Book #36 of 2018: The Forgotten (Animorphs #11)

[thistlechaser]

Thank you, Animorphs. Including my credit for unfinished books, this is book #49 for the year. I'm only going to hit 50 because these books are so fast to read.

The Forgotten (Animorphs #11) by K.A. Applegate
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Liked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



I keep wondering how these books are so dark and how much darker they'll get. This is book 11 of 50+ books, and if this pattern continues, in a few books we're going to have outright torture.

As seems to be my trend with this series, I didn't like the plot so much, but I loved seeing the effect of all this on the characters. I'll put spoilers behind a cut, since now I'm ahead of another reviewer who is reading these for the first time.


The plot involved time travel, one copy of the group stuck in a rain forest while the other group remained where they were in America. Right from the get-go, the situation in the jungle was awful and the kids almost died multiple times. In the final battle, Jake (the leader of the group) was actually killed. However, like all the "worst" scenes in this series, nothing was shown, it was just fade to black/implied.

When the timeline resolved, there was still one Jake left, so while he knows he died, he's also alive as well.


I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd love a better written version of this series. One without plotholes and eye-rolly action. I bet there's good fanfic out there...

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I never thought to look for any fanfic of this! I agree with you on the writing. Who's the other reader behind us in the series? I'd like to see their thoughts on stuff too.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You! I think you're still behind me, right? Last review I saw was two books ago, I think.

I'll look for fanfic eventually, probably when the books frustrate me too much. But supposedly this series has a very active fandom, so I suspect it's going to be hard to find the good ones. I'll link you if I do!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I don't want to read the fanfic stories until I'm done with the series (or give up on it) because of spoilers, but it looks like I found a good list here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/559oef/animorphs_fanfiction_recommendations/

It looks so perfect for me: "...but as a literary work, it's close to perfect. Way, way closer than the original books. Think of it as "what if KA Applegate had taken her time to write the series, made all the characters smarter, and wrote a story that wasn't afraid to make radical choices and break the status quo?" To quote the author, "Visser Three is competent, the Yeerks are moving rapidly, and the Animorphs are actually trying to win, but are inexperienced and unprepared". Every day counts, every advantage is needed, everyone makes mistakes and no one can afford them. "

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I meant to share this Tor.com article with you about 'Animorphs'! I saw it and thought you would enjoy it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Iiiiinteresting! I hadn't realized they were published monthly. The article also made a good point about the oh so silly covers hiding the darker story. Loved the link to the meme site, too! I hadn't realized (but should of) how well-spoofed these are.

Thanks for the link!

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I feel that I should alert you ahead of time that one of the upcoming books--#13, The Change--was released the same month as a companion book, The Andalite Chronicles. I'm not sure what your plans for the sidestory/background books were, but it's my recommendation that they be read in publishing order; the Chronicles titles in particular provide insightful lore dumps that almost always tie in with the main series books published around the same time.

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

Ah- nope, not quite! The last one I read was #15- The Escape. Spoiler away! That article Orangerful linked to- very cool- and yeah it gave some stuff away but that just made me feel intrigued in the series again. Hey, I read two books I found via your LJ recently: Zoo at the Edge of the World and The Weigher. Good stuff!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ooh The Weigher was one of my favorites, I hope you enjoyed it as well!

And thanks for the heads up! Drat, looks like the site I'm reading on has them listed whole series, then the side series. I'll have to keep wiki open so I can follow the publishing order. Like you said, I'd rather read them that way.

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

Yeah, I found two different recommendations of reading order- and pasted one into a notepad list on my desktop to keep track where I am, especially since I take breaks every four or five books in the series. Can only take that repeated intro so many times in a row....

I did like the Weigher! I got the novella version on my kindle. It was intriguing enough, I hope to someday find a copy of the paperback and read the full novel of it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I sent you what I have. I think it's the novel, but-- oh drat, it is the novella (I checked my review, should have done that before sending!). Sorry!

If it helps, the novel is no different than the novella. Nothing new at all, just somehow longer. I never understood it.