Hey all, Sam here.
So I think I’m about to have some bonus posts come up on the blog, because I am actually starting to get back into reading, and that means I have a bunch of books to talk about. Since I only currently post three book reviews a week, if I’m reading more than that, then there’s no way I would ever catch up and be able to talk about every book I read.
Anyway, the weather is finally starting to get nice. We spent some time doing some repair work on our screened in front porch, namely replacing the bad screens. So, pretty soon we’ll be able to let the cats check out the outdoors in a safe way…with supervision, of course.
Okay, let’s get back to talking about the books. I sort of binge-read the Animorphs graphic novels over the weekend while we were at Fan Expo Cleveland, and honestly I just want to talk about these books, because this was one of my absolute favorite series. Let’s jump into today’s review.
Rachel is still reeling from the news that Earth is secretly under attack by parasitic aliens, the Yeerks. Now she and her friends are the planet’s only defense — kids who, purely by chance, stumbled onto a downed spacecraft and were given the power to morph into any animals they touch.
The team’s best lead is their assistant principal, Mr. Chapman, who is the human host to a high-ranking Yeerk official. It’s not much, but Rachel’s always been a daredevil, and she volunteers to infiltrate Chapman’s home.
Rachel is tough. She’s fearless. But what she finds inside may be more than even she can handle.
My Thoughts
Rating: 5 stars
Okay, in the review for the first volume, I don’t know that I talked about the art style, but wow. It was so good. I feel like Chris Grine did an outstanding job portraying all of these characters. Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco were all unique in their styling, and basically held true to the kids as portrayed on the covers of the original series. Plus, they all definitely looked like they were kids.
I started reading this series 27 years ago, and yet I can still remember these characters and the experiences they had. I remember getting the Scholastic Book Fair catalog sheets each month or whatever at school and browsing through it for what books I just needed to beg my parents for. The Animorphs books came out like every other month, and I needed to have them when they came out, I needed to read them as soon as I got them.
This series was my childhood obsession. I still have all of the books, although a few of them are practically falling apart and I should try and get replacements for. But these are books that I can still look back on and think of fondly.
This second installment in the series has more of a focus on Rachel, and we get to learn more about her, and that means getting to follow some of her bravado and ferocity, and simply seeing how she’s ready to dive into whatever she needs to, because she’s ready to take on the Yeerk invasion.
More than that, though, she wants to help out an old friend, as well…and if she can take on both problems at the same time, well, why not?
I still maintain that the art of the morphs is fantastic and disgusting at the same time…which, let’s be honest, I never thought that morphing sounded glamorous. Sure, the end result is awesome, but the transition from one form to the next always sounded gross. I’m really glad that seeing it in the graphic novel didn’t try and turn it into something cool and badass looking.
I love seeing all of the different alien races, and I love getting to experience this story I love in a different method and format. I sincerely hope that these graphic novels continue to do well, because I would love to re-collect the entire Animorphs series in a new format. This is a series that will continue to have a place of honor on my shelves.
Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 