Product Description: Finding an ally in the android Erek King, the Animorphs come to appreciate his nonviolent nature and seek to collect the vital information he has before they lose their fight against the evil Yeerks. Original."
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Androids!
This was definitely a fun book, for it introduced another aspect of the galactic war against the Yeerks. Robots! Everyone likes robots, and I thought that approach KA took toward them here was considerably creative.
Rating: - One of the best
In this book, Marco and Jake discover an old friend of Marco's named Erik handing out flyers for the Sharing. They discover that he is an android created by the long-dead Pelmites, and though hard-wired for nonviolence, the Chee hate the Yeerks and act as spies for the ANIMORPHS.
Rating: - Reader Over 25
There are several other basic synapsis of this book already written, so I won't rehash it all here. As with all my other reviews (I'm working on the entire series as they get reread) I'm here to offer up a different point of view. If anyone out there is wondering what someone way out of the normal age group sees in these books, then this one is for you.
This book swings back into more suspense and battle format than the last one. The balance is better in that you have Marco narrating it, and his sense of humor leaving the reader laughing, alongside a bit more action overall to go with the emotional threads. As always, there's more to it than a very good, solid, well thought out story which is both entertaining and a "can't put it down" read. Marco has much more to him than meets the eye, and although he's flippant, funny, and sarcastic even in his narration thoughts, he's also smart and quickest of all of them to see the long view. With his family being torn apart by the Yeerks taking his mother as the host body for Visser One, he has to deal with a lot of anger and rage in this book. There's a scene the other reviewers don't touch on (which is fine, that's why I'm doing this, because I'm double the normal age and see things differently). Marco gets Tom on the phone, who is a Controller. The Yeerk in Tom's head tries to sway Marco into bringing his father over into the Sharing, so they might be able to seduce him into being a voluntary host. Exploding, Marco runs red with rage over a short span of this book, finally letting most of it drain off when he morphs the spider for the first time and almost kills a beetle for food. He'd decided that he'd do anything to keep the Yeerks from getting his Dad as well as his Mom, even take down Tom if necessary. Yet, it also stresses that riding that wave of rage is like a drug, it leaves you empty and tired when its over.
There's also an interesting and fun new "species" introduced in this book with the dog-like Chee. The Androids, created as toys by a race so peaceful and playful they knew no hatred or war, could not fight because it was against their programming. After a breathtaking theft on the part of the Animorphs, they manage to get the component needed to allow the Chee to reprogram themselves. There's also something nice in Applegate's writing, because the Animorphs make a serious mistake over something very small at the end of the book, and it turns into a fighting retreat which almost gets them all killed. Erek is able to reprogram himself and save the Animorphs via mass slaughter of the enemies. However, the price of losing their "innocence" is so high, its unacceptable. The Chee can never forget, and lack the human ability to put something behind them. Although many of the younger readers might well miss it, it leaves a residue thought of "what if... every bad thing we've done in our lives was burned right at the forefront of our minds and we had to relive it every single moment?" That was the reason the Chee could not fight, and the price was simply too heavy. Themes like that tend to stick with readers a long time after the story is read, and I think that's what may very well keep Animorphs around to endure into a modern classic some day.
I gave this book a 4 instead of 5 star rating on the basis of believability. I take into account this series is written for an age group of 9-12, but Applegate tends to be good with most of her realism (for Sci-Fi of course). This one stretched it quite a bit with a huge, underground park which had mobs of dogs running around in it. The space was vast, even having a false sun, and a huge amount of dogs running loose in it. That one stretched things a bit, even with the technology available to the Chee, just in maintaining it, feeding all those dogs, general pet care/clean up, and the sheer size of it. A fun idea, but just enough "out there" that it lost a star in my ratings. All in all, however, a very entertaining read and wonderful addition to the series as a whole.
Rating: - Fabulous!!!!!!!
This book was fantastic!! I loved it!! Of course, I love all Animorph books!! It was weird, crazy, and insane all at once!! KA Applegate is the best author ever! She did a fantastic(times 100000000000000000 more)Buy this book! Or the Yeerks shall get you.
Rating: - one of the best books in the series
i really enjoyed this book along with the other books in the series (so does my 20-year-old sister). this was one of the most exciting animorphs books i've ever read, i especially liked the way k. a. applegate expresses marco's point of view. i would like to recomend this, and all the other animorphs books, to anybody who loves to read.
- Androids!
- One of the best
- Reader Over 25
