Really rather tortured. ( )

Amazing book!
First book to emotionally hook me.
A must read. ( )

This one stands outside the series. It tells the history of that all-powerful being the Ellimist, who came from a peaceful species that lived on crystals in the air on a foreign planet. The description of this alien race (and many others throughout the book) were very different, very creative I thought. At the start of the story Ellimist is a young being, interested only in playing games with his friends- games in an interactive simulation where the goal is to use minimal influences to cause the most effective or positive changes in the evolution of species. Then another alien species shows up near his homeworld, threatening everything he knows. Chain of disastrous events end up with Ellimist adrift, the last of his kind, searching for a new planet to inhabit, and eventually pitched up against the Crayak in a battle of wits- with other sentient species on all the planets scattered across space and time subject to their whims. It shows how Ellimist became so powerful and all-knowing, but also that he has flaws and his struggle has been one to evolve, adapt and survive while doing the least harm, the most good- while Crayak's goal is to destroy everything he can. A huge good/evil pitch. I kind of don't like how this is hinting that everything the Animorphs are involved in is just a huge game to a meddling higher power, but oh well. This far in I'm still going to finish it up. It was interesting to see suggestions of how the Andalites evolved as well, how Ellimist also influenced them in the past. Very sci-fi, this one.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

How the Ellimst came to be what he was. A young gamer how goes on to play a much bigger game. I love how he is chosen for the ship because he was a brilliant loser. ( )

A short comment for every book of the series until I get a chance to re-read them. All three of my sons and I loved this series and read every single book - I even bought every single book (most, but not all, used; some through school book sales). I'm excited to re-read them to see how the five main characters develop and to watch all the different transformations again.

The best books appeal to *readers* universally - not children versus adults. These may not be quite worthy of the adjective 'best' but they do have that crossover appeal. ( )