The Andalite Chronicles (Animorphs Chronicles #1)

Spring 2020 (Animorph's Read 2020 March/April);

This ranks in as my highest Animorph star count so far at 3.5. I found myself more engrossed in the last third of this book than I have in any Animorphs novel yet (or the first 2/3rds of this selfsame novel). I am deeply interested in the parts where we begin messing with time, place, dimensions, and the shattering-merge of them with multiple minds involved and I NEED MORE of that part now (...and hopefully I won't be waiting for 2/3rd of the full series to pass me by before that?).

I wish we'd gotten to see more of their life on Earth.
I wish we'd gotten to see more of his life after-earth, pre-Book 1.
I wish any of the adults had sounds like adults during their parts of this book.

I will say show more that I was surprised by at least one reveal in this book (and another in 13). show less

From 8 to 12-years-old or so, my favorite series was Animorphs. I would eagerly await each monthly installment and devour it in a day. I drew pictures, created song parodies, and spent hours in MSN chat rooms pretending to be Ax. I'm pretty sure I even tried to convince my best friend that I had morphed my cat. (She didn't buy it; I think her exact, sarcastic words were, "Yeah, and I'm a Hork-Bajir!"). Anyway, The Andalite Chronicles is probably my favorite book in the series (and that's saying something, as there's 60+ books).

One of the most impressive things about the series as a whole, and particularly this book, is how I am still able to get something out of them at 24. Not only are they creative and packed with action and show more compelling characters, but these books take on some seriously heavy issues: war, the morality of killing, time travel, self-sacrifice, familial issues, honor, loyalty, loss of innocence, brutal consequences etc. Animorphs books don't pull any punches. But they are also incredibly fun and have a great sense of humor (even if the pop culture references betray them as a product of the 90s). If I were asked for book recommendations for kids 8-and-up, I would absolutely suggest Animorphs. They would be great for boys, in particular.

Anyway, The Andalite Chronicles is an origin story, providing a biography of the character that looms largest in the main Animorph books, even though he only actually appears in the first one for about 10 pages. This book and its characters are rather dear to my heart, and I've re-read it several times, even as an adult. It's heavy on the action and moral dilemmas. Love it.

If you have not read any Animorphs before, however, I would recommend reading them in order of publication date, which means you would start with Animorphs #1 The Invasion. The Andalite Chronicles didn't come out until after several of the main, numbered books, and I think it's more rewarding if you've met Cassie, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, and Ax (together called the "Animorphs") first. show less

This book is outside the usual chronology of the Animorphs series, being a prequel that tells of Elfangor's youth as a warrior-in-training and his involvement in the war against the Yeerks. It's mostly battles between alien species on various planets and in outer space. But I got drawn into the story and actually enjoyed most of it. At first, young Elfangor is eager to prove himself in battle and disappointed when he's given a lowly task along with his fellow and rival Arbron. They intercept an alien ship run by the Skrit Na- who have on board two humans they have captured and also a dangerous device the Time Matrix built long ago by those legendary all-powerful Ellimist... instead of taking the humans back on Earth, the Andalites wind show more up on the Taxxon home world trying to retrieve the device and ending up in a huge battle against the Yeerks (who have parasitized most of the alien Taxxons).

Lots of stuff happens. It gets complicated. The character of Elfangor grows and he struggles a lot with making moral decisions in tense moments of warfare- something his superior scorns at- an older Andalite embittered by the war. There are Taxxon rebels holding out against the Yeerks. Arbron gets stuck in morph and becomes a key player in the Taxxon rebellion. We find out some serious backstory details on how Visser Three came to be- how a Yeerk was able to take over an Andalite body. Elfangor feels he is to blame, an error in judgement on his part leading to what happened. There's also backstory on Chapman- in this book he's a young man- and a total jerk. The other human involved, a young woman named Loren, is a much more sympathetic character and a very strong female role.

For all that, there's some pretty weird happenings in here... The time travel events stretch credilbility and the part where Elfangor, Loren and the future Visser Three end up in suddenly created wacko universe was just so- odd.

The book neatly ends up at the scene that opens the first in the main series, The Invasion. Elfangor is a significant character there, giving the Animorphs the forbidden power to morph into any being they can touch. With all the Andalite honor code and strictness, it's kind of surprising Elfangor would give this to a lesser-advanced species, but this book makes it clear that he developed a soft spot for humans due to his experiences. Also he finally had confidence that humans could be stronger and more resilient than they look. Which is why he gave a key power to a bunch of kids on Earth, pitching them into the unseen battle against the aliens.

more at the Dogear Diary show less

A prequel. I loved it. We learn how Elfangor met Laurel. How Vissor Three become the first Yeerk in an Andalite body.

Favorite quote:

“But I had never experienced anything more exhilarating than racing down the valley and out across the open Taxxon desert in my Mustang.”
- Elfangor

A short comment for every book of the series until I get a chance to re-read them. All three of my sons and I loved this series and read every single book - I even bought every single book (most, but not all, used; some through school book sales). I'm excited to re-read them to see how the five main characters develop and to watch all the different transformations again.

The best books appeal to *readers* universally - not children versus adults. These may not be quite worthy of the adjective 'best' but they do have that crossover appeal.

A bit of light reading. Fairly entertaining but nothing special. I won't read any more in the series.

Read these as a kid, one of the series that kept me reading.