The Invasion / The Visitor / The Encounter / The Message (Animorphs #1-4)[January 1, 2024]

[Nirkatze]

Starting #4 The Message I think Cassie is my favorite character so far, so I'm glad to get her POV book... and honestly, I didn't even realize Marco existed until book 2--I thought he and Tobias were the same person in book 1, lol, so I don't mind waiting for the next thread for his book. Through Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[I like how Cassie approaches morphing, and her knowledge of animals due to coming from a family of veterinarians. And I like how she jokes with Tobias.

And the squirrel bit was funny. Reminds me of the dog in Up "SQUIRREL!" even though that was a dog. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

For the first 40 books or so, Jake always gets books X1 and X6 Rachel gets X2 and X7, Tobias gets X3, Cassie gets X4 and X9, Marco gets books X5 and X0, and a character you haven't met yet gets book X8... Scholastic Books felt readers wouldn't connect with Tobias and the other character as much, because Tobias is stuck in hawk form, and spoilers spoilers spoilers...

Around book 40, the error was corrected, and all 6 characters were given even representation in POV books (too little, too late, really, so close to the end...

[Nirkatze]

Ah man, Tobias is my other favorite... that's a bummer. Looking forward to meeting this mystery book 8 person soon though.

Finished #4 The Message and really liked this one--(view spoiler)[It feels like the first major win for the team, coming back with no losses and having saved an Andulite (sp?). I'm curious to see how the group dynamic changes with an adult alien joining them--well, I'm assuming he's an adult. I'm also curious to see if he'll realize that the crew are all children... and what his reaction will be. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Ah man, Tobias is my other favorite... that's a bummer. Looking forward to meeting this mystery book 8 person soon though.

Finished #4 The Message and really liked this one--[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[looks like you met the #8 person... you'll have more details soon... Scholastic limited Tobias / hawk-form POV, and Andalite-POV books... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Oh cool--(view spoiler)[I was wondering if he was going to stick around or if he'd be killed off/moved away quickly, like many mentors in YA series... (hide spoiler)]

[Saar The Book owl]

I've just finished #1 The Invasion and waw! I feel like I need to jump and give a cheer, because the Animorphs survived. I'll read the comments on the first book later and then also put some thoughts and review. Gonna start the second book now.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'll be reading #4 tomorrow probably...

Wondering when I should feel confident enough to put in requests for the rest of the series... I only requested box sets for the first 20ish books through May to start... requesting the rest would run through next February I think...

Currently Scheduled:

01-04 = January 2024
05-08 + 7.5 Megamorphs #1 = February
09-12 + 12.5 Andalite Chronicles = March
13-16 = April
17-20 + 18.5 Megamorphs #2 = May

Still Need Scheduled:

21-24 + Hork-Bajir Chronicles = June
25-28 = July
29-32 + 29.5 Megamorphs #3 = August
33-36 + 35.5 Visser (3v1) = September
37-40 + 40.5 Megamorphs #4 = October
41-44 = November
45-48 + 47.5 Ellimist Chronicles = December
49-52 = January 2025
53-54 = February

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm 99% confident we'll be able to read everything on audio, for people going that route... the Animorphs finished releasing early last year, took 3 years of monthly releases, I think... now they're rounding everything out with the extras... Megamorphs and Chronicles... half of them released last fall, and were on pre-order for awhile, which is why I wanted to start this Buddy Read in 2024...

The Megamorphs and Visser finish coming out in February/March, but there's still no details on if/when Ellimist Chronicles is coming out, the last companion piece...

EDIT: never mind... I found a 2nd listing on Audible, separate from the series page listing, and it's coming out in April... all sorted...

[Saar The Book owl]

How many Animorphs parts are there? If I can find them all on Kindle, I'll read along with everyone.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "How many Animorphs parts are there? If I can find them all on Kindle, I'll read along with everyone."

There's 54 animorphs regular books, 4 Megamorphs (multi-POV books with "bigger" plots), and 4 Chronicles, which fill in backstory and info on other alien races/characters of the series...

I think they all have official ebooks these days, but the publishers also allow the sharing of the fan-made ebooks from the Dark Times before official ebooks were released, due to the labor of love aspect of it all...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7R75QJ?...
Reddit thread for ebooks off Dropbox: https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/co...

All the ebooks and audiobooks are on Hoopla, but you need a good library card for that, like New Orleans one a bunch of FBR people have, especially if doing Stephanie Plum series and other BRs off Hoopla as well (20 credits per month with NOLA card... not sure they allow international cardholders)...

[Saar The Book owl]

Thanks, Iain, I'm not familiar with Hoopla, so I have Kindle for now. The 'world of non - physical books' is new to me.

[Saar The Book owl]

Review and thoughts on #1 The Invasion:
(view spoiler)[I regret not reading this when I was a child long ago. I found the changing covers from human to Animporh really cool, but there were a lot of other books to read too. Now, I'm finally reading the series and enjoying it. Everytime the children saying to morph, I just want to shout: 'Its morphing time!', like in the Power Rangers. From the beginning from the story you get a good insight on the characters of Tobias, Jake, Cassie, Rachel en Marco and on how they function in their group of friends. They each struggle with the transferred Andalite - power: it seems that Marco is the one that finds it the most difficult, because if he dies, his father has no one anymore. Tobias on the other hand, is happy with his powers, due to his difficult home situation. Together they try to fight Visser Tree and his Yeerks. They are aliens that wants to take over the world and so the battle to save the world has begon. The first book is a great introduction to the series and very enjoyable to read. The writing isn't difficult and you get easy carried away in the story and feel with the characters.
It's a relaxing read for children and adults.
The story has a nice build up until the Gathering, where the Animoprhs have to fight against Visser Three and his followers. I wonder if there's only one way to free the 'slaves' from the Yeerks using the pool. I don't think Tobias minds staying a hawk for now, regarding his 'human life'. (hide spoiler)]

[Saar The Book owl]

Choko wrote: "Nirkatze, every week when we would receive the book, it was better than Christmas!!! I will never forget it!

Finished The Invasion #1 ... I agree with everyone - I wish I had fallen onto this se..."

I agree on that. (view spoiler)[It would've been too easy to free Tom now and I wonder how this will turn out for Jake, living with a 'Yeerk - brother' in the house. The feelings and insecurities of the children felt real enough. It was esay to put yourself in their shoes. (hide spoiler)]

[Saar The Book owl]

Katie wrote: "Finished book #1 in a day!! Such a quick read!! Now it will really just be how fast I can get the libarary books. haha.

Book #1 Invasion thoughts
Honestly I really really liked it!! The nostalgia..."

You wrote that really well, Katie, It gives a good view on what I found from the first book, but better explained ;)

[Saar The Book owl]

About the spider thing in book 1: I got the shivers about that! Poor Jake and feeling its little paws in the lizard's stomach, yuk!

[Nirkatze]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "About the spider thing in book 1: I got the shivers about that! Poor Jake and feeling its little paws in the lizard's stomach, yuk!"

That scene still gives me shivers...

[Saar The Book owl]

Me too!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started #4: (view spoiler)[dangerous to be morphing into prey, without telling Tobias...

Stakes are super high, super quick, with Yeerk Controllers shooting guns at the kids on the beach... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Now that I've read #4, I can talk about Ax a bit more, aware of what's been revealed already: (view spoiler)[Ax is Elfangor's younger brother...

Elfanger was a Prince and great war hero... Ax is still too young for combat, basically a kid like the rest of the cast... and has a hell of a time getting used to having a mouth and human taste buds...

We learn about DNA splicing, to create unique forms of sentient species, instead of just morphing into an existing person... (hide spoiler)]

[Katie]

A little behind, but I just finished Book 2, "The Visitor". Oh. my. gosh. I'm already so worried about these kids. And its still so early on. There just this innate threat in all of these stories. It's not rosey colored at all. The stakes are very high and very real. It makes me wonder what will happen next O.O

(view spoiler)[Right off the bat the birds scene was so much fun. Love how the kids got to spend some time with Tobias and learn how to fly. Even teaching some hunters a good lesson!

Speaking of lessons I loved it how Rachel was able to ward of her stalker by using a half-morph in the shadows. Sure it was dangerous, but the girl was taking care of herself. Very cool!

The kids are still talking about how the basement at the school freaked them out. Not even the screaming. But just how the screamed....stopped. And as they became Controllers. That's so unnerving. We sure this is a middle reader book? ^^;

I like the spy mission at Melissa's house. For the life of me I have no idea why they didn't just use the animal (shrew) as bait instead of gaining a morph to get the cat?

It also is so unnerving how the small prey animals just have that base instinct of fear, survival, and food. To lose control like that on a first morph is terrifying. What if you didn't have friend to pull you back?

Speaking of morphing...does that mean you can morph into other genders too? She morphed into a Tom Cat O.O

Another morphing bit...the kids are mentioning dreams now? Are they still tied to the animal they got the morph from?? No spoilers from people who know please. But I'm like...huh...maybe clues into how this works?

The mission went off fairly well. I loved it when the Vissor saw the cat as a worthy Earth animal. Such sass and ferocity. lol

It's not surprising she kept things from her friends about what went down in the basement (especially the death threat). Now coming to a full understanding of Melissa's situation she just wants to help.

I just can't believe that on mission 2.0 Jake turned into a flea?! And all the kids tried?! My gosh! The guts these kids have!! It's surprising how the smaller ones are even easier since the brain functions are so low that they can isolate and differentiate easier. Weirdddd. Freakkky. What is this series??? My gosh. XD

I did not expect that show down at the end. For Rachel to get caught! The threat of Melissa and the time counting down! It was all so fast! I was worried one of our others would be trapped. Or tortured even! These aliens don't mess around! Luckily they managed to get out of it. Thanks to Melissa's dad too. My heart broke for that family. He did all of this to save those he loved. I really hope they can be saved.

Gosh. Those kids barely made it out in this one. How are they gonna move forward with their mission next? O.O (hide spoiler)]

[Katie]

Choko wrote: "Finished The Visitor #2 ... I actually liked this better. It felt very intimate, being in the girl's head and the way she perceived the alienation of her friend's parents and how that affected her..."

Right? I loved how we're getting to see things from each of the kids perspectives. Even with the edgy scifi intro. XD Rachel is so cute and relatable. A little vulnerable too as she's just flying by the seat of her pants like the rest of the kids are with all of this alien stuff.

Loved too that one of the key morphs in this book was a kitty. But you're right in that one scene was heartbreaking @Choko :(

[Katie]

Love seeing everyone's comments on the book! Playing catch up! Good to have you join us too Saar ^~^

Guess what guys? I finally found a library edition that has the little flip animation!! Heck yes!!

Man....I really wanna start the next book...like now.... can you tell I'm hooked? :D

[Nirkatze]

Oh cool! Awesome you found the flip animation versions, Katie!

The comment you made about morphing genders, combined with Iain's comments on book #4 kind of make me wonder... (view spoiler)[with young Ax being able to morph human... I wonder if they can acquire other humans as morphs? Or can they only acquire species not their own? That would be an interesting non-surgical solution for transgender folk. Or an alternative to plastic surgery. Of course, you could only do it once. (hide spoiler)]

#4 re: Ax--(view spoiler)[Makes sense that he's essentially a kid too... I was wondering about that, especially when @Iain said he sticks around... mentors in the know tend to get killed off in YA stories, else how would the kids be saddled with the world-ending responsibilities? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Katie wrote: "A little behind, but I just finished Book 2, "The Visitor". Oh. my. gosh. I'm already so worried about these kids. And its still so early on. There just this innate threat in all of these stories. ..."

The book covers really tricked parents into thinking these books were innocent cheesy fun for kids...

[Katie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The book covers really tricked parents into thinking these books were innocent cheesy fun for kids......"

Most definitely!!

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Katie wrote: "A little behind, but I just finished Book 2, "The Visitor". Oh. my. gosh. I'm already so worried about these kids. And its still so early on. There just this innate threat in all of t..."

Yahh tricked me too.. Probably why I didn't pick them up 😂

[Tonari no Emily]

Sooooo looks like we have 1 more POV of the kids... What will happen after that I wonder

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The series has 6 main POVs... but 2 get short shrift, and happen half as often... Tobias/Ax... keeps a 5 book rotation for the other 4 POVs, for the first 40 books, before changing to equal representation for the last 14 books...

I kind of like how that inadvertently created a really nice book-end for the series... starting and ending on a Jake POV, for single POV books... the final book of the series functions like a Megamorphs book, having multiple POVs, instead of just one...

[Tonari no Emily]

Huh, interesting... And to see Ax joins more permanently

[Katie]

Finished The Encounter (#3) today! Man does our boy Tobias go through some hard stuff! (view spoiler)[All of the inner turmoil was insane! It’s been nearly a week and he’s almost forgotten what it is to be human? His animal instincts wanting to take over?! That duality diminishing. What I really want to know is what is his uncle doing about the missing kid?! I know he had family issues, but I feel he’d be still looking! You know??

I thought the Hawk rescue in the beginning was cute. I have NO idea why Rachel morphed into an elephant! I have a meme for that actually. lol. Seriously girl. Any other distraction would have been better 😆



I like how Tobias’s hawk is looking to mate and settle down. Those animal instincts kicking in consistently. Whenever he sees the lady hawk. Or the hunting instincts of prey…

I can’t believe the kiddos almost got stuck as wolves! That’s terrifying! Your powers less in control. Good thing Tobias was looking out for them. Seriously. Why don’t the kids have like a stop watch or something? You’d think that would help. lol.

The bit where Tobias almost lost himself after his first hawk kill was heartbreaking. Him diving into the mall. Reaching for any familiarity. For Rachel. Gosh. Please help this suffering boy! He’s been through so much!!

Their idea to invite the ship was bonkers? Fish in a pipe!? Sure! But you don’t know where it leads!! My gosh. lol. Luckily things worked out for the kids and they live to fight another day. Lady Hawk… not so much. Rest in peace girl… (hide spoiler)]

[Katie]

I love going back and reading everyone's comments <3

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Katie wrote: "Finished..."

meme: ROFL...

[Katie]

I knew this group would appreciate the meme XD

[Nirkatze]

That was a great meme! Also loved all your comments Katie--really helps with the memory boost before going into the next one... (view spoiler)[Also love how you pointed out how Tobias saved them all multiple times (just as they help him with his self-hood)--shows how much a part of the team he still is, even as a hawk... (hide spoiler)]

[Katie]

Thanks so much Nirkatze!! Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, Tobias is such a good kiddo <3

I started Cassie's book while traveling! Loving what's happening so far! I'll have to get back later with my thoughts!

[Choko]

I am enjoying reading your thoughts too, Katie! Cassie is my favorite character of the five main ones so far:)

[Nirkatze]

Cassie was my favorite until I got to Marco.... was pleasantly surprised by #5.

[Katie]

Aww thanks Choko!! :D Buddy Reads are so much fun ~

Ohh ? Marco's is good too?? I can't wait! I feel like he hides behind a lot of his humor.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Katie wrote: "Aww thanks Choko!! :D Buddy Reads are so much fun ~

Ohh ? Marco's is good too?? I can't wait! I feel like he hides behind a lot of his humor."

Ramon de Ocompo did a PHENOMENAL job narrating Marco... he's top 1-2 narrators for the series so far, I think...

[Choko]

Just wanted to mention that one of the Earthling characters in The Wandering Inn mentioned that the people they are meeting in the Inn world, remind them of The Animorphs!!! I was like, yeah! I know what they are talking about now!:))))

[Saar The Book owl]

I'm closely to finish 'The visitor #2' and the first book was great, but this seems to even better. I like the perspective told from Rachel more than Jake's. It's a bit more serious, I think.
(view spoiler)[I got the feeling that she's a bit insecure/low self esteem? With her hight and her hair, and everyone think she will be a model? It felt kind of sad when she thought that. Tobias seems like okay with his situation being a hawk, permanently? I wonder what he eat...Oh, gosh, that scene with Rachel being a shrew (I had to look up what kind of animal that was, cute!) and her craving for maggots and rotten flesh! Well, Jake and the spider, that seemed a little less worse, but Rachel didn't ate it. Fluffer McKitten is fierce, like a real tomcat. It's interesting that the author put so much effort in explaining the behavior of animals, like the cat: they don't care about human voices, they're little, but they can scratch and bite like hell and act enormous. And on the otherhand give lots of comfort when needed, like with Melissa. That was a good job done writing about she fell due to her parents being Yeerk controlled and that parents were abandonning their children due to it. Also, Jake as a flea! Hilarious, I expected that would come. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Honest, I think each book has improved on the last so far... I did really like #2 for the kitty factor though.

[Katie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'll be reading #4 tomorrow probably...

Wondering when I should feel confident enough to put in requests for the rest of the series... I only requested box sets for the first 20ish books through M..."

That schedule sounds good to me :D

[Katie]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "Katie wrote: "Finished book #1 in a day!! Such a quick read!! Now it will really just be how fast I can get the libarary books. haha.

Book #1 Invasion thoughts
Honestly I really really liked it!!..."

Thanks Saar <3 Glad to have you joining in on this read! You seem to be enjoying it a lot :D

[Katie]

Choko wrote: "Just wanted to mention that one of the Earthling characters in The Wandering Inn mentioned that the people they are meeting in the Inn world, remind them of The Animorphs!!! I was like, yeah! I kno..."

That's amazing! haha. I need to start that one too XD

[Katie]

Sorry for all of the catch-up messages! haha. But I just finished Cassie's book!! The Message~

Spoilers
(view spoiler)[
Cassie is one of my favorites of the kids, 100%! Seeing her perspective as she's morphing and trying to help her friends is too good~

I especially like the question brought up : "how are we that different from the yeerks. Taking the animal DNA...then you're sorta controlling them...fighting back from animal instinct. Is that wrong? Are they much better?" good questions to ask team~

In this book Tobias sand Cassie have a vision of distant voice in the ocean. Interesting how this kind of power can call out so far! So what does this mean for our team? It's dolphin time! And speaking of time they even answered my comment from the last book....and they finally got Tobias a stopwatch so they can keep track of how long they've been morphed XD About time! literally, lol

The dolphin morphs were so so fun. I loved how playful they were! Though they got into a near life or death situation with Marco. That was scary! I feel like just luck had them make there way out of that one. We also learn about injuries in animal / morph form vs their real form....good to know...

We meet another one of those alien horse guys! Ax for short! The brother of our perished prince! He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and listens to what the kids have to say on what's been going on.

I was fascinated that he used all four kids to make his own human morph! Will the kids try that next?? What kind of morphs can they make??

With the meeting of Ax we get the true purpose of the yeerks. Low and behold they're the destroyer of worlds. Yippee! ^^; That is A LOT of pressure for these kids, but at least they made it out with another ally.

I swear though. It's near miss after near miss with these guys. With Visor 3 making chase in the ocean at the end there! Good thing Cassie used her whale speech to get an extra fin to the fight! Hang in there animorphs! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Katie wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I'll be reading #4 tomorrow probably...

Wondering when I should feel confident enough to put in requests for the rest of the series... I only requested box sets for the first..."

I went ahead and requested through book 40.5 at Halloween, last week, since the first 2 months went so well...

[Katie]

Thanks for that Timelord! So are we making a new thread then? Or continuing in here?

And were there any reads for March? I was trying to look at your listing and my brain just wasn't computing the organization XD

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Katie wrote: "Thanks for that Timelord! So are we making a new thread then? Or continuing in here?

And were there any reads for March? I was trying to look at your listing and my brain just wasn't computing th..."

There's a new thread every 4 books + any accompanying Megamorphs or Chronicles book...

5-8 + Andalite's Gift= https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... (February)
9-12 + Andalite Chronicles = https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... (March) (we just moved here as we started reading #9 this week...

[Katie]

Thanks for the heads up!! I've got some catching up to do!