Animorphs Re-Read: #1 The Invasion (Chapters 25-27)

Chapter 25

Jake is a bad ass as a tiger. All that power and he doesn't remember all that he did. He was kicking a lot of ass in his battle morph. The fact that he is able to kick the asses of Hork-Bajir is just amazing.

Rachel is still kicking ass and Marco has morphed into gorilla. He makes a joke about being King Kong. Jake points out that Cassie was right in saying that gorillas are peaceful but can be very dangerous.

Jake says for them to chase the Hork-Bajir before they can get organized. Since, really, these teens haven't been in a real battle and their current success is born out of luck.

Jake and Marco charge while Rachel's morph allowed her just to plow through the Controllers. Marco punches anything that got in his way. Jake stays in the middle looking for any Controllers that thought they could beat the trio. Hork-Bajir and humans are afraid of the trio since they are strange. I guess even by the Animorphs' universe's standards.

The trio starts to release the prisoners and Jake wants to speak to Tom to tell him who he is. The end is in sight, but it is much too early for Tom's ending to be shown (whether good or bad).

Rachel points out that Cassie is next to be infested. Jake is confused about what he should do. If he should rescue Cassie or make sure Tom gets out. Marco reassures Jake that they will make sure that Tom gets out. Jake remarks that he will later think about the choice he makes later and that maybe things would've gone differently.

Jake and Tobias go to rescue Cassie. She is given time to escape and tells the others to run before she morphs into a horse.

Cassie and Jake bo back to the others. Now the Controllers have weapons. But the Animorphs can still kick ass. They can get through anything!

But now Visser Three has appeared. He has an Andalite's body and, therefore, the ability to morph. He has traveled throughout the galaxy acquiring morphs unlike anything on Earth. The Animorphs have seen one when he morphed to eat Elfangor. Shit is going to get real!

Visser Three says the Taxxon thinks the Animorphs are just wild animals. I know Taxxons have the strong emotion of hunger, but I never took them as dumb. Or maybe this Taxxon is just a dumb one.

Visser Three says he knows that the Animorphs are Andalites and then proceeds to morph into something horrific. Jake realizes he had been wrong to be hopeful.


Chapter 26

Visser Three morphs a creature that has a thing for the number eight. His morph is just terrifying. It makes me quiver. Again, these books were for kids!

Jake's human and tiger minds are both equally scared. Jake thought that, while morphed, they could take on anything. That there would be nothing to stop them. However, whatever Visser Three has just morphed is impossible for any of them to take on. Jake gives the order to retreat.

Cassie takes two humans on her back. Visser Three isn't worried that they're running, he says it just gives him more of a challenge. The Visser throws a fireball that hits one of the women riding on Cassie's back. That woman falls down. The Visser then continues to throw fireballs all over the damn place.

Now I'm scared, but anything that uses fireballs as a weapon is cool in my book.

Jake says again to run and head for the stairs. While some are able to escape Visser Three's monstrous morph, Taxxons make sure that they can get those who escape the Visser. Tom is trying to fight the Taxxons as best as he can.

Rachel and Marco continue to fight as to not be captured by the Taxxons. Jake tells Rachel to morph back because her elephant morph can't handle stairs all that well.

As they get close to the Yeerk pool entrance, Jake notices all the people they saved have either been recaptured or killed. Tom ends up going after Visser Three with nothing but his fists. This is just too heartbreaking as Tom is the reason Jake started fighting, but it shows that Jake can have great strength if his brother is willing to risk so much. So on one hand I'm cheering Tom on, but on the other hand I'm yelling at him for being such an idiot.

Jake goes crazy as he thinks Tom is dead. Jake goes to attack Visser Three and then retreats.


Chapter 27

I think it's only because Visser Three's morph was too large that the Animorphs got out alive. The Visser yells at them that it doesn't matter because they'll die anyways, but Jake does know it does matter that they got away alive.

The only person to be freed was a woman and Cassie got out clean. There is a head canon that a crazy woman that appears later in the series is this woman. I like to believe this head canon even though Applegate has said the crazy woman is totally random.

The policeman that had captured Cassie was the only one to know her personal information. She said that they don't have to worry about him anymore and it's hinted that he died in the battle...well mission with a 'hope it turns out well' attitude.

Tom wasn't freed and that makes Jake very sad. Well, something more than sad. I don't think the entire sad spectrum could explain what Jake felt when Tom wasn't freed.

It isn't until the morning that Tobias comes to visit Jake. Jake is excited that Tobias got out alive. Jake thought that Tobias had been caught while demorphing. Jake says that it's good enough that Tobias is alive and bird-boy agrees with him.

Jake tells Tobias to demorph, but he knows something is wrong. Tobias explains that getting out of the Yeerk pool took too long and he is now stuck in his red-tail hawk morph.

I never noticed this before: but isn't it possible Tobias is lying? Maybe he did escape in time but didn't want to demorph. He wanted to be stuck in morph so bad that this makes sense. It is my head canon, and also supported in the series itself, that Tobias meant to get stuck in morph.

I am getting teary eyed. I hate seeing Tobias being at such a low point.

Is it my imagination that Jake and Tobias would make a very cute couple?

Tobias says that the Andalites will come and Jake agrees to fight until they come.

I enjoy seeing how the series began. How the Andalites were once painted as the saviors of humanity and good people. While the Yeerks were all bad guys. That there were no shades of grey. A simpler time. It's also nice seeing how the Animorphs first got started. I forgot how against fighting Marco was at the beginning.

Finally: I always thought Jake (on the cover of this book) looks like a girl.

The next book in the Animorphs series I will be Re-Reading will be

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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents