The Android (Animorphs #10)

Animorphs Read 2020 (March);

Marco books are quickly becoming my least favorite book. I can usually open one of these books and power through in about an hour, or less, without looking up, since eating them is rather like eating cotton candy. But Marco's book became my very first dropped star, and the first it put down three or four times while reading it because I was just tired of his abrasiveness.

(I'm, also, having a lot of issues with anytime he gets angry with anyone for keep secrets from him/them, while he's also keeping one of the biggest secrets going that will later involve this group.)

I really did love the focus on the androids and the dogs. That part was absolutely touching, and even a good deal heartbreaking at the end show more there. I hope we do see more of them and their underground world inside of the Earth later in our series. show less

I laughed, I cried, I questioned if I was a good person based on my answers to the hard moral and ethical questions this book raised, and in the end it was a solid read.

This one was flat for me, though it's a favorite in the series for lots of other fans. It's certainly packed with action, and the storyline moves swiftly- a bit too quick, as I really felt a lack of detail.

In a nutshell, the boys morph dogs to sneak into an outdoor concert, and run into an acquaintance of Jake's who seems- weird. They witness a decidedly strange incident that convinces them the guy's not human. Later they morph spiders and flies at an outdoor event to spy on him- and nearly get exposed when Marco-as-spider is eaten by a bird and has to escape by morphing back to human form in mid-air (and mid-bird, which could be gross except it's light on description). Of course someone sees him falling to earth, but it's the very guy show more they suspected. Who knows exactly what they are, and tells them he's infiltrated the enemy forces but is really on their side. Suspicious, they still have to learn more, so they visit his supposed home- and find another huge underground living space, this one for an alien race of androids. The history of this android race and how it fit into the fight against the Yeerks was just- a bit out there for me. I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough for this one. Even more than the android storyline, was the idea that dogs had absorbed the essence of another, entirely peaceful race of aliens that had gone extinct due to the Yeerks. Yes, the idea here is that aliens turned wolves into dogs. Anyhow, it gives some of the androids a reason to oppose the Yeerks even though complete pacifist mentality is written into their code.

So they need the Animorphs to steal back a special crystal the Yeerks have in a stronghold, which would allow them to control all the computer systems on Earth. Stakes are high and the Animorphs don't have time to prepare. They sneak into the building as roaches and spiders, narrowly avoid being eaten by a rat, and navigate a pitch-black room of tripwires as bats, only to find when they reach the crystal, that they can't carry it out of the room without using another form. So they morph into their 'battle animals' and blast out of there, only to be met by enemy forces with machine guns. This time there's no easy way out- they fight and are all about to die except in a final moment Marco manages to get the crystal into the android's hands, who then rewrites his code so he can annihilate the Yeerk forces singlehandedly. It's so awful the scene isn't even described because Marco (our narrator) went unconscious after nearly dying. And the memory of what he's done is so horrific for the android- who can never dull or forget a single memory- that the androids withdraw, vowing not to get involved again.

Traumatized androids. Lots of heavy discussion in this book about the ethics of warfare. No easy answers. Even that didn't make it interesting enough for me; I kind of had to make myself finish the book. The two new animal forms- spider and bat- were introduced and utilized so quickly, I wasn't able to enjoy that aspect of the story. It was all just fast-paced, action-packed and meh for me. Not my kind of read.

from the Dogear Diary show less

Not what I was expecting tbh but really good. I'm not sure if I find the concept of secret pseudo-dog created aliens to be endearing or ridiculous though. Possibly both.

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.

Fun fluff series that gets less and less fluff over time.

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