Time to talk covers again as this one is a bit more special than what we've seen with others. This cover represents our first look at Ax in any form of media. And by proxy is our first look at Andalites in the series. And design-wise, it's pretty neat, if not feeling a bit like we're just throwing a dozen things together that would make for a really freaky looking alien. Blue fur, eyes on stalks, no mouth but nostril-like slits on the face, seven-fingered hands, centaur body and a bladed scorpion tail. It's definitely original, and does feel like an apt description to what we were given before this first appearance.
We open with a prologue instead of just the regular preamble. Oh, don't worry, we get the preamble. We start with a look back at the Andalite dome ship before it gets destroyed by the yeerks. We get some interaction between Ax and Elfangor, though mostly just Elfangor being embarrassed by his cadet brother over his loud thought speak. But it's quickly halted as the yeerks attack. Ax is sent into the dome playground area, and eventually the battle causes the ship to explode and the dome with Ax still inside to fall to Earth and crash into the ocean depths. And now you know the rest of the story.
We then catch up with the present time as the Animorphs have decided to yet again take another break from the yeerks, what with the kandrona destruction and the whole Veleek incident. This time, instead of going to a pool party or trying to go to gymnastics camp without suffering amnesia, they're just taking Ax to the movies. What could possibly... Oh right, Ax's human form means his psychotic reaction to taste. Going from his elation over popcorn, to losing his mind over chocolate. From first eating floor chocolate to eventually the point where he straight up steals candy from the other theater patrons. Our lesson here is: if you want to educate the alien centaur boy on films and popular culture, maybe just rent a video next time.
As they leave the theater, Tobias tells them that he's seen a man stumbling about, screaming at cops. And sure enough, there's a man stumbling about, screaming at cops about a yeerk in his head. This gives the kids a lot of optimism because they think this must mean yeerks are dying due to the Kandrona starvation. They begin to think that now there'll be evidence and that it will finally lead to the cover being blown. Ax doesn't tell any of them, but he knows that this won't lead to anything. That the yeerk in the man's head will turn to dust and no evidence will be found. The next day, Ax is training in his usual morning ritual, when he's interrupted by Tobias, who informs him of a rattlesnake near his leg. Ax acquires the snake which will be some foreshadowing to how it gets used later on in the book.
So, the last attempt at humanizing Ax failed, so we're going to try this again. This time, he's being brought to school for one day to get some education. Pretending to be Jake's cousin Phillip, he's just allowed to come in and learn for the day. He of course is confused about all the school customs, but heads into class. The Teacher, Mr. Pardue, is about to get started, when he suddenly begins to freak out and claw at his head. Another controller's yeerk is dying. Jake, foolishly, tries to talk Pardue through it, what with being controlled at one point, but Chapman arrives and shoos the kids out of the classroom. As Jake and Ax leave, they see Chapman remove some sort of cylinder from his pocket and stab it into Pardue's neck.
Ax finally tells Jake the truth, that the yeerks kill the former controllers who might spill the beans on this whole invasion stuff. So all this hurrah that they've been making over the starved yeerks amounts to nothing in the end. Jake is understandably pissed, more so over Ax being so secretive. They know nothing about him while he's here absorbing all the information on humans, almost as if using them as pawns in this big Andalite war. Not to mention the realization that this could be Tom's fate doesn't help obviously. Despite Jake's obvious anger, they're still trying to help Ax out, so Marco takes him to the bookstore to buy him an almanac, because this is 1997 and the internet is still an infant. Not before there's a rather fun two page exchange with Ax and Marco's dad as Ax's inability to answer correctly confuses the hell out of Marco's dad. In that exchange, Ax screwed around with the computer that Marco's dad uses for his engineering job. He was helping with the observatory with their radio telescope. And Ax, perhaps unintentionally, created new technology and ways to do astrology. In other words, he just Andalited the hell out of Marco's Dad's PC.
Ax is elated to hear about all this later on, until he's brought back to earth when the others tell him that the yeerks might catch on to this sudden Andalite technology really quick. But when Ax learns that radio telescope could be used for communications, he gets more excited. He could use this to get through Z-Space and finally contact the Andalite home planet. And, since Ax has learned nothing about trust so far, he of course keeps this to himself. One reason is because he's fearing that there could be repercussions with sharing Andalite technology with humans, even if it was unintentional. He thinks about maybe just destroying the tech after he makes the call. Cassie shows up later and talks with him for a while, about what he's learned in the almanac he bought at the bookstore. She then invites him to dinner at her place, while he morphs as Jake. Okay Cassie, we know how you feel about Jake, but that's kind of creepy. Regardless, it's a cute little scene where he interacts with Cassie's parents and eats chili. He has a crazy reaction and craving to it, but thankfully isn't eating it off the floor.
Ax is still very shaky on the grounds of trusting the others, but seems to have a kinship with Tobias, so he trusts him to keep his secret about his plans to go to the observatory. Tobias agrees and the two fly to the observatory. Thankfully, the place is empty, so Ax demorphs while Tobias keeps an eye out outside. Ax works the radio telescope and sure enough, he gets contact with the andalites. He contacts Ithileran-Halas-Corain, assistant to the head of planetary communications. Ax begins to tell him about the yeerk invasion, and Elfangor's death. But when he mentions that humans were given the power to morph by Elfangor, things get a bit grim. He's directed to the head of the council, Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss, who isn't happy about this and we learn about something called Seerow's Kindness.
Since the Andalites are a species that believe in honor, they can't allow themselves to believe Elfangor would break Seerow's Kindness, so Ax then lies and says that it was his fault. Lirem mentions that he was aiding the Hork-Bajir before they were enslaved by the Yeerks, but under the laws of Seerow's Kindness, and since they weren't Andalites, they never gave them Andalite technology to defend themselves. Lirem tells Ax to continue fighting the yeerks, but to no longer allow the humans any more information or technology. Whatever Seerow's Kindness was it broke the Andalites into becoming paranoid and more focused on keeping their technology to their own kind. Ax speaks with his father next, and tells him of Elfangor's death and that he is trying to avenge the one who did it.
Suddenly the feed goes off as a human with a dracon beam confronts Ax. Tobias attacks the man, but eventually he still holds them at gunpoint. He wants answers, but Ax refuses with the gun pointed at him. He throws it away and introduces himself as Gary Kozlar, or more importantly Eslin Three-Five-Nine. He tells Ax that they both have something in common, loved ones who were killed by Visser Three. Elfangor of course, and a yeerk named Derane who was lower rank to the Visser, unable to get the spare Kandrona due to the destruction of the one in the prior book. Derane was expendable, which drove Eslin crazy. Turns out that Yeerks, despite their more robotic mentalities we've seen in this series, are capable of love. Eslin got revenge by sabotaging one of the yeerk shuttles to the pool ship, meaning that some of Visser Three's more important friends suffered as well. He then tells Ax where Visser Three feeds, and promises to help him finally get that revenge he's promised. Ax suspects a trap, but still goes on with it.
At Cassie's Barn the next day, the other Animorphs finally confront Ax. They know Tobias was up to something last night, but won't say what. They're tired of the secrecy, tired of being made to feel inferior, and definitely tired of feeling like pawns in some game between the Andalites and the Yeerks. Ax doesn't fully break, but he simply says he can't due to Andalite laws, and that once his species was kind when they really shouldn't have been. The day arrives as Ax is ready to follow Eslin's instructions, to take out Visser Three. Both in his own vengeance for the murder of Elfangor, but also in hopes that it will earn him some honor among his kind. Something that weighs heavily through Ax, and as we've seen so far in this book is starting to fall apart rapidly.
He makes it to the feeding location for Visser Three and hides. He then uses the rattlesnake morph from earlier to aid in his blending in. The yeerks and Visser Three arrive, right on time. He sneaks under Visser Three and manages to bite him, pumping plenty of venom. He then escapes and starts demorphing as Hork-Bajir go on the attack. But just before it's all over, he's saved by a grizzly bear. It's Rachel of course. The other Animorphs have arrived as well, taking down the Hork-Bajir and allowing Ax to get in his final blow. So, turns out that Tobias learned of the address that Eslin gave Ax, and ultimately broke his promise because he knew Ax was walking into his own death. So, dick move but still a good one considering the situation. But before Ax can do so, Visser Three's yeerk escapes the andalite body and disappears through the water nearby. The Andalite wakes up and orders Ax to kill him before the Visser can return. Ax can't do that, since again he's bound by honor. We learn the andalite's name is Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, a former war prince. Since the Visser and the Yeerks will be back way before the poison can kill him, Alloran tells them to leave and to give a message to his family. Ax promises to do so as the Animorphs escape.
They make it to the woods and Ax finally tells the others about Seerow's Kindness. The Andalite prince Seerow had once made a visit to the Yeerk home world. He pitied the yeerks in their Gedd hosts and gave them the technology to explore the galaxy. In other words, the entire Yeerk invasion is because the Andalites showed kindness to a deadly threat. It explains their somewhat bigoted mindset towards the aid of other species. The Animorphs forgive him, and even understand that he can't provide any Andalite technology, but they promise that humans are the ones to be trusted, that they are all fighting for freedom, unlike the Yeerks. It boosts Ax's spirits. We end the book with Ax getting one more transmission to the Andalite home world. He does as promised and sends a message to Alloran's family, and then says that despite the situation, he will stay with the humans and continue to fight for them.
The Alien is a very interesting book. It's our first real open window into the mind of Ax, and by proxy, Andalite culture. We learn that they are a proud race, more fixated on following the laws and not having their reputation destroyed by anything. Particularly by the act of Seerow's Kindness. Speaking of which, that revelation that the Yeerk invasion is the fault of the Andalites is a pretty major reveal, and kind of works when you think about it. It explains why the Andalites have had this issue with the Yeerks since before the book series started. Much like #7: The Stranger, this book has been a much needed lore dump that has made for some very interesting revelations. But where there was a bit more action in that book, this one is more focused on building up Ax, so you can't fault it there.
What's important to this book is Ax as a character. We started this book with a lot of focus on teaching Ax about Earth and human activities, to often comedic results. In doing so, we get a lot of time interacting with Ax and the other Animorphs. Some time with Jake, with Marco, with Tobias and with Cassie. Not really as much interaction with Rachel though. Guess with only 150+ pages and more focus on the issues of honor and communicating with the Andalites, someone had to be expendable. That first bit plays so importantly to Ax's character development as he is in a mental struggle over what is right. Trusting the humans and slowly being like them, or staying secretive and remaining bound by the honor structure that the Andalites have created. That's some heavy stuff, so you can forgive this book for not being a mile a minute with tons of action set pieces. Applegate just gave you a 200+ page book about the Animorphs fighting an alien cloud, this one being slower can be forgiven.
As for structure, it was well balanced. Good to see continuity from the previous book being executed so well with the dying Yeerks. And Applegate thought through on how the Yeerks could easily cover this all up like they have with everything in their invasion so far. It definitely feels like she's got a solid through-line going with these books and it should be interesting to see what comes up next. But next up we have to deal with the Yeerks taking up logging. You're up next, Cassie. The Alien gets an A.
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