
The ending of this book is also devastating, with Tobias and Ax making an awful, genocidal choice for the greater good -- which is a running trend with this series, if you haven't realised yet. They make the choice and hide it from the others in order to spare them the weight of that choice. Which also dovetails really well with a decision that Ax will make make some thirty books from now(!), so in a sense, some of the seeds are being planted now for those future choices.
This book also has such a huge scope that it merits being a Megamorphs, while also digging into all these individual relationships. Also, there is that absolutely horrifying scene where Rachel is unconscious in grizzly morph and being eaten alive by ants.
This! is! supposedly! a children's! series!!!!
Favourite quotes moved to Google Docs.
November 5, 2017
So this is the one where the Animorphs get blown back in time 65 million years by a nuclear explosion, and they fight dinosaurs and almost get eaten a bunch of times and discover that the Earth wasn't always as alien free as we thought.
I mean, you hear that premise, and you think, Ooh, fun! Dinosaurs! Time travel! But this book is the Animorphs doing dinosaurs and time travel, so that means it's all kinds of messed up. No Jurassic Park wonder and fun times to be found. Instead, we have Tobias and Rachel getting eaten by an enormous water-dwelling dinosaur, the rest of the kids thinking they're dead and doing some serious grieving, some truly terrifying encounters with dinosaurs (including multiple with t-rex's), aliens that are made out of billions of ants, and, oh, having to choose whether or not to save an entire species or let them die.
Probably the Animorph who gets the most interesting storyline here is Cassie. The rest of them are just sort of along for the ride, and do their best to survive 65 million years in the past. But Cassie is starting to break (fitting foreshadowing for the next book, which has Cassie quitting the team). Each mission bothers her more, and she can't even stomach morphing predators anymore. At one point,
As with their last little jaunt in time, this whole episode has no bearing on future events. They don't even get to keep their dinosaur morphs (a situation which is entirely handwaved away, not even a tiny attempt is made to explain it). At least this time, they get to keep their memories.
Up next, Cassie and a Yeerk get entirely too close for comfort.
I mean, you hear that premise, and you think, Ooh, fun! Dinosaurs! Time travel! But this book is the Animorphs doing dinosaurs and time travel, so that means it's all kinds of messed up. No Jurassic Park wonder and fun times to be found. Instead, we have Tobias and Rachel getting eaten by an enormous water-dwelling dinosaur, the rest of the kids thinking they're dead and doing some serious grieving, some truly terrifying encounters with dinosaurs (including multiple with t-rex's), aliens that are made out of billions of ants, and, oh, having to choose whether or not to save an entire species or let them die.
Probably the Animorph who gets the most interesting storyline here is Cassie. The rest of them are just sort of along for the ride, and do their best to survive 65 million years in the past. But Cassie is starting to break (fitting foreshadowing for the next book, which has Cassie quitting the team). Each mission bothers her more, and she can't even stomach morphing predators anymore. At one point,
As with their last little jaunt in time, this whole episode has no bearing on future events. They don't even get to keep their dinosaur morphs (a situation which is entirely handwaved away, not even a tiny attempt is made to explain it). At least this time, they get to keep their memories.
Up next, Cassie and a Yeerk get entirely too close for comfort.
September 26, 2023
It’s a strong and action-packed side story with dinosaurs. It’s just unfortunate that this story doesn’t have an impact on the main storyline of the series. You can easily skip this and not miss out on anything.
January 12, 2019
Running thoughts while reading this book:
"Wait - haven't they used the Sario Rip time-travel plot before?" *scrolls through summaries of the previous books* "Yeah, there we go. The Forgotten. This makes me think so much of The Forgotten. And why do none of them seem to remember that they've been in a Sario Rip before?"
"How is Tobias the only one who recognizes the dinosaurs? Like...how? I mean, I get the rest not knowing the names of everything...but really? It should not take that long to figure out that you're being attacked by dinosaurs, and not some remote, undiscovered reptiles. Especially when - I cannot stress this enough - THEY HAVE TIME-TRAVELED BEFORE. This is a thing they know can happen!"
"Sario Rip? More like saurio rip, amiright???"
"Did Ax ever pay attention in school? Every time something alien comes up, he immediately starts on about how they covered that in school, but he didn't really pay attention to the lesson that day. And again - he's already told them about Sario Rips. Why does no one remember the Sario Rips???"
In all seriousness, though, this one was fine. The lack of dinosaur recognition by everyone but Tobias was a bit strange, and it was obnoxious that the ending basically just hit a reset button on everything that happened, but I did like the moral dilemma that the kids ended up facing. So, there's that. :/
"Wait - haven't they used the Sario Rip time-travel plot before?" *scrolls through summaries of the previous books* "Yeah, there we go. The Forgotten. This makes me think so much of The Forgotten. And why do none of them seem to remember that they've been in a Sario Rip before?"
"How is Tobias the only one who recognizes the dinosaurs? Like...how? I mean, I get the rest not knowing the names of everything...but really? It should not take that long to figure out that you're being attacked by dinosaurs, and not some remote, undiscovered reptiles. Especially when - I cannot stress this enough - THEY HAVE TIME-TRAVELED BEFORE. This is a thing they know can happen!"
"Sario Rip? More like saurio rip, amiright???"
"Did Ax ever pay attention in school? Every time something alien comes up, he immediately starts on about how they covered that in school, but he didn't really pay attention to the lesson that day. And again - he's already told them about Sario Rips. Why does no one remember the Sario Rips???"
In all seriousness, though, this one was fine. The lack of dinosaur recognition by everyone but Tobias was a bit strange, and it was obnoxious that the ending basically just hit a reset button on everything that happened, but I did like the moral dilemma that the kids ended up facing. So, there's that. :/
September 16, 2016
Maybe I'm too old for this but man was this one annoying to read. It was like watching Jurassic Park on repeat, and only the jumpscare actiony bits. I hated the personification of the Tyrannosaur, even though it's filtered through the eyes of kids who have seen Jurassic Park. Like T-rexes I am sure had down time. Predators are really chill you know? Not raging titanic masses of fury 24-7.
Also
Also
March 5, 2024
Are you telling me that these children caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? Also Applegate can you stop using Sario Rips to take away cool morphs? You can’t just give them a T-Rex morph and take it away Willy nilly
May 10, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
The Animorphs encounter their second Sario Rip – a rip in the space time continuum – that throws them millions of years into the past. Sixty five million years, to be slightly more precise, at the very end of the dinosaur’s reign. Here they meet Deinonychus, pteradons, tyrannosaurus Rex, and two different species of aliens fighting over the planet. The crab-like Mercora are peaceful herbivores who only want to tend to their broccoli, but the ant-like Nesk want to destroy any sentient species, the Animorphs included. Also, Tobias busts his wing and it won’t heal. The Animorphs need a massive explosion to get back home, but the Mercora can’t help them, although the evil Nesk can. Also, there’s a comet.
So in case you didn’t get where I was going with the kind of long introduction, the Animorphs are responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. And for the destruction of an entire PEACEFUL alien species. But it’s OK, because apparently the dinosaurs and aliens aren’t as important as five kids and one alien getting back to their own timeline so that they can continue this losing war against the Yeerks!
Bad Animorphs! Did you ever figure that no dead dinosaurs means no mammals evolving into monkeys and therefore no humans for the Yeerks to enslave? It’s all your fault the Yeerks are enslaving humans!
But the problem is (and this time travel stuff can hurt your head because there’s lots of different theories) that they are in the past, which means they WERE in the past, sixty five million years ago. How’s that for a kicker! They didn’t actually change anything, and that’s why it’s OK to commit mass genocide on a global (deleted) scale!
In this second Megamorphs outing, Rachel and Tobias are separated from the others. You’d think this would lead to more snuggle times between our blonde Amazon and the Bird-Boy, but no. Rachel’s too tired and hungry and crabby to think romance and Tobias has a broken wing that for some reason no one has ever figured out morphing won’t heal. Because the morphing heals other injuries like burning stomach acid on skin and a triceratops horn to the tyrannosaurus-Marco’s belly. Tobias’ busted wing is a huge plot point but also a huge plot hole. And it’s stupid.
Other than that, the book is really good. It gives one of the best moral dilemmas I’ve ever read, and Tobias even takes charge because apparently he’s channelling Ross from Friend and is some kind of dinosaur expert. Cassie loses control of her tyrannosaurus morph and it absolutely horrifies her – but at the same time, she’s the fastest to adapt to the sudden drop in the food chain and calmly suggests the Animorphs eat a dead tyrannosaurus. I believe the tyrannosaurus episode has a lot to do with her decision in the next book, but we’ll get to that in the next review.
It’s also fun reading about dinosaurs because they’re freaking dinosaurs and they are the awesomest things ever. How can you write a kid’s book series with over 50 books and NOT have a dinosaur episode? A pity the Animorphs couldn’t keep their T-Rex morphs. They would have kicked ass all over the Yeerks.
Because this is a time travel book and the effects of the Sario Rip are undone to the extent that the adventure practically never happened (they don’t get to keep their morphs), this book unfortunately isn’t essential reading in the overall story arc. However it is relevant to the next book, and it’s also a whole lot of fun even if Tobias’ broken wing is possibly the biggest, stupidest plot hole ever.
October 14, 2019
Dark, gritty, violent, and basically everything the first Megamorphs book is not. It isn't perfect - the constant shifting POVs are hard to keep up with sometimes, and Cassie's is more jarring than normal butted up against the others (her morality is SO GRATING here). But this had a few things going for it I absolutely love. The Tobias&Rachel adventure for a good chunk of the book. The new aliens we meet. The DINOSAURS (although this has become quite outdated). Overall, just a lot of fun and a fantastic jumbo-sized installment of the Animorphs adventures.
July 25, 2025
I love that the Megamorphs books switch between all the Animorphs kids - it really adds to the drama and so much happens in this one. From getting flung back in time and eating trex meat around a campfire, to Magic School Bus and Hansen (lol) references to the Big Bang… there was a lot happening, that’s barely scraping the surface.
I think most importantly (and I’m kind of sad about it), they lose the trex morph when they are back in their own time. That could have been hilarious in a future book.
I think most importantly (and I’m kind of sad about it), they lose the trex morph when they are back in their own time. That could have been hilarious in a future book.
November 29, 2024
I loved every second of this.
Heartwrenchingly tragic in the end.
Heartwrenchingly tragic in the end.
August 6, 2014
Umm, why didn't they ever explain why a morph no longer healed the kids of their battle scars? Inconsistencies bother me. So this is my least favorite Megamorph.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
It's a bit ridiculous to imagine that a nuclear bomb could have gone off right next to a populated area and this doesn't appear to have any repercussions, nor is it brought up in the series again that an event which would be heralded as a catastrophe happened right there in the water. (Being that this is science fiction and sometimes very silly with its scientific justifications, perhaps we can just ignore that nuclear bombs don't rip through the time/space continuum to send people back in time, but that's ridiculous too. The very few nuclear explosions we've endured on this planet did not cause time travel. The sub's crew and rescue team also inexplicably did not come with the Animorphs to the past. It's unclear why the Sario Rip "picked" them to go through it.)
There's no reason their morphing abilities shouldn't work as they always did to heal wounds, but in this book, morphing doesn't heal them. This is never explained, and seems inconsistent because this is the second time they've experienced time travel by Sario Rip and during the first time they had no such problem.
It's interesting that Cassie immediately jumped into survivalist mode after she thought Rachel and Tobias were dead. She said some things that shocked Jake and Marco (such as suggesting they do various things with the dead body of a Tyrannosaurus to serve as clothes, shoes, and meat). It's never been said anywhere else in the story that Cassie has survivalist training--just animal-related medical training--but it makes sense that if she knows how to heal animals, she might know how to butcher them.
A new kind of creature is introduced in this book: An alien creature called the Nesk. It's made up of millions of ants.
There's a point when Jake overhears the thought-speak of Tobias when he is calling to Rachel. It seems odd that Tobias would randomly be using public thought-speak if he didn't think any other sentient creatures were around. That's not explained; it seems usually when they're talking just to each other they use specific, private thought-speak.
Another race called the Mercora emerges in this book--a race that has seven legs and is highly asymmetrical and slightly crab-like. In describing them, Ax also mentions a race called the Korla that the Andalites know about, and they've never been mentioned before.
It's revealed in this book that broccoli is not indigenous to Earth. It was brought to the planet by the alien Mercora race.
Toward the end of the book, the entire group morphs into birds and starts flying away, but there's a bit when Ax is said to have been keeping watch on something with his stalk eyes. He shouldn't be able to have stalk eyes while in a bird morph while they're all flying away. Seems this is a continuity glitch.
During the last time a Sario Rip happened, it makes sense that the morphs they acquired disappeared because that whole timeline was made to not exist based on Jake changing his mind about a choice they made. But in this book, the morphs getting erased doesn't really make sense because they did not undo anything they did and presumably they actually did have a lasting effect on reality. They should really be able to morph dinosaurs.
It's unclear because of time paradoxes whether the Animorphs actually changed history or were always there/had always been part of it somehow. Their influence was what inspired the Nesk to aim a comet that wasn't going to hit Earth straight at the Mercora settlement. If that comet was the only one that hit Earth during that time and it wasn't actually supposed to, then the Animorphs influenced history before they were born.
There's a note from Tobias at the end that seems tacked on, saying that even though Spinosaurus is said to have been extinct by the time the Cretaceous period was ending, Tobias wants you to believe otherwise because he was there (and almost got eaten by one). This seems like a case of patchwork editing pointed out late in the game rather than an intentional afterword by Tobias; seems more like a fact-checker caught the error and the editors decided to change it by making an excuse instead of making it match the known fossil record. This is the only factual error the book attempts to acknowledge but excuse, even though there are dozens of others--such as the water dinosaurs not really being dinosaurs and which ones were actually around during that time.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
It's a bit ridiculous to imagine that a nuclear bomb could have gone off right next to a populated area and this doesn't appear to have any repercussions, nor is it brought up in the series again that an event which would be heralded as a catastrophe happened right there in the water. (Being that this is science fiction and sometimes very silly with its scientific justifications, perhaps we can just ignore that nuclear bombs don't rip through the time/space continuum to send people back in time, but that's ridiculous too. The very few nuclear explosions we've endured on this planet did not cause time travel. The sub's crew and rescue team also inexplicably did not come with the Animorphs to the past. It's unclear why the Sario Rip "picked" them to go through it.)
There's no reason their morphing abilities shouldn't work as they always did to heal wounds, but in this book, morphing doesn't heal them. This is never explained, and seems inconsistent because this is the second time they've experienced time travel by Sario Rip and during the first time they had no such problem.
It's interesting that Cassie immediately jumped into survivalist mode after she thought Rachel and Tobias were dead. She said some things that shocked Jake and Marco (such as suggesting they do various things with the dead body of a Tyrannosaurus to serve as clothes, shoes, and meat). It's never been said anywhere else in the story that Cassie has survivalist training--just animal-related medical training--but it makes sense that if she knows how to heal animals, she might know how to butcher them.
A new kind of creature is introduced in this book: An alien creature called the Nesk. It's made up of millions of ants.
There's a point when Jake overhears the thought-speak of Tobias when he is calling to Rachel. It seems odd that Tobias would randomly be using public thought-speak if he didn't think any other sentient creatures were around. That's not explained; it seems usually when they're talking just to each other they use specific, private thought-speak.
Another race called the Mercora emerges in this book--a race that has seven legs and is highly asymmetrical and slightly crab-like. In describing them, Ax also mentions a race called the Korla that the Andalites know about, and they've never been mentioned before.
It's revealed in this book that broccoli is not indigenous to Earth. It was brought to the planet by the alien Mercora race.
Toward the end of the book, the entire group morphs into birds and starts flying away, but there's a bit when Ax is said to have been keeping watch on something with his stalk eyes. He shouldn't be able to have stalk eyes while in a bird morph while they're all flying away. Seems this is a continuity glitch.
During the last time a Sario Rip happened, it makes sense that the morphs they acquired disappeared because that whole timeline was made to not exist based on Jake changing his mind about a choice they made. But in this book, the morphs getting erased doesn't really make sense because they did not undo anything they did and presumably they actually did have a lasting effect on reality. They should really be able to morph dinosaurs.
It's unclear because of time paradoxes whether the Animorphs actually changed history or were always there/had always been part of it somehow. Their influence was what inspired the Nesk to aim a comet that wasn't going to hit Earth straight at the Mercora settlement. If that comet was the only one that hit Earth during that time and it wasn't actually supposed to, then the Animorphs influenced history before they were born.
There's a note from Tobias at the end that seems tacked on, saying that even though Spinosaurus is said to have been extinct by the time the Cretaceous period was ending, Tobias wants you to believe otherwise because he was there (and almost got eaten by one). This seems like a case of patchwork editing pointed out late in the game rather than an intentional afterword by Tobias; seems more like a fact-checker caught the error and the editors decided to change it by making an excuse instead of making it match the known fossil record. This is the only factual error the book attempts to acknowledge but excuse, even though there are dozens of others--such as the water dinosaurs not really being dinosaurs and which ones were actually around during that time.
January 17, 2020
Original review at Jaunts & Haunts
5/5
I gave this book five civilization-saving stars!
I'm not sure why this continuation of the Animorphs saga gets such a bad wrap, but I'm hear to say that I believe it's a bunch of bologna!
This is the second Megamorphs (or #18.5) in the series, and the stakes have never been higher.
Our dear Animorph friends get news that a nuclear submarine has gone missing in the ocean nearby. Being the heroes that they are, they decide to investigate and help save lives if possible.
However, when said nuclear submarine explodes, it knocks the Animorphs out. When they come to, they are shocked beyond belief. The waters are clearer than ever, the skies bluer than they've seen before, and suddenly they're on the run from seafaring... dinosaurs?
Scrambling to survive in this dangerous era of Earth's existence, the Animorphs have to figure out how to get home, or die trying.
This is definitely one of my favorite Animorphs books.
True to Megamorph style, this book has shared POVs between all Animorph characters. They each get a fair amount of limelight, and their perspectives are all believable. I mean, how are you supposed to feel when you've been thrust 65 million years in the past with dinosaurs chomping at you every five minutes? Talk about terrifying!
The plot was really simple at first. They obviously want to get home. But along the way, things got delightfully more complex, especially around the halfway point. I'm not going to give it away, but it definitely gave it a more scifi element than it already had.
The concept was great. I love me some time travel. This book (for me, at least) managed to reignite my sense of amazement around dinosaurs. Reading this, I started thinking questions I haven't asked myself in over a decade. What were the dinosaurs like? What was the world like? What happened to all of them?
Obviously we don't necessarily have a straight answer to that since there is too much speculation, but this was a creative reimagining of what could have been, and I loved every minute of it.
This book also gravitated towards the darker concepts of things. It sucks having to make terrible, awful decisions, with no clear win-win scenario, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Animorphs did the best they could.
I will admit, there is a minor inconsistency with the healing ability of the morphs (something other reviewers have picked apart many a time over), but ultimately, this book was nostalgic, riveting, and sparked my almost forgotten sense of wonder about our world and where things came from.
Couldn't have asked for more from a book!
5/5
I gave this book five civilization-saving stars!
I'm not sure why this continuation of the Animorphs saga gets such a bad wrap, but I'm hear to say that I believe it's a bunch of bologna!
This is the second Megamorphs (or #18.5) in the series, and the stakes have never been higher.
Our dear Animorph friends get news that a nuclear submarine has gone missing in the ocean nearby. Being the heroes that they are, they decide to investigate and help save lives if possible.
However, when said nuclear submarine explodes, it knocks the Animorphs out. When they come to, they are shocked beyond belief. The waters are clearer than ever, the skies bluer than they've seen before, and suddenly they're on the run from seafaring... dinosaurs?
Scrambling to survive in this dangerous era of Earth's existence, the Animorphs have to figure out how to get home, or die trying.
This is definitely one of my favorite Animorphs books.
True to Megamorph style, this book has shared POVs between all Animorph characters. They each get a fair amount of limelight, and their perspectives are all believable. I mean, how are you supposed to feel when you've been thrust 65 million years in the past with dinosaurs chomping at you every five minutes? Talk about terrifying!
The plot was really simple at first. They obviously want to get home. But along the way, things got delightfully more complex, especially around the halfway point. I'm not going to give it away, but it definitely gave it a more scifi element than it already had.
The concept was great. I love me some time travel. This book (for me, at least) managed to reignite my sense of amazement around dinosaurs. Reading this, I started thinking questions I haven't asked myself in over a decade. What were the dinosaurs like? What was the world like? What happened to all of them?
Obviously we don't necessarily have a straight answer to that since there is too much speculation, but this was a creative reimagining of what could have been, and I loved every minute of it.
This book also gravitated towards the darker concepts of things. It sucks having to make terrible, awful decisions, with no clear win-win scenario, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Animorphs did the best they could.
I will admit, there is a minor inconsistency with the healing ability of the morphs (something other reviewers have picked apart many a time over), but ultimately, this book was nostalgic, riveting, and sparked my almost forgotten sense of wonder about our world and where things came from.
Couldn't have asked for more from a book!
June 8, 2018
Definitely not the best book of the series. The outcome was very predictable... if they could have kept the dinosaurs morph it would at least have been useful... but it feels like this book achieved no purpose whatsoever, even Cassie gets into another "killing spree" in the next book, so this one is pretty much irrelevant to the story.
April 1, 2020
My biggest problem with this is that we apparently don’t get any more Dino’s. UNLEASH THE DINOS
October 23, 2022
The Animorphs Causing a Mass Extinction is my favorite part of Animorphs lore
what
what
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 6, 2018
(Originally reviewed at thelibraryladies.com.)
Plot: As the plot describes, the Animorphs here about a nuclear sub sinking off their local coastline. As dolphins they help the divers locate the sub, but as they are retreating, it suddenly goes off and blows them all into unconsciousness. When they wake up, they begin to notice some strange things. It was stormy originally, and now it’s bright sunshine. The water is more clear, even after a bomb going off? And…there’s a massive volcano on the shoreline. All of this falls to the background when a gigantic sea creature shows up with obvious plans to eat them. And it succeeds, managing to gobble down Rachel and Tobias before the others can react. The rest of the manages to escape and make it to land. At this point in the book, the story lines split between the main group (Jake, Cassie, Marco and Ax) and Tobias and Rachel (who obviously manage to escape by Rachel’s quick thinking to morph a grizzly and literally tear her way out).
Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Ax all grieve the loss of Rachel and Tobias. It hits Cassie the hardest, feeling that she’s lost her best friend. But they have bigger problems when they notice a wide trail cut through the forest with some massive footprints along with it. The whole mystery is solved once and for all when a T-Rex shows up and chases them. Marco almost gets eaten and is only saved by Ax managing to slash up the T-Rex when it was distracted and taking it down. Cassie goes into survival mode at this point, focusing on the practicalities of their situation. She instructs the others to cut shoes for themselves using the T-Rex hide and to make a fire to cook some of the meat for them to eat. They camp out for the night, scared and still grieving Rachel and Tobias. The fact that they have discovered where, and when, they are and realized that the blast must have opened a Sario Rip that threw them to the past is of little comfort.
Meanwhile, after the injured sea monster beached itself, allowing Rachel and Tobias to escape to land, the two are wandering around looking for the others. Tobias’s wing was broken when he was swallowed and for some reason morphing doesn’t heal it as it usually would. But he does have all the dino knowledge and is able to name the sea creatures and figure out that they are in the late Cretaceous period. (He read about and played with dinosaurs when he stayed with his drunk uncle who would yell at him if he was noticed). Rachel’s feet get very cut up by walking barefoot, but in good old Rachel fashion, she doesn’t complain. They spot smoke from a fire (the other Animorphs’ fire) and start heading towards it, only to be surrounded by a group of pack-hunting dinosaurs called (according to Tobias) Deinonychus. So, raptors, essentially.
Tobias is able to quickly understand these other predators’ plan of attack and tells Rachel to head for the forest where the raptors will lose their visuals on each other. Then he has her throw him up in a tree, run, and morph grizzly. He manages to drop onto a raptor that passes beneath him and acquire it. Then, getting lost in the morph, he runs to join the pack that has now surrounded grizzly!Rachel. He attacks Rachel and kills the raptor leader before coming to himself. He manages to force another raptor to allow Rachel to acquire it and then they both escape. Rachel is grumpy and not pleased at all by the fact that Tobias attacked her. They wander through the night.
Jake, Marco, Cassie, and Ax sleep through the night in shifts. After it gets dark, they notice a huge comet in the sky. Using his science knowledge, Ax estimates that the comet will get very close, but won’t hit Earth. In the early morning, they see a flash of light on the horizon, but before they can think much about it, they get caught in a stampede of long-neck herbivores being chased by yet another T-Rex. This time Jake almost gets eaten, ending up partially swallowed and only managing to escape by morphing tiger and slashing up its throat from inside. This injures the T-Rex enough that they are all able to sneak up on it and acquire it one by one. Ax then informs them that the flash of light was artificial, and they wander towards it. They come across a massive ravine and large valley that shocks them with its contents: a small alien civilization! They morph bird and fly down to check it out.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Tobias run into yet another dinosaur predators, a Spinosaurus. It tries to attack them, but as they go to fight back, an alien creature intercedes, stuns the dinosaur, and tells them that they can’t hurt it as it, and everything on this planet, belongs to them. The alien isn’t too nice, so Rachel attacks it in her raptor morph only to have it disintegrate essentially. It turns out that the alien is made up entirely of ants. Its evil ant alien friends show up in a ship and start shooting at Rachel and Tobias. They flee and end up jumping off the same ravine cliff that the others are now circling as birds. Tobias manages to snag the wings of a passing flying dinosaur and use it as a living hang glider, slowing his and Rachel’s decent. They land on a force field that is projected above the alien city. The bird-morphed others happily reunite with Rachel and Tobias.
Their happy little reunion is interrupted by the strange crab-like aliens who live in the city in the valley. They call themselves the Mercora, and through them the Animorphs learn about what exactly is going on. The Mercora had recently settled on this planet after fleeing their own which was destroyed. The ant-aliens that Rachel and Tobias ran into are a scavenger race called the Nesk that dislike all other sentient species and are trying to wipe out the Mercora. At the present, the two species are at a standoff. The Mercora are a very peaceful race, but they do know the Nesk have powerful weaponry, so the Animorphs devise a plan to sneak into the Nesk base as dinosaurs and steal a bomb to set off that would hopefully close the Sario Rip and jump them back to their time.
The team set off the next morning. Tobias and Rachel morph their raptors, and the rest go T-Rex. Cassie struggles getting the morph under control and kills a triceratops. She has a bit of a break down, but gets it together just in time. They manage to get the bomb, but not without alerting the Nesk who chase after them. They only barely escape when the Mercora show up in a ship and whisk them back to the city. The Nesk abruptly leave the planet; they suspect this is because they are intimidated by thew “new powerful friends” of the Mercora. But they aren’t willing to let the Mercora win. Tobias sees a flash of light go off near the comet and knows what has happened. The Nesk have blown the comet closer to Earth and it will now hit in a day or so, exactly on the Mercora city. The Mercora ask the Animorphs for the bomb they stole so they can fly it up and repel the asteroid. The group votes. Rachel and Marco are against it and the others are for it (though Tobias whispers something to Ax, and the two of them don’t argue much about the whole thing, just quietly agree).
After the Mercora have left with the bomb, Tobias confesses that he had Ax rig the bomb not to blow. Jake and Cassie are furious, but Tobias explains that this has to happen for humanity to exist. The time period is right and there is no evidence of the Mercora people, so the asteroid that hit had to have hit the city. Ergo, it is this asteroid and it has to happen. They fly through the night and then switch to dolphin and swim out to see right before it hits. They all expect to either die immediately or have to suffer through the slow death of the planet.
Instead, the blast closes the Sario Rip and the group fast forwards through time, seeing the dinosaurs die off and humans evolve. They witness first hand the vast difference in time spent on Earth: the dinosaurs were around for 140 million years, and humans have been there for less than 1 million. Upon return, none of them have their dinosaur morphs and more.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake’s big moment comes when he’s yet another member of the team that almost/partially gets eaten by a dinosaur and he manages to take down the T-Rex, thus allowing them all to acquire this morph. Ax also spends some time in one of his chapters admiring Jake’s leadership abilities, specifically his knowledge that making no decision when presented with tough choices is the same as making a decision itself. Towards the end of the book, Jake also acknowledges a sense of gratitude for Tobias making the decision to rig the bomb not to explode. He’s angry at him, but knows that Tobias has saved him from having to be angry at himself. Already in the series we have seen how heavily these tough choices are weighing on him, so this is at least one that he doesn’t need to carry. But I will ding him for not putting 2 and 2 together in the first place and being one of the only two members of the group to vote to give over the bomb sincerely. Yes, it’s a tough choice, but the pieces aren’t that hard to put together and Cassie isn’t known for her clear thinking on things like this.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Again, poor Rachel always seems to take a beating in these Megamorph stories. She gets eaten alive, has to chew her way out, gets her feet torn to shreds repeatedly, and then has her own quasi-boyfriend attack her when he’s in morph. With all the time devoted to Rachel and Tobias’s adventures, we really start to see how these two work together. Rachel, of course, drives forward with action, while Tobias is more prone to thinking things through. What makes the difference, however, is that Tobias admires Rachel’s drive, whereas many of the others see it more as a liability. The two work well together.
Also when they’re fleeing the Nesk base and it’s looking bad, Rachel turns back to help the others. She’s in one of the smaller morphs, but her reasoning is this:
I agreed grimly.
This is a perfect example of the best side of Rachel’s “go for it attitude.” It’s not all gusto; much of the time it’s a legitimate desire to save others at the expense of her own safety.
A Hawk’s Life: I have to think that Applegate was trying to make things up to poor Tobias who was literally written off the page as sleeping through most of the action in the first Megamorphs book. Here, he really comes into his own. Not only does he know the most about the time period and the dinosaurs in it, but he also proves to be the one best able to adapt to and understand his new circumstances. He quickly evaluates the hunting style of the raptors that come after him and Rachel and is able to think of an effective counter plan. And then, most importantly, he’s the first one to really put together the pieces of where things are likely heading, even before they attack the Nesk and they blow the comet towards Earth. He’s dropping warnings everywhere, even making sure to warn the others not to tell the Mercora that they’re from future Earth when they first meet them. And he steps up in the most major way when he puts into motion the plan to rig the bomb not to explode. He knows the others will be angry, and he knows that he is single-handedly dooming an entire species to die. I’ve said it before, but as the series progresses, and especially as Jake begins to stagger under the weight of leadership, Tobias is a natural second choice. In some ways, I think he would have been the strongest leader from the beginning. Jake’s connection to Cassie does lead him down some questionable paths at times, where as Tobias is almost always thinking clearly and practically, without losing his own empathy.
Peace, Love, and Animals: After Tobias, Cassie also adapts best to the new world. She knows the most about surviving in the wild and is the one that ends up mostly leading the second group of characters. Jake steps back when it’s clear that Cassie knows a lot more about the necessities like making fire and finding food. She is also the character to be most upset by the loss of Rachel and Tobias. Jake and Marco refer to this in their chapters, but at every point, Cassie is feeling the loss most keenly. This just reinforces my view that Cassie is at her best when her character is focused on her friendship with Rachel. This relationship reads true and has a lot of depth. Plus, when they reunite, we get this fun moment:
We were all treated to the utterly bizarre sight of an osprey attempting to hug a dinosaur.
When she breaks down after killing the triceratops, she and Marco get into quite a spat about violence, humanity, and survival. They both take it pretty far. Marco doesn’t hold back, at one point scornfully telling Cassie to “get over it.” And Cassie’s reasoning is also questionable under close evaluation. She says some good things about humanity and our ability to look beyond simple survival. But as a nature lover, I’m always put off by her inability to understand, and more importantly, respect the circle of life and all of that. She too regularly demonizes any/all killing, even that of animals who do it to stay alive. I still haven’t forgiven her for getting mad at Tobias for eating the baby skunks. #NeverForgive #NeverForget
Not surprisingly, she’s also one of the two who votes for giving away the bomb. But she also recognizes what Tobias has done when he confesses his plan. She thanks him even, but then says she’s not sure if she was sincere or sarcastic and that she’s not sure he knew either. Which, why Cassie?? Why to be a jerk to someone who saved you from having to make a tough call on your own.
The Comic Relief: Marco doesn’t have many big moments in this book. He makes his requisite number of jokes, and then probably most notably gets into that argument with Cassie. His stark pragmatism just doesn’t mesh with her more empathetic approach to life. He and Rachel are also firmly on the same side about not handing over the bomb to the Mercora. Seriously, these two. Is there ever a major decision that they’re not on the same side of? Even Tobias and Rachel have found themselves on opposite sides (recently the argument re: using the oatmeal against the Yeerks, but even there Rachel and Marco were on the same side). I think Marco and Ax get the fewest chapters in this book. But Marco had a lot of action in the first Megamorphs, so maybe that’s just fair.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax has some pretty big moments, the first of which is taking down the T-Rex single-handedly. But immediately afterwards, he is very emphatic, even scared, when informing the others that this was just a fluke, that they shouldn’t expect him to be able to do it again. He also becomes increasingly exasperated with their expectation that he should know every alien species in the universe. The Nesk and the Mercora are millions of years ahead of the Andalites even, so how could he know? I have to imagine that it’s his close friendship with Tobias that makes him trust his judgement enough to go against Jake’s decision and rig the bomb. For someone who is so ruled by authority figures, this is a pretty major move that is never really acknowledged in the book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: Just the sheer volume of swallowed alive experiences in this book! Rachel and Tobias are the only ones to go full hog, as it were, and end up in the stomach, so the descriptions of being burned by the stomach acid and crushed by the massive stomach stones of the dinosaur are pretty had with this one. But Jake also ends up halfway down a T-Rex throat and essentially gets vomited back up. And Marco also ends up in a T-Rex mouth at one point, though he has the best (if you can even ever say that about something like this) go of it, never making it further than between the teeth.
Couples Watch!: Obviously, we get a lot of good Tobias/Rachel action with the two of them paired off for much of the book. Rachel doesn’t comment on it much, but Tobias makes a couple of mental remarks about his admiration for Rachel, both her perseverance when she’s getting cut up by the saw glass and has a hawk clawing up her shoulder, and the fact that she manages to look great while doing it.
Cassie and Jake don’t have much. When they first discover the Mercora city, Cassie wants to morph bird and explore it on her own because she doesn’t want to lose…anyone else. Marco rightly calls her on the fact that she’s probably a bit less concerned about him and Ax.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three isn’t even in this book! It’s kind of strange, but also a welcome change up from the usual where he always appears in the last third of every story. Instead, the villains of this are the Nesk (yes, they run away from more T-Rexes than anything, but they’re just doing their due predator diligence). It’s kind of funny that the Nesk end up being ants. It’s like K.A. Applegate was just trying to think of the worst thing and, obviously, ants!
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Obviously the poor Mercora have a rough time of it. As a people, they seemed very decent, which just underscores how hard the decision is to let them die. But, bizarrely, it’s the very last scene when we’re flash-forwarding and the team witness the last T-Rex wandering, thin and alone, and then finally falling down that gets me the most. One of the Animorphs even mention that even though they were attacked repeatedly by T-Rexes, they were most sad for these amazing creatures that were so confident in themselves and their place on Earth. I don’t know why, but it was making me tear up. I think I have too clear an image of all of this from that one Fantasia skit about the dinosaurs.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Well, again, Tobias has 2 for 2, with the best plans! (This one, and his well-thought out plan to save the Hork Bajir back in his own book). There aren’t too many out and out “terrible” plans though. I disagree with Cassie and Jake’s vote and their lack of foresight on that one, but it’s not a bad plan in and of itself. Probably the worst plan is why they all didn’t think of trying to get some dinosaur morphs earlier in the book. That, and why they didn’t just spend most of their time in bird morph which would have been an easy way to avoid most of the bad dinosaur interactions.
I waited for him to laugh at his own joke. Only he didn’t laugh.
Yes, Rachel! Now why didn’t you all just do this??
Favorite Quote:
Best summation of the craziness of their lives:
Marco said.
Scorecard: Yeerks 4, Animorphs 9
Rating: I liked this Megamorphs book better than the first. I mean, you really can’t go wrong by adding dinosaurs. It’s also a refreshing change to not have the Yeerks and Visser Three involved. Plus the morality questions raised in this book, and the fact that time travel like this always opens up its own can of worms. Did they always go back in time and do this and that’s why humanity existed? I also liked the fact that the group was split up in more interesting combinations this time around. Not having Rachel wandering around with amnesia and Tobias literally sleeping the whole time are pretty big improvements on their won. Not having Rachel wandering around with amnesia and Tobias literally sleeping the whole time are pretty big improvements on their won. Not the best Megamorphs, from what I can remember, but definitely not the worst!
Plot: As the plot describes, the Animorphs here about a nuclear sub sinking off their local coastline. As dolphins they help the divers locate the sub, but as they are retreating, it suddenly goes off and blows them all into unconsciousness. When they wake up, they begin to notice some strange things. It was stormy originally, and now it’s bright sunshine. The water is more clear, even after a bomb going off? And…there’s a massive volcano on the shoreline. All of this falls to the background when a gigantic sea creature shows up with obvious plans to eat them. And it succeeds, managing to gobble down Rachel and Tobias before the others can react. The rest of the manages to escape and make it to land. At this point in the book, the story lines split between the main group (Jake, Cassie, Marco and Ax) and Tobias and Rachel (who obviously manage to escape by Rachel’s quick thinking to morph a grizzly and literally tear her way out).
Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Ax all grieve the loss of Rachel and Tobias. It hits Cassie the hardest, feeling that she’s lost her best friend. But they have bigger problems when they notice a wide trail cut through the forest with some massive footprints along with it. The whole mystery is solved once and for all when a T-Rex shows up and chases them. Marco almost gets eaten and is only saved by Ax managing to slash up the T-Rex when it was distracted and taking it down. Cassie goes into survival mode at this point, focusing on the practicalities of their situation. She instructs the others to cut shoes for themselves using the T-Rex hide and to make a fire to cook some of the meat for them to eat. They camp out for the night, scared and still grieving Rachel and Tobias. The fact that they have discovered where, and when, they are and realized that the blast must have opened a Sario Rip that threw them to the past is of little comfort.
Meanwhile, after the injured sea monster beached itself, allowing Rachel and Tobias to escape to land, the two are wandering around looking for the others. Tobias’s wing was broken when he was swallowed and for some reason morphing doesn’t heal it as it usually would. But he does have all the dino knowledge and is able to name the sea creatures and figure out that they are in the late Cretaceous period. (He read about and played with dinosaurs when he stayed with his drunk uncle who would yell at him if he was noticed). Rachel’s feet get very cut up by walking barefoot, but in good old Rachel fashion, she doesn’t complain. They spot smoke from a fire (the other Animorphs’ fire) and start heading towards it, only to be surrounded by a group of pack-hunting dinosaurs called (according to Tobias) Deinonychus. So, raptors, essentially.
Tobias is able to quickly understand these other predators’ plan of attack and tells Rachel to head for the forest where the raptors will lose their visuals on each other. Then he has her throw him up in a tree, run, and morph grizzly. He manages to drop onto a raptor that passes beneath him and acquire it. Then, getting lost in the morph, he runs to join the pack that has now surrounded grizzly!Rachel. He attacks Rachel and kills the raptor leader before coming to himself. He manages to force another raptor to allow Rachel to acquire it and then they both escape. Rachel is grumpy and not pleased at all by the fact that Tobias attacked her. They wander through the night.
Jake, Marco, Cassie, and Ax sleep through the night in shifts. After it gets dark, they notice a huge comet in the sky. Using his science knowledge, Ax estimates that the comet will get very close, but won’t hit Earth. In the early morning, they see a flash of light on the horizon, but before they can think much about it, they get caught in a stampede of long-neck herbivores being chased by yet another T-Rex. This time Jake almost gets eaten, ending up partially swallowed and only managing to escape by morphing tiger and slashing up its throat from inside. This injures the T-Rex enough that they are all able to sneak up on it and acquire it one by one. Ax then informs them that the flash of light was artificial, and they wander towards it. They come across a massive ravine and large valley that shocks them with its contents: a small alien civilization! They morph bird and fly down to check it out.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Tobias run into yet another dinosaur predators, a Spinosaurus. It tries to attack them, but as they go to fight back, an alien creature intercedes, stuns the dinosaur, and tells them that they can’t hurt it as it, and everything on this planet, belongs to them. The alien isn’t too nice, so Rachel attacks it in her raptor morph only to have it disintegrate essentially. It turns out that the alien is made up entirely of ants. Its evil ant alien friends show up in a ship and start shooting at Rachel and Tobias. They flee and end up jumping off the same ravine cliff that the others are now circling as birds. Tobias manages to snag the wings of a passing flying dinosaur and use it as a living hang glider, slowing his and Rachel’s decent. They land on a force field that is projected above the alien city. The bird-morphed others happily reunite with Rachel and Tobias.
Their happy little reunion is interrupted by the strange crab-like aliens who live in the city in the valley. They call themselves the Mercora, and through them the Animorphs learn about what exactly is going on. The Mercora had recently settled on this planet after fleeing their own which was destroyed. The ant-aliens that Rachel and Tobias ran into are a scavenger race called the Nesk that dislike all other sentient species and are trying to wipe out the Mercora. At the present, the two species are at a standoff. The Mercora are a very peaceful race, but they do know the Nesk have powerful weaponry, so the Animorphs devise a plan to sneak into the Nesk base as dinosaurs and steal a bomb to set off that would hopefully close the Sario Rip and jump them back to their time.
The team set off the next morning. Tobias and Rachel morph their raptors, and the rest go T-Rex. Cassie struggles getting the morph under control and kills a triceratops. She has a bit of a break down, but gets it together just in time. They manage to get the bomb, but not without alerting the Nesk who chase after them. They only barely escape when the Mercora show up in a ship and whisk them back to the city. The Nesk abruptly leave the planet; they suspect this is because they are intimidated by thew “new powerful friends” of the Mercora. But they aren’t willing to let the Mercora win. Tobias sees a flash of light go off near the comet and knows what has happened. The Nesk have blown the comet closer to Earth and it will now hit in a day or so, exactly on the Mercora city. The Mercora ask the Animorphs for the bomb they stole so they can fly it up and repel the asteroid. The group votes. Rachel and Marco are against it and the others are for it (though Tobias whispers something to Ax, and the two of them don’t argue much about the whole thing, just quietly agree).
After the Mercora have left with the bomb, Tobias confesses that he had Ax rig the bomb not to blow. Jake and Cassie are furious, but Tobias explains that this has to happen for humanity to exist. The time period is right and there is no evidence of the Mercora people, so the asteroid that hit had to have hit the city. Ergo, it is this asteroid and it has to happen. They fly through the night and then switch to dolphin and swim out to see right before it hits. They all expect to either die immediately or have to suffer through the slow death of the planet.
Instead, the blast closes the Sario Rip and the group fast forwards through time, seeing the dinosaurs die off and humans evolve. They witness first hand the vast difference in time spent on Earth: the dinosaurs were around for 140 million years, and humans have been there for less than 1 million. Upon return, none of them have their dinosaur morphs and more.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake’s big moment comes when he’s yet another member of the team that almost/partially gets eaten by a dinosaur and he manages to take down the T-Rex, thus allowing them all to acquire this morph. Ax also spends some time in one of his chapters admiring Jake’s leadership abilities, specifically his knowledge that making no decision when presented with tough choices is the same as making a decision itself. Towards the end of the book, Jake also acknowledges a sense of gratitude for Tobias making the decision to rig the bomb not to explode. He’s angry at him, but knows that Tobias has saved him from having to be angry at himself. Already in the series we have seen how heavily these tough choices are weighing on him, so this is at least one that he doesn’t need to carry. But I will ding him for not putting 2 and 2 together in the first place and being one of the only two members of the group to vote to give over the bomb sincerely. Yes, it’s a tough choice, but the pieces aren’t that hard to put together and Cassie isn’t known for her clear thinking on things like this.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Again, poor Rachel always seems to take a beating in these Megamorph stories. She gets eaten alive, has to chew her way out, gets her feet torn to shreds repeatedly, and then has her own quasi-boyfriend attack her when he’s in morph. With all the time devoted to Rachel and Tobias’s adventures, we really start to see how these two work together. Rachel, of course, drives forward with action, while Tobias is more prone to thinking things through. What makes the difference, however, is that Tobias admires Rachel’s drive, whereas many of the others see it more as a liability. The two work well together.
Also when they’re fleeing the Nesk base and it’s looking bad, Rachel turns back to help the others. She’s in one of the smaller morphs, but her reasoning is this:
I agreed grimly.
This is a perfect example of the best side of Rachel’s “go for it attitude.” It’s not all gusto; much of the time it’s a legitimate desire to save others at the expense of her own safety.
A Hawk’s Life: I have to think that Applegate was trying to make things up to poor Tobias who was literally written off the page as sleeping through most of the action in the first Megamorphs book. Here, he really comes into his own. Not only does he know the most about the time period and the dinosaurs in it, but he also proves to be the one best able to adapt to and understand his new circumstances. He quickly evaluates the hunting style of the raptors that come after him and Rachel and is able to think of an effective counter plan. And then, most importantly, he’s the first one to really put together the pieces of where things are likely heading, even before they attack the Nesk and they blow the comet towards Earth. He’s dropping warnings everywhere, even making sure to warn the others not to tell the Mercora that they’re from future Earth when they first meet them. And he steps up in the most major way when he puts into motion the plan to rig the bomb not to explode. He knows the others will be angry, and he knows that he is single-handedly dooming an entire species to die. I’ve said it before, but as the series progresses, and especially as Jake begins to stagger under the weight of leadership, Tobias is a natural second choice. In some ways, I think he would have been the strongest leader from the beginning. Jake’s connection to Cassie does lead him down some questionable paths at times, where as Tobias is almost always thinking clearly and practically, without losing his own empathy.
Peace, Love, and Animals: After Tobias, Cassie also adapts best to the new world. She knows the most about surviving in the wild and is the one that ends up mostly leading the second group of characters. Jake steps back when it’s clear that Cassie knows a lot more about the necessities like making fire and finding food. She is also the character to be most upset by the loss of Rachel and Tobias. Jake and Marco refer to this in their chapters, but at every point, Cassie is feeling the loss most keenly. This just reinforces my view that Cassie is at her best when her character is focused on her friendship with Rachel. This relationship reads true and has a lot of depth. Plus, when they reunite, we get this fun moment:
We were all treated to the utterly bizarre sight of an osprey attempting to hug a dinosaur.
When she breaks down after killing the triceratops, she and Marco get into quite a spat about violence, humanity, and survival. They both take it pretty far. Marco doesn’t hold back, at one point scornfully telling Cassie to “get over it.” And Cassie’s reasoning is also questionable under close evaluation. She says some good things about humanity and our ability to look beyond simple survival. But as a nature lover, I’m always put off by her inability to understand, and more importantly, respect the circle of life and all of that. She too regularly demonizes any/all killing, even that of animals who do it to stay alive. I still haven’t forgiven her for getting mad at Tobias for eating the baby skunks. #NeverForgive #NeverForget
Not surprisingly, she’s also one of the two who votes for giving away the bomb. But she also recognizes what Tobias has done when he confesses his plan. She thanks him even, but then says she’s not sure if she was sincere or sarcastic and that she’s not sure he knew either. Which, why Cassie?? Why to be a jerk to someone who saved you from having to make a tough call on your own.
The Comic Relief: Marco doesn’t have many big moments in this book. He makes his requisite number of jokes, and then probably most notably gets into that argument with Cassie. His stark pragmatism just doesn’t mesh with her more empathetic approach to life. He and Rachel are also firmly on the same side about not handing over the bomb to the Mercora. Seriously, these two. Is there ever a major decision that they’re not on the same side of? Even Tobias and Rachel have found themselves on opposite sides (recently the argument re: using the oatmeal against the Yeerks, but even there Rachel and Marco were on the same side). I think Marco and Ax get the fewest chapters in this book. But Marco had a lot of action in the first Megamorphs, so maybe that’s just fair.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax has some pretty big moments, the first of which is taking down the T-Rex single-handedly. But immediately afterwards, he is very emphatic, even scared, when informing the others that this was just a fluke, that they shouldn’t expect him to be able to do it again. He also becomes increasingly exasperated with their expectation that he should know every alien species in the universe. The Nesk and the Mercora are millions of years ahead of the Andalites even, so how could he know? I have to imagine that it’s his close friendship with Tobias that makes him trust his judgement enough to go against Jake’s decision and rig the bomb. For someone who is so ruled by authority figures, this is a pretty major move that is never really acknowledged in the book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: Just the sheer volume of swallowed alive experiences in this book! Rachel and Tobias are the only ones to go full hog, as it were, and end up in the stomach, so the descriptions of being burned by the stomach acid and crushed by the massive stomach stones of the dinosaur are pretty had with this one. But Jake also ends up halfway down a T-Rex throat and essentially gets vomited back up. And Marco also ends up in a T-Rex mouth at one point, though he has the best (if you can even ever say that about something like this) go of it, never making it further than between the teeth.
Couples Watch!: Obviously, we get a lot of good Tobias/Rachel action with the two of them paired off for much of the book. Rachel doesn’t comment on it much, but Tobias makes a couple of mental remarks about his admiration for Rachel, both her perseverance when she’s getting cut up by the saw glass and has a hawk clawing up her shoulder, and the fact that she manages to look great while doing it.
Cassie and Jake don’t have much. When they first discover the Mercora city, Cassie wants to morph bird and explore it on her own because she doesn’t want to lose…anyone else. Marco rightly calls her on the fact that she’s probably a bit less concerned about him and Ax.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three isn’t even in this book! It’s kind of strange, but also a welcome change up from the usual where he always appears in the last third of every story. Instead, the villains of this are the Nesk (yes, they run away from more T-Rexes than anything, but they’re just doing their due predator diligence). It’s kind of funny that the Nesk end up being ants. It’s like K.A. Applegate was just trying to think of the worst thing and, obviously, ants!
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Obviously the poor Mercora have a rough time of it. As a people, they seemed very decent, which just underscores how hard the decision is to let them die. But, bizarrely, it’s the very last scene when we’re flash-forwarding and the team witness the last T-Rex wandering, thin and alone, and then finally falling down that gets me the most. One of the Animorphs even mention that even though they were attacked repeatedly by T-Rexes, they were most sad for these amazing creatures that were so confident in themselves and their place on Earth. I don’t know why, but it was making me tear up. I think I have too clear an image of all of this from that one Fantasia skit about the dinosaurs.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: Well, again, Tobias has 2 for 2, with the best plans! (This one, and his well-thought out plan to save the Hork Bajir back in his own book). There aren’t too many out and out “terrible” plans though. I disagree with Cassie and Jake’s vote and their lack of foresight on that one, but it’s not a bad plan in and of itself. Probably the worst plan is why they all didn’t think of trying to get some dinosaur morphs earlier in the book. That, and why they didn’t just spend most of their time in bird morph which would have been an easy way to avoid most of the bad dinosaur interactions.
I waited for him to laugh at his own joke. Only he didn’t laugh.
Yes, Rachel! Now why didn’t you all just do this??
Favorite Quote:
Best summation of the craziness of their lives:
Marco said.
Scorecard: Yeerks 4, Animorphs 9
Rating: I liked this Megamorphs book better than the first. I mean, you really can’t go wrong by adding dinosaurs. It’s also a refreshing change to not have the Yeerks and Visser Three involved. Plus the morality questions raised in this book, and the fact that time travel like this always opens up its own can of worms. Did they always go back in time and do this and that’s why humanity existed? I also liked the fact that the group was split up in more interesting combinations this time around. Not having Rachel wandering around with amnesia and Tobias literally sleeping the whole time are pretty big improvements on their won. Not having Rachel wandering around with amnesia and Tobias literally sleeping the whole time are pretty big improvements on their won. Not the best Megamorphs, from what I can remember, but definitely not the worst!
October 29, 2023
Animorphs meets Jurassic Park
While out on mission the Animorphs find themselves stuck on the last day of the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period ... oh and they have discovered two distinct alien species living alongside the dinosaurs who have immigrated to Cretaceous Earth and fighting for dominance of the planet... all the while a comet is rushing to the Earth and the Animorphs are trying to get to their own timeline.
Plot holes
- In this book, they're confused about what/how they time traveled especially since they've experienced the Sario Rip time-travel plot once before?! *ummm guys? Felt like calling out, yo remember The Forgotten? Then I remember I'm a complete dolt for talking to my book like the characters can hear me ... anyone else does this when they read? lol*
Anyways .... moving on ....
I find it unbelievable that NOBODY recognized the dinosaurs besides Tobias!!! Like how?!
I was half hoping that Tobias/Marco would be using this time to bond over their love for dinosaurs, since Marco (being the one who most clued in with pop culture references and two would be geeking out about the dinosaurs) but sadly no, oh wells, a girl can dream, but yeah sure, you don't need to be a diehard dinosaur fan but be still pick out and name the most recognizable dinosaurs, yes it was realistic not to know ALL the names, hence that's where Tobias' childhood love of dinosaurs came in handy. But yeah, I don't buy it that NONE recognized what the dinosaurs were until much later, I mean they made comments about the movie Jurassic Park lol
Some things I liked
Oh hell yeah!! Tobias was absolutely brilliant in this! Very pragmatic and could come across as ruthless, especially in regards to Cassie's pacifist ways, but he quickly caught on to the true scope of their predicament and his actions were very calculated.
I don't think Tobias relished in his actions, but it really showed his emotional intelligence and his quick thinking that no matter what he and the Animorphs' actions from the beginning the Mercora were meant to die out along with the dinosaurs to ensure humanity's eventual emergence and securing the timeline.
Some things I didn't like
I loved the ever-changing POVs, kept the story moving along in a fast pace which is good!
I've enjoyed the evolution of the characters' diverse personalities and their quirks throughout the series but Cassie's pacifist nature and her inaction at times are really starting to annoy me, especially when they happen at a crucial moment!
Like, I can respect and empathize with her values, and that's fine, she's the grounding board, the morality center for the group but this book really shows the limitations and the drastic consequences to those around her she could put at risk with second thoughts she experiences especially during a battle like I know she's a kid still but I really hope in future books Cassie continues to grow as a character.
Overall, the character growth of all the characters/relationships has been interesting to see unfold.
Another bummer is that after all that they aren't able to morph into the dinosaur morphs they acquired, stupid, waste of potential if you ask me :(
While out on mission the Animorphs find themselves stuck on the last day of the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period ... oh and they have discovered two distinct alien species living alongside the dinosaurs who have immigrated to Cretaceous Earth and fighting for dominance of the planet... all the while a comet is rushing to the Earth and the Animorphs are trying to get to their own timeline.
Plot holes
- In this book, they're confused about what/how they time traveled especially since they've experienced the Sario Rip time-travel plot once before?! *ummm guys? Felt like calling out, yo remember The Forgotten? Then I remember I'm a complete dolt for talking to my book like the characters can hear me ... anyone else does this when they read? lol*
Anyways .... moving on ....
I find it unbelievable that NOBODY recognized the dinosaurs besides Tobias!!! Like how?!
I was half hoping that Tobias/Marco would be using this time to bond over their love for dinosaurs, since Marco (being the one who most clued in with pop culture references and two would be geeking out about the dinosaurs) but sadly no, oh wells, a girl can dream, but yeah sure, you don't need to be a diehard dinosaur fan but be still pick out and name the most recognizable dinosaurs, yes it was realistic not to know ALL the names, hence that's where Tobias' childhood love of dinosaurs came in handy. But yeah, I don't buy it that NONE recognized what the dinosaurs were until much later, I mean they made comments about the movie Jurassic Park lol
Some things I liked
Oh hell yeah!! Tobias was absolutely brilliant in this! Very pragmatic and could come across as ruthless, especially in regards to Cassie's pacifist ways, but he quickly caught on to the true scope of their predicament and his actions were very calculated.
I don't think Tobias relished in his actions, but it really showed his emotional intelligence and his quick thinking that no matter what he and the Animorphs' actions from the beginning the Mercora were meant to die out along with the dinosaurs to ensure humanity's eventual emergence and securing the timeline.
Some things I didn't like
I loved the ever-changing POVs, kept the story moving along in a fast pace which is good!
I've enjoyed the evolution of the characters' diverse personalities and their quirks throughout the series but Cassie's pacifist nature and her inaction at times are really starting to annoy me, especially when they happen at a crucial moment!
Like, I can respect and empathize with her values, and that's fine, she's the grounding board, the morality center for the group but this book really shows the limitations and the drastic consequences to those around her she could put at risk with second thoughts she experiences especially during a battle like I know she's a kid still but I really hope in future books Cassie continues to grow as a character.
Overall, the character growth of all the characters/relationships has been interesting to see unfold.
Another bummer is that after all that they aren't able to morph into the dinosaur morphs they acquired, stupid, waste of potential if you ask me :(
April 24, 2024
I absolutely LOVED this one as a kid. Now as an adult did I remember anything about the plot? No. Not a damn thing. I definitely loved this because a chunk is Tobias and Rachel together separate from the rest of the group. I was a hardcore Tobias/Rachel shipper.
Anyway, as an adult what do I think about this? It's better than the first Megamorphs book.
Pros
I liked the canonical callback to Tobias' obsession with dinosaurs that was mentioned back in book 3 or 13. I liked the approach to the gang dealing with being back in time and what they do to survive, overall. I liked how they all struggle with the dinosaur morphs too. I liked how the alternating POVs was nifty and helped with the story unlike in Megamorphs #1. I enjoyed the writing/descriptions of what the gang saw and all their sad, distressed, and conflicting emotions when they fly over the world (and time) at the end of the book.
Cons
I know this is sci-fi, but I wish there had been some sort of explanation as to why/how the gang was transported back in time by explosions. I thought the plotline with the two alien races was wasted. I figured there was going to be the trope where they instantly and unquestionably trust an alien race and fight on behalf on them only to find out those guys are the real bas guys. That didn't happen, but it seemed lame that it didn't. The clear line of good/bad was disappointing and boring. It thought it was weird that the gang, besides Tobias, didn't know how the dinosaurs went bye bye. That's common knowledge, isn't it?
Anyway, as an adult what do I think about this? It's better than the first Megamorphs book.
Pros
I liked the canonical callback to Tobias' obsession with dinosaurs that was mentioned back in book 3 or 13. I liked the approach to the gang dealing with being back in time and what they do to survive, overall. I liked how they all struggle with the dinosaur morphs too. I liked how the alternating POVs was nifty and helped with the story unlike in Megamorphs #1. I enjoyed the writing/descriptions of what the gang saw and all their sad, distressed, and conflicting emotions when they fly over the world (and time) at the end of the book.
Cons
I know this is sci-fi, but I wish there had been some sort of explanation as to why/how the gang was transported back in time by explosions. I thought the plotline with the two alien races was wasted. I figured there was going to be the trope where they instantly and unquestionably trust an alien race and fight on behalf on them only to find out those guys are the real bas guys. That didn't happen, but it seemed lame that it didn't. The clear line of good/bad was disappointing and boring. It thought it was weird that the gang, besides Tobias, didn't know how the dinosaurs went bye bye. That's common knowledge, isn't it?
June 18, 2025
“It was all the violence of nature, all the ruthlessness of survival of the fittest, all the power of muscle and bone and claw and tooth, all the ageless, never ending lust for conquest wrapped into one awesome roar”
APPLEGATE LET THEM UP THE KIDS HAVE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH. GIVE THEM A SECOND TO BREATHE MY GOD. This one is brutal! A double sized onslaught of dinosaur attacks and alien battles, the kids truly, are not given a moments reprieve.
I enjoyed the reappearance of the Sario Rip, establishing a nice bit of continuity and world building. It feels rewarding, like you know something the Animorphs don’t because most of them don’t recall the events of The Forgotten.
This was also a really good book for Tobias. I love the reveal that he was a dinosaur kid (sooooo true king) and his constant rattling off of dinosaur names and facts. I also liked the fact that he made the hard decision at the end of everything. Helped take the pressure off Jake for once, and further established how ruthless Tobias can be.
Definitely liked this one more than Megamorphs #1. I found that the split perspectives made for a more cohesive story this go around. Plus I just love the team up of Rachel and Tobias. Although I don’t think anything will ever top Marco driving the truck as a gorilla in Megamorphs 1. Animorphs moment of all time.
APPLEGATE LET THEM UP THE KIDS HAVE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH. GIVE THEM A SECOND TO BREATHE MY GOD. This one is brutal! A double sized onslaught of dinosaur attacks and alien battles, the kids truly, are not given a moments reprieve.
I enjoyed the reappearance of the Sario Rip, establishing a nice bit of continuity and world building. It feels rewarding, like you know something the Animorphs don’t because most of them don’t recall the events of The Forgotten.
This was also a really good book for Tobias. I love the reveal that he was a dinosaur kid (sooooo true king) and his constant rattling off of dinosaur names and facts. I also liked the fact that he made the hard decision at the end of everything. Helped take the pressure off Jake for once, and further established how ruthless Tobias can be.
Definitely liked this one more than Megamorphs #1. I found that the split perspectives made for a more cohesive story this go around. Plus I just love the team up of Rachel and Tobias. Although I don’t think anything will ever top Marco driving the truck as a gorilla in Megamorphs 1. Animorphs moment of all time.
April 11, 2025
In una lista di titoli Animorphs che indicava quali leggere assolutamente, quali leggere solo in fase di rilettura, quali leggere solo se proprio, e quali saltare a tutti i costi, questo era segnato in rosso fuoco (uno dei pochissimi titoli dell'ultima categoria).
Certo, in generale l'argomento viaggi nel tempo non è trattato in maniera particolarmente originale in questa serie, e in effetti è un po' triste che le trasformazioni acquisite nel passato non possano essere usate poi nel presente (io ce lo vorrei vedere Visser 3 ad affrontare un T-rex).
Ma perché privarsi del piacere di vedere gli Animorphs alle prese con tirannosauri & co., alieni improbabili e meteoriti? Per me, godibilissimo, anche per i pov alternati dei protagonisti.
(Comunque non capisco come Tobias sia l'unico ad avere giocato coi dinosauri da piccolo, e proprio tu Cassie mi cadi sulla causa di estizione dei dinosauri?)
Certo, in generale l'argomento viaggi nel tempo non è trattato in maniera particolarmente originale in questa serie, e in effetti è un po' triste che le trasformazioni acquisite nel passato non possano essere usate poi nel presente (io ce lo vorrei vedere Visser 3 ad affrontare un T-rex).
Ma perché privarsi del piacere di vedere gli Animorphs alle prese con tirannosauri & co., alieni improbabili e meteoriti? Per me, godibilissimo, anche per i pov alternati dei protagonisti.
(Comunque non capisco come Tobias sia l'unico ad avere giocato coi dinosauri da piccolo, e proprio tu Cassie mi cadi sulla causa di estizione dei dinosauri?)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2023
MY TRUTH: i didn’t want to read this book But i did it anyways because i’ve committed myself to reading Every animorphs book, and that includes megamorphs or any other chronicles. but i Did not feel like reading this book. did it anyways though. it was fine i actually don’t care Too much about dinosaurs. and obviously this book was written forever ago so it kind of kills me that Obviously it’s not accurate to what we currently know about dinosaurs. best part of this book was tobias and rachel PER USUAL MY SHINING STARS. god they were so .&.:838472 the way they care about each other makes me lose my mind. also the way tobias just finds rachel so beautiful. he’s like she’s all sorts of ragged and we’ve been through hell and i’m so tired but wow she is just radiant as always. they’re so cute i love them so much. cassie made me so sad in this book wtf. we were ROBBED of a tearful cassie and rachel reunion
April 3, 2022
Immediately after coming from an adventure leaving the Animorphs suspended in Zero-space, the team finds their way going back in time to the land of the dinosaurs and acquiring new morphs that may help them in future battles to win the war.
This honestly feels like a filler episode to also conveniently give Cassie a T-Rex morph for future fights but I don’t care. It was fun (with the exception of that one guy whose body was made up of ants. That was horrifying.)
I do really appreciate these multi-POV stories, though, and we get better inside (on top of everything that occurred in the story prior) about why Jake is the only one built for the position as group leader.
CW: violence, death, grief
This honestly feels like a filler episode to also conveniently give Cassie a T-Rex morph for future fights but I don’t care. It was fun (with the exception of that one guy whose body was made up of ants. That was horrifying.)
I do really appreciate these multi-POV stories, though, and we get better inside (on top of everything that occurred in the story prior) about why Jake is the only one built for the position as group leader.
CW: violence, death, grief
May 17, 2017
4/5. entertaining for an Animorphs books. I actually went to Toronto on vacation at 80% through this book, hence the delay finishing, and saw many dinosaur bones and casts and exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum. One thing I didn't like was the Afterword, which basically insults scientists jokingly and shrugs off science. That's not the message I'd choose to convey to kids at the end of a book. But, it's just a book. I enjoyed it for what it was. Needed a super light read for some escapism with minimal thinking.
December 11, 2021
Shit, Tobias is ruthless.
I accidentally skipped this one and read Cassie's first. Plot wise, it doesn't really matter, but the ruthless decisions made and the intensity of the situations they were in definitely set up the next book emotionally. This one was much better than the first megamorphs; the intensity was ramped up in a super enjoyable way, and the craziness felt well placed - it was something worthy of a spinoff but didnt neglect character development either.
I accidentally skipped this one and read Cassie's first. Plot wise, it doesn't really matter, but the ruthless decisions made and the intensity of the situations they were in definitely set up the next book emotionally. This one was much better than the first megamorphs; the intensity was ramped up in a super enjoyable way, and the craziness felt well placed - it was something worthy of a spinoff but didnt neglect character development either.
November 2, 2020
DINOSAURS! Lots of hard decisions and trauma here, slightly buoyed by the fact that the Animorphs accidentally travel through time again and get to morph Animorphs, which was pretty rad. As an aside, one of my college science classes was a class on dinos and it was the bomb.
October 13, 2023
When I was a kid, this book blew my dinosaur loving mind. Honestly a good 80 percent of the book is pretty much just nonsense, but the last 20 percent is legitimately beautiful. And I'll die on that hill.
May 24, 2019
In this installment, our heroes commit just a small genocide for the sake of unclear time travel conventions
But also dinosaurs, it was insane and really the essence of a good weird Animorphs story
But also dinosaurs, it was insane and really the essence of a good weird Animorphs story
September 3, 2020
Jurassic park, but with no purpose. this book doesn't add to the series. it's a filler novel
March 7, 2021
very very good
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