The Hidden (Animorphs #39)

Simple plot but wow, the implications. The characters are acting more like themselves again, there's more what-it's-like-to-be-an-animal insight and some humor, the violence is getting worse when they have to fight. And this book was all one long fight, it seemed. The Yeerks got hold of a device that allowed them to detect morphing energy, so they could pinpoint the Animorphs' location, and also that of the blue box that gave them that ability in the first place. So most of the book is the team fleeing desperately in different animal forms, trying to elude the enemy and confuse them until at the very end they come up with a crazy plan, that might just work, to destroy the detection device. What really got me was the cape buffalo. At one show more point, Cassie hides in a transport truck from the zoo that holds a cape buffalo (why it wasn't sedated to be in the truck, who knows). She morphed the buffalo to calm it, but then the animal unknowingly touched the blue cube, so it gained the ability to morph. This was crazy. Made me wonder why it hadn't happened in some way sooner in the series. What happens to an animal that can change form, but has no idea it's doing so? The buffalo was obviously confused, but it saw Cassie morphing into buffalo form, so formed a temporary bond with her and then started following the Animorphs around and defending them for a while against the enemy's troops. Then it bumped against a human and started morphing into that form. The Animorphs were really freaked out when it started trying to walk upright and mimic simple words. Also terrified what would happen if the enemy got ahold of this morphing buffalo, so they decided they had to destroy it, but Cassie couldn't bear to do so. However when an ant also gained morphing power and started taking Cassie's form, she was horrified and had no qualms squashing it.

Turns out this book bothered a lot of other readers, because all the stuff about the blue box contradicted what was established in earlier books. Which I totally forgot because it's been so long since I read them. So that didn't bother me at all while I was reading.

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I had seen a lot of the fandom dunking on this particular instalment so I was braced for it going in, and... I'm not really sure why this one has such a weird rep? Really the only new thing here is that tidbit that sapience/sophonce isn't necessary to use the escafil's morphing- which is admittedly cool, but not any weirder than the rest of the series. This entry is noticeably shorter than every book prior as well.

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.

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