The Message

Technically 4.5?


Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!

Cassie’s our gentle, empathetic narrator in Book #4: The Message. She’s been having weird dreams, like someone familiar is calling to her from the ocean. Tobias has been having the dreams as well. The Animorphs decide it’s a lost Andalite and go off to rescue him in dolphin morphs.

Cassie was my favourite Animorph as kid. I loved her. I loved her moral wallowing and her desperate need not to be responsible. But now I find it a bit annoying. I understand why she feels bad morphing intelligent animals, but you are saving their butts, so get over it!

Also, this book is the most unrealistic of all the unrealistic things that happen in the series. I can accept alien parasitic slugs and blue centaur-aliens and kids trapped in morph. I can’t accept telepathic whales. When I was a kid I thought it was awesome. Now I’m just like…’huh? Whales do NOT do that.’ You can make up whatever shit about aliens you want – after all, they’re YOUR aliens. But whales? They belong to everyone. They’re in the real world. They’re not telepathic. Maybe if Cassie morphed a whale and then understood the language, that would be OK. But telepathy? No.

This book is probably the most important out of all the early books for one reason: the introduction of a new major character and future series narrator. Ax is the lost Andalite, and he’s also Prince Elfangor’s little brother. A space cadet, Ax doesn’t have the training or wisdom to lead the Animorphs – he instead fixes on Jake as his ‘Prince’ (a military rank). He’s an extraordinarily valuable member of the group: he can keep track of time and knows a darn sight more about the other aliens than the humans do, even if he had trouble paying attention in school.

There’s a lot of humour in this book when the group morphs seagulls, but also a hefty dose of realistic fear and violence when in dolphin morph they take on a group of sharks. In both of these morphs, the group struggle with the animal instincts. They aren’t even aware that the animal is taking over. Applegate does a brilliant job of this especially with the dolphin morph.

Overall, if you were looking to skip any books in the series, this one would NOT be it. You basically need to read it. It’s pretty good, even if the suspension of disbelief is a bit too much for an adult. ( )

The fourth book sees the introduction of a new character. This is largely a plotty book, rather than character development, this time, though Cassie does struggle with a couple of ethical questions. They don't seem quite convincing to me -- but it makes sense that she does ask questions, so it didn't bother me too much. It was nice to read a book in which the morphing is mostly fun and playful, and in which all of earth seems to join in on the side against the Yeerks. It's a little too touchy-feely, but with Cassie as the narrator, it's okay. She isn't really my favourite character, so that's probably why I liked this book a little less.

One thing that does get tiresome is the formula for the very first chapter. They state their names, tell you they can't tell you a lot of stuff, reintroduce morphing... I can see why, it allows people to join in mid-series, but at the same time, it gets irritating, especially when you're reading the books all at once. ( )

Animorphs was a good series that kept me reading. Enjoyed these as a kid. ( )

Unlike, apparently, most people writing reviews on goodreads, I really like Cassie's PoV and think that her in-touch-with-nature-ness does in no way make her less relatable than, say, Jake's leadership qualities or Rachel's let's-do-it recklessness, especially since, just like for them, that's only one facet of her personality. That said, I'll just throw some notes I took in here and call it a day... or a review. Spoilers ahead.

Little things/details I loved:
- Rachel's little bulletin words with proverbs, now starrin Sun Tzu, reflecting her changed life
- Cassie and Jake just joking about Thanksgiving at Cassie's family's place and how her great-grandma rambles on and on
- the typical, adorable 80's/90's obession with whales and dolphins (and sharks as mean/evil... well, that one actually annoyed me) - And still: the moment the whales come to save the kids - the Little Ones - sends goosebumps down my spine
- Marco making it very, very clear that doing nothing is also a decision (see also: today's racism/various other -isms)
- the kids as seagulls constantly pointing out fries/candy bars/bags of potatoe chips - a genuinely hilarious comedy moment
- Awww, Ax. Instant woobie, instant favourite
- "Who is your prince?" / "I will fight for you, Prince Jake." I'd forgotten that Ax adresses him as such at first.
- "Ax? Don't talk to any strangers on the way home, okay?" ( )

There is a whole series to this book. Very discriptive and has to do with marine life. ( )