The Unknown (Animorphs #14)

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

I have too much of a soft spot for Cassie and Cassie's POV, to actually down mark this book (to at least a 2.5, if not to my second 2). But it's a feat of herculean strength not doing it, because every 'teenage haha' scatological joke and the reliance of a plot point that was all about a bathroom on top of it just really made me want to roll my eyes.

I didn't enjoy this one much. Found myself skimming at the end, to be done with it quicker. It has a ridiculous premise- ridiculous even for Animorphs. Cassie's father goes to a place near a secret military base called Zone 91 (obvious reference to Area 51) to check on a sick horse. Turns out the horse is behaving very oddly and the Animorphs suspect it isn't a horse at all. They return later and find out the Yeerks have been taking over horses' minds. This could have been really interesting, except it wasn't. The author made it appear that horses are fairly dumb, so that part of the story was boring. Except for where the kids all go to a racetrack to acquire horse morphs so they can blend in with the Yeerk-horses as spies- and Cassie show more ends up in a race. As a horse. Later they figure out what the Yeerks are actually doing on the base as horses- and it's really inane. Funny, but inane. The kids get caught by a military captain but escape as roaches. They crash an event at the Gardens (the amusement park half of it) where the enemy are attempting to infect more humans, and end up fighting Hork-Bajir warriors and Visser Three himself in the middle of a haunted house ride. Sorry, but those final chapters with the fight scenes just made me roll my eyes. The plot had several holes in it I couldn't ignore. Another part of the overall story is about crazy people who believe in alien abduction- and the Animorph kids think this is all fake- because they know the real aliens who have invaded. There could have been some real strong irony there, but again it fell flat for me. The dialog wasn't as amusing, and the introspective parts not nearly as thoughtful, as usual. Moving on.

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The horse thing was kind of hilarious but to be honest it didn't make a lot of sense. The image of a horse using a payphone to make a call is going to live in my brain forever now.

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.

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.

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