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Animorphs #44
The Unexpected
This series follows the story of a group of five young kids who must use their knowledge and newly acquired ability to "morph" into any animal they touch to try to save the world from invading aliens.
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First published July 1, 2000
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K.A. Applegate
251 books480 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
September 26, 2023
The Yeerks have a shootout with some marines, and Cassie has to hide from the bullets. Unfortunately, she chooses the wrong place to hide. The plane she hides in eventually takes her to the Australian outback. And she’s got no idea how to get back home.
I like the idea of the Animorphs splitting up here. Because it provides us with a unique opportunity to get some character development for Cassie on her own. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t really capitalize on this opportunity. This feels more like fan service for the Australian fans of the series to be honest. This one’s all about the action-filled plot. And it’s pretty good. But I was kind of hoping for more, as we’re nearing the end of the series.
It’s full of action from start to finish, so it’s an entertaining and fast-paced romp. But it’s pretty much business as usual in the Animorphs series as it’s once again another filler story.
I like the idea of the Animorphs splitting up here. Because it provides us with a unique opportunity to get some character development for Cassie on her own. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t really capitalize on this opportunity. This feels more like fan service for the Australian fans of the series to be honest. This one’s all about the action-filled plot. And it’s pretty good. But I was kind of hoping for more, as we’re nearing the end of the series.
It’s full of action from start to finish, so it’s an entertaining and fast-paced romp. But it’s pretty much business as usual in the Animorphs series as it’s once again another filler story.
March 27, 2015
Two things I learned from this book: Cassie can't differentiate between an Australian and South Dakotan accent, and it's perfectly okay for two fourteen-year-olds to amputate a 70-year-old man's leg if necessary.
Okay.
Okay.
November 10, 2015
Ghostwriter: Lisa Harkrader. I'm hoping her later books are better, because this one was just sort of 'ehhh'. That said, her characterisations of the team were fine, and so was her prose -- the book itself is an action-packed thrill ride from problem to problem, complete with explosions and base-jumping out of airplanes.
But the problem is mainly structural and with the premise itself, which a ghostwriter probably couldn't get around if this was the plot handed to them. Separating an Animorph from the rest of the team is a really risky prospect as an author -- they need to be interesting enough to carry the whole book by themselves, and the plot itself needs to be interesting enough to help you get over how much you miss the rest of the team. (Books like #41 The Familiar could get away with it because you still got to interact with some version of the Animorphs, plus the premise was so BATSHIT NUTSO FASCINATING.)
Unfortunately, The Unexpected doesn't deliver on either of those fronts. I liked the characterisation details about Cassie here, but you don't learn or explore anything particularly earth-shattering about her. The Australian setting is interesting for showcasing other environments and other cultures, but there was no real point to this tangent, and mostly I rolled my eyes about the little pseudo-romantic diversion (what was the point?). Our aboriginal character reminded me a bit of the sassy Inuit from #25, and I'm conflicted about it; on the one hand, it's nice that there's representation of indigenous peoples in this series, but on the other hand, the fact both times they didn't bat an eye at shapeshifting magic is a little suspect.
The whole plot just feels a bit like a bunch of deus ex machina thrown together for the sake of having an adventure in the outback (which is nigh-impossible to make happen and have it still feel natural) -- the romp in the Amazon made a lot more sense and was way better constructed, imo.
When you finally reunite with the rest of the team at the end, I was just awash in how VERY VERY MUCH I HAD MISSED THEM, and how perfect their group banter was, and how fun and funny they are together as a group -- so I desperately wish Harkrader had had more of a chance to write exactly that, rather than being bogged down with a single-character adventure, which drags.
Favourite quote:
But the problem is mainly structural and with the premise itself, which a ghostwriter probably couldn't get around if this was the plot handed to them. Separating an Animorph from the rest of the team is a really risky prospect as an author -- they need to be interesting enough to carry the whole book by themselves, and the plot itself needs to be interesting enough to help you get over how much you miss the rest of the team. (Books like #41 The Familiar could get away with it because you still got to interact with some version of the Animorphs, plus the premise was so BATSHIT NUTSO FASCINATING.)
Unfortunately, The Unexpected doesn't deliver on either of those fronts. I liked the characterisation details about Cassie here, but you don't learn or explore anything particularly earth-shattering about her. The Australian setting is interesting for showcasing other environments and other cultures, but there was no real point to this tangent, and mostly I rolled my eyes about the little pseudo-romantic diversion (what was the point?). Our aboriginal character reminded me a bit of the sassy Inuit from #25, and I'm conflicted about it; on the one hand, it's nice that there's representation of indigenous peoples in this series, but on the other hand, the fact both times they didn't bat an eye at shapeshifting magic is a little suspect.
The whole plot just feels a bit like a bunch of deus ex machina thrown together for the sake of having an adventure in the outback (which is nigh-impossible to make happen and have it still feel natural) -- the romp in the Amazon made a lot more sense and was way better constructed, imo.
When you finally reunite with the rest of the team at the end, I was just awash in how VERY VERY MUCH I HAD MISSED THEM, and how perfect their group banter was, and how fun and funny they are together as a group -- so I desperately wish Harkrader had had more of a chance to write exactly that, rather than being bogged down with a single-character adventure, which drags.
Favourite quote:
February 7, 2018
Nobody expects the Australian Inquisition!
Animorphs #44: The Unexpected is a wildly uneven book that vacillates from cringe-worthy to touching and back, with little to no regard for anything resembling a unified plot, coherent characterization, or actual writing skills. It’s not that it’s a bad story; it’s just a mess.
Cassie ends up in Australia after inadvertently stowing aboard a passenger jet bound for that country. The first half of the book comprises her hiding from the Yeerks aboard this jet in various morphs and in her human form, culminating in a dramatic escape from the plane by jumping out of it. This is Megamorphs-level action, I must say, and it is quite exhilarating. But when Cassie touches down in Australia, half the book is already gone, yeah? And so the rest, no matter how interesting, feels far shorter than we deserve.
This book is notable for how little the other Animorphs appear in it. I do enjoy Cassie as a narrator, but having her carry virtually the entire book on her own is a tough ask. I would have preferred to see all, or even some, of the Animorphs stranded in Australia. There’s so much more the writer could have done with that idea! Instead, Cassie makes friends with a kid of Aborigine descent (presumably?) and then they get to amputate his grandfather’s leg together. Fun times!
I kid, but I kid you not—that leg amputation scene is some of the darkest shit we’ve seen so far in this series, at least for its grittiness. And that’s where I have a big problem with The Unexpected: it just can’t decide if it wants to be a light romp in the Outback or this serious rumination on Cassie’s misgivings about prosecuting this war against the Yeerks. And in not making a decision, we get these incredibly jarring transitions from light-hearted to dark in a way that doesn’t work. At all.
Anyway, next time we’re back to Serious Drama™ as Marco’s father gets embroiled in a suspiciously advanced physics project!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #43: The Test | #45: The Revelation →
Animorphs #44: The Unexpected is a wildly uneven book that vacillates from cringe-worthy to touching and back, with little to no regard for anything resembling a unified plot, coherent characterization, or actual writing skills. It’s not that it’s a bad story; it’s just a mess.
Cassie ends up in Australia after inadvertently stowing aboard a passenger jet bound for that country. The first half of the book comprises her hiding from the Yeerks aboard this jet in various morphs and in her human form, culminating in a dramatic escape from the plane by jumping out of it. This is Megamorphs-level action, I must say, and it is quite exhilarating. But when Cassie touches down in Australia, half the book is already gone, yeah? And so the rest, no matter how interesting, feels far shorter than we deserve.
This book is notable for how little the other Animorphs appear in it. I do enjoy Cassie as a narrator, but having her carry virtually the entire book on her own is a tough ask. I would have preferred to see all, or even some, of the Animorphs stranded in Australia. There’s so much more the writer could have done with that idea! Instead, Cassie makes friends with a kid of Aborigine descent (presumably?) and then they get to amputate his grandfather’s leg together. Fun times!
I kid, but I kid you not—that leg amputation scene is some of the darkest shit we’ve seen so far in this series, at least for its grittiness. And that’s where I have a big problem with The Unexpected: it just can’t decide if it wants to be a light romp in the Outback or this serious rumination on Cassie’s misgivings about prosecuting this war against the Yeerks. And in not making a decision, we get these incredibly jarring transitions from light-hearted to dark in a way that doesn’t work. At all.
Anyway, next time we’re back to Serious Drama™ as Marco’s father gets embroiled in a suspiciously advanced physics project!
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #43: The Test | #45: The Revelation →
December 6, 2020
Here's the conversation I imagine K. A. Applegate, and her husband, Michael Grant had when coming up with the plot for The Unexpected.
Applegate: Honey, I have no ideas, we need to make a decision in the next hour. What can we have Cassie do this book?
Grant: *Looks at the other Animorphs books, neatly lined on a bookshelf.* Um... we could essentially redo the plotline of The Extreme?
Applegate: Which one was The Extreme?
Grant: The whole team goes to The Arctic. Maybe Cassie can go somewhere fun?
Applegate: But where?
Grant: *Casually spins a globe, places his finger randomly... and it lands on Australia*
Applegate: Ok, cool, cool, Australia is interesting. What do we know about Australia? There's kangaroos, Cassie can morph a kangaroo.
Grant: There's the Australian Outback. Maybe she can spend time with a native kid who thinks she's a mystical being, although that's exactly what we did with the Extreme..
Applegate: It doesn't matter, that's perfect. What else can we include about Australia?
Grant: Aren't boomerangs associated with Australia?
Applegate: Awesome, we'll work that in! Should we insert a few awkward moments that maybe have some sexual tension with the boy so that we can ramp up the romance awkwardly with Jake when she gets home?
Grant: Sounds magical! So.. what else is going to happen in this book? Why are the Yeerks in Australia?
Applegate: ...
Grant: ...
Applegate: Uh... we'll tell the ghostwriter to figure it out.
*pause*
Grant: Boom. Thank goodness the series is almost over.
*End scene*
And that's essentially my feelings about the book. Insert really boring Australia cliches, insert Cassie agonizing over everything, insert a battle with the Yeerks only because for some bizarre reason they're realllllllyyy intent on capturing her... and you've got a lackluster book that isn't horrific, but is just... snoozy.
Applegate: Honey, I have no ideas, we need to make a decision in the next hour. What can we have Cassie do this book?
Grant: *Looks at the other Animorphs books, neatly lined on a bookshelf.* Um... we could essentially redo the plotline of The Extreme?
Applegate: Which one was The Extreme?
Grant: The whole team goes to The Arctic. Maybe Cassie can go somewhere fun?
Applegate: But where?
Grant: *Casually spins a globe, places his finger randomly... and it lands on Australia*
Applegate: Ok, cool, cool, Australia is interesting. What do we know about Australia? There's kangaroos, Cassie can morph a kangaroo.
Grant: There's the Australian Outback. Maybe she can spend time with a native kid who thinks she's a mystical being, although that's exactly what we did with the Extreme..
Applegate: It doesn't matter, that's perfect. What else can we include about Australia?
Grant: Aren't boomerangs associated with Australia?
Applegate: Awesome, we'll work that in! Should we insert a few awkward moments that maybe have some sexual tension with the boy so that we can ramp up the romance awkwardly with Jake when she gets home?
Grant: Sounds magical! So.. what else is going to happen in this book? Why are the Yeerks in Australia?
Applegate: ...
Grant: ...
Applegate: Uh... we'll tell the ghostwriter to figure it out.
*pause*
Grant: Boom. Thank goodness the series is almost over.
*End scene*
And that's essentially my feelings about the book. Insert really boring Australia cliches, insert Cassie agonizing over everything, insert a battle with the Yeerks only because for some bizarre reason they're realllllllyyy intent on capturing her... and you've got a lackluster book that isn't horrific, but is just... snoozy.
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 6, 2019
This isn't as racist as it could be! which isn't the same thing as good, by any measure. The Test, the previous book, has Cassie as stealth protagonist--not the PoV character, absent for the bulk of the plot, but her offscreen emotional journey is significant and harrowing. This is a Cassie-PoV book that separates her from the cast into the Australian outback, but it doesn't manage to achieve much at all, failing to progress her character or even feel like a continuation of the previous book. (Given how these where ghostwritten, probably not the writer's fault; still unfortunate.) I like survival situations, and Cassie's competence is always a delight, but this doesn't amount to much.
January 21, 2015
So, I liked this book. The plot was an interesting diversion from the usual and I didn't have any qualms about the writing (except for the somewhat abrupt ending.) My problem with it was such: if you're going to do a stand-alone one-person book at this stage in the game, so late in the series, with only so many books left, I expect some sort of like reason for it. Except for maybe some of the stuff at the beginning, I came out of this thoroughly confused as to its point. It didn't really expand the plot, it didn't expand on Cassie's character, it didn't really do anything.
So while it was good, and I didn't hate it or anything, in the grand scheme of things, I just wish there had've been more.
Quote I liked:
So while it was good, and I didn't hate it or anything, in the grand scheme of things, I just wish there had've been more.
Quote I liked:
July 26, 2022
With Cassie suddenly on her own for an impromptu solo mission on a Yeerk plane that crash lands in Australian, we get another filler episode.
Considering how intense and emotional things got in the last book, this story feels very disconnected. It’s all excess.
It’s a fine installment but also one of the many clear indicators that this series could have and should have been cut in half.
CW: war, violence, death, slavery
Considering how intense and emotional things got in the last book, this story feels very disconnected. It’s all excess.
It’s a fine installment but also one of the many clear indicators that this series could have and should have been cut in half.
CW: war, violence, death, slavery
August 28, 2016
A different sort of adventure from this series...but a great one!
May 28, 2024
Snakes on a plane > Cassie on a plane
January 28, 2016
It’s a real shame that Cassie’s books tend more often than not to fall shorter than everyone else’s in terms of quality and poignancy, at least in my opinion. With her moral compass and kind nature, she has the potential to have some pretty amazing books. (I mean, she was pretty amazing in the previous book, even though her “moment” was small.) Except in order to bring out her character, she often gets put into rather ridiculous situations. This time, she gets stuck alone in the cargo hold of a flight to Sydney, where she has to trick and fight Hork-Bajir- and other Controllers on her own, crash lands in the Australian outback somewhere, has a local indigenous Australian and his family discover her secret, and then has to fight off Visser Three, Taxxons, and Hork-Bajir mostly on her own. Really, this book could have only worked well if it appeared earlier in the series, i.e. before The Sickness (Animorphs #29).
Ridiculous point the first: The other Animorphs take a long time to respond to her calls for aid when things start to get heated between some Marines and some Controllers.
Ridiculous point the second: After all the fighting near the gates between Animorphs and Controllers and Marines, that any flight takes off as soon as it seems to do. Granted Cassie was knocked out for a time, but I doubt it was more than the probably minimum 4 hours the airport security would require after such a big breach of security.
Ridiculous point the third: After the first Bug fighter’s riders failed to capture or kill Cassie, that no alarms went off and no emergency landing was arranged as far as we can tell when the cargo bay doors were wide open for quite some time until Cassie was able to close them.
Ridiculous point the fourth: The passengers had mysterious burns from Dracon fire, and the plane’s door was opened for Cassie to escape. (Do you really think the Yeerks cared what happened to the people on the plane and thought to close the door and leave things as they were before they arrived? That’s what I thought.)
Ridiculous point the fifth: Cassie’s massive self-doubt about her abilities to make good decisions at any point during this book. Really, this is more like at least three separate ridiculous points all together.
Three more under the cut:
The redeeming qualities of this book are when Cassie actually reflects on her own actions in this war, and how can she live with herself and her decisions, and more importantly how she should continue her resistance. There are also Cassie’s interactions with Yami’s grandfather, and the wisdom he imparts to her.. And then the humor at the very end – between Ax and Marco’s comments, then Tobias’ description of what Jake was like while Cassie was missing. This is also the fewest amount of quotes I have selected from a single Animorphs book in a LONG time. Barely three pages before adding in the actual review and the additional commentary.
Do everything you can, and anything you must.
< Move over, Marines, > [Marco] said. < The zoo has landed. > [after Marco and the others excepting Cassie arrived in a baggage car]
< We thought maybe – just maybe – you could use a little help, > Marco called, knuckle-walking across the tarmac.
< And the rest of us were [expecting to look] like roadkill. > Rachel. Squinting her nearsighted grizzly eyes and bounding after Bald Spot. < We took a vote. We’re pooling our money and enrolling Marco in driver’s ed. > -- page 8 – Love how Marco’s driving skills keep coming back into play! But it seems strange how long the other Animorphs were completely silent to Cassie’s calls… they could have at least had Ax tell her they were on their way or something. (The brackets is me replacing the original word, “looking” with something that makes a little more sense grammatically and in tense.)
[Ax is morphed a cheetah] Ax cornered a third Controller between two cargo bins.
Whipped his tail. Flicked air. Let out a sound that wasn’t even close to “meow.”
< This appendage works well to balance the cheetah when it runs, but it is useless as a weapon. >
< You’ll have to settle for teeth and claws, Ax[-]man, > Jake called. – page 13 – Missed a dash mark for Ax’s nickname. A nice bit of humor in general, too.
A thumb, four fingers, pale and bumpy like a plucked chicken, shot from the tip of each wing. Rib bones melted and reshaped, growing to my normal size. Legs straightened and lengthened, the claws softening into ten toes on two human feet.
And then I stopped morphing.
I was still more gull than girl, a weird mix of fluffy wings and pure horror. The Blair Muppet Project. But I didn’t look human. Not even close. – page 20 – I’ll give you that, Cassie… but you also don’t exactly look like an Andalite mid-morph, either, especially with your hair peeking out on your head too.
Besides, Marco and Ax found this piece of information on a closed Defense Department site in an encrypted, top-secret memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It takes way more than a security clearance and a secret code to defeat Ax. – page 36-37
Ridiculous point the first: The other Animorphs take a long time to respond to her calls for aid when things start to get heated between some Marines and some Controllers.
Ridiculous point the second: After all the fighting near the gates between Animorphs and Controllers and Marines, that any flight takes off as soon as it seems to do. Granted Cassie was knocked out for a time, but I doubt it was more than the probably minimum 4 hours the airport security would require after such a big breach of security.
Ridiculous point the third: After the first Bug fighter’s riders failed to capture or kill Cassie, that no alarms went off and no emergency landing was arranged as far as we can tell when the cargo bay doors were wide open for quite some time until Cassie was able to close them.
Ridiculous point the fourth: The passengers had mysterious burns from Dracon fire, and the plane’s door was opened for Cassie to escape. (Do you really think the Yeerks cared what happened to the people on the plane and thought to close the door and leave things as they were before they arrived? That’s what I thought.)
Ridiculous point the fifth: Cassie’s massive self-doubt about her abilities to make good decisions at any point during this book. Really, this is more like at least three separate ridiculous points all together.
Three more under the cut:
The redeeming qualities of this book are when Cassie actually reflects on her own actions in this war, and how can she live with herself and her decisions, and more importantly how she should continue her resistance. There are also Cassie’s interactions with Yami’s grandfather, and the wisdom he imparts to her.. And then the humor at the very end – between Ax and Marco’s comments, then Tobias’ description of what Jake was like while Cassie was missing. This is also the fewest amount of quotes I have selected from a single Animorphs book in a LONG time. Barely three pages before adding in the actual review and the additional commentary.
Do everything you can, and anything you must.
< Move over, Marines, > [Marco] said. < The zoo has landed. > [after Marco and the others excepting Cassie arrived in a baggage car]
< We thought maybe – just maybe – you could use a little help, > Marco called, knuckle-walking across the tarmac.
< And the rest of us were [expecting to look] like roadkill. > Rachel. Squinting her nearsighted grizzly eyes and bounding after Bald Spot. < We took a vote. We’re pooling our money and enrolling Marco in driver’s ed. > -- page 8 – Love how Marco’s driving skills keep coming back into play! But it seems strange how long the other Animorphs were completely silent to Cassie’s calls… they could have at least had Ax tell her they were on their way or something. (The brackets is me replacing the original word, “looking” with something that makes a little more sense grammatically and in tense.)
[Ax is morphed a cheetah] Ax cornered a third Controller between two cargo bins.
Whipped his tail. Flicked air. Let out a sound that wasn’t even close to “meow.”
< This appendage works well to balance the cheetah when it runs, but it is useless as a weapon. >
< You’ll have to settle for teeth and claws, Ax[-]man, > Jake called. – page 13 – Missed a dash mark for Ax’s nickname. A nice bit of humor in general, too.
A thumb, four fingers, pale and bumpy like a plucked chicken, shot from the tip of each wing. Rib bones melted and reshaped, growing to my normal size. Legs straightened and lengthened, the claws softening into ten toes on two human feet.
And then I stopped morphing.
I was still more gull than girl, a weird mix of fluffy wings and pure horror. The Blair Muppet Project. But I didn’t look human. Not even close. – page 20 – I’ll give you that, Cassie… but you also don’t exactly look like an Andalite mid-morph, either, especially with your hair peeking out on your head too.
Besides, Marco and Ax found this piece of information on a closed Defense Department site in an encrypted, top-secret memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It takes way more than a security clearance and a secret code to defeat Ax. – page 36-37
September 12, 2022
Fantastic Cassie book!
I love that we got to see her away from the other Animorphs and just see her thought processes as she goes from bad to worse situation. She really is the smartest Animorph AND the kindest. She also seems to be the only one with any remorse left. Yes she did kill a couple controllers :/ but she felt bad okay! Also yikes at the probably not so accurate portrayal of people in Australia. Also! New battle morph unlocked??? I think this story was pretty well written, we got to see Cassie in several life/death situations and she fared better than any of the others would’ve. I think it was funny how she would think of what one of the other Animorphs would tell her in a situation, but she never thought about Jake’s advice. (spoilers! it’s bc he wouldn’t know what to do in any of the situations in this book, bc he’s dumb) Overall, I don’t think anything of consequence is gonna come from this book 🙄 I doubt we’ve got anything to worry about from the military, and even less to worry about the fact that Cassie have exposed alien existence to Australians.
Still a good read tho!
I love that we got to see her away from the other Animorphs and just see her thought processes as she goes from bad to worse situation. She really is the smartest Animorph AND the kindest. She also seems to be the only one with any remorse left. Yes she did kill a couple controllers :/ but she felt bad okay! Also yikes at the probably not so accurate portrayal of people in Australia. Also! New battle morph unlocked??? I think this story was pretty well written, we got to see Cassie in several life/death situations and she fared better than any of the others would’ve. I think it was funny how she would think of what one of the other Animorphs would tell her in a situation, but she never thought about Jake’s advice. (spoilers! it’s bc he wouldn’t know what to do in any of the situations in this book, bc he’s dumb) Overall, I don’t think anything of consequence is gonna come from this book 🙄 I doubt we’ve got anything to worry about from the military, and even less to worry about the fact that Cassie have exposed alien existence to Australians.
Still a good read tho!
October 17, 2013
Cassie takes on the Yeerks by herself and is summarily transported to Australia where she reveals her morphing power to an Aboriginal family but it’s OK because they’re charming natives who believe in spirits, hee hee isn’t that cute *rolls eyes*
The book opens with the Animorphs somehow believing they can take a piece of crashed Bug fighter to the Government to prove they’re fighting an alien invasion – because presumably an alien itself, a talking bird, and four kids who can turn into animals, not to mention an ally race of ancient androids and friendly parasites and a freaking spaceship that looks like Snoopy isn’t enough to convince the Government they need to start fighting a war. No, that piece of Bug fighter is going to convince EVERYONE.
See the full review on The Moonlight Library!
March 4, 2016
Another stupid, pointless book; the fact that it's yet another pointless Cassie book only enhances its mediocrity. I guess a ghostwriter just really wanted to have someone morph a kangaroo, and you gotta go to Australia for kangaroos, so... here we are. Also, again with Cassie performing pretty intense surgery that she is in no way qualified for and, huzzah, everything just magically turns out okay.
September 30, 2022
Hmmm, they did Cassie dirty here. Like, this book was so frustrating. Half the book is her sitting on an airplane and the other half is her being friendly with some Australians. There is a cool fight scene and Cassie did great but like, what was the point? Did this actually move the larger plot forward? Solo adventures of the Animorphs have never been my favorite and this was no exception. I prefer the Team together, the stakes higher than what they were here.
April 15, 2025
Can't rate this one too low because STRAYA!!! but man it's pointless.
The shoot out opening sequence at the airport is exciting, but it's also highly inconclusive and goes on way too long. After getting invested in the Marines Cassie tries to save, we don't find out if they even survive. Accurate to the tragedies of war I guess, but narratively unsatisfying. It also means there's no real time to develop the Australian storyline.
Next, Cassie gets trapped on the world's stupidest flight: San Jose to Sydney via the Red Centre. Which means either the plane goes east across the entire eurasian continent just for shits and air miles, or it overshoots Sydney and goes to Alice Springs before doing a 180° back to Sydney, again just for shits and air miles.
On the one hand it's great fun to have Aussie representation in the Animorphs; on the other hand, this did feel a bit like the ghostwriter Lisa was reeling off every highlight she'd experienced during a two day Uluru guided tour or a 1 hour documentary about Northern Territory. Boomerangs, Aboriginal art, witchety grubs, mobs of roos, democracy manifest, get on the beers, etc. I was almost expecting Rolf Harris or Pauline Hanson to appear -- the only foes more evil than Visser 3 whom Cassie could possibly have faced in this volume. Yami and his grandfather, who doesn't get a name, are stock indigenous character archetypes: the spiritually attuned young boy who befriends and mentors the stranger, and the wise old grandfather who gives the stranger the "this coloniser is legit" badge (but somehow is also incompetent enough to swipe off his own leg with a piece of bug fighter).
There's a light critique as Cassie ironically notes how tourists come in planes to fly past the "charming natives". I do think it was a bit slay (sorry Lady Gaga) of the ghostwriter to obliquely compare the genocidal Yeerk invasion of earth to the British invasion of Australia.
“They’re here because they’re evil.” His voice was a low rasp. “You fight these creatures, yes?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“If you did not fight them, do you think they would leave us alone? Do you think they would stay away from this place and never hurt us? No. They would come. They would take our land, destroy our home. Our life would be gone forever. This I know.” He swallowed. “Do everything you can, and anything you must.” He closed his eyes. “I only wish I could help.”
The invasion of Australia and genocide of Aboriginal people is a big and unavoidable fact of history which makes a shameful number of Aussies get their knickers in a right twist to this very day. Aboriginals used to have their lands stolen by soldiers and farmers at musket point; now, they have it stolen by corporations driving bulldozers, and waving mining permits granted by our weakwilled "environment" ministers.
Essentially, the book feints at post colonialism in the context of an alien invasion, but doesn't actually explore this parallel in a complex or meaningful way. It would be an incredibly sensitive and weighty parallel to explore, sure. But if anyone could do the topic justice for younger readers, I think that Animorphs is intellectually and empathetically developed enough to pull it off.
Best morph: 🦘 Yaaaay the bouncy bois!!! I've been kicked by a kangaroo, and I fully believe they could take out Taxxons if they wanted.
Shout out to Cassie for worrying she's cheated on Jake because she was attracted to Yami. Girl you are adorable.
The shoot out opening sequence at the airport is exciting, but it's also highly inconclusive and goes on way too long. After getting invested in the Marines Cassie tries to save, we don't find out if they even survive. Accurate to the tragedies of war I guess, but narratively unsatisfying. It also means there's no real time to develop the Australian storyline.
Next, Cassie gets trapped on the world's stupidest flight: San Jose to Sydney via the Red Centre. Which means either the plane goes east across the entire eurasian continent just for shits and air miles, or it overshoots Sydney and goes to Alice Springs before doing a 180° back to Sydney, again just for shits and air miles.
On the one hand it's great fun to have Aussie representation in the Animorphs; on the other hand, this did feel a bit like the ghostwriter Lisa was reeling off every highlight she'd experienced during a two day Uluru guided tour or a 1 hour documentary about Northern Territory. Boomerangs, Aboriginal art, witchety grubs, mobs of roos, democracy manifest, get on the beers, etc. I was almost expecting Rolf Harris or Pauline Hanson to appear -- the only foes more evil than Visser 3 whom Cassie could possibly have faced in this volume. Yami and his grandfather, who doesn't get a name, are stock indigenous character archetypes: the spiritually attuned young boy who befriends and mentors the stranger, and the wise old grandfather who gives the stranger the "this coloniser is legit" badge (but somehow is also incompetent enough to swipe off his own leg with a piece of bug fighter).
There's a light critique as Cassie ironically notes how tourists come in planes to fly past the "charming natives". I do think it was a bit slay (sorry Lady Gaga) of the ghostwriter to obliquely compare the genocidal Yeerk invasion of earth to the British invasion of Australia.
“They’re here because they’re evil.” His voice was a low rasp. “You fight these creatures, yes?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“If you did not fight them, do you think they would leave us alone? Do you think they would stay away from this place and never hurt us? No. They would come. They would take our land, destroy our home. Our life would be gone forever. This I know.” He swallowed. “Do everything you can, and anything you must.” He closed his eyes. “I only wish I could help.”
The invasion of Australia and genocide of Aboriginal people is a big and unavoidable fact of history which makes a shameful number of Aussies get their knickers in a right twist to this very day. Aboriginals used to have their lands stolen by soldiers and farmers at musket point; now, they have it stolen by corporations driving bulldozers, and waving mining permits granted by our weakwilled "environment" ministers.
Essentially, the book feints at post colonialism in the context of an alien invasion, but doesn't actually explore this parallel in a complex or meaningful way. It would be an incredibly sensitive and weighty parallel to explore, sure. But if anyone could do the topic justice for younger readers, I think that Animorphs is intellectually and empathetically developed enough to pull it off.
Best morph: 🦘 Yaaaay the bouncy bois!!! I've been kicked by a kangaroo, and I fully believe they could take out Taxxons if they wanted.
Shout out to Cassie for worrying she's cheated on Jake because she was attracted to Yami. Girl you are adorable.
July 5, 2023
Books I've read and provided detailed reviews over the years but all data is lost after accidental deletion and GD refuse to restore it back.
Adding books back to my library for my own reference and tracking purposes
Adding books back to my library for my own reference and tracking purposes
May 3, 2023
I hate to say it, but this one was a slog. A fun trip to The Outback, but I'm ready to get back to the main plot.
January 30, 2024
Cassie, Tobias and Ax tend to have my favorite stories in the series, and this one's no exception
October 24, 2020
Dr. Cassie Outback Medicine Woman
-
This was the silliest book yet. Sure it has a cool surgery scene but REALLT?
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This was the silliest book yet. Sure it has a cool surgery scene but REALLT?
November 1, 2023
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
Narrator: Cassie
Plot: Well, we’ve reached what is almost unanimously known as one of the most useless books in the series. Not the most hated. Not the most controversial. Just the most…useless. Again, I had very few memories of this book, but it’s not because I actually blocked anything out this time. Just not very much happens!
Me after realizing that we’re halfway through the book and Cassie hasn’t even reached the Outback.
Cassie and co. are on a mission at the airport to try and capture a chunk of a broken Bug Fighter that the military has gotten its hands on. Of course, the Yeerks are there too with the same thing in mind. Everything goes south, however, when a gun fight breaks out between the Marines and the incoming Controllers. Jake calls for a retreat, but seagull!Cassie doesn’t want to leave the innocent Marines behind. She tries to get involved (ugh, by pooping on a Controller), but ends up shot and having to partially de-morph to make an escape using a luggage cart. Chased by Yeerks, she ends up hiding beneath a pile of luggage and trying to make herself demorph as she passes out.
An unknown amount of time later, she wakes up fully human, but freezing and still under the luggage. She then realizes that she’s on a plane, and what’s worse, the plane is in flight. While trying to figure out what to do, the plane suddenly stops moving and a green scanner sweeps through. She ends up partially paralyzed and realizes the Yeerks have followed her, knowing that an “Andalite bandit” is stashed somewhere on the plane. She decides to go Rachel’s route and morphs a polar bear. When the Yeerks open the cargo bay door, she attacks. She manages to take out several Hork Bajir and forces them to retreat, blowing up a Bug fighter on the way. However, she knows they’ll be back. She scratches up the inside of the cargo bay, hoping to make it look like she fell out with the Hork Bajir in the fight. When the green light strikes again, she hides and makes her way up to the passenger level.
Unfortunately, the Yeerks have a monitor that tracks movement and they are able to spot something going up. As a human girl, she quickly sits down in an empty seat and pretends to be frozen. This mostly works until the Controllers decide to start tazing the passengers, looking for a flinch. Cassie times her attack of the Hork Bajir doing the tazing in an effort to escape. She manages to get away and dives out one of the emergency exits, morphing osprey on her way down. In a deep canyon, she finds a crevice and hides out as flea. After waiting as long as she can, she emerges and demorphs, only to realize she’s been spotted by a local boy named Yami.
Yami is unphased, saying that his grandfather has taught him about the spirits of the Outback that can change their forms, so a girl who can turn into an osprey must be special. He also informs Cassie where she is: Australia. Yami offers to take her back to his place where she can make a plan from there. On the way, they pass a mob of kangeroos and Cassie sees a mother and joey that have gotten stuck in some fencing. She manages to release it while also acquiring it. Yami sees her ability to calm the wild animal as further proof of her supernatural origins. They head back to Yami’s home where she meets his family and the aforementioned grandfather.
The next day, she wakes up and knows she needs to find a way back home. It turns out that the Bug fighter she took out in the air had crashed nearby and taken out the radio transmitter that Yami and his family use to communicate with the outside world. Without it, she’ll have to a wait a week for the mail delivery people to come by. She forms a plan to morph the kangaroo that night and make her way to the nearest city, which is is about 70 miles away. During the day, Yami and his grandfather gift Cassie a boomerang and show her how to use it. While they are practicing, she sees several small airplanes flying overhead. Yami says they are tourists and they usually fly out in the morning and will fly back over later that night.
As the practice, Yami’s grandfather suddenly collapses. Cassie and Yami bring him back to the house where they discover a badly infected cut on his leg that Yami’s grandfather says came from a strange piece of metal he found out in the wilderness; Cassie recognizes it as part of the downed Bug fighter. The leg worsens throughout the day until finally, near the end of the day, Cassie realizes that they have no choice but to amputate. She morphs Hork Bajir for both the blades and strength to complete the task. Yami looks on with fear, but helps Cassie perform the surgery. Yami’s grandfather quickly starts to look better. But before she can think of a next step, the Blade ship arrives and she hears Visser Three’s voice booming out insisting that the “Andalite” show itself or he will destroy everything in sight.
Cassie morphs the kangaroo and tries to lead the Yeerks away. Hork Bajir and Taxxons give chase. She ends up in a mob of other kangaroos all of which also attack the Yeerks, some dying in the process. She manages to take out a few herself before becoming injured. Yami, his family, and his dog come to the rescue, killing a few Hork Bajir with their boomerangs. However, it won’t be enough. Luckily, the returning tourists are spotted and Cassie hears Visser Three calling for a retreat and speedy clean-up of the area. She manages to demorph just as familiar member of the Chee shows up, saying he caught a ride with the Yeerks and is here to take Cassie home.
Back home, Cassie and the rest meet up at the zoo. Cassie had wanted to go “shopping,” which Rachel was disappointed to learn meant “getting a postcard from the zoo.” The team tease Jake about his frantic search for Cassie while she was missing and he asks to see the postcard she purchased: it is of an osprey an on it she has written two words: “No worries.” It’s a phrase that Yami repeated many times throughout her stay, and she knows that he will recognize it and know the card is from her and that she is safe.
Peace, Love, and Animals: For all of its rather boring plot and lack of contribution to the larger story, I actually liked this book for what it had to offer for Cassie’s character. Again, we have Cassie on her own. (I still really don’t understand why this is a repeated theme for this character. It’s rarely a good thing for ANY of them, but I also think Cassie in particular is less suited for it.) But throughout the story, we see her evaluating her options against what other members of the team would do: Rachel’s penchant for action, Marco’s deliberation, Jake’s caution, etc.
We also get to see some clever thinking on her part when it comes to escaping the Yeerks on the plane. I think there might have been a few better options to be had, but on her own, she did fairly well. She also has to fight one-on-one with several Controllers and, while she does struggle with this (especially the fact that she shoots a Hork Bajir with a Dracon beam that was set on high and instantly killed him), she also doesn’t get too caught up in things.
It’s also always fun seeing her doctoring abilities come out, and she’s given a great platform for that with her amputation of the grandfather’s leg using her Hork Bajir morph. Again, not sure that that was the only option there and that using actual knives like a real doctor wouldn’t have been better. But it was a cool combination of morph mechanics and Cassie’s medical abilities.
Our Fearless Leader: We see Jake abort a mission early in the book, something that doesn’t come around that often. But it does lead to the interesting idea that there are a lot of missions that could have happened between books that just went down as failures and wouldn’t be written about. Like this one, if Cassie hadn’t, you know, ended up in Australia.
Xena, Warrior Princess: There were some good bits of dialogue for Rachel both in the first part of the book when she makes fun of Marco’s driving and in the end, when she bemoans Cassie’s definition of “shopping.” There’s also a really interesting moment about halfway through the book where Cassie is reflecting on her past choices and how, as a whole, they don’t all make sense, but she just had to make up her mind with each individual situation, without knowing what new horrible choice would come from that first one. Ultimately, she notes that she might be more reckless than Rachel, even though Rachel is the one with the reputation for rashness. Rachel’s recklessness presents as bravery to the point of foolishness and a preference for action above all. But Cassie realizes that some of even her more deliberative choices ultimately are more reckless than Rachel’s “go get em” attitude. It’s a really interesting character moment. And it speaks to one of the annoyances I’ve had throughout the series both with regards to the increasingly bad reputation that Rachel has gotten for being reckless and the free pass that Cassie has also been given for making what are ultimately way more dangerous decisions. It’s nice to have the book acknowledge this, as well as Cassie herself.
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias really had nothing in this book. He jumps on the “tease Jake” bandwagon with Rachel in the end about the fact that Jake was behaving “like a zombie” when Cassie was missing. His description of Jake’s behavior was pretty funny, and it’s always nice to see Tobias’s snarky side come out.
The Comic Relief: Gorilla!Marco ends up careening around driving a luggage truck in the opening mission in this book. It’s a nice nod to the fact that somehow Marco always ends up driving (not just when he’s in gorilla morph either!). And apparently he hasn’t improved at all, which is a bit surprising because you’d think they’d all be coming up to driver’s ed about now in the timeline.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax, too, has very little, other than the fairly typical scene of him trying to eat the popcorn carton when they’re all hanging out at the zoo in the end of the book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: We’ve seen the Animorphs use partial de-morphs as a way to disguise their identity in the past, and it’s almost always sure to land in this section of my review. There’s no way around the sheer horror factor of what most of these half-morphs look like. But…I also have a deep fear of birds, so the idea of half-human, half-seagull Cassie lurching around on the tarmac…truly, truly horrific.
Couples Watch!: There were a few interesting things in this book. For one, we have the continued evidence that Rachel and Tobias are the more acknowledged, steady couple in the series. In the brief scene at the end of the book, we see them sitting together and teasing Jake and Cassie together, very confident in their own relationship. Jake and Cassie, on the other hand, are still nervous about even sitting next to each other and are still doing awkward things like putting their hands near each other and hoping the other one touches them. Jake even asks Cassie to stick around to “talk” and Rachel and Tobias jump on that saying he just wants to kiss Cassie.
The other notable bit is that while Yami is teaching Cassie to throw the boomerang they have a bit of a “moment,” enough of one even that Cassie feels mild guilt about it when she gets back and the others are teasing Jake about his freak out while she was gone. She worries that she was essentially flirting while he was worrying.
Knowing what we do about the end of the series, both of these things are kind of interesting: the fact that Cassie and Jake are still, after several years at this point, kind of awkward and uncomfortable with their relationship and the fact that Cassie had this small connection with this other boy.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: The Yeerks really commit to chasing down this one Andalite. I mean, given how often they run into conflicts with the Animorphs and they all end up going their own ways without extremes taken to chase each other down…this all seems a bit much. Especially after Cassie gets off the plane. There’s really zero reason that Visser Three should know to show up at Yami’s house thinking the “Andalite bandit” will be hiding out there. Why would they be? A rogue Andalite could have morphed any animal and be anywhere, most likely heading towards a major city to get back home (like Cassie’s plan is anyways). Really, the last place an Andalite would go would be to hang out with a bunch of humans on a ranch. It’s very strange.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: The closest I came was probably the descriptions of the poor kangaroos that got taken out by Hork Bajir and Taxxons. And my extreme concern in that same fight when Yami’s dog got involved, and I couldn’t remember whether the dog survived.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: I actually found the explanation for how Cassie ended up on the plane fairly plausible as far as strange things that happen in these books go. I do think she could have managed to get off it a bit easier, mostly be morphing a bug right next to the airlock so that when the door opened, even if they gassed the plane, she would be out in no time, and the Yeerks would have had no way of knowing.
It’s not so much a terrible plan, but the explanation of the Chee randomly showing up and getting her out of there has to be one of the most blatant examples of lazy writing. They literally show up out of nowhere, with no explanation for how they even knew to follow the Yeerks to Australia, and then there is still no explanation for how they really get back. I mean, Cassie’s still a minor with zero documentation off in Australia. It’s all pretty weird and best not think about, in the end.
Favorite Quote:
This was the main chunk of the bit where Cassie is reflecting on her past choices, and I think it’s pretty good. Just too bad that it got stuck in such a nothing book where I think many readers forget she even reflected on some of these things. Same thing goes for her comparison between herself and Rachel with regards to recklessness.
I’m not trying to be some kind of martyr, or say that I’m always a screwup. I’m not. In my world, making hard choices is part of the deal. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong. Sometimes I just can’t tell, even when the mission is over and we’ve all come out alive, at least. Leave the Animorphs. Come back. Trust Aftran, the Yeerk. Trust her again. Take responsibility for the never-ending, always unfolding consequences of those decisions. Say, no, I can’t be part of this mission, can’t be part of a mass killing of innocent people no matter what the ultimate goal, I won’t. Get involved anyway, commit acts maybe much worse. Why? To save some lives, not others. A choice. There’s always a choice.
There’s also a good line from the grandfather when Cassie is freaking out that she lead the Yeerks right to them, and it’s a good line for not only Cassie to remember, but all of them, at one point or another.
“They’re here because of me.”
“No.”
Yami’s grandfather touched my arm. I looked down, startled. He drew a sharp breath. His face twisted in pain, but his eyes stayed bright and alert.
“They’re here because they’re evil.”
Scorecard: Yeerks 11, Animorphs 15
The Animorphs literally call this one a tie themselves, so I’ll stick with their rating.
Rating: There’s no getting around the fact that this book is incredibly slow. Cassie doesn’t even get to Australia until almost over halfway through the story. And for a book that is marketed completely on her adventures in Australia, that’s pretty disappointing. It’d almost be more realistic for it to be “Cassie’s adventures at an airport and on an airplane.” Beyond that, any book that separates one character away from the others is almost always worse. It’s even more depressing in this one because not only is Cassie not the strongest character on her own, but the brief bits we get of dialogue from the others is great, so the ghost writer clearly had a good handle on the group dynamics (something that is not always a given at this point). And, of course, this book does nothing to advance the ongoing story. Not to mention the hot garbage that is the explanation for how she gets back with some weird “the Chee did it!” handwave-solution.
But! As far as Cassie herself goes, there’s actually a good amount that I really enjoyed. She addresses her own past decisions and how a lot of the times they were contradictory and even more reckless than Rachel’s, and that adds a really nice layer to the character. She has some shining moments of having to choose to fight and accept that, as well as the great scene of her utilizing her badass medical knowledge.
One last thing, however, has to do with Yami and his family. With Cassie sending the postcard in the end, it’s assumed that Yami and his family are safe and well in the end. But…why would they be? Not only is the idea that the Yeerks just left them alive pretty out of place with our knowledge of how Visser Three and the Yeerks operate, but really Yami and his family are a massive liability for Cassie and the others! While they might think she has some strange spirit animal thing going on, a quick infestation of Yami or any of them would quickly bring down the whole house of cards. And, even more so than just kill them, again, why WOULDN’T the Yeerks infest these people? They know that Yami and his family were hiding the “Andalite,” so it seems like a pretty obvious source of information, at the very least. Oh well, chock it up as another “just don’t think too hard about it” moment, I guess.
Narrator: Cassie
Plot: Well, we’ve reached what is almost unanimously known as one of the most useless books in the series. Not the most hated. Not the most controversial. Just the most…useless. Again, I had very few memories of this book, but it’s not because I actually blocked anything out this time. Just not very much happens!
Me after realizing that we’re halfway through the book and Cassie hasn’t even reached the Outback.
Cassie and co. are on a mission at the airport to try and capture a chunk of a broken Bug Fighter that the military has gotten its hands on. Of course, the Yeerks are there too with the same thing in mind. Everything goes south, however, when a gun fight breaks out between the Marines and the incoming Controllers. Jake calls for a retreat, but seagull!Cassie doesn’t want to leave the innocent Marines behind. She tries to get involved (ugh, by pooping on a Controller), but ends up shot and having to partially de-morph to make an escape using a luggage cart. Chased by Yeerks, she ends up hiding beneath a pile of luggage and trying to make herself demorph as she passes out.
An unknown amount of time later, she wakes up fully human, but freezing and still under the luggage. She then realizes that she’s on a plane, and what’s worse, the plane is in flight. While trying to figure out what to do, the plane suddenly stops moving and a green scanner sweeps through. She ends up partially paralyzed and realizes the Yeerks have followed her, knowing that an “Andalite bandit” is stashed somewhere on the plane. She decides to go Rachel’s route and morphs a polar bear. When the Yeerks open the cargo bay door, she attacks. She manages to take out several Hork Bajir and forces them to retreat, blowing up a Bug fighter on the way. However, she knows they’ll be back. She scratches up the inside of the cargo bay, hoping to make it look like she fell out with the Hork Bajir in the fight. When the green light strikes again, she hides and makes her way up to the passenger level.
Unfortunately, the Yeerks have a monitor that tracks movement and they are able to spot something going up. As a human girl, she quickly sits down in an empty seat and pretends to be frozen. This mostly works until the Controllers decide to start tazing the passengers, looking for a flinch. Cassie times her attack of the Hork Bajir doing the tazing in an effort to escape. She manages to get away and dives out one of the emergency exits, morphing osprey on her way down. In a deep canyon, she finds a crevice and hides out as flea. After waiting as long as she can, she emerges and demorphs, only to realize she’s been spotted by a local boy named Yami.
Yami is unphased, saying that his grandfather has taught him about the spirits of the Outback that can change their forms, so a girl who can turn into an osprey must be special. He also informs Cassie where she is: Australia. Yami offers to take her back to his place where she can make a plan from there. On the way, they pass a mob of kangeroos and Cassie sees a mother and joey that have gotten stuck in some fencing. She manages to release it while also acquiring it. Yami sees her ability to calm the wild animal as further proof of her supernatural origins. They head back to Yami’s home where she meets his family and the aforementioned grandfather.
The next day, she wakes up and knows she needs to find a way back home. It turns out that the Bug fighter she took out in the air had crashed nearby and taken out the radio transmitter that Yami and his family use to communicate with the outside world. Without it, she’ll have to a wait a week for the mail delivery people to come by. She forms a plan to morph the kangaroo that night and make her way to the nearest city, which is is about 70 miles away. During the day, Yami and his grandfather gift Cassie a boomerang and show her how to use it. While they are practicing, she sees several small airplanes flying overhead. Yami says they are tourists and they usually fly out in the morning and will fly back over later that night.
As the practice, Yami’s grandfather suddenly collapses. Cassie and Yami bring him back to the house where they discover a badly infected cut on his leg that Yami’s grandfather says came from a strange piece of metal he found out in the wilderness; Cassie recognizes it as part of the downed Bug fighter. The leg worsens throughout the day until finally, near the end of the day, Cassie realizes that they have no choice but to amputate. She morphs Hork Bajir for both the blades and strength to complete the task. Yami looks on with fear, but helps Cassie perform the surgery. Yami’s grandfather quickly starts to look better. But before she can think of a next step, the Blade ship arrives and she hears Visser Three’s voice booming out insisting that the “Andalite” show itself or he will destroy everything in sight.
Cassie morphs the kangaroo and tries to lead the Yeerks away. Hork Bajir and Taxxons give chase. She ends up in a mob of other kangaroos all of which also attack the Yeerks, some dying in the process. She manages to take out a few herself before becoming injured. Yami, his family, and his dog come to the rescue, killing a few Hork Bajir with their boomerangs. However, it won’t be enough. Luckily, the returning tourists are spotted and Cassie hears Visser Three calling for a retreat and speedy clean-up of the area. She manages to demorph just as familiar member of the Chee shows up, saying he caught a ride with the Yeerks and is here to take Cassie home.
Back home, Cassie and the rest meet up at the zoo. Cassie had wanted to go “shopping,” which Rachel was disappointed to learn meant “getting a postcard from the zoo.” The team tease Jake about his frantic search for Cassie while she was missing and he asks to see the postcard she purchased: it is of an osprey an on it she has written two words: “No worries.” It’s a phrase that Yami repeated many times throughout her stay, and she knows that he will recognize it and know the card is from her and that she is safe.
Peace, Love, and Animals: For all of its rather boring plot and lack of contribution to the larger story, I actually liked this book for what it had to offer for Cassie’s character. Again, we have Cassie on her own. (I still really don’t understand why this is a repeated theme for this character. It’s rarely a good thing for ANY of them, but I also think Cassie in particular is less suited for it.) But throughout the story, we see her evaluating her options against what other members of the team would do: Rachel’s penchant for action, Marco’s deliberation, Jake’s caution, etc.
We also get to see some clever thinking on her part when it comes to escaping the Yeerks on the plane. I think there might have been a few better options to be had, but on her own, she did fairly well. She also has to fight one-on-one with several Controllers and, while she does struggle with this (especially the fact that she shoots a Hork Bajir with a Dracon beam that was set on high and instantly killed him), she also doesn’t get too caught up in things.
It’s also always fun seeing her doctoring abilities come out, and she’s given a great platform for that with her amputation of the grandfather’s leg using her Hork Bajir morph. Again, not sure that that was the only option there and that using actual knives like a real doctor wouldn’t have been better. But it was a cool combination of morph mechanics and Cassie’s medical abilities.
Our Fearless Leader: We see Jake abort a mission early in the book, something that doesn’t come around that often. But it does lead to the interesting idea that there are a lot of missions that could have happened between books that just went down as failures and wouldn’t be written about. Like this one, if Cassie hadn’t, you know, ended up in Australia.
Xena, Warrior Princess: There were some good bits of dialogue for Rachel both in the first part of the book when she makes fun of Marco’s driving and in the end, when she bemoans Cassie’s definition of “shopping.” There’s also a really interesting moment about halfway through the book where Cassie is reflecting on her past choices and how, as a whole, they don’t all make sense, but she just had to make up her mind with each individual situation, without knowing what new horrible choice would come from that first one. Ultimately, she notes that she might be more reckless than Rachel, even though Rachel is the one with the reputation for rashness. Rachel’s recklessness presents as bravery to the point of foolishness and a preference for action above all. But Cassie realizes that some of even her more deliberative choices ultimately are more reckless than Rachel’s “go get em” attitude. It’s a really interesting character moment. And it speaks to one of the annoyances I’ve had throughout the series both with regards to the increasingly bad reputation that Rachel has gotten for being reckless and the free pass that Cassie has also been given for making what are ultimately way more dangerous decisions. It’s nice to have the book acknowledge this, as well as Cassie herself.
A Hawk’s Life: Tobias really had nothing in this book. He jumps on the “tease Jake” bandwagon with Rachel in the end about the fact that Jake was behaving “like a zombie” when Cassie was missing. His description of Jake’s behavior was pretty funny, and it’s always nice to see Tobias’s snarky side come out.
The Comic Relief: Gorilla!Marco ends up careening around driving a luggage truck in the opening mission in this book. It’s a nice nod to the fact that somehow Marco always ends up driving (not just when he’s in gorilla morph either!). And apparently he hasn’t improved at all, which is a bit surprising because you’d think they’d all be coming up to driver’s ed about now in the timeline.
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax, too, has very little, other than the fairly typical scene of him trying to eat the popcorn carton when they’re all hanging out at the zoo in the end of the book.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: We’ve seen the Animorphs use partial de-morphs as a way to disguise their identity in the past, and it’s almost always sure to land in this section of my review. There’s no way around the sheer horror factor of what most of these half-morphs look like. But…I also have a deep fear of birds, so the idea of half-human, half-seagull Cassie lurching around on the tarmac…truly, truly horrific.
Couples Watch!: There were a few interesting things in this book. For one, we have the continued evidence that Rachel and Tobias are the more acknowledged, steady couple in the series. In the brief scene at the end of the book, we see them sitting together and teasing Jake and Cassie together, very confident in their own relationship. Jake and Cassie, on the other hand, are still nervous about even sitting next to each other and are still doing awkward things like putting their hands near each other and hoping the other one touches them. Jake even asks Cassie to stick around to “talk” and Rachel and Tobias jump on that saying he just wants to kiss Cassie.
The other notable bit is that while Yami is teaching Cassie to throw the boomerang they have a bit of a “moment,” enough of one even that Cassie feels mild guilt about it when she gets back and the others are teasing Jake about his freak out while she was gone. She worries that she was essentially flirting while he was worrying.
Knowing what we do about the end of the series, both of these things are kind of interesting: the fact that Cassie and Jake are still, after several years at this point, kind of awkward and uncomfortable with their relationship and the fact that Cassie had this small connection with this other boy.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: The Yeerks really commit to chasing down this one Andalite. I mean, given how often they run into conflicts with the Animorphs and they all end up going their own ways without extremes taken to chase each other down…this all seems a bit much. Especially after Cassie gets off the plane. There’s really zero reason that Visser Three should know to show up at Yami’s house thinking the “Andalite bandit” will be hiding out there. Why would they be? A rogue Andalite could have morphed any animal and be anywhere, most likely heading towards a major city to get back home (like Cassie’s plan is anyways). Really, the last place an Andalite would go would be to hang out with a bunch of humans on a ranch. It’s very strange.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: The closest I came was probably the descriptions of the poor kangaroos that got taken out by Hork Bajir and Taxxons. And my extreme concern in that same fight when Yami’s dog got involved, and I couldn’t remember whether the dog survived.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: I actually found the explanation for how Cassie ended up on the plane fairly plausible as far as strange things that happen in these books go. I do think she could have managed to get off it a bit easier, mostly be morphing a bug right next to the airlock so that when the door opened, even if they gassed the plane, she would be out in no time, and the Yeerks would have had no way of knowing.
It’s not so much a terrible plan, but the explanation of the Chee randomly showing up and getting her out of there has to be one of the most blatant examples of lazy writing. They literally show up out of nowhere, with no explanation for how they even knew to follow the Yeerks to Australia, and then there is still no explanation for how they really get back. I mean, Cassie’s still a minor with zero documentation off in Australia. It’s all pretty weird and best not think about, in the end.
Favorite Quote:
This was the main chunk of the bit where Cassie is reflecting on her past choices, and I think it’s pretty good. Just too bad that it got stuck in such a nothing book where I think many readers forget she even reflected on some of these things. Same thing goes for her comparison between herself and Rachel with regards to recklessness.
I’m not trying to be some kind of martyr, or say that I’m always a screwup. I’m not. In my world, making hard choices is part of the deal. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong. Sometimes I just can’t tell, even when the mission is over and we’ve all come out alive, at least. Leave the Animorphs. Come back. Trust Aftran, the Yeerk. Trust her again. Take responsibility for the never-ending, always unfolding consequences of those decisions. Say, no, I can’t be part of this mission, can’t be part of a mass killing of innocent people no matter what the ultimate goal, I won’t. Get involved anyway, commit acts maybe much worse. Why? To save some lives, not others. A choice. There’s always a choice.
There’s also a good line from the grandfather when Cassie is freaking out that she lead the Yeerks right to them, and it’s a good line for not only Cassie to remember, but all of them, at one point or another.
“They’re here because of me.”
“No.”
Yami’s grandfather touched my arm. I looked down, startled. He drew a sharp breath. His face twisted in pain, but his eyes stayed bright and alert.
“They’re here because they’re evil.”
Scorecard: Yeerks 11, Animorphs 15
The Animorphs literally call this one a tie themselves, so I’ll stick with their rating.
Rating: There’s no getting around the fact that this book is incredibly slow. Cassie doesn’t even get to Australia until almost over halfway through the story. And for a book that is marketed completely on her adventures in Australia, that’s pretty disappointing. It’d almost be more realistic for it to be “Cassie’s adventures at an airport and on an airplane.” Beyond that, any book that separates one character away from the others is almost always worse. It’s even more depressing in this one because not only is Cassie not the strongest character on her own, but the brief bits we get of dialogue from the others is great, so the ghost writer clearly had a good handle on the group dynamics (something that is not always a given at this point). And, of course, this book does nothing to advance the ongoing story. Not to mention the hot garbage that is the explanation for how she gets back with some weird “the Chee did it!” handwave-solution.
But! As far as Cassie herself goes, there’s actually a good amount that I really enjoyed. She addresses her own past decisions and how a lot of the times they were contradictory and even more reckless than Rachel’s, and that adds a really nice layer to the character. She has some shining moments of having to choose to fight and accept that, as well as the great scene of her utilizing her badass medical knowledge.
One last thing, however, has to do with Yami and his family. With Cassie sending the postcard in the end, it’s assumed that Yami and his family are safe and well in the end. But…why would they be? Not only is the idea that the Yeerks just left them alive pretty out of place with our knowledge of how Visser Three and the Yeerks operate, but really Yami and his family are a massive liability for Cassie and the others! While they might think she has some strange spirit animal thing going on, a quick infestation of Yami or any of them would quickly bring down the whole house of cards. And, even more so than just kill them, again, why WOULDN’T the Yeerks infest these people? They know that Yami and his family were hiding the “Andalite,” so it seems like a pretty obvious source of information, at the very least. Oh well, chock it up as another “just don’t think too hard about it” moment, I guess.
June 19, 2022
Generally forgettable, but had a couple good moments. Why does Cassie have to get all the filler books?
May 30, 2022
Pretty much the definition of a filler adventure, and another story where the heroes' only real victory is living through to the end of it, rather than any strategic objective they've been aiming to achieve. This particular mission to stop the Yeerks from recapturing downed Bug fighter wreckage from an interested government agency goes off the rails fairly quickly, with Cassie stranded from her friends in the cargo hold of an airplane that soon takes off for Australia. From there on out, it's a one-girl survival tale, as the teen has to navigate Yeerks who board the plane
in pursuit of her and then the Outback desert once she escapes.
This is all largely fine, but it's missing the sharp moral anguish that distinguishes the better entries in this series. Here our protagonist has some belated regrets about having to kill her alien adversaries when they confront her directly, but mostly she's focused solely on the question of how she'll be able to get home again, an issue that's eventually resolved via a quick Chee ex machina. She also spends some time with an Aboriginal boy who saw her morph and thinks she's a representative of his spirit ancestors, which seems uncomfortably close to the Inuit character who helped the team when they were similarly stuck in the Arctic in #25 The Extreme.
First-time ghostwriter Lisa Harkrader attempts to generate some romantic tension with this figure as well, but this element is so minor that it barely registers, and just makes Cassie sound silly when she later reflects with guilt, "While Jake had been ripping the city apart looking for me, I'd been taking boomerang lessons from somebody else." More effective is the scene where she has to morph a Hork-Bajir to perform an emergency amputation on Yami's grandfather with her blades, although her patient must still remind her that she is not responsible for the damage wrought by her enemies.
An Animorphs volume focusing on a single person removed from the ensemble can work, and in fact we've seen that before with Cassie-centric novels like #19 The Departure or #29 The Sickness. But this one doesn't challenge her as effectively or feel as rooted in her distinctive personality as those previous outings. Instead it seems as though maybe author K. A. Applegate had the idea for a kangaroo on the book cover and worked backwards from there to create a plot outline that would justify it.
[Content warning for gun violence, body horror, and gore.]
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in pursuit of her and then the Outback desert once she escapes.
This is all largely fine, but it's missing the sharp moral anguish that distinguishes the better entries in this series. Here our protagonist has some belated regrets about having to kill her alien adversaries when they confront her directly, but mostly she's focused solely on the question of how she'll be able to get home again, an issue that's eventually resolved via a quick Chee ex machina. She also spends some time with an Aboriginal boy who saw her morph and thinks she's a representative of his spirit ancestors, which seems uncomfortably close to the Inuit character who helped the team when they were similarly stuck in the Arctic in #25 The Extreme.
First-time ghostwriter Lisa Harkrader attempts to generate some romantic tension with this figure as well, but this element is so minor that it barely registers, and just makes Cassie sound silly when she later reflects with guilt, "While Jake had been ripping the city apart looking for me, I'd been taking boomerang lessons from somebody else." More effective is the scene where she has to morph a Hork-Bajir to perform an emergency amputation on Yami's grandfather with her blades, although her patient must still remind her that she is not responsible for the damage wrought by her enemies.
An Animorphs volume focusing on a single person removed from the ensemble can work, and in fact we've seen that before with Cassie-centric novels like #19 The Departure or #29 The Sickness. But this one doesn't challenge her as effectively or feel as rooted in her distinctive personality as those previous outings. Instead it seems as though maybe author K. A. Applegate had the idea for a kangaroo on the book cover and worked backwards from there to create a plot outline that would justify it.
[Content warning for gun violence, body horror, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
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--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
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August 7, 2014
Cassie. Stuck in Australia. The most caring member of the Animorphs team is forced by circumstance to do some things that are very unlike her. I love Cassie books.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Lisa Harkrader.
Jake calls Ax "Axman" at one point, when previously that's always been hyphenated to "Ax-man."
Cassie's plan to acquire the Hork-Bajir who was shooting people on the plane wouldn't have worked if they hadn't leaned across her to shoot an old man before shooting her. It's sure lucky they didn't decide to shoot people in a different order.
Cassie mentions her leotard being in shreds when she gets back to her human self. It's strange that a morph can reconstitute bodies but not fabric if said fabric can be incorporated into their morphs. Yet another thing about morphing clothes that makes no sense.
This is the third time an Animorphs book has had a morph-capable character meet "exotic natives" who believe the morphing is something spiritual or religious based on their folk beliefs. The Australian stereotypes are pretty boorish throughout the book.
The surgery Cassie performs on Yami's grandfather seems unrealistic--too simplistic for two kids who aren't surgeons, and Cassie only has very basic experience doing animal amputations.
Visser Three voluntarily waits for Cassie to give herself up, then uncharacteristically cleans up the area and aborts his mission when there might be a chance that "evidence of the battle" will be spotted by planes above. Seems more likely that Visser Three would have attacked the planes or not really cared about the evidence, seeing as how killing an Andalite bandit or capturing one seems a bit more important.
Cassie tucks her boomerang in her pouch when she's a kangaroo, but it's never mentioned whether she uses it or whether she gets to take it back home. Seems like an odd detail to include if it has no resolution.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book is ghostwritten by Lisa Harkrader.
Jake calls Ax "Axman" at one point, when previously that's always been hyphenated to "Ax-man."
Cassie's plan to acquire the Hork-Bajir who was shooting people on the plane wouldn't have worked if they hadn't leaned across her to shoot an old man before shooting her. It's sure lucky they didn't decide to shoot people in a different order.
Cassie mentions her leotard being in shreds when she gets back to her human self. It's strange that a morph can reconstitute bodies but not fabric if said fabric can be incorporated into their morphs. Yet another thing about morphing clothes that makes no sense.
This is the third time an Animorphs book has had a morph-capable character meet "exotic natives" who believe the morphing is something spiritual or religious based on their folk beliefs. The Australian stereotypes are pretty boorish throughout the book.
The surgery Cassie performs on Yami's grandfather seems unrealistic--too simplistic for two kids who aren't surgeons, and Cassie only has very basic experience doing animal amputations.
Visser Three voluntarily waits for Cassie to give herself up, then uncharacteristically cleans up the area and aborts his mission when there might be a chance that "evidence of the battle" will be spotted by planes above. Seems more likely that Visser Three would have attacked the planes or not really cared about the evidence, seeing as how killing an Andalite bandit or capturing one seems a bit more important.
Cassie tucks her boomerang in her pouch when she's a kangaroo, but it's never mentioned whether she uses it or whether she gets to take it back home. Seems like an odd detail to include if it has no resolution.
February 23, 2017
Cassie takes on the world kind of alone in this one, and seems to make new friends to help her in the fight along the way. Also deals with some of her guilt about being in the fight at all, and a little bit of weird guilt for maybe thinking a boy she met while fighting for her life was kind of interesting/attractive which I thought was... I mean, she and Jake are not even formally together so it is weird that she gets down on herself about this, start to finish. I don't know. Why should she feel like she has to hide the fact that she made a friend on the other side of the world? It isn't like she was pursuing anything romantic with him at any point in the story. AND THEN she feels guilt because Jake was searching for her with single-minded purpose and intensity and she was learning to throw a boomerang, and i am like, GIRL. YOU WERE CLEANING UP THE MESS YOU MADE AND HELPING TO SAVE PEOPLE'S LIVES. IT IS NOT LIKE YOU TOOK OFF ON AN AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK VACATION AND LEFT EVERYONE HANGING ON PURPOSE WHILE YOU KICKED BACK.
anyway. *ahem*
This book clearly felt a little problematic to me in some areas.
anyway. *ahem*
This book clearly felt a little problematic to me in some areas.
August 6, 2019
Disclaimer: I'm reading this series for the first time as an adult. (Unfortunately) I have no fond memories coloring my reading.
This late in the series, filler books are especially annoying. This book was completely pointless, meaningless. Plus it was 98% action, which is never a good match for me. It had no impact at all on the series's story.
Through stupid, unbelievable plot reasons, Cassie ends up in Australia all by herself. As in one of the earlier books, a native teenage boy saw her morphing and was perfectly fine with it, not even surprised. She ends up going home with the boy, and for more stupid plot reasons, the two of them have to amputate the grandfather's leg.
Sigh.
The book's setup was stupid, the middle was pointless, and the ending was an almost literal deus ex machina.
Hopefully #45 will be better...
This late in the series, filler books are especially annoying. This book was completely pointless, meaningless. Plus it was 98% action, which is never a good match for me. It had no impact at all on the series's story.
Through stupid, unbelievable plot reasons, Cassie ends up in Australia all by herself. As in one of the earlier books, a native teenage boy saw her morphing and was perfectly fine with it, not even surprised. She ends up going home with the boy, and for more stupid plot reasons, the two of them have to amputate the grandfather's leg.
Sigh.
The book's setup was stupid, the middle was pointless, and the ending was an almost literal deus ex machina.
Hopefully #45 will be better...
July 24, 2011
I do not know how I ever would have survived junior high without this fantastic science fiction series. Maybe the story quality went down as the book numbers got higher, but the idea that aliens were invading our planet secretly... it was almost good enough for a young teenager to believe.
May 23, 2024
I'm learning that the "infamously stupid" Animorphs aren't as bad as I had assumed. Granted, the whole setup of this one is rather contrived. I can't help but imagine how this book came into being:
So we get a book where Cassie winds up alone in Australia. Incidentally, I've mentioned a tendency for these later books to split the team members up, but this scenario, where the rest of the group are fully incapable of helping, actually happens to Cassie a lot. Book #19, book #29...I guess because she's ostensibly the "weakest" Animorph, AppleGrant thought it made for a good underdog story.
It takes half the book to actually get to Australia, but I actually thought the part on the plane, with Cassie struggling to escape detection, was quite gripping; if anything, the story weakens a bit when she gets on the ground. Part of the problem is Yami and his family. Back with book #25, I mentioned that Derek the Inuit sort of felt like a clichéd "Magical Native" character, but partly like they were trying to subvert that trope. I'm tempted to say the same thing about Yami...but he's leaning much harder on "Magical Native." He barely reacts to her morphing, tells his whole family about it and none of them even ask what the deal is...his grandpa explicitly thinks she's a spirit or something, and I guess the rest of them do, too? And this is apparently not that notable to them?
Heck, there's even the fact that Yami calls a Bug fighter a "funny airplane." Dude, you live in a modern, Western country. You should look at these things and realize "aliens." Although it feels a bit like a deconstruction/parody, intentionally or not. Because y'know, obviously they're wrong, and Grandpa's "gift from the sky" almost gets him killed. So much for Pocahontas logic.
Cassie is also a bit annoying, just in her usual way, feeling guilty for every bad thing that happens and every Controller she has to kill. That said, it comes together into a nice character arc when Yami's grandfather gives her a pep talk, even if it's to make her realize things that she should already know. In general, the finale has a lot of good setup and payoff, though the Yeerks' retreat was kind of ridiculous. (Wouldn't Visser Three just shoot these witnesses out of the sky? If he's so concerned about them, why doesn't he care about Yami's family? Wouldn't he come back to murder them later? If he can instantly destroy all evidence of the battle, why can't he quickly kill them and Cassie?)
Cassie and Yami have a bit of ship-tease, by the way. It's supposed to be because his confidence reminds her of Jake, but honestly, I think it makes sense that she'd be attracted to a fellow hippie. The bit at the end about Jake's reaction to her disappearance was both sweet and funny.
Anyway, issues aside, the basic story is pretty good, forcing Cassie to think quickly and survive in difficult situations. And this is actually the last Animorphsbook that I needed to read! Took me more than twenty years, but I'm finally done. Like the ending of an era.
[Katharine Applegate sits at her desk, stressed. She has already come up with plots for 50+ Animorphs books and is struggling for new ideas. Her phone rings.]
Applegate: Hello?
Scholastic: KANGAROO!
Applegate: (startled) Excuse me?
Scholastic: Write something with a kangaroo! Then we can put a kangaroo on the cover! KIDS LOVE KANGAROOS!
Applegate: Well, I mean...I can't really think of any story where they would need to morph kangaroos.
Scholastic: THEY HOP! WRITE SOMETHING WITH HOPPING!
Applegate: But the Animorphs can morph into birds and fly. Kangaroos can fight, but not better than any other animal. I just don't think there's a story where
Scholastic: KANGAROO! [dial tone]
Applegate: [hangs up, looking tired] I think it's about time to wrap this series up.
So we get a book where Cassie winds up alone in Australia. Incidentally, I've mentioned a tendency for these later books to split the team members up, but this scenario, where the rest of the group are fully incapable of helping, actually happens to Cassie a lot. Book #19, book #29...I guess because she's ostensibly the "weakest" Animorph, AppleGrant thought it made for a good underdog story.
It takes half the book to actually get to Australia, but I actually thought the part on the plane, with Cassie struggling to escape detection, was quite gripping; if anything, the story weakens a bit when she gets on the ground. Part of the problem is Yami and his family. Back with book #25, I mentioned that Derek the Inuit sort of felt like a clichéd "Magical Native" character, but partly like they were trying to subvert that trope. I'm tempted to say the same thing about Yami...but he's leaning much harder on "Magical Native." He barely reacts to her morphing, tells his whole family about it and none of them even ask what the deal is...his grandpa explicitly thinks she's a spirit or something, and I guess the rest of them do, too? And this is apparently not that notable to them?
Heck, there's even the fact that Yami calls a Bug fighter a "funny airplane." Dude, you live in a modern, Western country. You should look at these things and realize "aliens." Although it feels a bit like a deconstruction/parody, intentionally or not. Because y'know, obviously they're wrong, and Grandpa's "gift from the sky" almost gets him killed. So much for Pocahontas logic.
Cassie is also a bit annoying, just in her usual way, feeling guilty for every bad thing that happens and every Controller she has to kill. That said, it comes together into a nice character arc when Yami's grandfather gives her a pep talk, even if it's to make her realize things that she should already know. In general, the finale has a lot of good setup and payoff, though the Yeerks' retreat was kind of ridiculous. (Wouldn't Visser Three just shoot these witnesses out of the sky? If he's so concerned about them, why doesn't he care about Yami's family? Wouldn't he come back to murder them later? If he can instantly destroy all evidence of the battle, why can't he quickly kill them and Cassie?)
Cassie and Yami have a bit of ship-tease, by the way. It's supposed to be because his confidence reminds her of Jake, but honestly, I think it makes sense that she'd be attracted to a fellow hippie. The bit at the end about Jake's reaction to her disappearance was both sweet and funny.
Anyway, issues aside, the basic story is pretty good, forcing Cassie to think quickly and survive in difficult situations. And this is actually the last Animorphsbook that I needed to read! Took me more than twenty years, but I'm finally done. Like the ending of an era.
March 10, 2022
Alright, it's Cassie's turn again. Gonna level you with and say I don't have much for this one so let's get this over with. We get our final new ghostwriter with Lisa Harkrader.
I don't think she did a lot before this but afterwards she did plenty of YA, as well as kids picture books and stuff. Nothing quite on the level of this but still became decently accomplished. She even a website with a contact page, so that'll be worth looking into. She did some research books which is where this one comes in. Her writing is...fine. Passable, gets the job done but doesn't stand out. Only a slight bit of vocab stuff, overused sound effects at times but otherwise, she's very in the middle. She has two more so we'll see how she grows. She has mentioned the effort put into research for her entries so that's something.
Our plot this week is that Cassie and the others go on a mission, as some bug fighter is in the hands of machine or something and they want to stop the Yeerks from getting it back or something. It doesn't matter as eventually Cassie ends up on a plane and after some tension, she eventually ends up in Australia with seemingly no way home.
And I do mean eventually. I'll level with ya, this one was...fine. Maybe the most fine book ever. Everything is more or less as it should be but not much stands out either. I enjoyed it and would rank is a good one, but in that lower range. Yet it does nothing that wrong, it's just all so....adequate.
For one, for the Australia book, it takes the book like 13 chapters to get there. Basically half the book. This is the "when are we gonna get the fireworks factory " of Animorphs books. The stuff before that is decent and intense but just wastes time. When she gets there, it's fine. She befriends a kid and there's some nice stuff, and the research mostly shows. Granted I don't know enough to tell, maybe I should ask my like two Australian mutuals about this.
It's more chill than I expected tho, after she frets a bit, she meets the kid and thinks are fine until his grandpa gets sick. That was interesting but it's not as intense as I would have hoped but the land where everything wants to kill you. I suppose they didn't wanna repeat The Extreme too much but still.
This feels like a mix of other books, it start as The Unknown, becomes The Extreme, then later The Sickness. It's fine but feels lesser than all of those just because it lacks an extra oomph to it. It's filler but not aggressively so. Cassie has a few interesting bits of beating herself up over her mistakes. They are understandable so I wasn't mad at her and it was neat, but it doesn't add up to much. The ending is nice at least, but there's nothing deeper for her. I think a book of this type for Cassie before the final arc was needed, it just could have said more about her.
There's just much to say here. i got through it quickly, but I wasn't super ultra into like others. It's all just fine. Does everything well enough but doesn't take that extra step. I suppose sometimes you need these fair enough entries but eh, I personally prefer the shitpost-y ones. And...yeah, that's about it. It's fine. The word of the day.
Next time, we'll see if Marco and a game changing turn can get us back into more solid territory. I usually say it's the end of the cycle but actually no, I'll explain when we get there. See ya then.
I don't think she did a lot before this but afterwards she did plenty of YA, as well as kids picture books and stuff. Nothing quite on the level of this but still became decently accomplished. She even a website with a contact page, so that'll be worth looking into. She did some research books which is where this one comes in. Her writing is...fine. Passable, gets the job done but doesn't stand out. Only a slight bit of vocab stuff, overused sound effects at times but otherwise, she's very in the middle. She has two more so we'll see how she grows. She has mentioned the effort put into research for her entries so that's something.
Our plot this week is that Cassie and the others go on a mission, as some bug fighter is in the hands of machine or something and they want to stop the Yeerks from getting it back or something. It doesn't matter as eventually Cassie ends up on a plane and after some tension, she eventually ends up in Australia with seemingly no way home.
And I do mean eventually. I'll level with ya, this one was...fine. Maybe the most fine book ever. Everything is more or less as it should be but not much stands out either. I enjoyed it and would rank is a good one, but in that lower range. Yet it does nothing that wrong, it's just all so....adequate.
For one, for the Australia book, it takes the book like 13 chapters to get there. Basically half the book. This is the "when are we gonna get the fireworks factory " of Animorphs books. The stuff before that is decent and intense but just wastes time. When she gets there, it's fine. She befriends a kid and there's some nice stuff, and the research mostly shows. Granted I don't know enough to tell, maybe I should ask my like two Australian mutuals about this.
It's more chill than I expected tho, after she frets a bit, she meets the kid and thinks are fine until his grandpa gets sick. That was interesting but it's not as intense as I would have hoped but the land where everything wants to kill you. I suppose they didn't wanna repeat The Extreme too much but still.
This feels like a mix of other books, it start as The Unknown, becomes The Extreme, then later The Sickness. It's fine but feels lesser than all of those just because it lacks an extra oomph to it. It's filler but not aggressively so. Cassie has a few interesting bits of beating herself up over her mistakes. They are understandable so I wasn't mad at her and it was neat, but it doesn't add up to much. The ending is nice at least, but there's nothing deeper for her. I think a book of this type for Cassie before the final arc was needed, it just could have said more about her.
There's just much to say here. i got through it quickly, but I wasn't super ultra into like others. It's all just fine. Does everything well enough but doesn't take that extra step. I suppose sometimes you need these fair enough entries but eh, I personally prefer the shitpost-y ones. And...yeah, that's about it. It's fine. The word of the day.
Next time, we'll see if Marco and a game changing turn can get us back into more solid territory. I usually say it's the end of the cycle but actually no, I'll explain when we get there. See ya then.
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