Current Events > Animorphs

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anybody remember reading this series?

I read a lot of the books as a kid but not the whole series.

Then a couple of years ago I went through and read them alll..

So sad. Rachel dies, they basically create an army of animorph people, Ax gets taken over by some alien creature, and the series ends ambiguously fighting the Ax alien creature thing.

I remember being so into this as a kid, and then being so sad at how it all ended. Apparently the author wanted to make the point that war is war, and casualties happen, and that it's not always a happy ending
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I read a lot of them as a kid, but never finished them.
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My favorite series as a kid, I own most of the books still. I did a full series read through a few years ago on the Books board.
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AvlButtslam posted...

My favorite series as a kid, I own most of the books still. I did a full series read through a few years ago on the Books board.

And what did you think when you read through them all?
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I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....
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I read up till they found a bunch of yeerk breeding pools under a restaurant and were reluctant to eliminate them?

and after that I think I went to the next grade and couldn't get the books anymore
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Sir Will posted...

I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....

I don't remember of the top of my head the Cassie ending. Was it just that she split from the group and didn't go with the rest of them to rescue/fight Ax/Alien? So essentially she would have lived?
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AlCalavicci posted...

AvlButtslam posted...

My favorite series as a kid, I own most of the books still. I did a full series read through a few years ago on the Books board.

And what did you think when you read through them all?

Still holds up overall, although I have never liked cliffhanger endings.

The weak points of the series are the "filler" books ghostwritten by other writers.
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AvlButtslam posted...

AlCalavicci posted...

AvlButtslam posted...

My favorite series as a kid, I own most of the books still. I did a full series read through a few years ago on the Books board.

And what did you think when you read through them all?

Still holds up overall, although I have never liked cliffhanger endings.

The weak points of the series are the "filler" books ghostwritten by other writers.

As I understand it, a lot of the later books were ghost written. That bugged me enough to the point where I just wanted to be ignorant and not look up which books were ghost written.
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I remember reading the first one on a whim and instantly loved them. Eagerly awaited each book and didn't stop until finishing. Then got to the last one and was met with an overwhelming disappointment.

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah" completely ignoring what people were actually wanting answered. No one had a problem with a bittersweet ending. People wanted all lingering questions answered, people wanted some definitive ending.

Instead we got ok let's ram into the blade ship!" Not only that The One which assimilated Ax came out of nowhere near the end of the book. No reason, no explanation, no climactic battle, just ramming the ship and done.
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Strider102 posted...

I remember reading the first one on a whim and instantly loved them. Eagerly awaited each book and didn't stop until finishing. Then got to the last one and was met with an overwhelming disappointment.

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah" completely ignoring what people were actually wanting answered. No one had a problem with a bittersweet ending. People wanted all lingering questions answered, people wanted some definitive ending.

Instead we got ok let's ram into the blade ship!" Not only that The One which assimilated Ax came out of nowhere near the end of the book. No reason, no explanation, no climactic battle, just ramming the ship and done.

Yeah. A lot of character's stories left without definitive endings, no happy endings, and very bleak. Bleh.
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Strider102 posted...

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah"

But that wasn't what the first 85% of the series was. I mean, there were some harsh realities sure but the last stretch was much darker. And yeah the cliffhanger thing was just stupid.

AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....

I don't remember of the top of my head the Cassie ending. Was it just that she split from the group and didn't go with the rest of them to rescue/fight Ax/Alien? So essentially she would have lived?

She happily worked in some nature reserve thing or something. She was happy and was able to move on. Even move on from Jake. Marco was fairly happy too but actually did go along with the save Ax thing.
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Sir Will posted...

Strider102 posted...

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah"

But that wasn't what the first 85% of the series was. I mean, there were some harsh realities sure but the last stretch was much darker. And yeah the cliffhanger thing was just stupid.

AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....

I don't remember of the top of my head the Cassie ending. Was it just that she split from the group and didn't go with the rest of them to rescue/fight Ax/Alien? So essentially she would have lived?

She happily worked in some nature reserve thing or something. She was happy and was able to move on. Even move on from Jake. Marco was fairly happy too but actually did go along with the save Ax thing.

I guess I kinda remember that. Yeah, it wasn't enough for a real happy ending. The war/casualty thing tainted everything, and Ax's possession situation, without being resolved to know that Ax would be ok, sucked..

Also I don't remember off the top of my head what happened with Tobias, but I think that was also not good, as in either he didn't join them on the ship and lived by himself as a lowly Hawk, or he did join them on the ship and would have suffered whatever fate Jake/Marco suffered facing "The One".

Bleh
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I remember buying a ton of the books because they were so popular and the TV show was on, and when I finished the first book I trashed them all because I hated it so much.
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He was depressed and stayed as a hawk all the time and joined them on the ship. Ax was family and all he really had left IIRC.
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Mal_Fet posted...

I remember buying a ton of the books because they were so popular and the TV show was on, and when I finished the first book I trashed them all because I hated it so much.

...you bought a bunch of them before actually reading any?
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AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

Strider102 posted...

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah"

But that wasn't what the first 85% of the series was. I mean, there were some harsh realities sure but the last stretch was much darker. And yeah the cliffhanger thing was just stupid.

AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....

I don't remember of the top of my head the Cassie ending. Was it just that she split from the group and didn't go with the rest of them to rescue/fight Ax/Alien? So essentially she would have lived?

She happily worked in some nature reserve thing or something. She was happy and was able to move on. Even move on from Jake. Marco was fairly happy too but actually did go along with the save Ax thing.

I guess I kinda remember that. Yeah, it wasn't enough for a real happy ending. The war/casualty thing tainted everything, and Ax's possession situation, without being resolved to know that Ax would be ok, sucked..

Also I don't remember off the top of my head what happened with Tobias, but I think that was also not good, as in either he didn't join them on the ship and lived by himself as a lowly Hawk, or he did join them on the ship and would have suffered whatever fate Jake/Marco suffered facing "The One".

Bleh

In regards to Tobias he kinda reluctantly agreed to join Jake, despite feeling a sense of hatred towards Jake because of Rachael dying. But at the same time he wanted to save Ax. IIRC he agrees with Jake to ram the blade ship and even smiles.
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Mal_Fet posted...

I remember buying a ton of the books because they were so popular and the TV show was on, and when I finished the first book I trashed them all because I hated it so much.

Did you like the series and the books didn't live up to expectations?

Before/As I was reading the books a couple of years ago, the TV series was on Netflix and I watched it. There were def some differences but I thought it was cool to watch and it didn't ruin my enjoyment of either the book/tv.
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Sir Will posted...

He was depressed and stayed as a hawk all the time and joined them on the ship. Ax was family and all he really had left IIRC.

Strider102 posted...

AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

Strider102 posted...

I remember when K. A. Applegate responded to people about the ending and gave that old "war is war, casualties, blah blah blah"

But that wasn't what the first 85% of the series was. I mean, there were some harsh realities sure but the last stretch was much darker. And yeah the cliffhanger thing was just stupid.

AlCalavicci posted...

Sir Will posted...

I loved the series. I have like all of them after book 20 or something. I think I missed some of the earlier ones. The school library had some and then I started buying them.

I hate how it ended. The last stretch of books got really dark and everybody ends up dead, maybe dead because cliffhanger, or just plain miserable. Only Casey had a happy ending. Or as happy as can be when all her friends are dead or gone. And don't even get me started on the auxiliary kids....

I don't remember of the top of my head the Cassie ending. Was it just that she split from the group and didn't go with the rest of them to rescue/fight Ax/Alien? So essentially she would have lived?

She happily worked in some nature reserve thing or something. She was happy and was able to move on. Even move on from Jake. Marco was fairly happy too but actually did go along with the save Ax thing.

I guess I kinda remember that. Yeah, it wasn't enough for a real happy ending. The war/casualty thing tainted everything, and Ax's possession situation, without being resolved to know that Ax would be ok, sucked..

Also I don't remember off the top of my head what happened with Tobias, but I think that was also not good, as in either he didn't join them on the ship and lived by himself as a lowly Hawk, or he did join them on the ship and would have suffered whatever fate Jake/Marco suffered facing "The One".

Bleh

In regards to Tobias he kinda reluctantly agreed to join Jake, despite feeling a sense of hatred towards Jake because of Rachael dying. But at the same time he wanted to save Ax. IIRC he agrees with Jake to ram the blade ship and even smiles.

Oh right! I remember this now. Ugh, all sorts of feels.
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AlCalavicci posted...

Did you like the series and the books didn't live up to expectations?

No, I just really hated the characters. I've always had a really negative reaction to main characters that don't act rationally.
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Sir Will posted...

Mal_Fet posted...

I remember buying a ton of the books because they were so popular and the TV show was on, and when I finished the first book I trashed them all because I hated it so much.

...you bought a bunch of them before actually reading any?

Back in the day schools would have book fairs and you could subscribe for an entire series if you paid like $20 up front. And keep in mind this was when some kids book series had like 80 issues
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Sir Will posted...

Mal_Fet posted...

I remember buying a ton of the books because they were so popular and the TV show was on, and when I finished the first book I trashed them all because I hated it so much.

...you bought a bunch of them before actually reading any?

Yea...all my friends loved them so I assumed I would too

Come to think of it, Animorphs is probably why I was practically immune to peer pressure. I learned firsthand how wrong my friends could be.
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