Book 1 to 6 - Killer Ladies

chinchil1en
Jan 2, 2019
2 min read

Updated: Sep 29, 2019

Series: Animorphs

Author: K.A. Applegate

Genre: children's/YA sci-fi

I REALLY liked The Departure and The Solution. The Departure definitely is a more introspective storyline, with less fighting and a lot more moral philosophizing when Cassie quits the team, gets lost in the wilderness with a Yeerk-infested little girl, and almost morphs permanently into a caterpillar just to free said little gal - and to think, my greatest worries when I was 15 or so were around getting them A-grades and not looking like an idiot in front of my many, many crushes...

I definitely read these books through an entirely different lens, compared to when I powered through them back in the day. In fact, I vividly remember thinking Cassie was a wimp and Rachel was a one-note tune ("Let's do it" - we get it, you're brave or whatever) I'd rather skip for Tobias, who I envisioned as a cutie patootie, or Marco, whose comedic approach to life I very much identified with. Now, though, Cassie and Rachel are like completely different people - except I'm the one who's different. I see them as they're written - badass, multidimensional characters with ethical dilemmas and struggles around PTSD, rage, and fear. I can now see the value they bring to the Animorphs and the narrative. Just look at The Solution, for example. DAY-UM. The whole David arc is suuuuper icky (books 20 -22, where a new human gets morphing power, goes rogue, Animorphs trick him into morphing a rat, trap him in that morph, and then leave him on a deserted island - YIKES), and we get to see the darker sides of the entire, but particularly Jake, Cassie, and Rachel.

The series isn't halfway over, and these poor kids have basically become soldiers - not even "basically"; they are soldiers, getting high on adrenaline and slowly being desensitized to all the violence.

On that happy note...let the adventure continuuuuuue!