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Animorphs #35
The Proposal
Marco already knows he has a few problems: the constant battle with the Yeerks; finding out his mother was infested . . . and is now Visser One. The leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. But things are about to get even weirder. Marco's father is thinking of getting married again.
Meanwhile, the Animorphs and Ax have other things to worry about. It seems the Yeerks are trying harder than ever to get people into The Sharing. Now the kids have to find a way to slow down recruitment. But Marco's personal stress is causing him to morph into creatures that don't exist. Creatures the Yeerks are sure to notice . . . and attack. . . .
Meanwhile, the Animorphs and Ax have other things to worry about. It seems the Yeerks are trying harder than ever to get people into The Sharing. Now the kids have to find a way to slow down recruitment. But Marco's personal stress is causing him to morph into creatures that don't exist. Creatures the Yeerks are sure to notice . . . and attack. . . .
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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K.A. Applegate
251 books486 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
February 16, 2023
Marco’s mom has been missing for a long time now and Marco’s father thinks it’s time to move on. Marco’s father has a new love interest and Marco’s not taking it well. Of course he isn’t, his mom is very much alive but she’s been taken over by a Yeerk. Meanwhile, a celebrity is trying to recruit people to the gathering, to find more human hosts for the parasitic Yeerks. The Animorphs rush in to stop him. But Marco’s emotions are running wild and quickly screw things up.
It’s an interesting concept but the execution is a bit off. The previous book established that the Animorphs have grown throughout their battles with the Yeerks. Here, the Animorphs fumbling about and rushing into battle without a real plan makes them look like how they were in the beginning, inexperienced and still trying to figure out what to do. This once again feels like filler as the overarching plot is not advancing at all. Though the next book seems promising.
It’s an interesting concept but the execution is a bit off. The previous book established that the Animorphs have grown throughout their battles with the Yeerks. Here, the Animorphs fumbling about and rushing into battle without a real plan makes them look like how they were in the beginning, inexperienced and still trying to figure out what to do. This once again feels like filler as the overarching plot is not advancing at all. Though the next book seems promising.
January 22, 2022
Come check out my 4 hour 35 minute deep dive into reading every single Animorphs book for the first time on YouTube. I recap and review all of the books from the main series: https://youtu.be/H8kUM2q3CIU
April 28, 2024
Why is everyone so opposed to telling others when they’re having morphing problems? Like lemme just save this fun fact for when we’re in the middle of a mission and I’m suddenly I become useless
Also Applegate let’s talk.
They finish the mission two weeks ago. Marco takes a couple days to think about if it’s okay for his dad to marry his new girlfriend (who he met “a couple months ago”). Then we’re at the wedding? This wedding for this 6 month relationship was planned and executed in about a week and a half? And you KNOW it was a big wedding because all the animorphs went and they wouldn’t risk someone noticing this group of friends you supposedly avoid at school to stay under the radar at a small intimate wedding? How did everyone request off work in time?
Girl get your timeline right this ain’t no hot tub Time Machine
Also Applegate let’s talk.
They finish the mission two weeks ago. Marco takes a couple days to think about if it’s okay for his dad to marry his new girlfriend (who he met “a couple months ago”). Then we’re at the wedding? This wedding for this 6 month relationship was planned and executed in about a week and a half? And you KNOW it was a big wedding because all the animorphs went and they wouldn’t risk someone noticing this group of friends you supposedly avoid at school to stay under the radar at a small intimate wedding? How did everyone request off work in time?
Girl get your timeline right this ain’t no hot tub Time Machine
February 6, 2021
Not one of the better Ani-books. And not JUST because of the "annoying yappy dog" BS (note to dog owners: There is no such thing as a bad dog, only a bad dog OWNER. People don't bother to train their little dogs, and often abuse their autonomy, and then scratch their heads over why their dog is so poorly behaved. Sincerely, someone who's owned 6 pugs in the course of her life). (And poodles are not difficult dogs! They're BRILLIANT birding water-dogs! Holy crap, that pissed me off.)
The premise was good. Marco's finally starting to snap under all the trauma they've endured (not surprising... His forcing himself to be the 'ruthless' member of the team, to the point of assaulting and possibly killing his own mother, WOULD lead to that), and it's screwing up his morphing ability. I like that; these kids all have such severe PTSD that it was only a matter of time before they'd really start to crack.
But it was handled poorly. Jeffrey Zuehlke might be my least favorite of the ghost-writers. His writing is flat, his tone all over the place. He had an excellent concept and a complicated character giftwrapped for him (and he could have done some GOOD parallels, comparing Marco's failing mental health with that of this "crazy," trigger-happy Yeerk nemesis), but he wasn't able to make a compelling story out of it. I genuinely LOVE the dilemma of "we NEED mental health help but we can't get it, so we'll have to be councilors for each other," while pretty much failing to do it right because they're child soldiers, emphasis on 'child'.... but Zuehlke just treated it all as a big joke, and his ultimate solution was "if you're having a mental breakdown, sometimes annoying the crap out of your enemy will make you feel better. (Oh, and if someone DEMANDS you "cope, now," somehow you'll just be able to do it! Mental health is THAT EASY, folks!!!)" Disappointing throughout; I've read (and written) better Animorphs fanfic than this.
And what the hell was up with Marco's dad
Basically...
Marco: 
Jake: Hey, cut that out.
Marco: 
August 6, 2014
Marco's a psychological mess, and guess what did it to him? No, not fighting space monsters every day; oh crap, his dad is dating again! NOOO! Just goes to show you how their real lives--their lives as KIDS--are just as important as their lives as secret warriors. Oh, how many sides each well-rounded PERSON in these stories has!
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Jeffrey Zuehlke.
Marco explains in his opening ramble that Yeerks are from another galaxy, which contradicts what's been said before but falls in line with a joke he makes in a later book. Question is, does he just think Yeerks are from another galaxy, or are they supposed to be and it was part of the continuity that changed, or were they not supposed to be and the ghostwriters were messing up that detail? (Most likely option is the last.)
It seems odd that Ax continues to use the wrong terms for everyday objects, like "artificial skins" for clothes and "artificial hooves" for shoes, but then also DOES sometimes use the right words. It seems more designed to make his alien-ness funny than it seems realistic.
It is said specifically in this book that Andalites have seven fingers. Before that, other books referred to them as having more fingers than humans, but unless the covers were consulted, it was unclear how many fingers they had. This book is specific.
This book contains the phrase "free reign," which is a common mistake. The correct phrase is "free rein."
This book includes the word "personna" which was apparently supposed to be "persona."
This book includes the band Hanson. Their description in the book helps date the events.
In this book, Ax is human but uses thought-speak, which was implied to not be possible before. In previous books, Ax should be able to use thought-speak while in a human morph, as thought-speak isn't something that gets removed just because a creature has the ability to speak, but other books have suggested he has to use his mouth if he's human. The way it works in this book seems more logical.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Jeffrey Zuehlke.
Marco explains in his opening ramble that Yeerks are from another galaxy, which contradicts what's been said before but falls in line with a joke he makes in a later book. Question is, does he just think Yeerks are from another galaxy, or are they supposed to be and it was part of the continuity that changed, or were they not supposed to be and the ghostwriters were messing up that detail? (Most likely option is the last.)
It seems odd that Ax continues to use the wrong terms for everyday objects, like "artificial skins" for clothes and "artificial hooves" for shoes, but then also DOES sometimes use the right words. It seems more designed to make his alien-ness funny than it seems realistic.
It is said specifically in this book that Andalites have seven fingers. Before that, other books referred to them as having more fingers than humans, but unless the covers were consulted, it was unclear how many fingers they had. This book is specific.
This book contains the phrase "free reign," which is a common mistake. The correct phrase is "free rein."
This book includes the word "personna" which was apparently supposed to be "persona."
This book includes the band Hanson. Their description in the book helps date the events.
In this book, Ax is human but uses thought-speak, which was implied to not be possible before. In previous books, Ax should be able to use thought-speak while in a human morph, as thought-speak isn't something that gets removed just because a creature has the ability to speak, but other books have suggested he has to use his mouth if he's human. The way it works in this book seems more logical.
January 10, 2023
that scene with marco and ax really happened 😂😍
November 29, 2016
Somebody’s getting married!
It’s not Marco. That would be weird. Applegate has a lot of messed up stuff in Animorphs, including child soldiers, but not child brides (or grooms).
No, Marco’s dad has a new love interest, and it’s serious. Marco doesn’t know how he feels about this, what with his mother still being alive but playing host to an evil alien bent on killing or subjugating all humans. Unfortunately, the Animorphs have a new mission, so Marco doesn’t have time to sit in a dark room processing his emotions by listening to increasingly intense ’90s alt rock. He has to deal with it like a man, which is to say, bottling those emotions up until they explode in uncontrollable rage-morphing that compromises the mission and ruins everything. But in a manly way.
The Proposal has lots of interesting ideas but doesn’t really get off the ground. I’m coming to the conclusion that Marco is funnier when he isn’t the narrator. As the narrator he’s a bit of a downer. With that wall stripped away, we really get to see the hollow shell of the child Marco once was—and while this is illuminating, it is not as humorous as when Marco is cracking wise in other Animorphs’ stories.
Moreover, the pacing of this book is just bizarre. Dropping in a stepmom for Marco is something that could have been spread over multiple books. There’s the barest of nods to the Animorphs investigating Norah to see if she is a Controller, and that’s about it. Otherwise, we just learn that she has been dating Marco’s dad for a few months now. Was this happening during previous books, and Marco just never mentioned it? Or has it been months since the last book? There’s very little dramatic tension with this subplot, very little conflict: we know she is not a Controller; we know they are getting married, etc. By the end of the book, Marco admits that he is slightly overreacting and it’s not going to be a huge deal.
In other words, there is either not enough happening here or too much happening for it to be crammed into one book.
The other plot, the Animorphs’ latest mission, concerns a particular celebrity Controller whom they try to discredit. I really like the idea behind this one, because the Animorphs have to concoct a plan to make the Controller break his character so that he ruins his host’s reputation. It’s much more subtle than we usually see in this series—although the Animorphs often use smaller morphs for spying and infiltration, this is one of the few times we see them go on the offensive without literally tearing holes in walls (well, that happens too). However, it seems to be at odds with Marco’s intermittent inability to control his morphing. If the two plots worked better together, this might be a tenser, more interesting book. As it is, The Proposal is a hot mess.
Fortunately, I get to read the utterly amazing Visser special next before diving back into the regular series, and I am very much looking forward to that. One of the best things about Animorphs is its ability to promote empathy. While Visser Three is a nasty dude, the idea that we can get inside his head and understand why he became such a nasty dude is an important one. But more on that in the next review!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #34: The Prophecy | #36: The Mutation → (And then Visser, promise.)
It’s not Marco. That would be weird. Applegate has a lot of messed up stuff in Animorphs, including child soldiers, but not child brides (or grooms).
No, Marco’s dad has a new love interest, and it’s serious. Marco doesn’t know how he feels about this, what with his mother still being alive but playing host to an evil alien bent on killing or subjugating all humans. Unfortunately, the Animorphs have a new mission, so Marco doesn’t have time to sit in a dark room processing his emotions by listening to increasingly intense ’90s alt rock. He has to deal with it like a man, which is to say, bottling those emotions up until they explode in uncontrollable rage-morphing that compromises the mission and ruins everything. But in a manly way.
The Proposal has lots of interesting ideas but doesn’t really get off the ground. I’m coming to the conclusion that Marco is funnier when he isn’t the narrator. As the narrator he’s a bit of a downer. With that wall stripped away, we really get to see the hollow shell of the child Marco once was—and while this is illuminating, it is not as humorous as when Marco is cracking wise in other Animorphs’ stories.
Moreover, the pacing of this book is just bizarre. Dropping in a stepmom for Marco is something that could have been spread over multiple books. There’s the barest of nods to the Animorphs investigating Norah to see if she is a Controller, and that’s about it. Otherwise, we just learn that she has been dating Marco’s dad for a few months now. Was this happening during previous books, and Marco just never mentioned it? Or has it been months since the last book? There’s very little dramatic tension with this subplot, very little conflict: we know she is not a Controller; we know they are getting married, etc. By the end of the book, Marco admits that he is slightly overreacting and it’s not going to be a huge deal.
In other words, there is either not enough happening here or too much happening for it to be crammed into one book.
The other plot, the Animorphs’ latest mission, concerns a particular celebrity Controller whom they try to discredit. I really like the idea behind this one, because the Animorphs have to concoct a plan to make the Controller break his character so that he ruins his host’s reputation. It’s much more subtle than we usually see in this series—although the Animorphs often use smaller morphs for spying and infiltration, this is one of the few times we see them go on the offensive without literally tearing holes in walls (well, that happens too). However, it seems to be at odds with Marco’s intermittent inability to control his morphing. If the two plots worked better together, this might be a tenser, more interesting book. As it is, The Proposal is a hot mess.
Fortunately, I get to read the utterly amazing Visser special next before diving back into the regular series, and I am very much looking forward to that. One of the best things about Animorphs is its ability to promote empathy. While Visser Three is a nasty dude, the idea that we can get inside his head and understand why he became such a nasty dude is an important one. But more on that in the next review!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #34: The Prophecy | #36: The Mutation → (And then Visser, promise.)
March 17, 2019
I suppose there are two reasons that the Animorphs books directly dealing with mental health may be the most ableist. The Watsonian: the characters are struggling with these issues themselves, and their anxiety and internalized ableism make for flawed representation. The Doylist: it's just not well handled within the narrative/by the author, when it really needs to be. Marco has been using humor as a coping mechanism, but it's no longer adequate; and he feels more in character here than in his recent books (he's not ruthless! he's a devil's advocate cum wingman), and the mean humor of the book's resolution is almost a solution, bitter and satisfying. But the road there, the forgettable madcap middle third, the throwback to the bad communication plots of old; the constant ableist humor coexisting with "there are no therapists" and Cassie's talk therapy being negatively contrasted against Jake's tough love leadership.... It's unsettling, it's inadequate. Sometimes the series is both of those things in productive ways, refusing to simplify complex issues for the sake of a neat ending. But this feels different.
November 8, 2018
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
Narrator: Marco
Plot: I mean, look at that cover? You know it’s going to be bad when that’s the cover. I didn’t have a whole lot of memories from this book, other than the fact that Marco’s dad wants to get married to a woman who owns the featured “evil poodle.” I had successfully blocked out the rest of the story. Or, more likely, merged it with Rachel’s crocodile-allergy story from which this book LIFTED ITS ENTIRE PLOT LINE! But I will vent about that in my small review section at the end. In the mean time…
Marco and his dad’s night of video game playing is interrupted by a phone call from Marco’s math teacher, a woman whom is dad is now dating. To drown out the mushy gushing the two are exchanging via the phone, Marco begins channel surfing. He gets caught up on a self-help talk show where an uber chill man named Tennant is famous for giving his calm, collected advice to callers to the show. Marco recognizes the self-help guru as fairly famous and sits back to watch, only to be bolted out of his seat when he hears Tennant suggest to one caller that the best place to help her loneliness is the perfectly lovely organization called “The Sharing.”
Marco immediately calls Jake and arranges to meet with the group at Cassie’s barn. He begins to morph his usual osprey, but halfway through, things go terribly wrong: he ends up as a half osprey/half lobster monstrosity. Marco manages to morph out, but is too shaken to morph again and instead rides his bike to the barn. There, the others rib him for taking so long, but he quickly distracts them with news of Tennant. Surveillance is called for.
Over the next three days, the team takes turns watching Tennant and establish that he has a very fixed routine involving jogging, working from home while cuddling his pet birds, and airing his show in the evenings. Another pair had already caught him sneaking in through a known Yeerk pool entrance, so his status as a Controller is confirmed. While Marco and Cassie are on watch, Cassie asks how Marco is doing, having caught on to his being shaken recently. He ends up venting about his dad’s dating life and the struggles of knowing that his mom could still be alive.
The next day, they decide to take their scouting to a new level and infiltrate his house. Tennant’s pet birds roam free throughout the house, so Marco and Rachel sneak in to acquire and morph two of them. The others wait to provide back-up should anything go around. Parakeet!Marco and Rachel head into Tennant’s office. There, they see him writing an email to a CEO of the television company that runs his current show. It appears that he is going to be offered an award in the next week followed by a promotion to prime time where he will have an even larger audience to promote The Sharing to.
He gets a phone call from Visser Three, and while he talks to him, discussing plans, Marco feels himself beginning to lose control of his morph. He begins squawking and poops on Tennant’s desk. After Tennant gets off the phone, he explodes into a manic rage, screaming about how he hates all of these animals and he’ll be happy when he’s free to kill them all. He grabs parakeet!Marco and begins crushing him in his hands. He’s only stopped by his host body that begins to fight back. He lets Marco go, but then decides to play the little game his host plays with his pets: getting the birds to say their own names. Of course, Marco doesn’t know the name of the parakeet he morphed.
Tennant quickly realizes that he is an Andalite in morph and hits him with a book, breaking his small bird body. The other Animorphs barge in in battle morphs and Tennant calls for Hork Bajir back-ups who seemingly appear out from….somewhere? Marco manages to de-morph, but when he tries to morph his gorilla battle morph, he again splices two morphs together, this time a fish and the gorilla. Barely making it back to human, he manages to shut the office door in Tennant’s face while he and the other Animorphs make a break for it out of the window.
Back in the barn, the others are furious with Marco for not revealing his morphing problem. Ax suggests that he may be struggling due to some type of stress factor in his life. Jake immediately benches Marco until he gets things under control. Marco heads home, frustrated. But he doesn’t find any relief there, since his dad’s girlfriend is visiting, and what’s worse, she has her evil toy poodle with her. The dog starts barking and biting at Marco, and he ends up acquiring it to get it to settle down, before hiding out in his room.
Marco’s ban doesn’t last long, however, since their new mission is coming up and the team needs him. They decide that the best course of action is to expose Tennant as the wacko he is. Even by Yeerk standards, it is clear that the Yeerk in Tennant is barely clinging to sanity, and if he was to explode like he did at his home, but in a public place, his future as a TV personality would be ruined. To do this, they decide to crash the awards ceremony later that week.
The team sneaks into the banquet halls as cockroaches and make their way to the kitchen. Their plan is to crawl onto Tennant’s salad plate with spider!Marco directing them to the right plate. Once in the kitchen, Marco demorphs in a bathroom and tries to morph the spider. Instead, he ends up as a mixture of spider and poodle. A bunch of kitchen workers spot him and chase him. The others ask what is going on, but Marco puts them off, saying everything is fine. Using thought-speak, he is finally able to scare off the kitchen workers. He then demorphs, grabs a kitchen uniform, and tries to pass himself off as a busboy. He gets the rest of the Animorphs onto one of the plate and tells the cook to set it aside specifically for Tennant. He then gets caught up in other kitchen chores by a tyrannical chef. Once he gets a chance to breath, he sees that all of the plates have been mixed up again and are heading out. Instead of being placed in front of Tennant, the plate ends up in front of of Zac Hanson (cuz of course a teen pop group is also at this B-level TV event). Much screaming ensues, but Tennant is unmoved. The Animorphs manage to scurry away.
They come up with Plan B. Ax morphs his human morph and the others morph flea. Jake instructs Ax and Marco to deliver the fleas to Tennant, but Marco gets trapped outside, leaving Ax to do this. Predictably, whenever Ax is near food, things to not go well. Marco gets inside just in time to see Ax licking the plates clean from Tennant’s table. However, he does manage to transfer the fleas to Tennant. Marco convinces the outraged people that he and Ax are just really big fans and they escape to the back of the room to watch Tennant’s speech. The Animorph!fleas make their way beneath Tennant’s wig (which they discovered when parakeet!Rachel accidentally nabbed it while trying to dive bomb Tennant the other day) and begin biting. Tennant twitches and squirms but manages to get through his speech without blowing up. Defeated, the team returns home.
The next day, Marco’s week gets even worse when his dad tells him that he is thinking of marrying the teacher girlfriend. He wants to make sure it’s ok with Marco. Marco simply bolts. Later, Cassie shows up at his house asking if he wants to talk. She says that there’s really no one outside of the group who can listen, but she’s willing to do it. And she knows that he had another failed morph while in the kitchen; she could tell from the sound of his voice. Marco vents that his stress isn’t special, they all have burdens they’re carrying, some of them (like Tobias) have much worse going on than him. Cassie shares a story about her anger when she sees hurt animals that have been harmed by cruel people. She says that her dad said to focus on what is: the hurt animal and how to help it. So in this case, is his dad happy now?
Running out of time, the team comes up with another plan. Poodle!Marco begins stalking Tennant. Whenever he is out in public, and unable to respond, the terror that is the poodle shows up and begins biting him, but Tennat’s animal-loving persona can’t respond. All week this goes on, with Marco succeeding in controlling his morphs the entire time.
Finally, the night of the first prime time airing of the show arrives. The team stake out the studio in various morphs, ready for Marco to make the grand scene once the program begins airing. But as he begins to morph poodle, his ailment strikes again and he ends up as a mix of a poodle and a polar bear. He loses control of the morph and goes after Tennant, only barely able stop from killing him. Cassie wants him to talk about his feelings to help him stable himself. Jake tells her that he loves her and cares for her, but shut it. The two bicker a bit, but Jake shuts her down saying now is not the time for her approach, and Marco just needs to suck it up and deal with his crap. Jake finally breaks through by bringing up Marco’s own philosophy (that he, in turn got from his mom), that you can either laugh or cry at the struggles of the world. Marco gets it together and finishes his morph to poodle. Seeing that “the Andalite” is now fully helpless as a small dog, Tennant grabs poodle!Marco and begins strangling him. Just then the cameras go on. Everyone is horrified and Tennant immediately releases Marco and tries to say it was a mistake. The Animorphs all bail
The clip goes viral and soon enough Tennant’s future as a TV star is over. The book ends at the very slap-dash wedding between his Dad and the teacher who get married two weeks later. Marco is still struggling with it all, but has come to accept it. But never that dog.
One evening the phone rings. The answering machine picks it up, and it’s Marco’s mother, asking for him. Dun dun dun.
The Comic Relief: The unfortunate bit of this whole thing is that after the very real, very serious events of the book before it, this one just seems…beneath him. Like, I get that this book is trying to fill a niche of dealing with a real-life issues that reader kids may be dealing with, a widowed parent re-marrying. But in the world of these books, Marco’s character specifically has had to deal with so many traumatizing things with his parents, that the fact that he would break down to the point of failing his morphing over this particular issue is just hard to believe. Let’s go through it. In the first few books, he’s dealing with the death of a parent. On top of that, he’s had to parent himself as his dad has completely lost it and hasn’t been parenting him at all. This has been going on for who knows how long. Then he finds out his mother is alive, but the leader of the Yeerk invasion. Then he thinks she dies, several books later. Then he rediscovers her, but has to plan her death himself. And now, again, he’s unsure whether she’s alive. So yes, I understand the quandary he is in with his father re-marrying, and I would have been completely on board for that being a through-line in the story that he is dealing with. But to make it the crux of the story by having it impact his morphing…nah, not buying it. That’s not the Marco we’ve come to know through all of these books. Cold, calculating, brutal Marco isn’t going to break down over just this. Even Marco thinks it’s out of character:
I was going insane. Hard to believe that after all the craziness I’d been through since this war started, a simple, everyday, domestic problem would be the thing to push me over the edge.
And then, on top of that, Marco’s usual bits, even in books that aren’t his, weren’t up to snuff. The author of this book pretty much recycled Marco jokes from the past (the back-and-forth between Marco and Ax about Ax’s use of “your minutes” could almost have been directly lifted from another book. Not only wasn’t it funny, but it’s boring to read the same joke over and over, especially without any new twist), and also re-used Marco’s philosophy from book 5. Didn’t expand on it. Didn’t bring anything new to the table, pretty much AGAIN lifted it directly from there and plopped it down here to serve the exact same purpose. It was incredibly frustrating, especially since Marco books are some of my favorites.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake tries to bench Marco when he realizes that he’s struggling with his morphing. But, unlike Rachel and her crocodile experience, Marco’s breakdowns are further apart. He goes several days and many morphs without any issue, so it’s easy to understand why Jake would let him back on missions. Not only is Marco’s gorilla morph one of their best battle morphs, but we know that Jake recognizes Marco’s smarts as the best planner of the group. So benching him is a big loss. In the end, when Marco’s struggling once again, Jake comes down on him hard. He tells Marco to get it together, no excuses. Fix it. That’s an order. Cassie tries to argue that Marco just needs to talk about it. But Jake shuts her down firmly. They’re in the middle of a mission and Marco just needs to deal with his crap. Period. Jake also must have talked with Marco about Marco’s life approach, since he knows Marco’s whole bit about looking at life with a sense of humor. We, as readers, know this because Marco shared it with us in an internal narrative back in book 5. But we never hear him tell it to Jake. Instead, it’s a nice reference to how close these two are and that they must have talked about stuff like this at some point.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel tries to give Marco a lecture about hiding his morphing issues from the group. He rightly calls her out on the hypocrisy of this given her crocodile-lying incident. She agrees that someone else should take over lecturing Marco from this point. She’s also paired up with Marco on the parakeet mission, of course furthering my secondary Marco/Rachel focus. She also dive bombs Tennant while morphed as a parakeet, proving that the morph itself has very little affect on Rachel’s general plan of action. She will attack with whatever she has available.
A Hawk’s Life: Poor Tobias gets very, very little to do in this book. I mean, even adding up his lines of dialogue, it’s pretty sad. If anything, he mostly serves as a point to fuel Marco’s self-disgust. In the very beginning, after Marco’s first failed morph, he comes down hard on Tobias and ends up feeling guilty about it. And later, when he’s talking to Cassie, he says all of the other Animorphs have stressers and aren’t freaking out. He particularly emphasizes Tobias’s situation. Other than that, Tobias mostly just serves as the eyes in the air and joins in on the group activities, like being a flea biting Tennant’s head.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie has quite a lot in this book, mostly utilizing her super power as the group counselor. She is quick to understand why Marco is stressed and suggest that he needs someone to talk to. Right away, on the first scouting trip, she manages to get Marco to open up and vent his frustrations. She’s also the only one to pick up on the fact that he had another morph melt-down while in the kitchen at the banquet. And she then takes it upon herself to come to his house and offer supporting, knowing that he doesn’t have anyone else to talk to about all of this. She shares some nice philosophies and ways of thinking about the situation with his dad that do seem to help, though Jake’s method, in the end, is the one to break through.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: You’d think they’d learn about Ax and food! I mean, yes, I get the fact that Ax has the only human form that doesn’t put them all at risk, but man, he’s got to win the award for having the least control over any given morph. Any other animal, any other morph, sure they all might struggle here and there, but they usually get the hang of it, especially with morphs they’ve used more often. But man, Ax has zero self-control in that morph. Is it worth the risk having him go in? I mean, I’m finding it hard to believe that had Marco even been there when Ax was clearing tables that it would have made any difference.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: It’s a hard toss between all of the gross morph combinations that Marco experiences and the fleas biting Tennant’s head. I mean, I think I’ve got to go with the second. Sure, they’ve “accidentally” bitten other people as fleas, but the whole goal of this mission was to crawl under some skeevy Controller’s wig and bite away. Even Cassie calls it out:
Cassie complained.
Couples Watch!: In the very beginning, Rachel is angry at Marco for calling the meeting in the barn because he interrupted her and Tobias watching “Felicity.” Awwww, cute dates! Jake does tell Cassie he loves her….just before he tells her to shut up. So….romantic? They also have a nice little spat after this about how to handle Marco’s ongoing morphing issues. This is one of those small moments that kind of highlights why this relationship was always doomed. They really don’t have that much in common in the way they look at the world and how they make decisions. It’s clear why Jake is attracted to and relies on Cassie, she provides much-needed emotional support and insight into others. And Cassie…thinks Jake’s good looking? But when you get down to it, they have very different philosophies, so while I can see why they end up together throughout the series, you can also see the tension between them, more so than Tobias and Rachel who have some more obvious similarities and mutual supports.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three is taking an extended absence! This is how many books in a row now that he hasn’t made an in-person appearance? The phone call doesn’t even include any dialogue from him, though we hear a bit of Tennant’s side of things and apparently part of the discussion is Visser Three ranting about how he looks forward to the day when the Yeerks can wipe out any unnecessary life forms on Earth. Obviously not the cats, though. Visser Three loves cats.
As for Tennant himself, we see yet another crazed Yeerk. It’s kind of hard to believe that this many crazed Yeerks ended up in positions of power. I mean, you have Tobias’s experiences several books ago and now this. You’d think with all the Yeerks available, they’d be able to assign more stable Yeerks to these crucial roles. Maybe it’s supposed to be yet another reflection on Visser Three’s own questionable psyche. That maybe, somehow, he gravitates towards Yeerks who are a bit unbalanced, just like himself. Chapman’s Yeerk, for example, seems perfectly steady and unlikely to have been caught up in the nonsense the Animorphs were pulling here. Especially because with all of the poodle-attacking lead-up, trying to catch him on TV was a pretty predictable move by the “Andalite bandits.”
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Really, nothing. Marco books usually have some good stuff with reflections on his situation with his mother, but there really isn’t much here. From the very sophisticated, cold Marco that we saw only a few books ago, in a lot of ways this doesn’t even feel like the same character. It’s hard to believe that this situation is what would cause the breakdown in stress, and I could just never really buy it. From the big tragedies presented in the past of a son setting up his mother to die, it’s hard to feel much about the struggles of his Dad marrying a lady with a poodle.
Narrator: Marco
Plot: I mean, look at that cover? You know it’s going to be bad when that’s the cover. I didn’t have a whole lot of memories from this book, other than the fact that Marco’s dad wants to get married to a woman who owns the featured “evil poodle.” I had successfully blocked out the rest of the story. Or, more likely, merged it with Rachel’s crocodile-allergy story from which this book LIFTED ITS ENTIRE PLOT LINE! But I will vent about that in my small review section at the end. In the mean time…
Marco and his dad’s night of video game playing is interrupted by a phone call from Marco’s math teacher, a woman whom is dad is now dating. To drown out the mushy gushing the two are exchanging via the phone, Marco begins channel surfing. He gets caught up on a self-help talk show where an uber chill man named Tennant is famous for giving his calm, collected advice to callers to the show. Marco recognizes the self-help guru as fairly famous and sits back to watch, only to be bolted out of his seat when he hears Tennant suggest to one caller that the best place to help her loneliness is the perfectly lovely organization called “The Sharing.”
Marco immediately calls Jake and arranges to meet with the group at Cassie’s barn. He begins to morph his usual osprey, but halfway through, things go terribly wrong: he ends up as a half osprey/half lobster monstrosity. Marco manages to morph out, but is too shaken to morph again and instead rides his bike to the barn. There, the others rib him for taking so long, but he quickly distracts them with news of Tennant. Surveillance is called for.
Over the next three days, the team takes turns watching Tennant and establish that he has a very fixed routine involving jogging, working from home while cuddling his pet birds, and airing his show in the evenings. Another pair had already caught him sneaking in through a known Yeerk pool entrance, so his status as a Controller is confirmed. While Marco and Cassie are on watch, Cassie asks how Marco is doing, having caught on to his being shaken recently. He ends up venting about his dad’s dating life and the struggles of knowing that his mom could still be alive.
The next day, they decide to take their scouting to a new level and infiltrate his house. Tennant’s pet birds roam free throughout the house, so Marco and Rachel sneak in to acquire and morph two of them. The others wait to provide back-up should anything go around. Parakeet!Marco and Rachel head into Tennant’s office. There, they see him writing an email to a CEO of the television company that runs his current show. It appears that he is going to be offered an award in the next week followed by a promotion to prime time where he will have an even larger audience to promote The Sharing to.
He gets a phone call from Visser Three, and while he talks to him, discussing plans, Marco feels himself beginning to lose control of his morph. He begins squawking and poops on Tennant’s desk. After Tennant gets off the phone, he explodes into a manic rage, screaming about how he hates all of these animals and he’ll be happy when he’s free to kill them all. He grabs parakeet!Marco and begins crushing him in his hands. He’s only stopped by his host body that begins to fight back. He lets Marco go, but then decides to play the little game his host plays with his pets: getting the birds to say their own names. Of course, Marco doesn’t know the name of the parakeet he morphed.
Tennant quickly realizes that he is an Andalite in morph and hits him with a book, breaking his small bird body. The other Animorphs barge in in battle morphs and Tennant calls for Hork Bajir back-ups who seemingly appear out from….somewhere? Marco manages to de-morph, but when he tries to morph his gorilla battle morph, he again splices two morphs together, this time a fish and the gorilla. Barely making it back to human, he manages to shut the office door in Tennant’s face while he and the other Animorphs make a break for it out of the window.
Back in the barn, the others are furious with Marco for not revealing his morphing problem. Ax suggests that he may be struggling due to some type of stress factor in his life. Jake immediately benches Marco until he gets things under control. Marco heads home, frustrated. But he doesn’t find any relief there, since his dad’s girlfriend is visiting, and what’s worse, she has her evil toy poodle with her. The dog starts barking and biting at Marco, and he ends up acquiring it to get it to settle down, before hiding out in his room.
Marco’s ban doesn’t last long, however, since their new mission is coming up and the team needs him. They decide that the best course of action is to expose Tennant as the wacko he is. Even by Yeerk standards, it is clear that the Yeerk in Tennant is barely clinging to sanity, and if he was to explode like he did at his home, but in a public place, his future as a TV personality would be ruined. To do this, they decide to crash the awards ceremony later that week.
The team sneaks into the banquet halls as cockroaches and make their way to the kitchen. Their plan is to crawl onto Tennant’s salad plate with spider!Marco directing them to the right plate. Once in the kitchen, Marco demorphs in a bathroom and tries to morph the spider. Instead, he ends up as a mixture of spider and poodle. A bunch of kitchen workers spot him and chase him. The others ask what is going on, but Marco puts them off, saying everything is fine. Using thought-speak, he is finally able to scare off the kitchen workers. He then demorphs, grabs a kitchen uniform, and tries to pass himself off as a busboy. He gets the rest of the Animorphs onto one of the plate and tells the cook to set it aside specifically for Tennant. He then gets caught up in other kitchen chores by a tyrannical chef. Once he gets a chance to breath, he sees that all of the plates have been mixed up again and are heading out. Instead of being placed in front of Tennant, the plate ends up in front of of Zac Hanson (cuz of course a teen pop group is also at this B-level TV event). Much screaming ensues, but Tennant is unmoved. The Animorphs manage to scurry away.
They come up with Plan B. Ax morphs his human morph and the others morph flea. Jake instructs Ax and Marco to deliver the fleas to Tennant, but Marco gets trapped outside, leaving Ax to do this. Predictably, whenever Ax is near food, things to not go well. Marco gets inside just in time to see Ax licking the plates clean from Tennant’s table. However, he does manage to transfer the fleas to Tennant. Marco convinces the outraged people that he and Ax are just really big fans and they escape to the back of the room to watch Tennant’s speech. The Animorph!fleas make their way beneath Tennant’s wig (which they discovered when parakeet!Rachel accidentally nabbed it while trying to dive bomb Tennant the other day) and begin biting. Tennant twitches and squirms but manages to get through his speech without blowing up. Defeated, the team returns home.
The next day, Marco’s week gets even worse when his dad tells him that he is thinking of marrying the teacher girlfriend. He wants to make sure it’s ok with Marco. Marco simply bolts. Later, Cassie shows up at his house asking if he wants to talk. She says that there’s really no one outside of the group who can listen, but she’s willing to do it. And she knows that he had another failed morph while in the kitchen; she could tell from the sound of his voice. Marco vents that his stress isn’t special, they all have burdens they’re carrying, some of them (like Tobias) have much worse going on than him. Cassie shares a story about her anger when she sees hurt animals that have been harmed by cruel people. She says that her dad said to focus on what is: the hurt animal and how to help it. So in this case, is his dad happy now?
Running out of time, the team comes up with another plan. Poodle!Marco begins stalking Tennant. Whenever he is out in public, and unable to respond, the terror that is the poodle shows up and begins biting him, but Tennat’s animal-loving persona can’t respond. All week this goes on, with Marco succeeding in controlling his morphs the entire time.
Finally, the night of the first prime time airing of the show arrives. The team stake out the studio in various morphs, ready for Marco to make the grand scene once the program begins airing. But as he begins to morph poodle, his ailment strikes again and he ends up as a mix of a poodle and a polar bear. He loses control of the morph and goes after Tennant, only barely able stop from killing him. Cassie wants him to talk about his feelings to help him stable himself. Jake tells her that he loves her and cares for her, but shut it. The two bicker a bit, but Jake shuts her down saying now is not the time for her approach, and Marco just needs to suck it up and deal with his crap. Jake finally breaks through by bringing up Marco’s own philosophy (that he, in turn got from his mom), that you can either laugh or cry at the struggles of the world. Marco gets it together and finishes his morph to poodle. Seeing that “the Andalite” is now fully helpless as a small dog, Tennant grabs poodle!Marco and begins strangling him. Just then the cameras go on. Everyone is horrified and Tennant immediately releases Marco and tries to say it was a mistake. The Animorphs all bail
The clip goes viral and soon enough Tennant’s future as a TV star is over. The book ends at the very slap-dash wedding between his Dad and the teacher who get married two weeks later. Marco is still struggling with it all, but has come to accept it. But never that dog.
One evening the phone rings. The answering machine picks it up, and it’s Marco’s mother, asking for him. Dun dun dun.
The Comic Relief: The unfortunate bit of this whole thing is that after the very real, very serious events of the book before it, this one just seems…beneath him. Like, I get that this book is trying to fill a niche of dealing with a real-life issues that reader kids may be dealing with, a widowed parent re-marrying. But in the world of these books, Marco’s character specifically has had to deal with so many traumatizing things with his parents, that the fact that he would break down to the point of failing his morphing over this particular issue is just hard to believe. Let’s go through it. In the first few books, he’s dealing with the death of a parent. On top of that, he’s had to parent himself as his dad has completely lost it and hasn’t been parenting him at all. This has been going on for who knows how long. Then he finds out his mother is alive, but the leader of the Yeerk invasion. Then he thinks she dies, several books later. Then he rediscovers her, but has to plan her death himself. And now, again, he’s unsure whether she’s alive. So yes, I understand the quandary he is in with his father re-marrying, and I would have been completely on board for that being a through-line in the story that he is dealing with. But to make it the crux of the story by having it impact his morphing…nah, not buying it. That’s not the Marco we’ve come to know through all of these books. Cold, calculating, brutal Marco isn’t going to break down over just this. Even Marco thinks it’s out of character:
I was going insane. Hard to believe that after all the craziness I’d been through since this war started, a simple, everyday, domestic problem would be the thing to push me over the edge.
And then, on top of that, Marco’s usual bits, even in books that aren’t his, weren’t up to snuff. The author of this book pretty much recycled Marco jokes from the past (the back-and-forth between Marco and Ax about Ax’s use of “your minutes” could almost have been directly lifted from another book. Not only wasn’t it funny, but it’s boring to read the same joke over and over, especially without any new twist), and also re-used Marco’s philosophy from book 5. Didn’t expand on it. Didn’t bring anything new to the table, pretty much AGAIN lifted it directly from there and plopped it down here to serve the exact same purpose. It was incredibly frustrating, especially since Marco books are some of my favorites.
Our Fearless Leader: Jake tries to bench Marco when he realizes that he’s struggling with his morphing. But, unlike Rachel and her crocodile experience, Marco’s breakdowns are further apart. He goes several days and many morphs without any issue, so it’s easy to understand why Jake would let him back on missions. Not only is Marco’s gorilla morph one of their best battle morphs, but we know that Jake recognizes Marco’s smarts as the best planner of the group. So benching him is a big loss. In the end, when Marco’s struggling once again, Jake comes down on him hard. He tells Marco to get it together, no excuses. Fix it. That’s an order. Cassie tries to argue that Marco just needs to talk about it. But Jake shuts her down firmly. They’re in the middle of a mission and Marco just needs to deal with his crap. Period. Jake also must have talked with Marco about Marco’s life approach, since he knows Marco’s whole bit about looking at life with a sense of humor. We, as readers, know this because Marco shared it with us in an internal narrative back in book 5. But we never hear him tell it to Jake. Instead, it’s a nice reference to how close these two are and that they must have talked about stuff like this at some point.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel tries to give Marco a lecture about hiding his morphing issues from the group. He rightly calls her out on the hypocrisy of this given her crocodile-lying incident. She agrees that someone else should take over lecturing Marco from this point. She’s also paired up with Marco on the parakeet mission, of course furthering my secondary Marco/Rachel focus. She also dive bombs Tennant while morphed as a parakeet, proving that the morph itself has very little affect on Rachel’s general plan of action. She will attack with whatever she has available.
A Hawk’s Life: Poor Tobias gets very, very little to do in this book. I mean, even adding up his lines of dialogue, it’s pretty sad. If anything, he mostly serves as a point to fuel Marco’s self-disgust. In the very beginning, after Marco’s first failed morph, he comes down hard on Tobias and ends up feeling guilty about it. And later, when he’s talking to Cassie, he says all of the other Animorphs have stressers and aren’t freaking out. He particularly emphasizes Tobias’s situation. Other than that, Tobias mostly just serves as the eyes in the air and joins in on the group activities, like being a flea biting Tennant’s head.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie has quite a lot in this book, mostly utilizing her super power as the group counselor. She is quick to understand why Marco is stressed and suggest that he needs someone to talk to. Right away, on the first scouting trip, she manages to get Marco to open up and vent his frustrations. She’s also the only one to pick up on the fact that he had another morph melt-down while in the kitchen at the banquet. And she then takes it upon herself to come to his house and offer supporting, knowing that he doesn’t have anyone else to talk to about all of this. She shares some nice philosophies and ways of thinking about the situation with his dad that do seem to help, though Jake’s method, in the end, is the one to break through.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: You’d think they’d learn about Ax and food! I mean, yes, I get the fact that Ax has the only human form that doesn’t put them all at risk, but man, he’s got to win the award for having the least control over any given morph. Any other animal, any other morph, sure they all might struggle here and there, but they usually get the hang of it, especially with morphs they’ve used more often. But man, Ax has zero self-control in that morph. Is it worth the risk having him go in? I mean, I’m finding it hard to believe that had Marco even been there when Ax was clearing tables that it would have made any difference.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: It’s a hard toss between all of the gross morph combinations that Marco experiences and the fleas biting Tennant’s head. I mean, I think I’ve got to go with the second. Sure, they’ve “accidentally” bitten other people as fleas, but the whole goal of this mission was to crawl under some skeevy Controller’s wig and bite away. Even Cassie calls it out:
Cassie complained.
Couples Watch!: In the very beginning, Rachel is angry at Marco for calling the meeting in the barn because he interrupted her and Tobias watching “Felicity.” Awwww, cute dates! Jake does tell Cassie he loves her….just before he tells her to shut up. So….romantic? They also have a nice little spat after this about how to handle Marco’s ongoing morphing issues. This is one of those small moments that kind of highlights why this relationship was always doomed. They really don’t have that much in common in the way they look at the world and how they make decisions. It’s clear why Jake is attracted to and relies on Cassie, she provides much-needed emotional support and insight into others. And Cassie…thinks Jake’s good looking? But when you get down to it, they have very different philosophies, so while I can see why they end up together throughout the series, you can also see the tension between them, more so than Tobias and Rachel who have some more obvious similarities and mutual supports.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three is taking an extended absence! This is how many books in a row now that he hasn’t made an in-person appearance? The phone call doesn’t even include any dialogue from him, though we hear a bit of Tennant’s side of things and apparently part of the discussion is Visser Three ranting about how he looks forward to the day when the Yeerks can wipe out any unnecessary life forms on Earth. Obviously not the cats, though. Visser Three loves cats.
As for Tennant himself, we see yet another crazed Yeerk. It’s kind of hard to believe that this many crazed Yeerks ended up in positions of power. I mean, you have Tobias’s experiences several books ago and now this. You’d think with all the Yeerks available, they’d be able to assign more stable Yeerks to these crucial roles. Maybe it’s supposed to be yet another reflection on Visser Three’s own questionable psyche. That maybe, somehow, he gravitates towards Yeerks who are a bit unbalanced, just like himself. Chapman’s Yeerk, for example, seems perfectly steady and unlikely to have been caught up in the nonsense the Animorphs were pulling here. Especially because with all of the poodle-attacking lead-up, trying to catch him on TV was a pretty predictable move by the “Andalite bandits.”
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Really, nothing. Marco books usually have some good stuff with reflections on his situation with his mother, but there really isn’t much here. From the very sophisticated, cold Marco that we saw only a few books ago, in a lot of ways this doesn’t even feel like the same character. It’s hard to believe that this situation is what would cause the breakdown in stress, and I could just never really buy it. From the big tragedies presented in the past of a son setting up his mother to die, it’s hard to feel much about the struggles of his Dad marrying a lady with a poodle.
July 29, 2018
Before now, I honestly would've said that Jeffrey Zuehlke sorta got the short end of the stick when the books that were up for ghostwriting got divided up.
Because the dude is good at writing the comedy relief part of Marco. I'm not sure what non-Animorphs things he's written but if I were to take a guess I'd say that he's written comedy before because both his books succeed at being pretty funny. Like, stuff like this:
It's sorta hard to provide an example as to why something is funny because humour is subjective but at the very least, this elicited a chuckle out of me. Before reading The Proposal, my opinion on Zuehlke was that he was a good writer (particularly for Marco) who just got shortchanged by the plots of the books he was assigned. Now, having read The Proposal… I think only two of the three things in that previous sentence are accurate.
Because while Zuehlke is really good at writing the comedic relief part of Marco, that's the only part of Marco he actually writes. The strategist part of Marco — the part of Marco that's willing to do anything in order to win the war? Not present in this book. One of Marco's greatest strengths as a character is the fact that he's a diptych between this awkward class clown and this completely ruthless strategist, but this book in particular completely focuses on the former — which is a major problem, given the fact that the writing completely doubles down on the absurdity of the plot.
...In regards to what the book is about, the Animorphs are attempting to defame a celebrity who is trying to recruit people for the Sharing — a Yeerk front organization. In the midst of this, the fact that Marco's father is heavily considering re-marrying (not knowing that his first wife is still alive) is apparently giving Marco enough stress that his attempts at morphing end up randomly creating hybrid monstrosities. Aside from the fact that this book is a complete rehash of The Reaction (even down to the book exploring the narrator's relationship with their family) there's a major problem with the "stress causing someone to fuck up while morphing" aspect of the plot in comparison to the book/series around it. Take some of the books immediately before this, for example:
- In his preceding book as the narrator, Marco had to call the shots for one of the Animorphs' most high stakes missions — one in which flat-out murdering his mother was a very real possibility.
- Four books before this one, Jake had to make several in-the-moment decisions in order to stop the Yeerks from directly killing a member of his family — decisions that compromised his morality and integrity and resulted in him seriously considering murdering another member of said immediate family.
- Two books before this one, Tobias is tortured to the point where he psychologically, irreversibly breaks.
- The premise of the series, where the Animorphs are the only people capable of trying to stop humanity from becoming host bodies for alien invaders in a drawn-out guerilla-war.
At no point during, before, or after these books does residual stress cause any of the Animorphs to be unable to morph properly. Apparently, all of the above examples are less stressful than 'my dad is possibly remarrying when he doesn't know my mom may still be alive.' Even worse is that it initially seems that Marco is okay with it! There's a point near the end of the book where he does explode at his dad for the fact that he's remarrying but the first time this conflict comes up Marco states that ultimately he's happy for his dad! Given that these problems are ultimately solved by Jake going 'hey, stop compromising the mission' this particular plot element stands out as incredibly weak — one that would need a total overhauling in order to properly work.
...Which doesn't really help when the main plot in this book also stands out as fairly weak. The Animorphs trying to defame a major celebrity could be an interesting plot (although derivative, given that The Reaction already had this as its plot) but the problem is that Zuehlke's writing (and his focus on Comedic!Marco over Strategist!Marco) turns this from something potentially interesting and fun to one of the random wacky events plots that Animorphs has struggled with in the past. In the space of one night — in an attempt to defame Tennant — Marco/the Animorphs come up with the following brilliant plans.
- Sneak cockroaches onto Tennant's plate while Marco pretends to be a member of the wait staff (dealing with the most ridiculous French stereotype) despite the fact that Marco is very obviously only a teenager.
- Have Marco morph spider so that he can get onto the plate as well (despite the fact that he was supposed to impersonate one of the wait staff) but have this fuck up and create an unholy skunk/spider hybrid.
- Directly talk to non-Animorph people while in this unholy hybrid form, possibly jeopardizing the mission/their identities if any of them are Controllers before morphing back into human only to find that the dish got delivered to one of the members of Hanson (why are Hanson in this book).
- Have Ax of all people proceed to imitate a member of the wait staff in order to get the now-flea Animorphs close to Tennant (although in fairness, this particular part wasn't Marco's idea).
- Have Ax just sit on Marco's lap in order to pass as two people watching Tennant's acceptance speech.
- Try to — as fleas — just repeatedly bite the top of Tennant's head in order to try and aggravate him.
Behold, Marco the strategist — the Marco who in his previous book concocted a plan on the fly which had a chance of taking out two Vissers at once — has completely vanished. He has now been reduced to only one of his character traits — one that directly harms the book and turns what could've been an interesting if flawed, plot to a worse edition of one of the wacky event plots.
It's not all bad, however. As mentioned earlier, the book is genuinely funny — Zuehlke is a writer who is very competent in a technical sense and even if he only writes comedic Marco, he is very, very good at writing comedic Marco. There are also a couple of scenes that stand out as fairly good — Marco talking early on about how everyone in the Animorphs is suffering from stress in one way or another and Cassie completely failing multiple times at trying to play therapist for Marco are scenes that both fit the themes of the story and the themes of the series in general. Tennant himself — or at least, the Yeerk controlling him — also works for who he is, the fact that the person with a near-saintly public image has been controlled by a violent, nearly uncontrollable Yeerk makes for something fairly interesting, and something that could've still worked if he appeared in another book.
Ultimately though, I'm… not a fan of this book. While I do blame the absolutely absurd, near unworkable plot synopsis for making the book what it is, the fact that the book solely focuses on one aspect of its narrator does it no favours, and turns something potentially interesting to another easily written-off comedy book. 2/5.
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Because the dude is good at writing the comedy relief part of Marco. I'm not sure what non-Animorphs things he's written but if I were to take a guess I'd say that he's written comedy before because both his books succeed at being pretty funny. Like, stuff like this:
"You know what?" I told the milk carton. "I don't care if William Roger Tennant signs people up for The Sharing. If they're that dumb, forget 'em. Why am I going to get myself killed for them?"
The milk carton had no immediate response. Maybe it wanted to think that over.
The Proposal, pg. 112.
It's sorta hard to provide an example as to why something is funny because humour is subjective but at the very least, this elicited a chuckle out of me. Before reading The Proposal, my opinion on Zuehlke was that he was a good writer (particularly for Marco) who just got shortchanged by the plots of the books he was assigned. Now, having read The Proposal… I think only two of the three things in that previous sentence are accurate.
Because while Zuehlke is really good at writing the comedic relief part of Marco, that's the only part of Marco he actually writes. The strategist part of Marco — the part of Marco that's willing to do anything in order to win the war? Not present in this book. One of Marco's greatest strengths as a character is the fact that he's a diptych between this awkward class clown and this completely ruthless strategist, but this book in particular completely focuses on the former — which is a major problem, given the fact that the writing completely doubles down on the absurdity of the plot.
...In regards to what the book is about, the Animorphs are attempting to defame a celebrity who is trying to recruit people for the Sharing — a Yeerk front organization. In the midst of this, the fact that Marco's father is heavily considering re-marrying (not knowing that his first wife is still alive) is apparently giving Marco enough stress that his attempts at morphing end up randomly creating hybrid monstrosities. Aside from the fact that this book is a complete rehash of The Reaction (even down to the book exploring the narrator's relationship with their family) there's a major problem with the "stress causing someone to fuck up while morphing" aspect of the plot in comparison to the book/series around it. Take some of the books immediately before this, for example:
- In his preceding book as the narrator, Marco had to call the shots for one of the Animorphs' most high stakes missions — one in which flat-out murdering his mother was a very real possibility.
- Four books before this one, Jake had to make several in-the-moment decisions in order to stop the Yeerks from directly killing a member of his family — decisions that compromised his morality and integrity and resulted in him seriously considering murdering another member of said immediate family.
- Two books before this one, Tobias is tortured to the point where he psychologically, irreversibly breaks.
- The premise of the series, where the Animorphs are the only people capable of trying to stop humanity from becoming host bodies for alien invaders in a drawn-out guerilla-war.
At no point during, before, or after these books does residual stress cause any of the Animorphs to be unable to morph properly. Apparently, all of the above examples are less stressful than 'my dad is possibly remarrying when he doesn't know my mom may still be alive.' Even worse is that it initially seems that Marco is okay with it! There's a point near the end of the book where he does explode at his dad for the fact that he's remarrying but the first time this conflict comes up Marco states that ultimately he's happy for his dad! Given that these problems are ultimately solved by Jake going 'hey, stop compromising the mission' this particular plot element stands out as incredibly weak — one that would need a total overhauling in order to properly work.
...Which doesn't really help when the main plot in this book also stands out as fairly weak. The Animorphs trying to defame a major celebrity could be an interesting plot (although derivative, given that The Reaction already had this as its plot) but the problem is that Zuehlke's writing (and his focus on Comedic!Marco over Strategist!Marco) turns this from something potentially interesting and fun to one of the random wacky events plots that Animorphs has struggled with in the past. In the space of one night — in an attempt to defame Tennant — Marco/the Animorphs come up with the following brilliant plans.
- Sneak cockroaches onto Tennant's plate while Marco pretends to be a member of the wait staff (dealing with the most ridiculous French stereotype) despite the fact that Marco is very obviously only a teenager.
- Have Marco morph spider so that he can get onto the plate as well (despite the fact that he was supposed to impersonate one of the wait staff) but have this fuck up and create an unholy skunk/spider hybrid.
- Directly talk to non-Animorph people while in this unholy hybrid form, possibly jeopardizing the mission/their identities if any of them are Controllers before morphing back into human only to find that the dish got delivered to one of the members of Hanson (why are Hanson in this book).
- Have Ax of all people proceed to imitate a member of the wait staff in order to get the now-flea Animorphs close to Tennant (although in fairness, this particular part wasn't Marco's idea).
- Have Ax just sit on Marco's lap in order to pass as two people watching Tennant's acceptance speech.
- Try to — as fleas — just repeatedly bite the top of Tennant's head in order to try and aggravate him.
Behold, Marco the strategist — the Marco who in his previous book concocted a plan on the fly which had a chance of taking out two Vissers at once — has completely vanished. He has now been reduced to only one of his character traits — one that directly harms the book and turns what could've been an interesting if flawed, plot to a worse edition of one of the wacky event plots.
It's not all bad, however. As mentioned earlier, the book is genuinely funny — Zuehlke is a writer who is very competent in a technical sense and even if he only writes comedic Marco, he is very, very good at writing comedic Marco. There are also a couple of scenes that stand out as fairly good — Marco talking early on about how everyone in the Animorphs is suffering from stress in one way or another and Cassie completely failing multiple times at trying to play therapist for Marco are scenes that both fit the themes of the story and the themes of the series in general. Tennant himself — or at least, the Yeerk controlling him — also works for who he is, the fact that the person with a near-saintly public image has been controlled by a violent, nearly uncontrollable Yeerk makes for something fairly interesting, and something that could've still worked if he appeared in another book.
Ultimately though, I'm… not a fan of this book. While I do blame the absolutely absurd, near unworkable plot synopsis for making the book what it is, the fact that the book solely focuses on one aspect of its narrator does it no favours, and turns something potentially interesting to another easily written-off comedy book. 2/5.
Blog: https://vagueartistics.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yugibones
July 20, 2015
Ghostwriter: Jeffrey Zeuhlke, who wrote the underwhelming #25 and thus is still probably my least favourite of the ghostwriters so far -- largely because he just does not have a handle on Marco's humour, as most of the jokes/wisecracks make me cringe and not crack a smile.
The Animorphs' strategising on this mission is also abysmal, and not at all something I associate with their wonderful military planning by now. They've tackled much harder situations, so I don't buy them messing up so often and so stupidly and recklessly on this one -- not at this point in the series, where they've honed their skills to a T. Unavoidable extenuating circumstances? Sure. But this one shouldn't have been that hard. The conclusion to their mission is really stupid, and not in the usual "I can forgive this because it's a genuinely funny joke book" way.
The other/personal plot in the book involves Marco's father considering remarrying; which strain is causing Marco to undergo strange out-of-control morphing splices, similar to Rachel's morphing problems in #12 The Reaction. It's another good moment of morphing weirdnesses overlapping with family problems & character psyches -- and where Zeuhlke falls over on humour, I actually do like how he handled Marco's strain, his 'tragicomedy' philosophy (those last lines are some of my favourite Marco-centric quotes), and his character development to get past it.
Other standout things in general:
- a parent remarrying is presumably a universally applicable problem that a lot of Animorphs kid readers had experienced, too, so I like that the Very Real World Problem is dealt with in this series, much like Rachel's parents getting divorced
- Cassie stopping by and making an explicit attempt to cheer up Marco and connect with him and ease his burden; they're such opposites and an odd couple who wouldn't ordinarily like each other, but they've had a lot of great moments together over the course of the series, and we've seen her go to his place to talk to him about his family problems before. It's also so in-character for Marco to shut down and rebuff her with jokes.
- Cassie's empathy is usually so on-point, so I actually love seeing it fail here for once, in combination with the cold way that Jake seizes control and drags Marco back on point, because his understanding of Marco is even better than Cassie's by virtue of their having been best friends for so long, and Jake having such an intimate understanding of how everyone on his team ticks
- the cliffhanger ending that segues directly into Visser! They haven't done a 'to be continued' since the David trilogy. :']
- Marco's lambasting of the entire team, pointing out how damaged every single one of them is; I think it's a good indication of what this war is doing to all of them, and a hint to how broken they'll be by the end. ("The point is we're all hanging on by our fingernails. What right do I have to go nuts?" "As much right as anyone." "Yeah, well, that's not much, okay? We have things to do." Ugh, my heart.)
Favourite quotes, spoilery as always:
The Animorphs' strategising on this mission is also abysmal, and not at all something I associate with their wonderful military planning by now. They've tackled much harder situations, so I don't buy them messing up so often and so stupidly and recklessly on this one -- not at this point in the series, where they've honed their skills to a T. Unavoidable extenuating circumstances? Sure. But this one shouldn't have been that hard. The conclusion to their mission is really stupid, and not in the usual "I can forgive this because it's a genuinely funny joke book" way.
The other/personal plot in the book involves Marco's father considering remarrying; which strain is causing Marco to undergo strange out-of-control morphing splices, similar to Rachel's morphing problems in #12 The Reaction. It's another good moment of morphing weirdnesses overlapping with family problems & character psyches -- and where Zeuhlke falls over on humour, I actually do like how he handled Marco's strain, his 'tragicomedy' philosophy (those last lines are some of my favourite Marco-centric quotes), and his character development to get past it.
Other standout things in general:
- a parent remarrying is presumably a universally applicable problem that a lot of Animorphs kid readers had experienced, too, so I like that the Very Real World Problem is dealt with in this series, much like Rachel's parents getting divorced
- Cassie stopping by and making an explicit attempt to cheer up Marco and connect with him and ease his burden; they're such opposites and an odd couple who wouldn't ordinarily like each other, but they've had a lot of great moments together over the course of the series, and we've seen her go to his place to talk to him about his family problems before. It's also so in-character for Marco to shut down and rebuff her with jokes.
- Cassie's empathy is usually so on-point, so I actually love seeing it fail here for once, in combination with the cold way that Jake seizes control and drags Marco back on point, because his understanding of Marco is even better than Cassie's by virtue of their having been best friends for so long, and Jake having such an intimate understanding of how everyone on his team ticks
- the cliffhanger ending that segues directly into Visser! They haven't done a 'to be continued' since the David trilogy. :']
- Marco's lambasting of the entire team, pointing out how damaged every single one of them is; I think it's a good indication of what this war is doing to all of them, and a hint to how broken they'll be by the end. ("The point is we're all hanging on by our fingernails. What right do I have to go nuts?" "As much right as anyone." "Yeah, well, that's not much, okay? We have things to do." Ugh, my heart.)
Favourite quotes, spoilery as always:
June 10, 2017
Soooo... this one was weird... I get the idea behind what they are doing but it seams strange. I did enjoy the issues with morphing because of emotion, and the fact that it goes directly into Visser. Other than that, not much in this one... Oh yes, Ax thought speaks in human morph. I remember it being explicitly stated before that when he was in human morph, his thought speak did not work. And obviously none of the others works when they are human, seeing as how Marco had Ax relay all of the info.
"Didn't he write all those Men Are From Jupiter, Women Are From Venus books?" Jake asked.
Ax said.
"Mars, not Jupiter," Cassie corrected.
"The point is we're all hanging on by our fingernails. What right do I have to go nuts?"
Cassie shrugged. "As much right as anyone."
"Yeah, well, that's not much, okay? We have things to do. I just need to get a grip is all."
But mostly, I remembered what I've always believed. What my mom taught me. That while some things are just plain awful, most things in life can be seen either as tragic or comic. And it's your choice. Is life a big, long, tiresome slog from sadness to regret to guilt to resentment to self-pity? Or is life weird, outrageous, bizarre, ironic, and just stupid?
Gotta go with stupid.
It's not the easy way out. Self-pity is the easiest thing in the world.
Finding the humor, the irony, the slight justification for a skewed, skeptical optimism, that's tough.
"Didn't he write all those Men Are From Jupiter, Women Are From Venus books?" Jake asked.
Ax said.
"Mars, not Jupiter," Cassie corrected.
"The point is we're all hanging on by our fingernails. What right do I have to go nuts?"
Cassie shrugged. "As much right as anyone."
"Yeah, well, that's not much, okay? We have things to do. I just need to get a grip is all."
But mostly, I remembered what I've always believed. What my mom taught me. That while some things are just plain awful, most things in life can be seen either as tragic or comic. And it's your choice. Is life a big, long, tiresome slog from sadness to regret to guilt to resentment to self-pity? Or is life weird, outrageous, bizarre, ironic, and just stupid?
Gotta go with stupid.
It's not the easy way out. Self-pity is the easiest thing in the world.
Finding the humor, the irony, the slight justification for a skewed, skeptical optimism, that's tough.
July 9, 2022
Marco’s stress surrounding his lost mother, his dad’s new girlfriend, and a new major recruitment strategy for the Yeerks has manifested in bizarre morphs gone wrong.
It’s finally addressed more fully the lack of mental health counseling/assistance options available for the team in Cassie going over to Marco’s house to be a soundboard for his troubles. It’s a very Cassie move but, again, I’m getting tired of this level of responsibility always falling on Cassie and not even the team’s leader, Jake.
This installment was fine but boy do I love these soap opera-esque plot twists!
CW: war, violence, slavery, dead loved ones, grief, animal cruelty, brief ableism
It’s finally addressed more fully the lack of mental health counseling/assistance options available for the team in Cassie going over to Marco’s house to be a soundboard for his troubles. It’s a very Cassie move but, again, I’m getting tired of this level of responsibility always falling on Cassie and not even the team’s leader, Jake.
This installment was fine but boy do I love these soap opera-esque plot twists!
CW: war, violence, slavery, dead loved ones, grief, animal cruelty, brief ableism
December 12, 2023
the one where marco has ptsd from killing his mom and cassie (jesus figure) tries to cure his toxic masculinity but jake (straying from god) says repression is part of the toolbox of war, actually. and there’s hanson boy band rpf???
this reminds me of the rachel starfish book because both are about the pov character being unable to reconcile how war has changed them with their pre-existing self image/identity, but this manifests through really goofy morph-technology-gone-wrong hijinks. i know i’m reading books for elementary school kids but the single-episode morphing hijinks are as juvenile as this series gets. and when it got to the last chapter i realized that the book was weirdly paced and felt like a lot of filler bc it’s setting up the visser one pov book. but i’m pumped for that so i can’t stay mad.
this reminds me of the rachel starfish book because both are about the pov character being unable to reconcile how war has changed them with their pre-existing self image/identity, but this manifests through really goofy morph-technology-gone-wrong hijinks. i know i’m reading books for elementary school kids but the single-episode morphing hijinks are as juvenile as this series gets. and when it got to the last chapter i realized that the book was weirdly paced and felt like a lot of filler bc it’s setting up the visser one pov book. but i’m pumped for that so i can’t stay mad.
July 12, 2015
I was fully prepared to write this one off as one of the silly Animorphs books, but no. Okay, the plot (having basically an Oprah-Dr. Phil be the targeted Yeerk the Animorphs have to take down) is silly, but the core issue with Marco is not at all. Again, this is the strength of this series; the kids have actual lives that actually affect them, and Marco especially is on rather a roller coaster but is totally right in saying that none of them are "okay" in this war. This is another fine example of how the series is taking apart what war and its stress does to combatants--and acknowledging something that kids do actually have to deal with, which is their parents having their own lives they have to live.
Some notables:
-Ghostwriter dude totally failed with Ax on this one, giving him an entire scene where he was in human morph but communicating in thoughtspeak. It wasn't just a type of having the brackets, either; someone commented both on him being human and on him using thoughtspeak. Fail, dude. That's never been a rule within this universe before.
-All of the books start out with the address to the reader, but I think this is the first time the narrator has gotten combative with the reader. Marco flat out says that we (as readers) can't even begin to approximate his stress level and almost insults the reader for trying. It sets up the rest of the book of him being super out of it, but I think it was out of character a little too far.
-I know I have something about Jake in pretty much every review within this series, but Jaaaaaake. He knows how to take Marco apart better than anyone else and then build him back up, because they've been friends forever and a day. I really appreciate that Jake leans on his friend knowledge of Marco to pull things together here; yes, it also helps him be the leader, but it reminds us subtly that there were relationships before this and that longevity is useful in and of itself.
I think the ghostwriter made this a less awesome book than it could have been, but it was still a solid Marco entry. And that cliffhanger! Gots to go find Animorphs: Visser, kbai.
Some notables:
-Ghostwriter dude totally failed with Ax on this one, giving him an entire scene where he was in human morph but communicating in thoughtspeak. It wasn't just a type of having the brackets, either; someone commented both on him being human and on him using thoughtspeak. Fail, dude. That's never been a rule within this universe before.
-All of the books start out with the address to the reader, but I think this is the first time the narrator has gotten combative with the reader. Marco flat out says that we (as readers) can't even begin to approximate his stress level and almost insults the reader for trying. It sets up the rest of the book of him being super out of it, but I think it was out of character a little too far.
-I know I have something about Jake in pretty much every review within this series, but Jaaaaaake. He knows how to take Marco apart better than anyone else and then build him back up, because they've been friends forever and a day. I really appreciate that Jake leans on his friend knowledge of Marco to pull things together here; yes, it also helps him be the leader, but it reminds us subtly that there were relationships before this and that longevity is useful in and of itself.
I think the ghostwriter made this a less awesome book than it could have been, but it was still a solid Marco entry. And that cliffhanger! Gots to go find Animorphs: Visser, kbai.
May 29, 2016
More fun from this series!
May 18, 2018
3.5/5
Pretty sure I read Ax thought speak as a human... according to the books this isn't something he can do!!
This one wasn't too bad. Not great, but not as terrible as the drivel from book #25 that this same ghost writer wrote. He has somewhat redeemed himself here, though he remains one of my least favorite ghost writers.
I actually could relate to some of this stuff since my dad isn't my "real" dad and even though I consider him my dad since he raised me most of my life, he and mom had issues, split up etc. So this Marco book did hit some notes with me.
Marco's humor is a bit off as usual and these books from his perspective are often darker, contrary to what his outgoing humorous manner might suggest.
Inside, Marco is messed up. His mother is Visser One after all. His dad is dating a teacher he has math with. This book added some depth to Marco. We got to see his internal struggle with emotions over his mother and his dad dating.
I found this book pretty true to life. Often the comedians or the outwardly happy have some pretty awfulthings pent upi. their heads. And so, we see that is the case with Marco. He represses everything and feigns happy. He's the joker. But really he's deeply troubled inside.
The morphing messing up is a bit meh... and Jake twlling him to man up was a bit harsh, considering what Marco has gone through. But we know Jake. We know his brother is a controller, so while he may not have lost his mother to the Yeerks, he has to watch his brother be controlled by one every day, knowing his brother is in there, a prisoner in his own body. So Jake has a bit of leeway to bark at Marco.
In many ways the Animorphs have really become child soldiers, hardened by war. But we are reminded that in the end, they are still children. We see this in this book with his parental issues, and we seen this with Rachel wantingto have some level of nomalcy by wanting Tobias to stay human in a previous book and date her and enjoy normalcy.
But their life is everything but normal.
In the end we leave off with a declaration of this books story continuing in Visser, a side book. Odd. But then we had a sequel book to the Hork Bajir Chronicals recently as well (which I immediately began reading after this).
Pretty sure I read Ax thought speak as a human... according to the books this isn't something he can do!!
This one wasn't too bad. Not great, but not as terrible as the drivel from book #25 that this same ghost writer wrote. He has somewhat redeemed himself here, though he remains one of my least favorite ghost writers.
I actually could relate to some of this stuff since my dad isn't my "real" dad and even though I consider him my dad since he raised me most of my life, he and mom had issues, split up etc. So this Marco book did hit some notes with me.
Marco's humor is a bit off as usual and these books from his perspective are often darker, contrary to what his outgoing humorous manner might suggest.
Inside, Marco is messed up. His mother is Visser One after all. His dad is dating a teacher he has math with. This book added some depth to Marco. We got to see his internal struggle with emotions over his mother and his dad dating.
I found this book pretty true to life. Often the comedians or the outwardly happy have some pretty awfulthings pent upi. their heads. And so, we see that is the case with Marco. He represses everything and feigns happy. He's the joker. But really he's deeply troubled inside.
The morphing messing up is a bit meh... and Jake twlling him to man up was a bit harsh, considering what Marco has gone through. But we know Jake. We know his brother is a controller, so while he may not have lost his mother to the Yeerks, he has to watch his brother be controlled by one every day, knowing his brother is in there, a prisoner in his own body. So Jake has a bit of leeway to bark at Marco.
In many ways the Animorphs have really become child soldiers, hardened by war. But we are reminded that in the end, they are still children. We see this in this book with his parental issues, and we seen this with Rachel wantingto have some level of nomalcy by wanting Tobias to stay human in a previous book and date her and enjoy normalcy.
But their life is everything but normal.
In the end we leave off with a declaration of this books story continuing in Visser, a side book. Odd. But then we had a sequel book to the Hork Bajir Chronicals recently as well (which I immediately began reading after this).
July 13, 2020
Original Review at Jaunts & Haunts
3.5/5
I give this novel three and a half stars.
In the last few books, each character seems to be dealing with some personal dilemmas, and this one is no exception.
In this book, Marco's our main man, and he's in a lot of hurt. His dad is now dating one of his teachers, and it's getting serious...ly frustrating. It doesn't help that his teacher has this annoying dog that always bites as his ankles (I don't like poodles, so I feel his pain!).
However, Marco has little time to deal when he sees a local celebrity vouching for The Sharing. The Animorphs band together trying to figure out a way to handle the situation, but can they really pull this off, or will this just be another exercise in futility?
This book really had potential to be great, but certain things just didn't pan out.
Let's start positive.
I felt that the characters personalities were portrayed pretty well this time. Marco is understandably upset about things, and he's not the kind to go whining about his personal issues, so he keeps things under wraps until he can't any longer. Cassie, Jake, and the others felt very authentic too. Cassie is super supportive and reaches out to Marco, Jake being the bestie he is, but with his own breaking point. The characters worked.
Unfortunately where things fell apart were the characters' decision making skills with the plot. The way they go about stopping this local celebrity didn't make much sense to me. They did definitely get creative, but it felt borderline ridiculous when they could've tried to stop him in other straightforward ways.
Despite that, I did enjoy Marco's character progression, as I feel it's important he come to terms with the possibility of his mother's death, as well as him and his dad moving on with their lives.
At this point, I believe we've seen all of our Animal Morphers go through some serious personal struggles lately, so hopefully this phase of the series is coming to an end so we can get some serious plot events going. I'll be crossing my fingers!
3.5/5
I give this novel three and a half stars.
In the last few books, each character seems to be dealing with some personal dilemmas, and this one is no exception.
In this book, Marco's our main man, and he's in a lot of hurt. His dad is now dating one of his teachers, and it's getting serious...ly frustrating. It doesn't help that his teacher has this annoying dog that always bites as his ankles (I don't like poodles, so I feel his pain!).
However, Marco has little time to deal when he sees a local celebrity vouching for The Sharing. The Animorphs band together trying to figure out a way to handle the situation, but can they really pull this off, or will this just be another exercise in futility?
This book really had potential to be great, but certain things just didn't pan out.
Let's start positive.
I felt that the characters personalities were portrayed pretty well this time. Marco is understandably upset about things, and he's not the kind to go whining about his personal issues, so he keeps things under wraps until he can't any longer. Cassie, Jake, and the others felt very authentic too. Cassie is super supportive and reaches out to Marco, Jake being the bestie he is, but with his own breaking point. The characters worked.
Unfortunately where things fell apart were the characters' decision making skills with the plot. The way they go about stopping this local celebrity didn't make much sense to me. They did definitely get creative, but it felt borderline ridiculous when they could've tried to stop him in other straightforward ways.
Despite that, I did enjoy Marco's character progression, as I feel it's important he come to terms with the possibility of his mother's death, as well as him and his dad moving on with their lives.
At this point, I believe we've seen all of our Animal Morphers go through some serious personal struggles lately, so hopefully this phase of the series is coming to an end so we can get some serious plot events going. I'll be crossing my fingers!
November 26, 2020
2.5. This book is essentially a carbon copy of Rachel’s The Reaction. Marco is dealing with a lot- his mom may be dead (but she may not be?) but his dad is now dating his math teacher and he’s put in a mighty difficult situation. So, now, whenever he morphs when he’s stressed he becomes random mixed morphs, like spider/skunk. This screws up most of their missions, which are focused around, like The Reaction, making sure a famous person can’t influence others to join The Sharing and then become Yeerks.
Cassie tries two times to act as counselor to Marco- once at his house, the second time DURING A MISSION. Perhaps the second situation would have worked, but Jake berates her and tells Marco to cope. He says, “”
Oh, how far they’ve fallen. It works, and while Marco and Cassie never make a comment about these harsh words, you have to imagine they’re not easily forgotten.
Two more notes:
Jake also helps Marco snap out of it by reminding Marco that “” Marco has reflected on this in earlier books and says he learned it from his mom, of all people, and this perspective actually tends to make him one of the most emotionally-solid Animorphs. Marco continues the thought later by musing “Its not the easy way out. Self-pity is the easiest thing in the world. Finding the humor, the irony, the slight justification for a skewed, skeptical optimism, that’s tough... time to get on with my life.”
So then, ever so ironically, Marco’s dad marries his math teacher and a few days later he receives a call from HIS MOTHER.
What does this meannn? Dun dun dunnnn.
Cassie tries two times to act as counselor to Marco- once at his house, the second time DURING A MISSION. Perhaps the second situation would have worked, but Jake berates her and tells Marco to cope. He says, “”
Oh, how far they’ve fallen. It works, and while Marco and Cassie never make a comment about these harsh words, you have to imagine they’re not easily forgotten.
Two more notes:
Jake also helps Marco snap out of it by reminding Marco that “” Marco has reflected on this in earlier books and says he learned it from his mom, of all people, and this perspective actually tends to make him one of the most emotionally-solid Animorphs. Marco continues the thought later by musing “Its not the easy way out. Self-pity is the easiest thing in the world. Finding the humor, the irony, the slight justification for a skewed, skeptical optimism, that’s tough... time to get on with my life.”
So then, ever so ironically, Marco’s dad marries his math teacher and a few days later he receives a call from HIS MOTHER.
What does this meannn? Dun dun dunnnn.
April 15, 2025
4.25. The Proposal puts characterization front and center once again, delivering another deep dive into Marco's ongoing turmoil. His unique circumstances in the war against the Yeerks have always made for some of the most compelling storytelling, and this installment is no exception.
At the heart of the book is yet another morphing anomaly gimmick that's really just a vehicle for exploring Marco’s complicated emotions surrounding his unique circumstances. Among the Animorphs who have deeply personal stakes in this war—Jake, Tobias, and Ax all come to mind—Marco’s situation has always been one of the most fascinating. Having his own mother serve as the host for the lead Field Commander of the Yeerk Empire while he fights against them is a brilliant setup, and this series has never shied away from wringing every ounce of drama from it. Somehow—and I can’t pinpoint exactly when it happens, only that it inevitably will—it feels like this conflict between Marco and Visser One is approaching its climax, especially after that ending.
Narratively, it’s impressive how the story makes something so seemingly simple—his father finally, truly moving on—the thing that sorta finally breaks him. Of course, it’s not as simple as that, but it tracks emotionally. What’s particularly striking is how the book contrasts two opposing approaches to helping him deal with this. Cassie provides the sit down and talk about it method (which utterly fails), while Jake gives the shut up and deal with it approach (which ultimately works). Outside the context of a YA sci-fi war series, I have mixed feelings about both strategies, but within this narrative, they’re executed effectively. Even if Marco's recovery feels a little crude and rushed, it’s undeniably true to his character.
Solid storytelling, made even stronger by that cliffhanger. Visser is up next. Onward we go...
40 down. 22 to go.
At the heart of the book is yet another morphing anomaly gimmick that's really just a vehicle for exploring Marco’s complicated emotions surrounding his unique circumstances. Among the Animorphs who have deeply personal stakes in this war—Jake, Tobias, and Ax all come to mind—Marco’s situation has always been one of the most fascinating. Having his own mother serve as the host for the lead Field Commander of the Yeerk Empire while he fights against them is a brilliant setup, and this series has never shied away from wringing every ounce of drama from it. Somehow—and I can’t pinpoint exactly when it happens, only that it inevitably will—it feels like this conflict between Marco and Visser One is approaching its climax, especially after that ending.
Narratively, it’s impressive how the story makes something so seemingly simple—his father finally, truly moving on—the thing that sorta finally breaks him. Of course, it’s not as simple as that, but it tracks emotionally. What’s particularly striking is how the book contrasts two opposing approaches to helping him deal with this. Cassie provides the sit down and talk about it method (which utterly fails), while Jake gives the shut up and deal with it approach (which ultimately works). Outside the context of a YA sci-fi war series, I have mixed feelings about both strategies, but within this narrative, they’re executed effectively. Even if Marco's recovery feels a little crude and rushed, it’s undeniably true to his character.
Solid storytelling, made even stronger by that cliffhanger. Visser is up next. Onward we go...
40 down. 22 to go.
December 1, 2020
This one is apparently ghostwritten by Jeffrey Zeuhlke, who did #25: The Extreme. I thought this one was much better. It’s also from Marco’s POV, only this time it felt more like the Marco character from the original books. The humor was much better too, and had me chuckling at times.
While there are some serious discussions concerning Marco’s grief over his mother and the stress of his father dating again, this book was more on the humorous side. It will be interesting to see if the incorrect morphs will feature later on or not. I especially found the big dinner scene and the one with the cockatiels to be hilarious. I also liked how Cassie reached out to Marco concerning his grief.
The ending felt rushed (2 weeks seems very fast and on the unrealistic side considering everything) but the final sentences were pretty good. Definitely more of a filler book but the mission and story were entertaining enough.
While there are some serious discussions concerning Marco’s grief over his mother and the stress of his father dating again, this book was more on the humorous side. It will be interesting to see if the incorrect morphs will feature later on or not. I especially found the big dinner scene and the one with the cockatiels to be hilarious. I also liked how Cassie reached out to Marco concerning his grief.
The ending felt rushed (2 weeks seems very fast and on the unrealistic side considering everything) but the final sentences were pretty good. Definitely more of a filler book but the mission and story were entertaining enough.
December 26, 2024
3.5 rounded up.
The Yeerk shenanigans in The Proposal are low stakes, a talk show host is recruiting for The Sharing. But it's the personal Marco plot that made this entry notable. Marco's dad has a new date, and the family has to confront the loss (or is it?) of Marco's mother.
The new woman is accompanied by a mean little poodle, emblematic of Marco's own emotions, who comes to slot nicely into the Yeerk plotline.
Both could have been better integrated, Marco's struggles could have been better explored, but perhaps unintentionally, The Proposal ends on a rather sad message about the mental health of the Animorphs.
The Yeerk shenanigans in The Proposal are low stakes, a talk show host is recruiting for The Sharing. But it's the personal Marco plot that made this entry notable. Marco's dad has a new date, and the family has to confront the loss (or is it?) of Marco's mother.
The new woman is accompanied by a mean little poodle, emblematic of Marco's own emotions, who comes to slot nicely into the Yeerk plotline.
Both could have been better integrated, Marco's struggles could have been better explored, but perhaps unintentionally, The Proposal ends on a rather sad message about the mental health of the Animorphs.
August 7, 2020
Run of the mill Animorphs book BUT THAT CLIFF HANGER
until next week!
until next week!
June 16, 2025
Audiobook
June 18, 2020
The Animorphs reread continues! Marco has super weird stress reactions. That's it, that's the story.
August 15, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
Marco’s dad is getting remarried, and our favourite resident comedian’s not coping with the stress. To make matters worse, a popular TV personality who promotes the Sharing on air is about to get promoted to a national audience. Marco’s losing control of his morphing, and they have to discredit this Controller without revealing the Animorphs’s biggest secret.
This book is one of the ones that doesn’t make much sense. Apparently the stress Marco is feeling over his dad remarrying while his mother may not be dead is the tipping point in a subversive guerrilla war waged against an intergalactic army. Apparently it’s the tipping point. Because you know, it’s not like the other Animorphs have anything to stress out about. You know, Cassie being a pacifist forced into a war, Jake the jock turning into General Patton, Rachel struggling with the psychopath inside, Tobias trapped in morph and Ax being the only Andalite within a trillion miles and all that.
But no. Apparently Marco’s the most emotionally unstable, and it’s not because of the war, or finding out his dead mother is actually alive, or having to set up his mother to die, or that he’s killed people.
And the way the Animorphs manage to defeat the Yeerk destined for TV stardom?
Annoying him with a poodle morph. Annoying him to the point of driving him crazy.
And what’s worse?
The plan works. Cassie spends the entire novel being Marco’s psychologist, but when it comes down to it, Jake snaps at him to ‘deal’ with him problems, and he does. Because he can either wallow in self-pity, as Cassie was letting him do, or he can find the funny side of it, and deal.
Although this is a well-written novel and certainly isn’t the worst one written, the most important thing about this novel happens on the final page. And it’s only important because it ties into the next Chronicles, VIsser.
March 12, 2020
Bad dog. Bad book.
Maybe one star is a bit unfair, but this feels especially egregious after the last entry, which was near the height of what makes Animorphs great. This one rehashes the plot of #12 (“The Reaction”), which I disliked already, and does it worse.
Like Rachel, Marco here has to stop a Yeerk bent on promoting the Sharing on live television. Like Rachel, Marco has some type of morphing illness causing him to be unable to control his morphs. Like Rachel, he inexplicably hides this vital information from the rest of the group. At least Rachel had an alligator, and an interesting (albeit cartoonish, in the end) battle with Visser 3. Marco has cockatiels and a poodle.
My one bit of praise, though, is that the plan involved basically trolling the aforementioned Yeerk until he got mad enough to explode in anger on live TV, thus destroying his credibility as a self-help guru. They intended to accomplish this by having Marco as poodle yap at him repeatedly. I appreciated Marco’s statements about enjoying this; that this was at last a way to take out his frustrations and to strike against the Yeerks without being left ethically conflicted, swamped with guilt and regret.
But that’s so minor. It’s like one sentence in the whole book. It ends with Marco receiving a answering machine message from his mom/Visser One, which leads us into “Visser”. That book is -spoiler- one hundred times better than this one. Being bookended by two excellent installments really draws attention to how weak this one is. It is extremely disappointing.
Edited to add: Another thing. There’s a trend I’m noticing of late in which the Animorphs get into a major battle or problem near the conclusion of the book and then in the final chapter(s) it fast-forwards to after-the-fact, not explaining how they got away. The same thing happened in the last Marco book. It feels like a cheat. I don’t like it.
Maybe one star is a bit unfair, but this feels especially egregious after the last entry, which was near the height of what makes Animorphs great. This one rehashes the plot of #12 (“The Reaction”), which I disliked already, and does it worse.
Like Rachel, Marco here has to stop a Yeerk bent on promoting the Sharing on live television. Like Rachel, Marco has some type of morphing illness causing him to be unable to control his morphs. Like Rachel, he inexplicably hides this vital information from the rest of the group. At least Rachel had an alligator, and an interesting (albeit cartoonish, in the end) battle with Visser 3. Marco has cockatiels and a poodle.
My one bit of praise, though, is that the plan involved basically trolling the aforementioned Yeerk until he got mad enough to explode in anger on live TV, thus destroying his credibility as a self-help guru. They intended to accomplish this by having Marco as poodle yap at him repeatedly. I appreciated Marco’s statements about enjoying this; that this was at last a way to take out his frustrations and to strike against the Yeerks without being left ethically conflicted, swamped with guilt and regret.
But that’s so minor. It’s like one sentence in the whole book. It ends with Marco receiving a answering machine message from his mom/Visser One, which leads us into “Visser”. That book is -spoiler- one hundred times better than this one. Being bookended by two excellent installments really draws attention to how weak this one is. It is extremely disappointing.
Edited to add: Another thing. There’s a trend I’m noticing of late in which the Animorphs get into a major battle or problem near the conclusion of the book and then in the final chapter(s) it fast-forwards to after-the-fact, not explaining how they got away. The same thing happened in the last Marco book. It feels like a cheat. I don’t like it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2017
Marco's morphing powers are acting up and it's due in part to the stress of dealing with the possibility of his dad marrying someone else whilst his mom is still out there, being controlled by Visser One. A popular TV figure William Tennant is persuading people to join the Sharing and the Animorphs see the need to destroy his reputation and prevent people from falling into the trap and becoming Controllers. The dangers faced weren't serious so this book wasn't that exciting. I felt the gang's actions were quite careless and since they appeared multiple times in the same morph, other controllers besides Tennant would've surely noticed and took action but nope, not the case.
I'm more interested in finding out what happens to Visser One and if Marco ever gets her back.
I'm more interested in finding out what happens to Visser One and if Marco ever gets her back.
July 5, 2016
I'm really not into whole parents dating someone being a catastrophe for children thing. I guess Marco's situation is more complicated than that, but still. I think he has to understand that his mother is not coming back. Even if they save her it won't be the same person after years of torture. Especially for more than a year she was locked away inside her own body, screaming, while her husband thought they were happy.
And why were their plans so messy? This was a very easy mission. I get Marco was off his game, but what happened to others?
And why were their plans so messy? This was a very easy mission. I get Marco was off his game, but what happened to others?
December 6, 2025
Once again, emotional problems affecting morphing. Marco's dad is getting remarried. But the problem is, Marco's mom is still alive. Probably. Not that his dad knows this, but... So obviously Marco's going through some shit.
But he gets the therapeutic pleasure of morphing a poodle and annoying the shit out of a Yeerk in the public eye, so that's something, at least.
And then the bigger cliffhanger: his mom calls. Oh no!
But he gets the therapeutic pleasure of morphing a poodle and annoying the shit out of a Yeerk in the public eye, so that's something, at least.
And then the bigger cliffhanger: his mom calls. Oh no!
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