The Beginning

Animorphs, Book 54

By: K. A. Applegate

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Ramón de Ocampo, Emily Ellet, Sisi Aisha Johnson, Adam Verner, Michael Crouch

Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

No one ever thought it would come to this. Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Ax know that even if they could have warned people in the beginning, no one would have believed their story. A story about an invasion of parasitic aliens. So for all this time, Jake and the other Animorphs have secretly fought a desperate battle. Secretly held the Yeerks at bay.

But those days are over. It's come down to the final battle between the Yeerks and Animorphs. And no one knows who will win, lose, or live...

©2001 Katherine Applegate. (P)2023 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC AUDIOBOOKS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

Wow

I love this series this is my third time listening overall sixth time reading…… I really wonder how it would have ended & was “ the one “ a God type of being…..? I guess we will never know *shrugging

The long journey comes to a end

I came into the series already been spoiled about pretty much everything hearing it discussed on a podcast. But it did not capture what an amazing journey this story has been.

5 stars for the whole series

On another note, I never really noticed that Tobias and Ax only have one chapter each in this book.

Can't Believe It's Over

I never got to finish the series as a kid, so I was really excited when I learned Audible was releasing the books. I will say, the way the ending became open caught me off guard and I kind of disagree with Applegate's choice to do that. It wasn't bad, but they deserved peace. Either way, I really enjoyed this and can't wait to listen to all the spinoff books as they come out in a few months.

Bittersweet

I always expect the next reread to get easier, somehow, it never does. This audio narration was just perfect, so grateful to finally have them.

worthless tripe

—> This review will be mostly spoiler-free, although it makes a few vague allusions to eventualities which are I think predictable given the conservatively glacial plot development following the series’ initial success
People were so invested in this series, and I was as well, meaning it’s probably quite unpopular to say so, but the conclusion is about as lacklustre as the beginning was intriguing.

Considering 53 and 54 should according to all the rules of literature have been one book (because 90% of 54’s plot can be found in 53, but then they couldn’t have overcharged you twice, I suppose), the prose appears oddly rushed, dispatching the predictable scenario at speed which suggests the authors longed for the unwieldy beast to be put down at last. Here one finds none of the flashes of moral insight visible in the first twenty books or so, and glimmering feebly on occasion thereafter. Not only is 54’s emotional impact trite and insincere (& without a plot, the final emotional impact is what one paid for, in fact) but there’s no apparent upside… the children’s voices still sound about twelve, not sixteen or older; and far from being visionary, large portions of the war's aftermath are simply unbelievable—the animorphs encounter no suspicion from earth’s leaders, no snags distributing the morphing technology, whose power humans apparently don’t covet (David having been some sort of nasty aberration I suppose), and apart from one 'poaching' incident (given a brief mention, not explored), earth’s people seem contented to share their planet with multiple alien species. How can longstanding deference to dark plausibility have deserted the authors at this critical moment? The story’s conclusion is facile; it has no substance, merely pandering to the desire for a happy & ~dynamic ending. A pile of plotless rubbish with a sickening sugary odour. When the filler books begin to make you yawn and sleep, SAVE YOUR MONEY AND READ A SUMMARY OF THE CONCLUSION ONLINE. There is no redemption. There is no end to characters being 'in character' —which is to say, before mid-series one can anticipate each character’s mawkish lines, and instead of blurring or changing like natural humans each character becomes more doggedly entrenched in the particular dilemma designated 30+ books ago, which is when the fount of new material ran dry, full stop; and even such a cleverly-contrived arrangement can after long use grow stale. If a character were to snuff it it would of course be the one handled so ineptly by ghostwriters as to be reduced to a grotesque caricature, a figure of fun. The disabled children do perish and all, though the author showed her guilt at the use to which they were destined to be put in the initial stages of recruitment, so this was not shocking.

Animorphs was after a conceptual tour de force designed in the end for emotional toddlers. A sensible reader should feel insulted; in fact my twelve-year-old self had the wisdom to quit after a few dozen, only my ageing, sentimental mind supposed I ought to give them another go… learn from my mistakes, please. Do not buy

This and other titles are probably available at your local library.