The Revelation / The Deception / The Resistance / The Return (Animorphs #45-48) + The Ellimist Chronicles (#47.5)[December 1, 2024]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Animorphs Boxset: The Revelation / The Deception / The Resistance / The Return and The Ellimist Chronicles by K.A. Applegate starting on December 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!

[Choko]

Spot!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is what we’ve been waiting for for 10-15 books… stakes… events that shake up the status quo from book to book… basically, we’re building toward the finale now…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

So, I meant to say a bit more... I read #45 at work the day I made my previous comment, and kinda loved it... for the reasons I mentioned above... so much happened, and it's not just gonna get swept under the rug...

(view spoiler)[Marco's engineer dad was doing Z-space R&D, either because of Yeerk meddling, or causing Yeerk interest...

Marco saves his dad, and reveals pretty much everything about aliens, morphing, the Yeerk invasion, etc...

The Chee have to fake Marco & his dad's death to protect them...

Marco's dad & Ax recreate the Z-space communicator/scanner and spy on Yeerk transmissions... launch a crazy plan to save Marco's mom / Visser one from the Yeerk Pool...

Save Marco's mom, kill Visser One, ride off into the sunset to live at the Free Hork Bajir Valley... Marco spends half his time living with Ax in the woods now, I think?...

No more school, more focus on the war for Ax...

My only gripe was the treatment of Nora and leaving her to become a Controller... and then Marco's lie to his dad to make him feel better about the whole thing... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Starting #46 now... (view spoiler)[let's see how they stop WW3 in 2hr audiobook...

I think Visser Three is Visser One now, and in charge of the Earth invasion... that's gonna escalate things... I think Visser Two is a new character that V3 jumped over to become V1 (maybe I should start calling him Esplin 9466a?)... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Reading #46 after some distractions, and I have mixed feelings... (view spoiler)[the rules are being thrown out so fast...

Ax gives the NSA a worldwide code cracking software tool he wrote, with no comments about Seerow's Kindness and breaking Andalite rules... and the dangers of that action in general... not to mention the possibility of reverse-engineering it...

And pages later they throw out the human morphing rule and are flying fighter jets... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

#46 didn't really work for me... I think part of it was being written pre-9/11... I dunno... too rushed and simple of an ending...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

#47: the rules are slowly being thrown away…

The Civil War POV and new narrator give gravitas to the plot…

The camper plot feels silly by contrast, so far…

2/3 done and still prepping for the battle of the book…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Starting to feel the Hoopla crunch as my 3 week checkouts close in on the return date... need to read Ellimist Chronicles & #48 by Thursday...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Read #47.5 Ellimist Chronicles at work last night... went by so fast for being nearly double length...

Ellimist's life was so interesting...

For the time it was written, the Ellimist feels like a Doctor Who moniker like The Doctor or The Master... but for today's parlance, it feels more like a GamerTag turned identity...

(view spoiler)[nice little connections to Andalites & Pemalites...

For a while in the middle, it seemed like maybe Crayak was "The Father"...

This book also paints The Ellimist as more of an underdog than he seems like at during the main series, since for so long Crayak had the upper hand... now it's more a mututally assured destruction situation... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Though Ellimist Chronicles is #47.5 in publication order, it's actually more like #53.5 in chronological order... oops...

(view spoiler)[ Through process of elimination, and knowledge from previous Megamorphs and Chronicles books, we know that:

Tobias & Ax were pre-chosen to be members of Animorphs for their connections to Elfangor...

Cassie was pre-chosen for her timeline stabilization abilities...

Marco was pre-chosen for being son of Visser One...

Jake & Rachel were the wild cards... and Ellmist says whoever is dying in the framing story wasn't meant to be an Animorphs... so it has to be Jake or Rachel... like solving a logic puzzle...

Rachel's always been the rush into danger type... and Jake has been getting more ruthlessly leaderlike, as the rules fade away... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started #48: Rachel's book The Return: feels like a much more introspective book than Rachel usually has... makes sense, given what I know about the plot of this book...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That was so good... the middle was kinda silly, but the beginning and end?... so good...

[Nirkatze]

So, I read the first few here around the end of November/beginning of December and man, finally! Reading Marco's book #45 The Revelation--I see what you mean Iain, that this was what you've been waiting for! And I also agree, (view spoiler)[the stepmom got short shrift there. They made almost NO effort to save her. And then she's kind of forgotten, because hey, Mom and Dad are back together and happily ever after, right?

I hope they revisit this. Because that's not how things work. Marco's mom has had a seriously traumatic experience, and his father did in fact fall in love with another person. MarcoMom might be alive, but in all real senses, the person MarcoDad loved is dead, and she's a new person now. But I can also see, with the drive to the endgame, that this is probably not going to be a priority.

The plotline where MarcoDad was doing Z-space math was wicked though! And I also find it great that they finally told an adult--but the adult is smart enough to realize that he shouldn't be trying to take control from the kids who have been on the frontline. He offers support, but doesn't try to take over. (hide spoiler)]

As for #46 The Deception, similar thoughts. Kinda went in one ear and out the other without making an impression. Rather shark-jumpy meh.

#47 The Resistance though--I really loved the new idea, (view spoiler)[connecting Jake to his past and having half the story being told from the Civil War diaries! Equating the Hork-Bajir's desire to be part of the fight with that of Black Freemen during the Civil War... very fresh! (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Read The Ellmist Chronicles today--didn't see your comment about it being later in the timeline chronologically, whoops, but whatev... I was definitely wondering if I'd missed something though, with the way that ended and the way #48 is starting--but turns out I wasn't missing anything. I really liked the Ellmist chronicles--just want to ditto most of your notes, @Iain--(view spoiler)[I totally thought Ellmist was the species name, and he was just one of a group... and at the start of the book, I also thought the "game" was him actually manipulating species... but then for his entire people to be exterminated, and the origin of the Andalites--have we met the other species??--and Ellmist going through multiple evolutions... such a cool story! Such insane perspective too, to shine on the "little" fight of our bandits... I totally agree about him being more underdog than we'd thought... (hide spoiler)]

Read #48 The Return and oof, that was so good! (view spoiler)[The breakdown of sanity, self-doubt, questions of identity--who is she if she isn't a soldier? What is real? Serious PTSD--just as easily could have been her brain breaking down under the stress as the Drode/Crayak... And actually made me feel kind of bad for David... but they really *can't* trust him. He has to be somewhere containable...

This one was seriously thoughtful, and I feel like I don't have the brain right now to unpack it as much as it deserves... Like the paradoxical emotions warring within her--the need to protect her friends' innocence, while resenting them for staying clean while she gets her hands dirty... being forced to carry the burden alone... She seriously needs a counselor. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Pemalites made Chee

[Nirkatze]

Oooooh!! That makes sense.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

They get mentioned on occasion, but since they're extinct it's rare... I think it was a Pemalite ship at the bottom of the ocean in the one book, that was needed to fix the Chee malfunction...

[Nirkatze]

Roger that. I just had them in my brain as "random other aliens who made Chee and don't remember name of"

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

How do you feel about continuing past February and replacing Animorphs with some other parasite/symbiote fiction for comparison… much shorter stuff (trilogies) and 1 book a month…

The 2 that immediately come to mind are Parasitology by Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant, and Semiosis, which has a 3rd book I haven’t read yet… maybe you guys have some too… Parasitology is close to zombie apocalypse… Semiosis is sci-fi/First Contact story kinda like Children of Time/Ruin…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Parasite
Symbiont
Chimera

Semiosis
Interference
Usurpation

[Nirkatze]

I'd love me some more McGuire...

You could toss in The Host and StarGate novelizations. ^_~

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've heard of The Host, and I know it gets alot of hate/shade... and I'm unfamiliar with the StarGate books, but the Goa'uld definitely fit the bill...

[Nirkatze]

I read the Host--it was fun and mindless, much like Twilight, but without the teenage angst (plenty of adult angst, but at least it wasn't as emo). It was interesting.

Looks like there's a lot of Stargate books, actually, wow...
Stargate (Movie Novelization)
Trial by Fire TV Series SG-1 has 30ish entries
Rising Stargate Atlantis has 24 entries

Not really interested in reading them--more want to rewatch the series--but I would read them, lol...

Did some more digging, apparently these have parasite/symbiote plotlines:
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
Dawn
The Puppet Masters
Doorways in the Sand
The Halcyon Drift
Healer
The Brains of Earth
Hothouse
Dichronauts
Blood Music
Needle
Lots of classic SF on that list... All of these are authors I've been wanting to read--especially Paolini & Butler.

Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin was also mentioned, but we've read that recently.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Definitely stuff to consider once we do Parasitology and maybe Semiosis (you didn't mention if you were interested in that one)... can keep a look out on the next 6 months of sales...

Speaking of Tchaikovsky, I think I want to start weaving in Tchaikovsky and Peter F. Hamilton standalones/trilogies, in a Sci-Fi slot, probably starting in 2026, when some of the many ongoing SF BRs wind down... Tchaikovsky writes alot of standalones every year that I never get to, and some trilogies, and we have that backlog of Hamilton we wanted to try sprinkling in...

[Nirkatze]

Sure, I'm interested in Semiosis. They all look interesting. And I like your Tchaikovsky idea.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sounds good... you can add it to your Poke List :D ... I'll look through your list of possible SF Parasite book blurbs, when I'm less busy with spreadsheet/competition stuff & getting ready for New Year...

I have some time, before the next sale and the possibility of needing to know which ones I want to buy, anyway :D

We're good with Animorphs & Parasitology / Semiosis until May or August...

[Tonari no Emily]

I'm finally catching up! Read through #47 today!
Re 45 (view spoiler)[ I'm sooo glad we're actually getting somewhere. It was feeling stagnant for a while. And they finally rescued Marco's mom! I feel super bad for Nora though (hide spoiler)]

Agreed about 46 kinda not working for me...

But I really liked the past mixed with the present for #47! That narrator sounds like he might have done a Stephen King book because that's what his voice made me think of...

[Tonari no Emily]

I really enjoyed the Parasitology trilogy! Classic Mira Grant stuff.
I read the first of the Semiosis and have been wanting to continue!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Audible says he reads the Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman... and some historical books like a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, which makes sense :D

[Nirkatze]

Ah, we did Magicians! And they kind of have a King-y feel...

Adding things to Poke list!

[Tonari no Emily]

Annnnd officially caught up in time for next month!
#47-- A Rachel book I actually ended up liking (she's been a bit grating to me lately). They honestly all need therapy in a big way!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

We can schedule the 6 books I mentioned thru August and poke the rest I think

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "We can schedule the 6 books I mentioned thru August and poke the rest I think"

That's fine with me. Moving to 1/mo from the 4/mo, yes? Please?

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Annnnd officially caught up in time for next month!
#47-- A Rachel book I actually ended up liking (she's been a bit grating to me lately). They honestly all need therapy in a big way!"

I totally agree on all fronts--ever since the starfish episode Rachel has been a bit too caricatured... but #47 really fleshed her out... and hell yeah they all need therapy so bad...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "We can schedule the 6 books I mentioned thru August and poke the rest I think"

That's fine with me. Moving to 1/mo from the 4/mo, yes? Please?"

yes

[Nirkatze]

Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "We can schedule the 6 books I mentioned thru August and poke the rest I think"

That's fine with me. Moving to 1/mo from the 4/mo, yes? Please?"

Yup, I did math--putting in requests for 1st of the month, March-Aug.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Parasite
Symbiont
Chimera

Semiosis
Interference
Usurpation"


Requests made, March 1-Aug 1st.

[Tonari no Emily]

Woo! I will try my best for the Semiosis trilogy, not sure about rereading Mira Grant, although if I have time I will! :)