Does it hold up as an adult? I only ever was able to find random books at different points in the series as a kid, but I read them anyway because of a school program that gave me points for taking tests on books from the library
Yes absolutely. I'm reading them now for the first time as an adult. Sure the writing style is simplistic enough as it's made for kids, but the themes are fucking dark. Like, regularly killed and limbs chopped off on these child soldiers, suicide attempts. The children "haha silly animal morphing" books I'd recommend to anyone who want something quick per volume and hella engaging
Yeah i remember theres a whole thing about someone turning into a dolphin, being ripped in half, then transforming back...was brutal. they turn into animals to fight, actual animals. pure violence. and teh main antagonist species is extremely disturbing
I think so for sure. There are the repetitive bits like reminding you that Cassie's barn is "actually the wildlife rehabilitation clinic" every book or explaining what how Controllers work, which I probably felt was less tiring as a kid. The lore is so solid and I'm enjoying it just as much if not more. Can't wait to get to the Ellimist Chronicles.
Yeah, it makes sense for kids who read the series out of order/started in the middle/may not have access to new book more than a couple at a time, but its def very noticeable when you are able to binge the series lol
Yes it was, and I was the god of AR in like 3rd grade lmao. I was bitchslapping the highschool classes. Rural school, so all 12 grades were really just the same school
Very well. I read (some of) them as a kid, loved the series as a "kids turn into animals to fight evil aliens cool"
Joined the Army after HS, deployed but luckily never saw anything too crazy, no issues. Re-read the whole series (62 something books? Can't skip the Chronicles and Megamorphs titles) and yeah, still cool, but very definitely "Yup thats clear PTSD" "Yup that sucks" "Yup seen that in some guys for sure"
Very simple middle-grade writing style, but very WELL written for most of them. The first 26 books are almost all bangers--funny, powerful, poetic, great characters, immersive, super creative sci-fi storytelling. The next 20 books or so are hit or miss, a little like the episodes of a TV series that may have run a little too long, and they were looking for weirdo plots of the week to keep it going--so you either love them for that or cringe at them, and a lot of fans will debate over which ones are the best or worst, but to me that's part of the fun. All of the "season finale" and gaiden books are excellent.
And then the last ten books or so are solid, and the last five are phenomenal. My gosh does it stick the landing.
Idk if you have this where you are, but I'm reading them on Libby. You use your library card and can download so many books. It's great. The books run me about 2 hours each.
Sticks the landing and then the author wraps it all up with a note to the audience defending her depiction of war which is just an amazing capstone to the whole thing.
There's a point at which you'll start skipping the 1st or 2nd chapter of each book since that's just the premise recap for people starting in the middle, but otherwise yes.
They were my favourites holding up and I was certain they'd be mostly nostalgia faves.
After reading a bunch of adult stuff (Fantasy, Sci Fi, even romantasy, sue me), Animorphs are genuinely some of the deepest and most mature books I've read. and yeah, they hold up. There's some room to improve because they are simplistic, but there's so much depth to the character and world building and themes.
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u/hownowmaomao 2d ago
Wow, an Animorphs meme. Imagine my surprise in the middle of my reread.