Retromorphs: Animorphs #2: The Visitor

                                     

Since we completed the first Animorphs book, I guess we can properly talk about the structure of the books. The first book gave us Jake as a narrator, and each other book will follow a different narrator. It goes like this. For every ten books the order goes:

Jake: Books ending in 1 & 6

Rachel: Books ending in 2 & 7

Cassie: Books ending in 4 & 9

Marco: Books ending in 5 & 0

Tobias will take on books ending in 3 and another character will take up books ending in 8, but we're getting ahead of ourselves by a few books. It's time for book number 2, which means that Rachel is the focus this time around. My one lingering complaint about The Invasion was that we got a lot of focus on everyone but Rachel. We know she's Jake's cousin, we know she's fashionable, and we know that she has a latent violent side that came out when she morphed elephant. Will we get more about her this time? Let's find out with book #2: The Visitor. 

We open our story not too long after the events of The Invasion. The kids have now gotten much more used to morphing as they're flying in the skies in new bird morphs. Jake a Pereguine falcon, Rachel a bald eagle, and Marco and Cassie as hawks. While Tobias is still a red-tailed hawk since he can't demorph after staying in form over two hours. They're having a great time until they spot two teens drinking beer and shooting at birds with their rifle. They manage to grab the gun and the beer and dispose of it, ruining their fun. After demorphing, the kids head home and try to come up with a way to get back at the yeerks. The yeerk pool entrance from the school is gone and spying on Tom some more might put him in danger. There's only one option left at this point: get to Chapman. And the only way to do that is through his daughter Melissa, an old friend of Rachel's who has gotten more distant for a while. Rachel, despite not wanting to use an old friend like this, ultimately takes up the job of being a spy.

At gym the next day, Rachel tries to talk with Melissa, offering to go to the mall with her, but Melissa is still very hesitant. Rachel heads home instead as the rain starts to fall, then suddenly some guy in their late teens starts to hit on her. When Rachel tries to just get away, he starts chasing her into an alley. So, attempted rape. Didn't see this coming in my kids novella series about young teens that turn into animals. And speaking of which, Rachel in a panic starts morphing elephant in self defense, sending the creep running off in a panic. As Rachel returns to normal, conveniently the Chapmans show up and offer her a ride home. It seems Melissa is starting to warm back up to Rachel, but Rachel is more concerned with Chapman. He's a controller, and someone who knows where she lives.

As Rachel heads home, we do learn a bit more about her family life. She has a lawyer for a mother and a weatherman for a father, along with two younger sisters named Jordan and Sara. Her parents are divorced and she and her sisters primarily live with her mother She calls up the others and tells them about the whole "near-rape" situation, but they're much more angry over her nearly blowing her cover as an animorph since that guy could have been a controller. In fact, this whole scene feels like it really just blows over the fact that Rachel had to do this in self defense. I get it, they're at war with an enemy they can't see, but I think they should let this slide more considering again, he could have done something horrible to her.

Regardless, they change their plan up to not involve Melissa, because she could very well be a controller. They need to spy on Chapman, but they'll need a way to do so. Rachel then remembers that Melissa has a pet cat. The wonderfully named Fluffer McKitty. How is it that K.A. Applegate has even weirder pet names than Jovial Bob? The kids try to get Fluffer, but with it being a tomcat, the cat scratches at them and goes up a tree. The strategy is to morph mouse to lure Fluffer, but Tobias ends up with a tiny shrew, which Rachel morphs. And now it's her turn to feel what Jake did in the last book with the lizard morph. The tiny shrew panics as the animal brain takes over. Tobias manages to snatch her and help her calm down and Marco puts shrew Rachel on the tree. As Fluffer tries to pounce, they grab the cat and Rachel acquires him. This also puts Rachel with the most morphs at this point with four and the kids ponder if there's a limit to acquisitions. They're also tired and Rachel is shaken from the shrew experience, so they decide to try this spy session another time. We also get a scene where Rachel has a nightmare over being the shrew form that makes her vomit. The PTSD of these morphs already starting to show.

The night comes for Rachel to morph into Fluffer McKitty and all seems to go well. She gets used to the cat form pretty quickly and follows Chapman down into the basement into a hidden room. He gets a message from Visser Three in hologram form who addresses Chapman as Iniss Two Two Six, the name of the yeerk in hi head. Visser also mentions the council of thirteen, which are also higher ups. He then notices Rachel and orders for her to be killed, since it could be an "andalite bandit". Iniss Two Two Six says that snapping cat necks might arouse suspicion and that they made a deal with the Chapmans that Melissa wasn't to be involved with this. Visser then threatens Iniss Two Two Six by turning into a tube-like alien with a thousands of suckers. A Vanarx, or Yeerkbane that sucks out yeerks and eats them. That shuts Iniss up as Ms. Chapman arrives, also a controller.

Melissa starts to head down to the basement to ask her parents if they'll help her with her homework and they coldly blow her off. Rachel, despite her mission being accomplished, heads upstairs in cat morph to console a crying Melissa as we realize why she's been so distant lately. That she doesn't understand why her parents don't love her anymore. It's a good scene for Rachel's character as it helps establishes her as an extremely empathetic character, and someone who despite the rift, genuinely wants to help Melissa. After Melissa falls asleep, and with enough time to spare, Rachel returns to the others and demorphs. Now more than ever, she has a reason to fight.

After another flight as birds, the Animorphs decide on what to do. Rachel will morph Fluffer again and spy on Chapman in hopes of finding out where the Kandrona is (The source of energy for the Yeerks if you missed the last review), while still being secretive about being caught by Visser and Iniss Two Two Six last time. On the night of the second sneak, everyone is there but Jake, who the others claim are grounded. It's not til she follows Chapman into the room again that she hears Jake's voice in thought speak. Turns out he morphed into a flea. Surprisingly, unlike the shrew or the lizard, the flea brain was easy to overtake. As Chapman converses with Visser Three some more, they try to get more info. That is until Chapman inadvertently kicks Rachel, blowing her cover. Visser Three is now convinced the cat is an andalite bandit and tells Chapman to bring her to him, along with Melissa.

Rachel and Jake can't escape as Chapman keeps a disintegrating dracon beam aimed at her.  Ms. Chapman arrives with a cat carrier and they go for Melissa, but suddenly they start to convulse. The controllers are fighting back at the yeerks. But it's all for naught as the two return to their controlled forms. Melissa sees her cat in the carrier and tries to get her parents to talk to her, but they coldly ignore her. That is until the real Fluffer McKitty arrives and Mr. Chapman uses the excuse that this is just a similar cat that showed up. Chapman takes cat Rachel and Jake to the abandoned construction site, where it all began. With things looking dire and worrying that Jake could end up stuck in flea morph, she orders Jake to jump off and find a place to demorph. And after some arguing he obliges. She immediately regrets being left alone as two bug fighters and Visser Three's blade ship land.

Chapman hands Visser Three Rachel and he's quite pleased. That is until he remembers that he also wanted Melissa. Iniss tries to make him understand the situation from earlier. He then allows Chapman to speak. Chapman tells Visser Three that while his wife went willingly, and was even willing to give Melissa as a controller out of fear, he resisted, and he'll continue to resist if anything happens to her. Considering Chapman's role as an assistant principal, having him freak out like that would blow their cover, so Visser agrees for now. He's more than willing to finish Rachel off, when suddenly an earth mover starts moving on its own. It's the others. Jake also never left Rachel, but does in time to quick morph Tiger and get some blows in on Visser Three. Rachel morphs back slightly to get the carrier unlocked and starts to run, the clock running out on her morph time. But before she can do so, Visser Three morphs a giant three legged beast and goes after her. Suddenly another earth mover crashes into a bug fighter. In the fracas, Tobias grabs Rachel and drops her into a tree, where she finally morphs back human.

The next day at gym, Melissa sees a note that assures her that her parents still love her. Rachel made it, in hopes to help lift her spirits. So, unlike the mess that was the first battle with the yeerks, this time around they managed to ensure Melissa's safety and have vissed off Visser Three even more. So, I guess that counts as a win in the Animorphs' book.

The Visitor is a strong follow-up book. The characters feel a bit more warmed up to their new position as kids with morphing powers, but still also feel like they have zero clue how to actually stop this Yeerk invasion. I mean, this still ultimately just continued to anger Visser Three and not really accomplish anything more, but this didn't wind up a total mess like the end of The Invasion. I asked for more focus on Rachel, and I got what I wanted as we get enough of a better understanding of her, her lifestyle and her family dynamic. It also subtly hints at these feelings she has for Tobias, but it's extremely evergreen at this point. I also liked the range of morphs in this book and how we go from the energetic highs of bird morph to the frightening stress of shrew. It's a good balance without anyone having to eat a live spider. What I didn't like? The extreme brushing off of Rachel almost being accosted by a creepy rapist. Again, I get the rationale of the others, but this wasn't an ideal situation for her and you can't blame her for morphing in self defense. I don't know, I think this book would have benefited better without that. In the end, while not as action heavy as the last book, this is still as strong and as consistent as the book prior. A-.