Review - Famous Five, Animorphs

Five Run Away Together

I suppose I needn't say anything about the need for suspension of disbelief, or the value of nostalgia, given that I've already made ample mention of that when I was reading the first two books. Five Run Away Together is another adventure in and around Kirrin, like the first two books. If I were those kids' parents, I'd be letting them stay anywhere but Kirrin...

Anyway, this third book is mostly The Five vs. The Sticks, who are a criminal type family who are in league with someone to kidnap a little girl. There's not much subtlety -- clearly the Sticks are a bad lot avoiding the police right from the beginning. I actually don't like Julian much when he's being rude and such to the Sticks, or at least, I don't like the way the story makes him seem so much in the right about it. Still, different ethics about the way lower class people should be treated, etc.

Fun enough, as they all are; it was never really one of my favourites.

Animorphs: The Visitor

The second Animorphs book is narrated by Rachel, who was one of my favourite characters when I was younger. I'm not sure how much I buy all her protestations that it's what's in your head that matters or whatever, for the characterisation of a pretty teenage girl who doesn't even realise her second best friend is going through hell... But I guess I did buy it when I was younger. Rachel's kinda ideal, really, as a character to relate to -- her family isn't perfect, her parents are divorced, so she isn't quite too good to be true, and she's smart and beautiful and trying to do the right thing.

I kind of forgot how character focused these books are. Rachel and Jake both have Human-Controllers in their family, and have to struggle with that aspect of the fight. So does another character, I'm pretty sure I remember that rightly, but we don't know that by this point. Cassie doesn't seem to have much angst in that way, it's true. But all of them have personal issues to deal with along with the fighting. It's not quite as action packed as I thought it was.

It's kinda realistic that the kids don't know how the hell to start fighting a war. It kinda feels like, at this point in the books, you don't see how they're ever going to get a handle on it. There's so much they don't know. Just surviving is a huge victory -- and that's all they do in the first two books. This book shows us a very little more about the Yeerks -- a little of their culture, I suppose, with us finding out what their names are like and that it seems quite hierarchical... But ultimately, nothing much is won.

Fun and quick to read, doesn't require much thought. Not exactly full of subtlety, though there are some touching and emotional bits -- I quite like the scene where Rachel realises she can't trust anyone, not even her little sister... I remember how much I used to root for certain characters getting together -- Cassie and Jake, of course, and Rachel and Tobias... I'm looking forward to finding out how it all ends, and whether those characters do get that.

Reviews - Famous Five, Animorphs

Five Go To Smuggler's Top

Aha! The first adventure away from Kirrin. By now the "George is/could be separated from Timmy" plot is getting a little old, as is the Timmy-ex-machina. It's fun story if you haven't read the others recently, I suppose, and there's more secret passageways and Uncle Quentin getting into trouble... It's more of the same, of course: nostalgia for the simplicity of childhood, plus children knowing better than adults, plus mysteries and secret passageways and at the end a friendly policeman coming along and admiring the Five's work. And everybody loves Timmy (unless they're a bad guy).

I think I'm going to take a break from these books now! I intend to reread them all someday, though.

Animorphs: The Encounter

The third book of the Animorphs series is narrated by Tobias. I liked him a lot: it was interesting to have a character who was a casualty, in some ways, but kept on fighting. I think now that it was slightly odd -- but effective -- to have a main character falling to the drawback of the powers so early in the series. This book mostly involves Tobias coming to terms with that, as the character-focus, and the plot focus is an attempt by the Animorphs to expose the Yeerks. Unsurprisingly, given the length of the series, they don't succeed, and once again, are lucky to escape with their lives.

This book is definitely more interesting when it's talking about Tobias' conflicts and the difficulties of being trapped in the body of a hawk. The plot itself... well, Jake's a bad leader for still wanting to go ahead with the mission with the odds so catastrophically stacked against him. It's not unrealistic, though -- just unrealistic that they actually survive.

The relationship between Tobias and Rachel is the highlight of this book for me, probably. The way she tries to be strong and tries to comfort Tobias, despite the way the situation is miles and miles away from any experience she might have. I prefer seeing Rachel's character from outside her, like this, to seeing it from the inside in the second book -- it's more believable, coming from someone else. This is probably why I liked Rachel so much.

I keep saying it's trashy fun, but that's from the perspective of an adult (shudder). I guess when I was a kid I sneered at them a bit for being so popular -- but hey, I can see why.

Animorphs: The Message

The fourth book sees the introduction of a new character. This is largely a plotty book, rather than character development, this time, though Cassie does struggle with a couple of ethical questions. They don't seem quite convincing to me -- but it makes sense that she does ask questions, so it didn't bother me too much. It was nice to read a book in which the morphing is mostly fun and playful, and in which all of earth seems to join in on the side against the Yeerks. It's a little too touchy-feely, but with Cassie as the narrator, it's okay. She isn't really my favourite character, so that's probably why I liked this book a little less.

One thing that does get tiresome is the formula for the very first chapter. They state their names, tell you they can't tell you a lot of stuff, reintroduce morphing... I can see why, it allows people to join in mid-series, but at the same time, it gets irritating, especially when you're reading the books all at once.