Novels, Comics and Webcomics

Discover more from Novels, Comics and Webcomics

Sometimes I write essays, but I'm mainly here to share my urban fantasy comics and novels. Check out my original works, 1000 Years of War and Shatterrealm.

Over 1,000 subscribers

The Best of Animorphs

Now seems like a good time to talk about it

Hannah Rose Williams

Apr 07, 2026

If you were a nineties kid like me, then you read a new Animorphs book every month, and you had to get on a waiting list to finally read the epic (read: depressing) conclusion. None of my friends were into it. The Nickelodeon show, I felt, utterly failed to stay true to its rules, lore, and world building. I was hopelessly alone in my autistic devotion to this Gnostic propaganda disguised as naturalist propaganda, though it failed to make a Gnostic or a naturalist out of me. Now that Disney is adapting the series, and before everyone and their mom starts talking about it, I would like it on record that I loved it first and I still remember almost everything about it okay?!

This is one case where redpilled YouTubers will not be able to complain that Disney made Animorphs “woke.” Author K.A. Applegate was always a liberal white woman with an agenda. Souls move from one body to another or become trapped; the dead spirit of Aldrea possesses Cassie; Tobias takes the form of his sexy cousin, Aria; Marco praises the “communist” lifestyle of bees; it’s implied Yeerk-possessed humans have sex with each other (but it’s okay because both the Yeerks and their human hosts are in love? I guess?); Cassie is SUPER SPECIAL, JUST BECAUSE; the Ellemist is such a hateful and obnoxious strawman of God that he makes Star Trek’s Q look like enjoyable company; and there are constant motifs of interspecies romance and environmentalist harping on animal rights. I absolutely expect to see these tropes persist in Ryan Cooglar’s adaptation. They will simply be more noticeable to your adult eyes, especially now that they’ve permeated mainstream media ad nauseum.

Animorphs ain’t based, but it is full of gratifying battles, memorable humor, and relatable tragedy. The “serial” approach nevertheless shows characters being changed by trauma over time. It’s a good adventure. Cooglar, if you’re reading this, I have no-to-low expectations. Just please set your series in the nineties and please play “We’re in This Together Now” by Nine Inch Nails at some point. Who am I kidding, that’s not gonna happen. You don’t love me.

The Animorphs Series

#1: The Invasion — A group of teens learns their planet is being quietly invaded and illegally obtains the alien technology to fight it: morph capability. Obviously, the first installment sets the stage. However, each book treats the reader as if it’s his first time and you won’t be lost jumping in wherever. I actually started with #14 because there was a horse on it, and I was a horse girl.

#4: The Message — The whole gang finally unites. Applegate finally figures out how to write a serious story that won’t make you want to slit your middle schooler wrists. If Coogler is smart, he’ll combine #1 and #4 for his pilot.

#5: The Predator — Marco learns that his “dead” mother is actually possessed by the leader of the alien invaders.

#6: The Capture — Mostly a “bottle episode,” Jake is captured by one of the body-snatching aliens and vies for control of his own body and mind.

#8: The Alien — This story, also, could be combined with #1 and #4 to make a great pilot. We get more from the perspective of the alien team member, “Ax,” including his last tragic interaction with his brother. His misconceptions about human culture were extremely entertaining to me as a child.

#13: The Change — Tobias, who has been trapped in hawk form since the first book, enjoys a bit of deus ex machina so that Applegate can include him in more missions and give him opportunities to make out with Rachel.

#14: The Underground — While all the books are fairly funny, I remember this one being particularly enjoyable.

#18: The Decision — explains Z-space (and implies the characters absolutely have immaterial souls but we’re not gonna talk about that)

#19: The Departure — another body-snatcher “bottle episode,” this one involving Cassie debating the ethics of the invasion with one of the invaders. I would call this story one of the best in the series, with high stakes and a rewarding conclusion.

#20, 21, & 22 — The Animorphs are forced to induct a new kid named David, who turns out to be a loathsome, sociopathic traitor. A quarter of a century later, I still hate this kid.

#26: The Attack — Jake and Cassie k i s s omg

#29: The Sickness — Ax gets the Andalite equivalent of appendicitis, which his human friends aren’t sure how to treat. We learn that some of the Yeerks may be allies.

#30: The Reunion — Marco is going through it.

#31: The Conspiracy — Jake gets an opportunity to rescue his brother Tom from the clutches of the enemy.

#37: The Weakness — good villain in this one

#38: The Arrival — oh my freaking GOSH it’s happening, everybody stay calm, I am freaking out, the Andalites are finally coming back to save the world! Jk, they think Earth is a lost cause and they’re going to hand it over to the Yeerks. Ax must choose between his people and his friends.

#43: The Test — Tobias deals with PTSD, a possible double-cross, and moral conundrums. Cassie objects to the team’s utilitarian methods.

#45: The Revelation — Marco’s Yeerk-controlled mother is back on Earth and slated for execution. His father may be taken next.

#46: The Deception — Both heroes and villains debate whether it would be expedient to start a world war in order to win the secret war. Everyone is becoming a worse person.

#47: The Resistance — When I do find people willing to discuss this series with me, this is the book they remember. Half the story takes place during the Civil War, told from the perspective of Jake’s great-great?-grandfather. The other half of the story is Jake wrestling with love for his captured brother and the price of saving Earth.

#49: The Diversion — The enemy figures out that most of the Animorphs are human, not Andalite, forcing the Animorphs to reveal the truth to their families and evacuate them, if it isn’t too late.

#50: The Ultimate — As the war escalates, the Animorphs consider recruiting.

#51: The Absolute — The Yeerks prepare for all-out war with Earth’s free people.

#53: The Answer — Jake makes negotiations with his Yeerk-controlled brother, using his cousin as a pawn.

#54: The Beginning — yeah sure “the beginning” of nothing. The war concludes, the survivors struggle to return to normal life, and they wind up on a suicide mission because Applegate just really wants you to remember that war is hell. Thanks for reading, kids. Hope you like DESPAIR.

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

If you only read one story in this universe, I’d recommend this standalone, bittersweet romance between an Andalite and a Hork-Bajir. While I gave most of my collection to my sister, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles is the one I held onto and keep on the shelf for my kids.

Megamorphs #3: Elfangor’s Secret

While Megamorphs stories are probably ghostwritten and inconsequential to the series, this one — in which the Animorphs must travel through time to stop an ambitious dictator from rewriting history — is memorable and fun.

What did I forget?

Most of the stories I omitted from the list always reset to the status quo at the end. Some were even erased from the heroes’ memories. But is there one you’re particularly fond of? Let me know in the comments!