This one was intense and events moved quickly. Unavoidable SPOILERS: It's down to all or nothing for the Animorphs. The aliens have destroyed their home town. A new Yeerk pool is being built, and when they go there to try and sabotage the construction, they get trapped. Totally surprised to find allies among the Taxxons who having seen what the morphing power can do, foresee a way to escape their relentless hunger. (Did Cassie really guess this might happen? or only thought of in retrospect. It nullifies her betrayal but only a little). Jake finally has a determined, multilayered and dangerous plan- and this time he doesn't back down when it involves putting his friends and allies in danger. He even blackmails the pacifist Chee into assisting them- right on the battlefield as it were. Early on in reading this you get a sense someone is going to die- and they sure did. Secondary characters but still, that was hard to stomach, how coldly Jake had to go through with his plan even as he watched them dying for the cause. They pull some insanely successful bluffs, and infiltrate the Pool ship, sneak right in to where the Visser is, who knows of their capabilities but still fails to detect their presence until it is too late. Blustering and bragging as always. When the last chapter abruptly ends (because I gather this is really an ending told in two parts which concludes in The Beginning) Jake in the Pool ship in a tense situation next to the Visser is facing his brother Tom/Yeerk who is attacking them from a Blade ship- because Tom's Yeerk has his own idea about snatching power and escaping offworld with the morphing cube.

In spite of all the fighting and subterfuge and quickly escalating scenes, there were also elements in here which brought back what I like about the Animorph books- the senses of being in animal forms. Jake with the wild flight and altered sense of being a fly. The lithe power and heat-sensing acuity of an anaconda. A new one was dragonfly.

from the ( )

In order to end the war can Jake send people to their deaths? ( )

A short comment for every book of the series until I get a chance to re-read them. All three of my sons and I loved this series and read every single book - I even bought every single book (most, but not all, used; some through school book sales). I'm excited to re-read them to see how the five main characters develop and to watch all the different transformations again.

The best books appeal to *readers* universally - not children versus adults. These may not be quite worthy of the adjective 'best' but they do have that crossover appeal. ( )