Book Review: Animorphs #41, The Familiar
Happy Friday Eve World!
Can you smell that sweet weekend air? I sure can! Here’s hoping the rest of your week goes smoothly.
In the meantime, it’s book review time!
This time I read Animorphs #41, The Familiar.
I’m determined to finish reading the series this year if it kills me, so that’s the real inspiration behind my reading this one. I definitely have not read this one before so I dove in like usual.
Blurb:
Jake wakes up one morning to find he is suddenly twenty-five years old, the Yeerks rule the world, all the other Animorphs are either dead or Yeerk-infested, and he alone is left to fight.
GoodReads
The Review:
I gave this book three stars.
I have to say, I’m quite a bit disappointed with this one.
In this installment of the series, we’re in Jake’s POV. After a particularly bloody battle, he goes home feeling exhausted. However, when he wakes up the next day, everything is bizarrely different. He’s in a small room he’s never been in before, the world outside is drastically, scarily different, and to top it all off he’s in his twenties. Can Jake figure out whatever is going on and escape this nightmare?
Some elements were alright in this book, but I had some issues overall.
What worked best for me was the concept. Animorphs occasionally has these crazy alternate reality adventures that have lots of great scifi elements. Conceptually, this was right up my alley and interested me. There was also an element of mystery behind it all that propelled me forward. Who did this to Jake? The Ellimist? Crayak?
That’s about as good as it gets for positive points.
Jake as a whole felt a bit flawed. I think his reaction to the predicament he found himself in made sense at first, but at a certain point he just stopped questioning things without much reason. It just didn’t make sense to me, I also don’t really feel like Jake progressed at all during this journey. Perhaps he made a slight mistake in judgment from the beginning, but it didn’t warrant him going through all of this.
The plot felt disjointed to me. We know that Jake’s in an alternate reality, yes, but beyond that we don’t really get much explanation behind it all, which I found a bit maddening. There’s got to be a rhyme and reason for scifi or it just becomes nonsensical.
Lastly, sometimes the details were a bit much, which I honestly can’t believe I’m saying. But at the beginning where Jake finds himself in this weird reality, the descriptions felt clunky and really slowed me down.
Overall, this is definitely not one of the best Animorphs. While imaginative and creative, it lacks the progression and logic behind many of the more memorable ones. I’d suggest skipping if you’re going through the whole series.
That’s a Wrap!
Thanks for stopping by, and happy reading!
Have you read this book before? What did you think? Do you have a book recommendation similar to this one? Feel free to share in the comments!
If you’d like to see other reviews of mine, feel free to check out the book review section of my blog or my GoodReads. You can also follow my GoodReads reviews here. There are some great binge-worthy books on there!
Have a great day!
***
Can’t get enough of Jaunts & Haunts?
Subscribe to my newsletter for in-depth updates on my writing, reading, and watching experiences, special deals, and important announcements regarding upcoming publications.
Also, feel free to check me out at the social media links below!
***