Spring 2020 (Animorph's Read 2020 March/April);

Tobias, Tobias, Tobias. I have so many feelings about you.

I'm glad we got to deal more with the Ellimnist because it's about time these books branched out and it makes sense that it's happening more and more. Time. Space. Other realm creatures, who are putting their fingers into the pot, while claiming they can't put their fingers in the pot (who, yeah, I totally have big, fully formed opinions about, too).

But Tobias can morph, again, weeeeeee.

Which means he gets to show up to Rachel's award ceremony, where she's getting an award for being on the five smartest people in the group, and that whole happening got me into a tizzy during my live read/necessary post-commentary with the Animorphs 2020 group, because I have a lot of feelings about how Rachel fills four different female trope slots at once, that are almost never put together, and yet does it without even seeming perfect or less a kiss than everyone else around her. ( )

Fun fluff series that gets less and less fluff over time. ( )

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I missed the Animorphs series when it first came out. I was aware of it, but I was just starting high school, so I had more reading than I could manage as it was, and the Animorphs skewed slightly younger anyway. This was my first encounter with the stories, and I enjoyed it well enough.

I know I would have enjoyed it more if I was younger, as the writing is clearly meant for a younger audience, specifically the dialogue, even in the adult aliens. The book is told from the perspective of one of the kids known as the Animorphs, who in a previous adventure became stuck in his animal form. We follow him in dealing with being a former human, how life has changed for him now that he is stuck living in the wild in his animal form, and how that helps or impedes him in helping his friends.

A fun one, that I hope someone finds in my Little Free Library and enjoys. I have another Animorphs book I grabbed from a library sale that I'll be reading some time soon. ( )

The Change is from Toby's point of view- he has adapted well to living as a hawk, but sometimes still really misses being human. Starts to experience some strange moments of being in one place, then suddenly another, or having visions.... Turns out one of the omniscient Ellimist is messing with Toby. I had forgotten about those godlike beings, and I find them rather annoying- how conveniently they can alter the storyline..... Toby finds the involvement extremely annoying, too- until a hint of a promise is dangled in front of him- that he might be able to regain his human form. So he takes the Ellimist's offer. Oh, and during all this inner turmoil, the kids are racing around the forest trying desperately to avoid the enemy- who have deployed all their forces to tracking down two escaped aliens- called Hork-Bajirs, who look vicious and deadly but in reality were a peaceful species until the Yeerks overtook them. So the kids learn quite a bit about the Hork-Bajir- including that they're not so smart- and you think they're all going to die at enemy hands but they pull an escape off last-minute- very cleverly this time, I thought. Their plan actually worked. And they are using their morphing skills more ingeniously, as well. Mostly they draw on their already-existing arsenal of animal forms, but Tobias re-acquires the ability to morph, and he turns himself into a raccoon in order to avoid being eaten by that same raccoon. And Rachel voluntarily morphs an alien in order to throw off the enemy. That was interesting. Of course, quite maddeningly but I am sure great for future plotlines, the promise Toby thought he'd gotten from the Ellimist isn't exactly what he thought it was. . . and yet that final scene, the last sentence of the book, is very moving. While I usually wish for more detail, sometimes the understatement is great in these books.

more at the Dogear Diary ( )