The Invasion (Animorphs Book 1)

Wasn't allowed to read these growing up so now doing my own belated book club. Blown away at how good this is right out of the gate. Has a great campy sentai-show setup but pulls no punches with how gruesome this intergalactic war actually is. All of the morph descriptions are straight body horror, and the violence only gets away with being this gory because of Halo rules (it's not blood, it's yellow goo).

Our first POV, Jake, is fully the likeable leader boy archetype, but the character voice is so strong it hardly matters. Particular highlight is dog brain, which is exactly what you'd expect but even more charming. Under the YA nonchalance is a surprisingly affecting tragedy, particularly Jake's distant relationship with his brother (I imagine we'll see even more devastating scenes from the other POVs whose family life seems even more complicated).

Great start to this series. …

The Invasion sets up the world of the Animorphs and has a good mix of plot and info-dump. It establishes the expectation that they won't have it easy, that they need to keep secrets, and that morphing isn't just a toy. A good series opener!



For those who are currently unaware:

Animorphs is a series about a group of five friends (and later one more friend, we'll get to him) who find out that the Earth is being invaded by parasitic aliens that could be in anyone but not yet everyone. They must use the power to change into any animal they have "acquired" in order to fight the alien invasion, all while being unable to tell the ones they love that they are in a daily struggle that leaves them emotionally wrecked on a regular basis.

This series deals with anxiety, body horror, death, loss, violence, divorce, death of …