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Animorphs #27
The Exposed
The Animorphs and Ax have one true ally in their battle against the Yeerks: the Chee. So, when they discover that the Chee—including their friend, Erek—are in trouble, they have no choice but to help.
But the Chee's problem is much deeper than anything the kids could have imagined. It's hidden in the ocean. So far down that no human has ever traveled there—and survived. And the Animorphs realize what will happen if Visser Three discovers the valuable secrets of the Chee. One of which is the Animorphs. . . .
But the Chee's problem is much deeper than anything the kids could have imagined. It's hidden in the ocean. So far down that no human has ever traveled there—and survived. And the Animorphs realize what will happen if Visser Three discovers the valuable secrets of the Chee. One of which is the Animorphs. . . .
154 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
About the author
K.A. Applegate
260 books391 followersalso published under the name Katherine Applegate
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
May 11, 2015
Our ghostwriter this time: Laura Battyanyi-Weiss.
I have to say, I'm already feeling a lot better about the ghostwriters, because I loved this book -- I am SO HAPPY about the Chee popping up much more often (they're the best!) and the Crayak storyline still getting nudged along. And writing-wise, Battyanyi-Weiss does a really good job, IMO: she captures Rachel's reckless spirit, her worries about her own darker side and its capacity, her occasional desires for normalcy, the temptation of a regular life with a regular boy. And much like how Marco 'outed' them in an earlier book, I think this is the first time that Rachel properly thinks the word 'boyfriend' about Tobias, and they wrangle some cute pseudo-relationship drama & jealousy, without being too ridiculous about it.
The police raid scene is absolutely grueling, with Rachel pushing herself beyond all limits in order to protect and save her friends (she is so amazing ugghhhh). The Animorphs' deep sea adventures are also terrifying and wonderful, as always. The Drode is a vile little antagonist, dredging up everyone's worst fears and darker sides of themselves: "A sanctimonious killer: my least favourite kind," he says about Jake, our leader, which is just so perfect. I love that our heroes are not uniformly good. They are flawed, hypocritical, arrogant, ruthless, yet doing their best.
It's mainly a Rachel and Tobias book, and god, that last page will just punch you right in the gut.
It's also odd, because I came across a review that didn't think the ghostwriting was obvious in #25, and hated this one because they felt the humour was too forced -- when I felt the exact vice versa. Maybe I'm just more critical of Marco-narrated books because he's my boo. But really, you can't disagree that this one has the stronger plot, too.
I have to say, I'm already feeling a lot better about the ghostwriters, because I loved this book -- I am SO HAPPY about the Chee popping up much more often (they're the best!) and the Crayak storyline still getting nudged along. And writing-wise, Battyanyi-Weiss does a really good job, IMO: she captures Rachel's reckless spirit, her worries about her own darker side and its capacity, her occasional desires for normalcy, the temptation of a regular life with a regular boy. And much like how Marco 'outed' them in an earlier book, I think this is the first time that Rachel properly thinks the word 'boyfriend' about Tobias, and they wrangle some cute pseudo-relationship drama & jealousy, without being too ridiculous about it.
The police raid scene is absolutely grueling, with Rachel pushing herself beyond all limits in order to protect and save her friends (she is so amazing ugghhhh). The Animorphs' deep sea adventures are also terrifying and wonderful, as always. The Drode is a vile little antagonist, dredging up everyone's worst fears and darker sides of themselves: "A sanctimonious killer: my least favourite kind," he says about Jake, our leader, which is just so perfect. I love that our heroes are not uniformly good. They are flawed, hypocritical, arrogant, ruthless, yet doing their best.
It's mainly a Rachel and Tobias book, and god, that last page will just punch you right in the gut.
It's also odd, because I came across a review that didn't think the ghostwriting was obvious in #25, and hated this one because they felt the humour was too forced -- when I felt the exact vice versa. Maybe I'm just more critical of Marco-narrated books because he's my boo. But really, you can't disagree that this one has the stronger plot, too.
June 27, 2013
Brought to you by The Moonlight Library!
Rachel and the Animorphs are in a race against time to save the malfunctioning Chee from being discovered by the Yeerks when their Pemalite ship hidden three miles deep in the ocean randomly stops working for no reason whatsoever.
Or something.
Seriously, this book isn’t explained very well. I get all of the short-term, immediate goals like ‘get Erek out of the mall’ and ‘rescue the homeless Chee during a drugs bust’ and ‘morph a giant squid to break into the Pemalite ship’ but the bigger overarching problem is never addressed. How did the malfunction occur, and especially: if the Drode is allowed to set the self-destruct sequence, why didn’t he to being with?
What exactly is it that causes the Pemalite ship’s malfunction in the first place? That’s never solved. The Chee just need someone to enter the ship and push a button. At the end of the book, Erek moves the ship to a deeper location, somewhere that can only be reached by an indestructible android. Well, that’s great. What’s going to happen next time the ship malfunctions and the Chee need the technologically challenged Animorphs to save their ass? They’re gonna be stuck forever while the Animorphs wait until human technology catches up to Pemalite technology in a couple million years and they can travel that deep.
I mean sure, you could just blame the Drode, but I don’t see the point in that. The Drode wouldn’t have been allowed to attempt to wipe out the Chee, because the fight the Ellimist and Crayak are in is about Earth and besides SPOILER the Ellimist loves the Chee. So what is it? That the Drode is allowed to nearly destroy the Chee but give the Animorphs impossible loopholes all the time only to set the self-destruct signal in the end anyway?
BOOK WHY U NO MAKE SENSE?
So in Rachel’s second last book #17 we read a lot about how Rachel struggles with bravery and volunteering to do insanely brave/stupid things, like volunteering to morph the mole first and start digging, and that leads to her struggling with claustrophobia and all kinds of mental distress. And in this book Rachel insists on being the one to morph a sperm whale and hunt down a giant squid despite being afraid of the deepest, darkest water. She is clearly not as fearless as everyone thinks, but her courage is bottomless. She will be fearful, pee-your-pants-scared and still be the first one to step forward because the girl has ovaries of freaking steel I swear to god.
I love Rachel books because everyone, even Cassie, has this notion that Rachel is built one way and one way only, and Rachel will take her books around and surprise you (most of the time) with all that depth no one guessed was there before. Rachel is dark, yes, but she is also freaking awesome.
Also, Rachel is super protective of Cassie in this novel, and I think it’s sweet. I don’t really recall ever seeing the same sort of concern for her best friend from Cassie in an actual Cassie book. Sure, there was that time Cassie thought Rachel has been eaten as a dinosaur but that wasn’t from her point of view.
Anyway. If you want to see Rachel bashing heads and walls and being fearless and unstoppable, then read this book. It’s ridiculously good, even if it makes no sense.
May 14, 2017
"... I like a good fight... Lately, it's been scaring me that I like it. That I look forward to it so much... And I'm afraid that if I keep giving into the urge, sooner or later I'll forget how to do anything else. Forget how to do the things I used to like to do."
Rachel is going deeper and deeper, and she even admits a page later that she is addicted to the fight. She faces her fears here too, albeit in a bull headed way.
"A sanctimonious killer; my least favorite kind."
Crayak seeing that darkness and trying to get Rachel to his side by playing on it... Boy, the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.
They are all growing up; the kiss for Jake and Cassie in the last book, and Rachel and Tobias in tthis book... Man...
And that last sentiment of Tobias... Man does this series know how to gut- punch.
Rachel is going deeper and deeper, and she even admits a page later that she is addicted to the fight. She faces her fears here too, albeit in a bull headed way.
"A sanctimonious killer; my least favorite kind."
Crayak seeing that darkness and trying to get Rachel to his side by playing on it... Boy, the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.
They are all growing up; the kiss for Jake and Cassie in the last book, and Rachel and Tobias in tthis book... Man...
And that last sentiment of Tobias... Man does this series know how to gut- punch.
January 22, 2022
Come check out my 4 hour 35 minute deep dive into reading every single Animorphs book for the first time on YouTube. I recap and review all of the books from the main series: https://youtu.be/H8kUM2q3CIU
August 6, 2014
In 27, the Animorphs have to go fix whatever's wrong with the Chee's holograms. Can't have their android friends exposed, right?
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book was ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss.
It's a bit odd that there only appear to be two Chee who are in danger when the holograms failed and both of them are close enough to where the Animorphs live to be able to help them immediately. Aren't Chee all over the world, not just in their city?
The Chee android Lourdes speaks in thought-speak in this book, and it's unclear whether this was an editorial error or whether Chee actually can use thought-speak.
Seems silly for Cassie to not get the sperm whale morph while she's there and so close to the whale.
Rachel refers to going through her human form as "human morph" once in this book. Seems inconsistent.
While they're in the Pemalite ship as giant squid, Rachel describes reaching "a hand" through a bubble, and she doesn't have hands at that point. Inconsistency?
The Drode, a creature who works for Crayak, is introduced in this book.
Erek says the Pemalite ship will now be hidden where only an android can get to it because of its depth. This somehow does not stop it from being revisited in a later book.
Notable moments and inconsistencies:
This book was ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss.
It's a bit odd that there only appear to be two Chee who are in danger when the holograms failed and both of them are close enough to where the Animorphs live to be able to help them immediately. Aren't Chee all over the world, not just in their city?
The Chee android Lourdes speaks in thought-speak in this book, and it's unclear whether this was an editorial error or whether Chee actually can use thought-speak.
Seems silly for Cassie to not get the sperm whale morph while she's there and so close to the whale.
Rachel refers to going through her human form as "human morph" once in this book. Seems inconsistent.
While they're in the Pemalite ship as giant squid, Rachel describes reaching "a hand" through a bubble, and she doesn't have hands at that point. Inconsistency?
The Drode, a creature who works for Crayak, is introduced in this book.
Erek says the Pemalite ship will now be hidden where only an android can get to it because of its depth. This somehow does not stop it from being revisited in a later book.
February 21, 2016
This series always delivers...which is why I love it.
January 22, 2023
There’s something wrong with the Chee. Now the Animorphs have to dive to the Chee’s hidden space ship on the bottom of the ocean. But none of their morphs can dive down that deep. And the Yeerks are not far behind them.
There is a little bit of character development for Rachel and her relationship with Tobias here. And the Crayak from the previous novel does have a presence in this novel, which is starting to feel more important for the series in general. This is just a bit of a mixed bag. It does have some cool moments, though overall it’s a very forgettable and disappointing installment.
There is a little bit of character development for Rachel and her relationship with Tobias here. And the Crayak from the previous novel does have a presence in this novel, which is starting to feel more important for the series in general. This is just a bit of a mixed bag. It does have some cool moments, though overall it’s a very forgettable and disappointing installment.
March 26, 2024
Rachel and Tobias are unofficially going steady ❤️❤️❤️
Also any animorph book that calls Cassie a hypocrite is an automatic 5
Also any animorph book that calls Cassie a hypocrite is an automatic 5
August 3, 2024
*** 3.27 ***
I really like Rachel's story arc, and love that her character tends to deal with darker themes, but overall, this book was not as strong as the previous one.
I really like Rachel's story arc, and love that her character tends to deal with darker themes, but overall, this book was not as strong as the previous one.
April 20, 2016
The Chee are back, sort of, but they’ve got problems on the Animorphs can fix. It involves a deep dive, acquiring two new morphs, and weighing the consequences of the sides you pick. The Exposed has its moments, but after the explosiveness of The Attack, its more goofy drama feels incongruous.
Rachel is an excellent narrator for this story. She is good at taking weird in stride: when Erek shows up at the mall with a malfunctioning hologram, she takes charge. I loved her self-satisfied proclamation “I am the goddess of shopping.” The contrast between teenage-girl Rachel, who is obsessed with fashion and gymnastics and being good at as much as possible, and Animorph Rachel, the fierce warrior who doesn’t back down, is fascinating and complex. Just think about how Rachel acts when she is in one of her power morphs: she is more bloodthirsty than some hardened killers. Well, in some ways she is a killer.
As much as I don’t like the Drode’s introduction (he just seems to complicate things), I did love the way it insinuates itself into the worst facets of the Animorphs’ personalities. He appeals directly to that darker side of Rachel, and it sends shivers down the spine because it’s not a side that Rachel allows herself to acknowledge—so having someone else point it out is troubling.
Applegate also does something interesting here with the relationship (or lack thereof) between Rachel and Tobias. She dangles the prospect of an “ordinary” boyfriend for Rachel in the form of T. And therein we have that contrast again: T is everything that teenage-girl Rachel wants; Tobias, on the other hand, is a better fit for the more primal urges of Animorph Rachel. It’s telling that when Rachel is stressed at the end she chooses to morph into a bird and go for a flight with Tobias. Even so, there is a marked difference between Rachel’s killing instinct and Tobias’, because he has to kill for food. It’s a way of life for him, and he is good at it and even “enjoys” it, to some extent, thanks to the hawk morph—but it’s all about survival. For Rachel, however, it’s the fight that is the reward.
So I enjoyed diving deeper into Rachel’s psyche. The actual plot to this book, unfortunately, is more disappointing. It’s a fine premise, but this is one of those cases where the writers have relied on lazy storytelling and Idiot Ball plot devices instead of coming up with more realistic threats. The Drode, a kind of anti–deus ex machina, is a prime example, as is the actual deus ex machina at the end. I admit that I giggled a little—the Pemalite ship’s politeness and cheerfulness reminds me of Eddie, the computer on board the Heart of Gold in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
A few other good highlights: “Then we had bailed at top speed, pausing only long enough to change the channel on Erek’s TV. The two Chee would be stuck there for a while” and “ Jake said, his tone sardonic. ”
As these quotes imply, though, this is a very silly book. Sometimes the silly books work for me, but sometimes they feel like a bit of a drag, especially on the heels of something like The Attack.
Next time, the Animorphs take on a Yeerk science experiment, and Ax gets TV (it was the nineties!).
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #26: The Attack | #28: The Experiment →
Rachel is an excellent narrator for this story. She is good at taking weird in stride: when Erek shows up at the mall with a malfunctioning hologram, she takes charge. I loved her self-satisfied proclamation “I am the goddess of shopping.” The contrast between teenage-girl Rachel, who is obsessed with fashion and gymnastics and being good at as much as possible, and Animorph Rachel, the fierce warrior who doesn’t back down, is fascinating and complex. Just think about how Rachel acts when she is in one of her power morphs: she is more bloodthirsty than some hardened killers. Well, in some ways she is a killer.
As much as I don’t like the Drode’s introduction (he just seems to complicate things), I did love the way it insinuates itself into the worst facets of the Animorphs’ personalities. He appeals directly to that darker side of Rachel, and it sends shivers down the spine because it’s not a side that Rachel allows herself to acknowledge—so having someone else point it out is troubling.
Applegate also does something interesting here with the relationship (or lack thereof) between Rachel and Tobias. She dangles the prospect of an “ordinary” boyfriend for Rachel in the form of T. And therein we have that contrast again: T is everything that teenage-girl Rachel wants; Tobias, on the other hand, is a better fit for the more primal urges of Animorph Rachel. It’s telling that when Rachel is stressed at the end she chooses to morph into a bird and go for a flight with Tobias. Even so, there is a marked difference between Rachel’s killing instinct and Tobias’, because he has to kill for food. It’s a way of life for him, and he is good at it and even “enjoys” it, to some extent, thanks to the hawk morph—but it’s all about survival. For Rachel, however, it’s the fight that is the reward.
So I enjoyed diving deeper into Rachel’s psyche. The actual plot to this book, unfortunately, is more disappointing. It’s a fine premise, but this is one of those cases where the writers have relied on lazy storytelling and Idiot Ball plot devices instead of coming up with more realistic threats. The Drode, a kind of anti–deus ex machina, is a prime example, as is the actual deus ex machina at the end. I admit that I giggled a little—the Pemalite ship’s politeness and cheerfulness reminds me of Eddie, the computer on board the Heart of Gold in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
A few other good highlights: “Then we had bailed at top speed, pausing only long enough to change the channel on Erek’s TV. The two Chee would be stuck there for a while” and “ Jake said, his tone sardonic. ”
As these quotes imply, though, this is a very silly book. Sometimes the silly books work for me, but sometimes they feel like a bit of a drag, especially on the heels of something like The Attack.
Next time, the Animorphs take on a Yeerk science experiment, and Ax gets TV (it was the nineties!).
My reviews of Animorphs:
← #26: The Attack | #28: The Experiment →
April 20, 2022
We return to a focus on Rachel and her desire for normalcy clashing with her increasing desire for bloodshed. We learn that the true motivation behind pulling away from gymnastics is not being overwhelmed by her old responsibilities, but that it is no longer thrilling.
Violence is thrilling. War is thrilling. Her extensive history of near-death experiences is thrilling.
Gymnastics no longer makes her feel.
This installment also functions to give background on Chee life and logistics with the return (and malfunction) of our favorite immortal robot boy.
I just wanna give Rachel a hug.
CW: war, slavery, violence, murder, blood (brief), brief discussions of suicide
Violence is thrilling. War is thrilling. Her extensive history of near-death experiences is thrilling.
Gymnastics no longer makes her feel.
This installment also functions to give background on Chee life and logistics with the return (and malfunction) of our favorite immortal robot boy.
I just wanna give Rachel a hug.
CW: war, slavery, violence, murder, blood (brief), brief discussions of suicide
July 5, 2010
Standard Rachel book. Plot was too arbitrary to be taken very seriously. Some good humour early on.
May 30, 2018
(Full review here at the thelibraryladies.com.)
Narrator: Rachel
Plot: Again, another book that I remembered very little about. I mean…like nothing. I remember this cover, and the obvious fact that it has to do with them having to deep dive in the ocean for some reason. But since it’s a Rachel book, I knew going in that somehow things would get tense. Poor Rachel is never left off the hook as far as existential crises go.
Rachel is feeling moody. Not only is she dismayed by her decreasing interest in things that she used to enjoy (like gymnastics), seeing this as further worrying proof of her enjoying battle a bit too much, but a cute guy named T.T. asks her out. And she hesitates. I mean, her current boyfriend is a hawk most of the time…Angry with herself, she turns to her one source of consistent relief: the mall. There, she runs into Cassie (shocking). As they wander, they see Erek. But something’s wrong, they’re seeing the REAL Erek, the android beneath the hologram. Knowing something is wrong, Cassie and Rachel manage to get him into a sci-fi store before he completely breaks down, losing not only the remnants of his hologram but his ability to move. Rachel calls for back up.
Jake and gorilla!Marco show up. They’re quick to claim that it’s just a very realistic gorilla suit as Marco hoists Erek up and hauls him out of the mall, onto a bus, and finally gets him back to his own home. There they discover that this is a world-wide breakdown for the Chee, all losing their holograms and ability to move. Erek and Mr. King theorize that something must have went wrong in the Pemalite ship which they hid at the bottom of the ocean a millennium or so ago. But before they deal with that, there are two Chee who weren’t able to hide themselves well. One is in a high security plant, somewhere the Animorphs will never be able to infiltrate. He will be discovered when the shift changes in 24 hours, giving the entire mission a short timeline. The other Chee was posing as a homeless person and is in an abandoned warehouse that the Chee know will be soon raided by police, some of whom are sure to be Controllers who will then get access to all Chee technology.
Quickly prioritizing things, Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie head to the warehouse in various morphs, determined to get the Chee before she’s discovered. When they show up, the raid is just getting started. Rhino!Jake, elephant!Rachel, gorilla!Marco, and wolf!Cassie get to work. Things don’t go their way and they all get incredibly beaten up. Rachel is shot in the head, Cassie is paralyzed, Jake gets surrounded by cop cars. They only escape when Tobias and Ax show up, Tobias nabbing a gun and scaring the cops into hiding. Skunk!Ax cleans up the rest of them. They barely make it out, but do manage to return the Chee to the King household. From there, they begin fretting about reaching the Pemalite ship
They quickly realize that this is the most impossible mission they’ve been up against yet. None of their morphs can dive deep enough to reach the ship. Cassie says that a giant squid would be able to, but there are none in captivity. And to catch one themselves, they would need a sperm whale morph, also none in captivity. Through this all, the Animorphs have also started getting suspicious about the good luck they’ve had so far. Apparently all of the cameras were not functioning in the mall when they hauled Erek out, and there’s no word of anyone seeing them on the bus or walking around either. Defeated, they head home
At home, Rachel and her family are watching the news. They learn that just moments ago a sperm whale beached itself outside of the city. Rachel immediately calls BS on this. But she and the other Animorphs realize they have no choice but to play along with whatever force is aligning things like this. They fly to the beach. There Jake decides they will draw straws for the two will will acquire the whale. Rachel stares down Tobias until he caves and tells her which is the short straw. He then draws one himself and Rachel kicks herself for not realizing that he would do this. And knowing that Tobias is terrified of water, she feels awful for putting him in this position.
She and Cassie head down to the beach to help with the relief effort and Rachel manages to acquire the whale. Tobias swoops down to acquire it, but gets his talon stuck in its skin (a theme for him with aquatic animals, after the whole dolphin incident!). The other Animorphs have to dive bomb him in gull morph to knock him loose. Then they all morph dolphin and head out to sea.
Once they get a ways out, Tobias and Rachel morph the whale and get to work. As awesome as the morph is, they both struggle with the mental aspect of it, being so deep in the water. Just as they’re about to give up, Tobias spots the ship and Rachel spots a giant squid. She almost gets wrestled to her death fighting it, but Tobias shows up in the nick of time and finishes the job, hauling it up to the surface for everyone to acquire.
They all morph giant squid and go a-searching. Even knowing that Tobias found it once, they take a long time finding the ship again, almost running up against the two hour limit. Finally, they locate it, but they see what must be Yeerk submarines moving in quickly too.
The Pemalite ship is very accommodating, granting them entrance in their current forms and creating essentially large bubbles for their squid forms which they can move around the space in. The inside looks similar to the Andalites’ dome ship, with a large meadow full of trees, water, and what must be toys. The bridge is located in a tree, and the Animorphs are able to restore the Chee by typing in the super secret code of “6.” But suddenly the auto destruct is also turned on.
A creature calling itself the Drode steps out and explains all. He works for Crayak, and he has been the one behind all of the happenstances on this adventure. Crayak was displeased by the loss of his Howlers, so he had the Drode set up this confrontation between the Animorphs and the now arriving Yeerk forces, including Visser Three. However, per the rules, there is a way out.
Cassie quickly realizes that they need to shoot their ink and use its cover to demorph and remorph into battle morphs to better be able to fight back against the Yeerks. They do so, and the battle begins. The Animorphs, however, are losing, badly outnumbered by the Yeerks. They are only saved by the arrival of Erek who quickly reprograms the ship. It very politely informs them that it disapproves of violence, and forcibly ejects everyone while preventing them from re-engaging outside. The Animorphs make it back to shore, counting themselves lucky that Erek was able to reach them in the bare few minutes between them restoring the Chee’s functionality and the battle going poorly.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel is gaining quite a bit of self-awareness, and with this self-awareness comes concern. In the very beginning of the book, she spends quite a bit of time reflecting and worrying about the fact that she is beginning to lose her interest and joy in things that held her attention before the war with the Yeerks. Like gymnastics. To a certain extent I imagine they all have to deal with this. I mean, yes, after flying, it’s hard to see vaulting in quite the same light. But Rachel knows that it’s not just that, and that she’s beginning to fall into a category that is scarily similar to addiction with regards to her anticipation and joy for battle.
Throughout this story, we see her battle with this aspect of herself, both in her own ability or inability to hold it in, and her continuing dismay at how she is viewed by the others, particularly Jake. Her moment pressuring Tobias into helping her cheat on drawing straws was a big example of this. Even she is scared of this mission and the deep depths of the ocean. But she can’t stop herself from putting herself forward and not allowing it to be left up to fate. She HAS to be the one, and she’s so single-mindedly focused on this part of it that she fails to anticipate the super obvious repercussions, that Tobias would naturally join up next. She kicks herself for it after, but it’s hard to know whether she’d have been able to hold back even if she HAD thought of it ahead of time.
The second ongoing internal struggle for her has to do with T.T. It’s not even the fact that he approaches her, it’s the fact that she hesitates. And for Rachel, who along with Marco probably, values loyalty the most of anyone in the group, this moment of hesitation is damning. This will be an ongoing struggle for them both, but here we see the particular challenges that Rachel faces. She’s still living a human life, surrounded by other humans. The challenges of balancing that with her very real feelings for a boy who is a bird the majority of the time are high. And Rachel already has a lot on her plate.
She’s also particularly disturbed by the Drode’s accusations that she is the only one of the group who might be worth sparing. He says that she’s already close to being one of them as it is, so if she ever wants to join up…I think this is taking it a bit far, but if the Drode’s goal was to take advantage of one of her major insecurities and worries about herself, he hit the bulls eye.
Our Fearless Leader: I’ve found that I have the hardest time with Jake in Rachel POV books. I really like him in all the others, but for some reason the dynamic between him and Rachel, as interesting as it is, can also lead to what I see as some of Jake’s worse moments. Here he has one good moment and one that I think is fairly bad.
He immediately catches on to Rachel using Tobias to cheat at drawing straws and pulls her aside to lecture her. This is a good moment for him, as clearly Rachel needs reminders that her actions have unintended consequences, like pulling water-fearing-Tobias into a underwater mission because he feels the need to look after Rachel. She doesn’t stop to think this through herself or realize that, alongside the bravery of volunteering, there’s also selfishness that hurts others, this time Tobias.
The other less good moment comes early when they are first discussing the ins and outs of this mission and realizing how impossible it will be (before said convenient whale beaching). Rachel says something about it being a suicide mission, since none of their morphs can dive that deep. Jake cuts her off and tells her she’s overreacting. This hurts Rachel, and, I think rightly, she suspects that had Cassie pointed the same thing out, Jake would have seen her as being sensibly cautious. Rachel takes this to mean that because she’s the “brave one,” she’s not allowed to react to terrible odds like the others. As we’ve already seen, and as will become even more apparent, Rachel is already suffering from the feeling that she can’t be vulnerable and look for support like the others. She has to be brave. ALWAYS. So Jake shutting her down here is pretty much just reinforcing an already problematic and unhealthy issue she’s got going on. Not well done, Jake.
A Hawk’s Life: Outside of his own books, it seems like Rachel books are the only ones where he gets significant action, so that’s always fun. His is a particular type of bravery here. He lets Rachel pressure him into telling her which are the short straws, but even as he makes this decision, we know that he is also deciding to go himself, an even more heroic choice given his own particular fear of water. And while they’re on the mission as whales, Tobias is the one to spot the Pemalite ship, save Rachel from the giant squid, and wrangle it to the surface. He makes a passing comment about being a master predator, and I think there might be more to it than is given in this throwaway comment. He IS a master predator. Of them all, this is unique strength from his time living day in and day out as one. Perhaps it’s not surprising that he would do the best in a hunting confrontation like this, regardless of the forms of the combatants involved.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie and Rachel have some nice friendship moments in this book. They first meet up at the mall, and it’s always fun reading about the two of them in this environment: Cassie’s cluelessness and Rachel’s loving exasperation at her. They are the ones to first manage the whole Erek situation, calling in reinforcements with Jake and Marco. Later, in the fight in the warehouse, wolf!Cassie gets shot in the back and paralyzed, and this serves as a huge motivation for elephant!Rachel who becomes particularly enraged by this. Cassie also goes down to the beach with Rachel to help the whale and serve as an excuse for Rachel’s presence when she acquires it. Upon seeing it, Rachel swears that she will kill whomever did this (at this point, it’s pretty clear that someone is setting up the pieces for this entire thing), and Cassie vows to help. No one hurts animals and uses their lives as pawns on Cassie’s watch!
The Comic Relief: Gorilla!Marco does a lot of heavy lifting (ha!) in this one, being the one tasked with hauling both Erek and the homeless Chee to safety. He also has some good lines about the ridiculousness of the Pemalite “safety protocols.”
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax doesn’t have a lot in this book. Early in the story, Rachel internally comments that she’s glad Ax isn’t around when they come up to the warehouse and see the stark poverty and awfulness of it all, saying she doesn’t want to explain it to him. But then he does show up and uses his skunk morph to devastating effect, essentially bailing them all out of the entire disastrous affair. There are also some comparisons to the Andalite Dome Ship with the Pemalites’ ship that is full of meadows, streams, and toys. Though Ax scoffs at the fact that they have their bridge in a tree.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: When Rachel first morphs the whale, she does so in a very bizarre manner, getting huge but not really changing out of human form. This results in Jake getting stuck in her hair and Marco making some pretty disgusting comments about the size of her pores. Not a mental image I needed, thanks.
Couples Watch!: The T.T. things makes some waves for our favorite couple, outside of just messing with Rachel’s head. In a moment of thoughtlessness, while she and Tobias are searching around as whales, Rachel blurts out that she was asked out. Tobias, like a fool, tries to play it cool and asks when the date is. Rachel then gets all huffy about how she turned him down. And Tobias, like an even BIGGER fool, asks why. Really, Tobias. Get it together. You know why and fishing around like this is never a good idea, especially not with a girl like Rachel who is so frank and upfront about things. He kind of just makes the whole thing even harder on her. But! I will forgive him for his bit of silliness for the huge gesture of his accompanying her on the whale adventure. For the very last lines of the book, we get this:
He really was cute. And so normal. So not Tobias.
He had almost certainly never eaten a mouse. On the other hand, he’d never morphed a sperm whale and gone to the bottom of the ocean while his brain was reeling with barely suppressed terror, just so he could look out for me.
“I’m gonna go get some wings and come on up there. Keep an eye out for me.”
he said.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three shows up at the underwater Pemalite ship and straight up makes a villain speech. He literally opens with the lines “So. We meet again. For the last time!” You can’t get more classic villain than that! He then proceeds to morph a terrifying monster and do his usual.
The Drode is the interesting villain of this piece, calling himself a “wildcard.” The Animorphs quickly connect him to Crayak, and he doesn’t bother hiding it. He says that Crayak is pretty upset about his Howlers being ruined, so he sent the Drode. There are a lot of references to the last book, particularly Crayak’s particular hatred of Jake, and it seems like the Drode has similar almost all-powerful abilities, able to put all the piece in place for this showdown. The Drode also seriously messes with Rachel’s mind by saying that, unlike the others, she might be worth while as she’s closer to “their kind of people.” In the end, he leaves with this parting shot:
“If you ever find yourself desperate, Rachel. At an end. In need. Remember this: Your cousin’s life is your passport to salvation in the arms of Crayak.”
DUN DUN DUN.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Two things, the scene when they first come upon the beached whale is super sad. Lots of depressing descriptions of it dying from its own weight, and the hopelessness of all the help that people are trying to do with buckets and such. This works out in the end, as the Drode has to save it since the whale is just over the boundary as a “sentient species” so it’s against Crayak/Ellimist rules to let it die. The other bit is just the general sadness that surrounds the remainders of the Pemalites and their fate. There are a lot of jokes about how simply the “defenses” of the ship are (their singled digit security code and such), but Cassie points out that they were a hopeful species. Rachel brings it down again by saying that’s why they no longer exist. Grim stuff.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: It’s not so much a terrible plan, but the fact that the battle in the abandoned warehouse goes so poorly for them is a bit hard to believe. I mean, they regularly go up against massive aliens covered in blades, other aliens shooting laser guns, and a guy who can morph into all kinds of crazy killing machines. And yet somehow a bunch of regular cops pretty much cripple them? I mean, I get that the book needed another big action scene, but I dunno, maybe have a bunch of Controllers show up wanting to get the Chee, too, or something. Erek says it best:
“No offense,” Erek said, “but how on Earth have you people managed to avoid getting caught for this long?”
Favorite Quote:
Another example of the great hamming it up that Visser Three had in this book:
The Pemalite ship carefully, politely, regretfully, packed the Yeerks, including a furiously enraged Visser Three, back into their modified Bug fighters.
Visser Three said. Repeatedly.
the ship said.
And the always needed Rachel/Marco snark:
<0h, man, if we could take this technology, we could open a water park that would totally rule the world of water parks,> Marco said.
I said.
Scorecard: Yeerks 6, Animorphs 12
No change to the scorecard! This whole ordeal was brought about in the bigger Crayak villain arc, so yeah, while they kept the Chee and the Pemalites out of the Yeerks’ hands, they didn’t really strike a blow to them either. The lines remain the same!
Rating: I actually really enjoyed this one. Rachel has a good internal arc with her fears of her growing addiction to violence and also her concerns about her relationship with Tobias. The adventure was fun and the stakes nice and high. The fact that they get stomped so thoroughly in the abandoned warehouse was a bit much, but the entire undersea adventure was great. The descriptions of being so deep and the fears this would inspire were particularly good. The Drode was also an interesting new player, and I enjoyed the fact that this story was so closely tied to the events of the last book.
Narrator: Rachel
Plot: Again, another book that I remembered very little about. I mean…like nothing. I remember this cover, and the obvious fact that it has to do with them having to deep dive in the ocean for some reason. But since it’s a Rachel book, I knew going in that somehow things would get tense. Poor Rachel is never left off the hook as far as existential crises go.
Rachel is feeling moody. Not only is she dismayed by her decreasing interest in things that she used to enjoy (like gymnastics), seeing this as further worrying proof of her enjoying battle a bit too much, but a cute guy named T.T. asks her out. And she hesitates. I mean, her current boyfriend is a hawk most of the time…Angry with herself, she turns to her one source of consistent relief: the mall. There, she runs into Cassie (shocking). As they wander, they see Erek. But something’s wrong, they’re seeing the REAL Erek, the android beneath the hologram. Knowing something is wrong, Cassie and Rachel manage to get him into a sci-fi store before he completely breaks down, losing not only the remnants of his hologram but his ability to move. Rachel calls for back up.
Jake and gorilla!Marco show up. They’re quick to claim that it’s just a very realistic gorilla suit as Marco hoists Erek up and hauls him out of the mall, onto a bus, and finally gets him back to his own home. There they discover that this is a world-wide breakdown for the Chee, all losing their holograms and ability to move. Erek and Mr. King theorize that something must have went wrong in the Pemalite ship which they hid at the bottom of the ocean a millennium or so ago. But before they deal with that, there are two Chee who weren’t able to hide themselves well. One is in a high security plant, somewhere the Animorphs will never be able to infiltrate. He will be discovered when the shift changes in 24 hours, giving the entire mission a short timeline. The other Chee was posing as a homeless person and is in an abandoned warehouse that the Chee know will be soon raided by police, some of whom are sure to be Controllers who will then get access to all Chee technology.
Quickly prioritizing things, Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie head to the warehouse in various morphs, determined to get the Chee before she’s discovered. When they show up, the raid is just getting started. Rhino!Jake, elephant!Rachel, gorilla!Marco, and wolf!Cassie get to work. Things don’t go their way and they all get incredibly beaten up. Rachel is shot in the head, Cassie is paralyzed, Jake gets surrounded by cop cars. They only escape when Tobias and Ax show up, Tobias nabbing a gun and scaring the cops into hiding. Skunk!Ax cleans up the rest of them. They barely make it out, but do manage to return the Chee to the King household. From there, they begin fretting about reaching the Pemalite ship
They quickly realize that this is the most impossible mission they’ve been up against yet. None of their morphs can dive deep enough to reach the ship. Cassie says that a giant squid would be able to, but there are none in captivity. And to catch one themselves, they would need a sperm whale morph, also none in captivity. Through this all, the Animorphs have also started getting suspicious about the good luck they’ve had so far. Apparently all of the cameras were not functioning in the mall when they hauled Erek out, and there’s no word of anyone seeing them on the bus or walking around either. Defeated, they head home
At home, Rachel and her family are watching the news. They learn that just moments ago a sperm whale beached itself outside of the city. Rachel immediately calls BS on this. But she and the other Animorphs realize they have no choice but to play along with whatever force is aligning things like this. They fly to the beach. There Jake decides they will draw straws for the two will will acquire the whale. Rachel stares down Tobias until he caves and tells her which is the short straw. He then draws one himself and Rachel kicks herself for not realizing that he would do this. And knowing that Tobias is terrified of water, she feels awful for putting him in this position.
She and Cassie head down to the beach to help with the relief effort and Rachel manages to acquire the whale. Tobias swoops down to acquire it, but gets his talon stuck in its skin (a theme for him with aquatic animals, after the whole dolphin incident!). The other Animorphs have to dive bomb him in gull morph to knock him loose. Then they all morph dolphin and head out to sea.
Once they get a ways out, Tobias and Rachel morph the whale and get to work. As awesome as the morph is, they both struggle with the mental aspect of it, being so deep in the water. Just as they’re about to give up, Tobias spots the ship and Rachel spots a giant squid. She almost gets wrestled to her death fighting it, but Tobias shows up in the nick of time and finishes the job, hauling it up to the surface for everyone to acquire.
They all morph giant squid and go a-searching. Even knowing that Tobias found it once, they take a long time finding the ship again, almost running up against the two hour limit. Finally, they locate it, but they see what must be Yeerk submarines moving in quickly too.
The Pemalite ship is very accommodating, granting them entrance in their current forms and creating essentially large bubbles for their squid forms which they can move around the space in. The inside looks similar to the Andalites’ dome ship, with a large meadow full of trees, water, and what must be toys. The bridge is located in a tree, and the Animorphs are able to restore the Chee by typing in the super secret code of “6.” But suddenly the auto destruct is also turned on.
A creature calling itself the Drode steps out and explains all. He works for Crayak, and he has been the one behind all of the happenstances on this adventure. Crayak was displeased by the loss of his Howlers, so he had the Drode set up this confrontation between the Animorphs and the now arriving Yeerk forces, including Visser Three. However, per the rules, there is a way out.
Cassie quickly realizes that they need to shoot their ink and use its cover to demorph and remorph into battle morphs to better be able to fight back against the Yeerks. They do so, and the battle begins. The Animorphs, however, are losing, badly outnumbered by the Yeerks. They are only saved by the arrival of Erek who quickly reprograms the ship. It very politely informs them that it disapproves of violence, and forcibly ejects everyone while preventing them from re-engaging outside. The Animorphs make it back to shore, counting themselves lucky that Erek was able to reach them in the bare few minutes between them restoring the Chee’s functionality and the battle going poorly.
Xena, Warrior Princess: Rachel is gaining quite a bit of self-awareness, and with this self-awareness comes concern. In the very beginning of the book, she spends quite a bit of time reflecting and worrying about the fact that she is beginning to lose her interest and joy in things that held her attention before the war with the Yeerks. Like gymnastics. To a certain extent I imagine they all have to deal with this. I mean, yes, after flying, it’s hard to see vaulting in quite the same light. But Rachel knows that it’s not just that, and that she’s beginning to fall into a category that is scarily similar to addiction with regards to her anticipation and joy for battle.
Throughout this story, we see her battle with this aspect of herself, both in her own ability or inability to hold it in, and her continuing dismay at how she is viewed by the others, particularly Jake. Her moment pressuring Tobias into helping her cheat on drawing straws was a big example of this. Even she is scared of this mission and the deep depths of the ocean. But she can’t stop herself from putting herself forward and not allowing it to be left up to fate. She HAS to be the one, and she’s so single-mindedly focused on this part of it that she fails to anticipate the super obvious repercussions, that Tobias would naturally join up next. She kicks herself for it after, but it’s hard to know whether she’d have been able to hold back even if she HAD thought of it ahead of time.
The second ongoing internal struggle for her has to do with T.T. It’s not even the fact that he approaches her, it’s the fact that she hesitates. And for Rachel, who along with Marco probably, values loyalty the most of anyone in the group, this moment of hesitation is damning. This will be an ongoing struggle for them both, but here we see the particular challenges that Rachel faces. She’s still living a human life, surrounded by other humans. The challenges of balancing that with her very real feelings for a boy who is a bird the majority of the time are high. And Rachel already has a lot on her plate.
She’s also particularly disturbed by the Drode’s accusations that she is the only one of the group who might be worth sparing. He says that she’s already close to being one of them as it is, so if she ever wants to join up…I think this is taking it a bit far, but if the Drode’s goal was to take advantage of one of her major insecurities and worries about herself, he hit the bulls eye.
Our Fearless Leader: I’ve found that I have the hardest time with Jake in Rachel POV books. I really like him in all the others, but for some reason the dynamic between him and Rachel, as interesting as it is, can also lead to what I see as some of Jake’s worse moments. Here he has one good moment and one that I think is fairly bad.
He immediately catches on to Rachel using Tobias to cheat at drawing straws and pulls her aside to lecture her. This is a good moment for him, as clearly Rachel needs reminders that her actions have unintended consequences, like pulling water-fearing-Tobias into a underwater mission because he feels the need to look after Rachel. She doesn’t stop to think this through herself or realize that, alongside the bravery of volunteering, there’s also selfishness that hurts others, this time Tobias.
The other less good moment comes early when they are first discussing the ins and outs of this mission and realizing how impossible it will be (before said convenient whale beaching). Rachel says something about it being a suicide mission, since none of their morphs can dive that deep. Jake cuts her off and tells her she’s overreacting. This hurts Rachel, and, I think rightly, she suspects that had Cassie pointed the same thing out, Jake would have seen her as being sensibly cautious. Rachel takes this to mean that because she’s the “brave one,” she’s not allowed to react to terrible odds like the others. As we’ve already seen, and as will become even more apparent, Rachel is already suffering from the feeling that she can’t be vulnerable and look for support like the others. She has to be brave. ALWAYS. So Jake shutting her down here is pretty much just reinforcing an already problematic and unhealthy issue she’s got going on. Not well done, Jake.
A Hawk’s Life: Outside of his own books, it seems like Rachel books are the only ones where he gets significant action, so that’s always fun. His is a particular type of bravery here. He lets Rachel pressure him into telling her which are the short straws, but even as he makes this decision, we know that he is also deciding to go himself, an even more heroic choice given his own particular fear of water. And while they’re on the mission as whales, Tobias is the one to spot the Pemalite ship, save Rachel from the giant squid, and wrangle it to the surface. He makes a passing comment about being a master predator, and I think there might be more to it than is given in this throwaway comment. He IS a master predator. Of them all, this is unique strength from his time living day in and day out as one. Perhaps it’s not surprising that he would do the best in a hunting confrontation like this, regardless of the forms of the combatants involved.
Peace, Love, and Animals: Cassie and Rachel have some nice friendship moments in this book. They first meet up at the mall, and it’s always fun reading about the two of them in this environment: Cassie’s cluelessness and Rachel’s loving exasperation at her. They are the ones to first manage the whole Erek situation, calling in reinforcements with Jake and Marco. Later, in the fight in the warehouse, wolf!Cassie gets shot in the back and paralyzed, and this serves as a huge motivation for elephant!Rachel who becomes particularly enraged by this. Cassie also goes down to the beach with Rachel to help the whale and serve as an excuse for Rachel’s presence when she acquires it. Upon seeing it, Rachel swears that she will kill whomever did this (at this point, it’s pretty clear that someone is setting up the pieces for this entire thing), and Cassie vows to help. No one hurts animals and uses their lives as pawns on Cassie’s watch!
The Comic Relief: Gorilla!Marco does a lot of heavy lifting (ha!) in this one, being the one tasked with hauling both Erek and the homeless Chee to safety. He also has some good lines about the ridiculousness of the Pemalite “safety protocols.”
E.T./Ax Phone Home: Ax doesn’t have a lot in this book. Early in the story, Rachel internally comments that she’s glad Ax isn’t around when they come up to the warehouse and see the stark poverty and awfulness of it all, saying she doesn’t want to explain it to him. But then he does show up and uses his skunk morph to devastating effect, essentially bailing them all out of the entire disastrous affair. There are also some comparisons to the Andalite Dome Ship with the Pemalites’ ship that is full of meadows, streams, and toys. Though Ax scoffs at the fact that they have their bridge in a tree.
Best (?) Body Horror Moment: When Rachel first morphs the whale, she does so in a very bizarre manner, getting huge but not really changing out of human form. This results in Jake getting stuck in her hair and Marco making some pretty disgusting comments about the size of her pores. Not a mental image I needed, thanks.
Couples Watch!: The T.T. things makes some waves for our favorite couple, outside of just messing with Rachel’s head. In a moment of thoughtlessness, while she and Tobias are searching around as whales, Rachel blurts out that she was asked out. Tobias, like a fool, tries to play it cool and asks when the date is. Rachel then gets all huffy about how she turned him down. And Tobias, like an even BIGGER fool, asks why. Really, Tobias. Get it together. You know why and fishing around like this is never a good idea, especially not with a girl like Rachel who is so frank and upfront about things. He kind of just makes the whole thing even harder on her. But! I will forgive him for his bit of silliness for the huge gesture of his accompanying her on the whale adventure. For the very last lines of the book, we get this:
He really was cute. And so normal. So not Tobias.
He had almost certainly never eaten a mouse. On the other hand, he’d never morphed a sperm whale and gone to the bottom of the ocean while his brain was reeling with barely suppressed terror, just so he could look out for me.
“I’m gonna go get some wings and come on up there. Keep an eye out for me.”
he said.
If Only Visser Three had Mustache to Twirl: Visser Three shows up at the underwater Pemalite ship and straight up makes a villain speech. He literally opens with the lines “So. We meet again. For the last time!” You can’t get more classic villain than that! He then proceeds to morph a terrifying monster and do his usual.
The Drode is the interesting villain of this piece, calling himself a “wildcard.” The Animorphs quickly connect him to Crayak, and he doesn’t bother hiding it. He says that Crayak is pretty upset about his Howlers being ruined, so he sent the Drode. There are a lot of references to the last book, particularly Crayak’s particular hatred of Jake, and it seems like the Drode has similar almost all-powerful abilities, able to put all the piece in place for this showdown. The Drode also seriously messes with Rachel’s mind by saying that, unlike the others, she might be worth while as she’s closer to “their kind of people.” In the end, he leaves with this parting shot:
“If you ever find yourself desperate, Rachel. At an end. In need. Remember this: Your cousin’s life is your passport to salvation in the arms of Crayak.”
DUN DUN DUN.
Adult Ugly Crying at a Middle Grade Book: Two things, the scene when they first come upon the beached whale is super sad. Lots of depressing descriptions of it dying from its own weight, and the hopelessness of all the help that people are trying to do with buckets and such. This works out in the end, as the Drode has to save it since the whale is just over the boundary as a “sentient species” so it’s against Crayak/Ellimist rules to let it die. The other bit is just the general sadness that surrounds the remainders of the Pemalites and their fate. There are a lot of jokes about how simply the “defenses” of the ship are (their singled digit security code and such), but Cassie points out that they were a hopeful species. Rachel brings it down again by saying that’s why they no longer exist. Grim stuff.
What a Terrible Plan, Guys!: It’s not so much a terrible plan, but the fact that the battle in the abandoned warehouse goes so poorly for them is a bit hard to believe. I mean, they regularly go up against massive aliens covered in blades, other aliens shooting laser guns, and a guy who can morph into all kinds of crazy killing machines. And yet somehow a bunch of regular cops pretty much cripple them? I mean, I get that the book needed another big action scene, but I dunno, maybe have a bunch of Controllers show up wanting to get the Chee, too, or something. Erek says it best:
“No offense,” Erek said, “but how on Earth have you people managed to avoid getting caught for this long?”
Favorite Quote:
Another example of the great hamming it up that Visser Three had in this book:
The Pemalite ship carefully, politely, regretfully, packed the Yeerks, including a furiously enraged Visser Three, back into their modified Bug fighters.
Visser Three said. Repeatedly.
the ship said.
And the always needed Rachel/Marco snark:
<0h, man, if we could take this technology, we could open a water park that would totally rule the world of water parks,> Marco said.
I said.
Scorecard: Yeerks 6, Animorphs 12
No change to the scorecard! This whole ordeal was brought about in the bigger Crayak villain arc, so yeah, while they kept the Chee and the Pemalites out of the Yeerks’ hands, they didn’t really strike a blow to them either. The lines remain the same!
Rating: I actually really enjoyed this one. Rachel has a good internal arc with her fears of her growing addiction to violence and also her concerns about her relationship with Tobias. The adventure was fun and the stakes nice and high. The fact that they get stomped so thoroughly in the abandoned warehouse was a bit much, but the entire undersea adventure was great. The descriptions of being so deep and the fears this would inspire were particularly good. The Drode was also an interesting new player, and I enjoyed the fact that this story was so closely tied to the events of the last book.
August 23, 2024
"you're just biased because it's a rachel Tobias book!!" yes. yes I am.
March 15, 2024
"i was a creature half-cephalopod, half-human, a horror, a hideous slimy thing with blond hair and shriveling tentacles" well i was already a freak but if i hadn't been i would be now 🥵
December 31, 2019
There are some wonderful bits in this one;
(1) The Drode coming at all of the kids with his verbal knife. "Marco, the funny one. How's Mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the yeerk in her head?" made me go "OOOOH DAMN" two decades ago, and I haven't forgotten it to this day. Will YOUR "your mom" line ever top that I think NOT. It rhymes.
(2) Rachel spends about a page and a half pondering on the insignificance of a person in comparison to the vastness of the ocean in a spaced-out monologue which sounds like it's been taken right out of the Magnus Archives.
(3) rachel and tobias?? so cute?? i don't remember them being this cute because what was a ship when i was that age but????? adorable??? HE FOLLOWS HER INTO HIS WORST FEAR SHE YELLS AT RANDOM GUYS WHO ASK HER OUT THEY MUTILATE SQUIDS TOGETHER truly a power couple.
(4) You can just FEEL Erek's growing desperation during that one scene at the mall and who can blame him but I was too busy snickering at the whole thing to have any sympathy and also you know. Erek.
(5) Bonus: the Calamari conversation. I lost it when Tobias gently spoke into the silence about Calamari being Octopus and not Squid. Bonus 2: Everything about the Pemalite Ship, just everything.
Not too much trauma in this one- just asphyxiation and pressure and some minimal gore at the start. It also shows that Rachel, despite her reputation, is a very compassionate person who gets a bad rep because her idea of dealing with shit is punching it till it is a shapeless blob of blood.
That said, there were too many questions left unanswered. The whole Drode thing? Good climax, bad exposition. If talking to Rachel about Job Opportunities was the goal, there was no reason to involve the Chee? I mean, we KNOW the Drode is capable of appearing spontaneously into teenager bedrooms to taunt them about the futility of their existence. And frankly, that would probably have been a better scene because this book despite the potential (COUSINMURDER) was less emotional than I liked.
Also, terrible use of Visser Three, our trash baby. Idek what he was even doing there. Points for the Pemalite ship shepherding him out with perky plans of future good times while he screams at it, though.
(1) The Drode coming at all of the kids with his verbal knife. "Marco, the funny one. How's Mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the yeerk in her head?" made me go "OOOOH DAMN" two decades ago, and I haven't forgotten it to this day. Will YOUR "your mom" line ever top that I think NOT. It rhymes.
(2) Rachel spends about a page and a half pondering on the insignificance of a person in comparison to the vastness of the ocean in a spaced-out monologue which sounds like it's been taken right out of the Magnus Archives.
(3) rachel and tobias?? so cute?? i don't remember them being this cute because what was a ship when i was that age but????? adorable??? HE FOLLOWS HER INTO HIS WORST FEAR SHE YELLS AT RANDOM GUYS WHO ASK HER OUT THEY MUTILATE SQUIDS TOGETHER truly a power couple.
(4) You can just FEEL Erek's growing desperation during that one scene at the mall and who can blame him but I was too busy snickering at the whole thing to have any sympathy and also you know. Erek.
(5) Bonus: the Calamari conversation. I lost it when Tobias gently spoke into the silence about Calamari being Octopus and not Squid. Bonus 2: Everything about the Pemalite Ship, just everything.
Not too much trauma in this one- just asphyxiation and pressure and some minimal gore at the start. It also shows that Rachel, despite her reputation, is a very compassionate person who gets a bad rep because her idea of dealing with shit is punching it till it is a shapeless blob of blood.
That said, there were too many questions left unanswered. The whole Drode thing? Good climax, bad exposition. If talking to Rachel about Job Opportunities was the goal, there was no reason to involve the Chee? I mean, we KNOW the Drode is capable of appearing spontaneously into teenager bedrooms to taunt them about the futility of their existence. And frankly, that would probably have been a better scene because this book despite the potential (COUSINMURDER) was less emotional than I liked.
Also, terrible use of Visser Three, our trash baby. Idek what he was even doing there. Points for the Pemalite ship shepherding him out with perky plans of future good times while he screams at it, though.
Read
July 29, 2011This is the second ghost written book. Unlike #25, where there wasn't much of a noticeable difference, this book screamed "ghost written" throughout the entire storyline. There was an excessive amount of humor (the type you would develop from nerding out on too much Animorphs, which is what this ghost writer had obviously done) to the point where the book sort of became a joke. While the plot is really interesting, the way this book is written compared to the one before it (#26, written by Applegate) is startlingly different. I was enjoying the book more during the action-packed parts than the laid back fun parts because the writer was making way too many character stereotype jokes. You could tell the writer had been thinking, "Hm, what would Rachel say at a time like this? I know!" While it is fairly easy to copy Animorphs due to the character's preciseness, there are still wrong ways of going about it. You shouldn't have to make EVERY line that comes from the character's mouth be something THAT obviously spoken by the particular character. By the time you get to the part with the Drode's lines, you're basically facepalming. Anyway, it's still a great plot (the plot was written by Applegate), and while the dialogue can get pretty annoying, it's tolerable.
May 31, 2022
This was a pretty cool adventure with some good Rachel/Tobias material. Enough with the new aliens though! There’s enough aliens. This one was also jokier than the books previously tended to be, for better and worse.
June 12, 2020
The Animorphs reread continues! This one was a mixed bag. I liked the morphs, but the plot was a little tiresome.
October 24, 2023
ugh rachel ❤️ she’s my girl forever i just love her so much. her and tobias Yeah. yeah. the way they look out for each other is just so sweet and kind and beautiful. jake kinda pissed me off in this book. rachel is so undervalued even though everyone treats her like a bloodthirsty weapon of destruction they can use to do all the inhumane acts of war. she was actually so selfless to ask tobias to tell her what straw was short and jake wants to accuse her of trying to make everyone else look like a fool because of it? also, let’s remember that there were three straws left to draw and two of them were the short ones so like. odds were she would’ve drawn a short straw regardless. and saying that it’s her fault that tobias was also going is just? like girl where is this coming from. first of all he didn’t even hear the thought speak and Silent signaling going on so i don’t like him thinking that he is the all knowing empath. and second of all rachel didn’t make tobias draw the other short straw, tobias is probably the last person she’d want to go on that mission with, because she LOVES tobias and knows that he’s terrified of the ocean. but they love and care for each other and look out for one another SO THEY DID IT TOGETHER. i love their love. this book was Sad like i love love loveee aquatic animorph books but this made me feel A Little Queased! thinking about how dark it is deep deep underwater and how pressurized it is.. like i would have folded if i went on that mission. and everything ab the whales just made me Emotional. rachel i love you 4eva
April 15, 2020
Original Review at Jaunts & Haunts
4/5
I gave this book four fishy stars!
This time around we're back in Rachel's POV. I have to say, I feel like I get Rachel the most out of all the Animorphs. Headstrong, relentless, beautiful. I mean, that's me right? *wink wink* No, but honestly I was just excited to read from her viewpoint again.
After the events of the last book with Crayak's Howlers, you'd think things were going to settle down a bit, right? Wrong! Rachel and Cassie bump into each other at the mall when they spot Erek. The real Erek, not the human hologram he projects.
Desperate to save him from exposing himself to the public they scramble to get him out of there, only to discover things are way worse. All of the Chee are malfunctioning, and unless the Animorphs move fast, they will definitely be exposed.
I have to say, this book was really great!
The plot was probably the strongest element for me this time. I mean, so much is on the line here, and the Chee are their strongest allies in this godforsaken war against the Yeerks. Losing them could mean losing everything.
We moved from one great action scene to the next, and that really kept those pages turning.
I really enjoyed Rachel's inner dilemma with this guy T.T., who clearly seemed like a douche to me, but I still get it. Bird-boy who gets you or cute guy who would never truly understand who you are? Tough choice when you're a teenager.
The only real qualm I had with this book was that Rachel wasn't completely, well, Rachel. Yes, she had the attitude sprinkled in here and there, but her interactions with Marco weren't as snarky as they usually were. She actually agreed with him on things!
Also, there was a point where Jake got mad at her and uncharacteristically told her not to even embarrass him like that again (like angry, angry). Um ... Jake doesn't do that. Even through all the mess ups that have happened on the team, he always has a certain level of respect, and Rachel is his cousin.
Still, despite the small lapses in character, this book really stood out and was a great action-filled adventure. Can't wait for the next one!
4/5
I gave this book four fishy stars!
This time around we're back in Rachel's POV. I have to say, I feel like I get Rachel the most out of all the Animorphs. Headstrong, relentless, beautiful. I mean, that's me right? *wink wink* No, but honestly I was just excited to read from her viewpoint again.
After the events of the last book with Crayak's Howlers, you'd think things were going to settle down a bit, right? Wrong! Rachel and Cassie bump into each other at the mall when they spot Erek. The real Erek, not the human hologram he projects.
Desperate to save him from exposing himself to the public they scramble to get him out of there, only to discover things are way worse. All of the Chee are malfunctioning, and unless the Animorphs move fast, they will definitely be exposed.
I have to say, this book was really great!
The plot was probably the strongest element for me this time. I mean, so much is on the line here, and the Chee are their strongest allies in this godforsaken war against the Yeerks. Losing them could mean losing everything.
We moved from one great action scene to the next, and that really kept those pages turning.
I really enjoyed Rachel's inner dilemma with this guy T.T., who clearly seemed like a douche to me, but I still get it. Bird-boy who gets you or cute guy who would never truly understand who you are? Tough choice when you're a teenager.
The only real qualm I had with this book was that Rachel wasn't completely, well, Rachel. Yes, she had the attitude sprinkled in here and there, but her interactions with Marco weren't as snarky as they usually were. She actually agreed with him on things!
Also, there was a point where Jake got mad at her and uncharacteristically told her not to even embarrass him like that again (like angry, angry). Um ... Jake doesn't do that. Even through all the mess ups that have happened on the team, he always has a certain level of respect, and Rachel is his cousin.
Still, despite the small lapses in character, this book really stood out and was a great action-filled adventure. Can't wait for the next one!
June 6, 2020
With Applegate not writing these now, it’s interesting how our characters are finally maturing and everything feels like it’s on the line.
February 6, 2023
Heavy on the beastiality subplot. Very good
February 13, 2023
Children become whales and then squids so they can experience basketball sized eyes. Alien shenanigans occur.
June 19, 2024
I distinctly remember this book stressing me tf out as a kid and giving me a deep fear of getting crushed. Still a banger of a book tho ! Rachel povs are always incredible
July 15, 2022
SQUID SQUAD
September 13, 2024
3.5 Rounded down.
Great action that sets this one apart from the others; deep sea horror really makes me feel like I'm suffocating-- also the best use of the Chee in the series so far. The built-in timers and stresses all felt natural and thrilling. But the ending is so silly T_T What is happening with that guy. That little freak. He takes me out of it all.
Great action that sets this one apart from the others; deep sea horror really makes me feel like I'm suffocating-- also the best use of the Chee in the series so far. The built-in timers and stresses all felt natural and thrilling. But the ending is so silly T_T What is happening with that guy. That little freak. He takes me out of it all.
July 18, 2019
Well, it's definitely better than the last ghostwritten book. This one does a better job of capturing the characters' voices, and there's some pretty good banter between Rachel and Marco along the way. There's also a fair share of relationship angst, what with Rachel trying to deal with the fact that she's literally dating a bird (made worse, lately, by Tobias's continuing refusal to commit to full-time humanity even after having regained the power to morph). And of course, one can't neglect the friendship between Rachel and Cassie, from Rachel's extreme anger when Cassie gets hurt to Rachel's admonition that if they run into real trouble, she needs to leave Erek behind and save herself. We also to get some good stuff with the team as a whole, including the usual introspection regarding both how the rest of the team sees Rachel and how Rachel sees herself:
Here we get to see how the rest of the team doesn't just stop at expecting Rachel to be the reckless one who jumps at danger; to some degree they're actually counting on it. Rachel is the one who always pushes them when they need to be pushed; she's not supposed to be cautious—and she's definitely not supposed to be afraid.
There's also some good comedy, starting with Rachel's brilliant plan to spirit a paralyzed, hologram-less Erek out of the mall by buying him enough clothes that he can pass for human starting with everyone asking why she thought an android would need underwear and ending with a gorilla wearing a sandwich board sporting a misspelled movie ad carrying a very well-dressed Bill Clinton out of the mall slung over his shoulder. Even the grittiest part of the book, where the Animorphs rush to rescue another paralyzed Chee and end up caught in a firefight between the police and a group of gangsters, with at least one Controller on both sides, has some good laugh-out-loud moments. We get to see Tobias distract the cops by swooping in and stealing a gun, making everyone run for cover. We get to see Rachel get backed into a corner by a Controller with a gun, only to get rescued at the last minute by Ax waddling out of the woodwork and skunk-spraying the guy.
Plot-wise, it's mostly just treading water (pun not intended). Still, though, we get some good character moments for Rachel, some good insights into her relationships with both Tobias and Cassie, and... well, if there was ever a question about the Lord of the Rings influence on this series, there isn't anymore. I mean, just last book introducedSauron Crayak, and now we're meeting the Mouth of Sauron Drode?
As far as plot points go, probably the most interesting one was . This would definitely be worth further attention in future books, but I honestly can't remember if it's ever brought up again.
"Saving the Chee isn't going to be a suicide mission," Jake said, glaring at me. "You're overreacting, Rachel."
My jaw dropped.
Worrying about something as lethal as atmospheric pressure was overreacting? Wanting to get home in one piece instead of dying a stifling, airless death on the dark ocean floor was overreacting?
Since when?
If Cassie had said it, Jake wouldn't have told her she was overreacting. He would have agreed. He would have thought she was being sensibly cautious.
Wasn't I allowed to be cautious?
Here we get to see how the rest of the team doesn't just stop at expecting Rachel to be the reckless one who jumps at danger; to some degree they're actually counting on it. Rachel is the one who always pushes them when they need to be pushed; she's not supposed to be cautious—and she's definitely not supposed to be afraid.
There's also some good comedy, starting with Rachel's brilliant plan to spirit a paralyzed, hologram-less Erek out of the mall by buying him enough clothes that he can pass for human starting with everyone asking why she thought an android would need underwear and ending with a gorilla wearing a sandwich board sporting a misspelled movie ad carrying a very well-dressed Bill Clinton out of the mall slung over his shoulder. Even the grittiest part of the book, where the Animorphs rush to rescue another paralyzed Chee and end up caught in a firefight between the police and a group of gangsters, with at least one Controller on both sides, has some good laugh-out-loud moments. We get to see Tobias distract the cops by swooping in and stealing a gun, making everyone run for cover. We get to see Rachel get backed into a corner by a Controller with a gun, only to get rescued at the last minute by Ax waddling out of the woodwork and skunk-spraying the guy.
Plot-wise, it's mostly just treading water (pun not intended). Still, though, we get some good character moments for Rachel, some good insights into her relationships with both Tobias and Cassie, and... well, if there was ever a question about the Lord of the Rings influence on this series, there isn't anymore. I mean, just last book introduced
As far as plot points go, probably the most interesting one was . This would definitely be worth further attention in future books, but I honestly can't remember if it's ever brought up again.
January 21, 2015
"I jetted. The bubble moved. I reached a hand through the water bubble to the air beyond. I felt dryness. The bubble did not collapse.
{Oh, man. If we could take this technology, we could open a water park that would totally rule the world of water parks,} Marco said.
{Yeah, that was my first thought, too,} I said. {Water park dominance} (p. 131)
+
Ax's water bubble slowly pushed aside Marco's. {Perhaps I better take care of this,} Ax said.
A cheerful thought-speak voice sang out in our heads. {Greetings, friends. We are happy to have you aboard. However, we would not want you to access this panel. It is possible that you might accidentally do yourself harm. And that would be sad.}
Ax punched in the number six.
{That is the correct code! Our concerns were misplaced.} (p. 133)
+
UGH THIS PART I CAN'T EVEN:
"Right here, Jake. From me, Big Jake. Jake, the reluctant leader. Jake, the oh-so-tiresomely decent leader. A sanctimonious killer: my least favourite kind"
"Oh, Marco the funny one!" The creature cried, slapping its limp hands together. "How's mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the Yeerk in her head?"
"All here together?" the prune thing mocked. "Cassie, the hypocrite? 'I don't believe in violence... except when I do.' Aximili, the pitiful, pale shadow of his dead brother? If only you'd have insisted on going with Elfangor, maybe he'd have lived. Too bad. And Tobis, ah, yes, Tobias. The boy not really so trapped as a bird, eh, but too gutless to resume life as a human? And Rachel. My very favorite Animorph. [...] Rachel, Rachel. Do you feel the adrenaline rush of murderous desire? Do you feel the urge to reach out and destroy me? Of course you do. You and I have that in common" (p. 136-138)
{Oh, man. If we could take this technology, we could open a water park that would totally rule the world of water parks,} Marco said.
{Yeah, that was my first thought, too,} I said. {Water park dominance} (p. 131)
+
Ax's water bubble slowly pushed aside Marco's. {Perhaps I better take care of this,} Ax said.
A cheerful thought-speak voice sang out in our heads. {Greetings, friends. We are happy to have you aboard. However, we would not want you to access this panel. It is possible that you might accidentally do yourself harm. And that would be sad.}
Ax punched in the number six.
{That is the correct code! Our concerns were misplaced.} (p. 133)
+
UGH THIS PART I CAN'T EVEN:
"Right here, Jake. From me, Big Jake. Jake, the reluctant leader. Jake, the oh-so-tiresomely decent leader. A sanctimonious killer: my least favourite kind"
"Oh, Marco the funny one!" The creature cried, slapping its limp hands together. "How's mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the Yeerk in her head?"
"All here together?" the prune thing mocked. "Cassie, the hypocrite? 'I don't believe in violence... except when I do.' Aximili, the pitiful, pale shadow of his dead brother? If only you'd have insisted on going with Elfangor, maybe he'd have lived. Too bad. And Tobis, ah, yes, Tobias. The boy not really so trapped as a bird, eh, but too gutless to resume life as a human? And Rachel. My very favorite Animorph. [...] Rachel, Rachel. Do you feel the adrenaline rush of murderous desire? Do you feel the urge to reach out and destroy me? Of course you do. You and I have that in common" (p. 136-138)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2023
The Solace: Well hothead Rachel is back to being the norm. There was two things I liked about this book, and both of them involved offers that Rachel turned down. Additional conflicts for Rachel to stew over, both that greatly impact her life, happiness, and future.
The Dread: The writing is off, I know why, but it's wild how apparent it is. Our characters have their basic qualities, but it's in their dialogue with each other that feels the most off and not quite right. There's also two battles (almost identical in their set up) the team has no time, a loose plan, they go full bronco, almost die and are saved last minute. That happened twice. We're also introduced to a new threat whose introduction was rushed and felt too similar to a threat the team encountered before. Lastly, that ending - wtf. they go all that way to save a species, and at the very end, near death, one of them is alright, shows up and saves them all and it's back to normal. Infuriating.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the main plot, but I think we were introduced to a big event, one that I think will come back as a conflict for Rachel.
The Dread: The writing is off, I know why, but it's wild how apparent it is. Our characters have their basic qualities, but it's in their dialogue with each other that feels the most off and not quite right. There's also two battles (almost identical in their set up) the team has no time, a loose plan, they go full bronco, almost die and are saved last minute. That happened twice. We're also introduced to a new threat whose introduction was rushed and felt too similar to a threat the team encountered before. Lastly, that ending - wtf. they go all that way to save a species, and at the very end, near death, one of them is alright, shows up and saves them all and it's back to normal. Infuriating.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the main plot, but I think we were introduced to a big event, one that I think will come back as a conflict for Rachel.
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