Retromorphs: Animorphs #13: The Change

It's time for our second Tobias-narrated story. It's been a while, huh? Twelve books to be exact. But unfortunately for Tobias (and Ax), they get one one book per each ten to get some story build in. And going by the cover (and the insert cover), things are about to be interesting for the bird boy. But let's find out exactly how with The Change. 

As we open on Tobias hunting a mouse, we get our usual preamble, though more on Tobias being trapped in hawk morph over the whole recap of the events of book #1. After that he heads to meet with the other Animorphs. He learns that Rachel is getting an honorary school award on Monday After the last book's heavy focus on Tobias accepting his plight on being a hawk, this is more how he feels he may have made a mistake staying in morph and being trapped, especially since they aren't going allow hawks to this ceremony. Then we get to chapter three and- oh there's the preamble. 

So, what's Tobias been up to besides his bird-boy ennui? Well, he's been searching around finding alternate entrances to the Yeerk pool. However, instead of going to the car wash entrance with Rachel, they end up finding a strange tree with no branches and a hole inside it tipping over, and out from under emerges a pair of Hork-Bajir. Except these ones don't seem to be acting like the normal Hork-Bajir controllers as they run for it when an alarm blares. More human controllers exit the hole and pursue the two on bikes. Thinking maybe these two aren't controllers, Tobias and Rachel decide to help. It's actually a pretty harrowing scene with hawk Tobias and eagle Rachel taking on a bunch of controllers on bikes, trucks and more. But they manage to save one of the Hork-Bajir, only for it to then tell them that he's missing his Kalashi, his wife. 

They relay the info to the other Animorphs, which gives Marco enough time for some "sexist even for Marco" witticisms about the revelation of female Hork-Bajir, including mentioning if the females are scared of snakes, to which Cassie claps back by scaring him with a snake. But he also thinks that maybe this is a setup. But Rachel and Tobias believe that there's likely no Yeerk in its head, that the two Hork-Bajir managed to escape. So now they have the male stuck in a cave, no idea how to save the female and no clue what the Hork-Bajir even want. 

They approach the Hork-Bajir, who doesn't react well when he sees Ax, since there's a long history with the Andalites (or Hruthin as the Hork-Bajir calls them) and the Hork-Bajr given the long history of failing to free them from the yeerks and the many that have died by the blade tail of Andalites. But Tobias plays peacemaker long enough to get more info. The male Hork-Bajir's name is Jara Hamee and he proves he's not Yeerked by literally slicing his head to show them, then quickly healing. Jara Hamee does need their help to save his Kalashi, so they have to work together on this. 

Unfortunately, this conversation is cut short when Cassie warns the others of controllers and Hork-Bajir approaching. The others decide over what to do, with Jake suggesting they have someone morph Jara Hamee to distract the Yeerks, giving them time to hide with the real deal. Cassie gives us time to once again bemoan about how it's not fair to morph a sentient and self aware being which again just feels like a weak argument since, like, I highly doubt she had this massive ethics issue when she morphed horse or wolf. Or maybe she did, this is Cassie after all. Some may call her an idiot, I think she's more someone who overthinks this stuff.

Rachel decides to be the one to morph Jara Hamee. She acquires the morph and begins the morphing process. The two Hork-Bajir fight before they manage to get Rachel to snap out of it. Rachel and Tobias make a run for it, but end up separated. Tobias finds another Hork-Bajir being confronted by, who else, Visser Three. Turns out this one is Ket Halpak, Jara Hamee's Kalashi. Tobias manages to distract the Yeerks by having them attack a different hawk while he thought speaks to Ket. She manages to escape the Yeerks and the two Hork-Bajir are reunited in the cave. So, now they have that part settled. Bigger problem now: what do they do with two rogue Hork-Bajir?

Rachel suggests taking them to the news to reveal the truth about the Yeerk invasion, when even Ax in 1997 has to bring up how easily this could be turned into fake news by certain media outlets, and some are more than likely Yeerk-controlled. So, Fox News isn't an option then. Tobias suddenly gets a weird vision of a valley high up in the mountains that would be perfect to hide the two, though oddly he has no idea where that vision came from. As if a certain individual is pulling the strings yet again. As Tobias talks with Ax for a while, suddenly Tobias can sense Taxxons approaching, meaning they need to get those Hork-Bajir to the mountains ASAP. 

Tobias gets Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak and tells them of the oncoming Taxxons. They begin to head out, when Jara mentions a voice in his head. As Tobias tries to get answers, he ends up in a strange other dimension. Even stranger, he's in some sort of hawk/human hybrid. And he is soon greeted by the Ellimist, also in a unique bird shape that sounds like one hell of a legendary Pokemon design. He says that like when he sent the Animorphs to the future, he's also trying to save the Hork-Bajir, but without interfering, which Tobias claims is BS given that he's pretty much leading them to the safe zone. That sure, the Ellimist says he doesn't interfere, but he's pretty much forcing Tobias to do it. Tobias reluctantly agrees to the Ellmist's terms, as long as he gets something in return once this is done. 

So it's Tobias, Jara and Ket travelling through the woods together. As strange a party if ever there was one. We also learn that despite, you know, all the blades on their body, Hork-Bajir are actually a peaceful race who eat from the bark of trees. The blades aren't to kill, but to strip tree bark for consumption. Tobias goes to get some food of his own, only to be attacked by a bobcat. He manages to escape, but then spots an army of Taxxons, Hork-Bajir and human controllers. He realizes the Yeerks aren't going for stealth, they're going for an all-out capture. 

The other Animorphs, in bird morphs themselves, find Tobias, who tells them about his visit from the Ellimist, and more importantly, that if the Ellimist is true to his word, he may be able to be turned human again. The others, especially Rachel, get excited about this news, but they then remember they have a job to do. They show Jara and Ket their true forms to earn their trust some more, though if the Yeerks recapture them, this could be game over for the Animorphs. So now it's the whole gang on a trek through the woods, to the mountains and hoping they don't die.

But that gets stopped by helicopters, one of which hits Tobias who falls to the ground where a hungry raccoon lay in wait. But before he's eaten, the Ellimist tells him that while he did screw him on the human part, he did decide to give Tobias back morphing powers. This gives Tobias enough time to acquire the raccoon and escape. He morphs raccoon, then returns to hawk morph to find the others in battle morph. It seems a no-win situation with the Yeerks ready to kill the two Hork-Bajir. Then Tobias decides that he and Rachel can morph Jara and Ket to distract them, which is also his revelation to the others that, yet again, the Ellimist screwed him over.

It's a pretty intense battle with Rachel and Tobias, in Hork-Bajir morphs managing to fight off much of the oncoming controllers. They manage to do a good enough job before then jumping off the ravine to fake their deaths, thankfully being saved by Marco in time. And it works. Visser Three and the other Yeerks leave, thinking the two rogue Hork-Bajir are dead. They all arrive in the meadow which they wonder might have been a creation of the Ellimist. They also learn that Ket is pregnant meaning there will finally be a newborn Hork-Bajir free from captivity.

Tobias is still upset, however, about being jilted from his promise. But he soon finds himself sent back in time, to just before the night of the encounter with Elfangor, and sees his human form. Tobias then realizes that this is the work of the Ellimist. That while it's not what he wanted, he still has his chance. Tobias then touches his former form and acquires his human form. The Ellimist sorta did keep his promise in the end. And we end with Tobias, now in his human form, arriving to see Rachel get her award. You know, after all the hell he went through in this book, Tobias at least gets a happy ending. Not his ideal one, but it'll do.

The Change is a good follow-up to The Encounter. In many ways, it's a full circle story for Tobias who has to deal with losing his humanity in The Encounter and in this one managing to get his humanity back, even if he didn't get it the way he would have preferred. Continuing to show that it's still hard to pin down if the Ellimist can truly be trusted. He says he can't interfere, but we see that he has all the power to turn the tide when he needs to. Continuing his pulling of the strings. But at least here, while Tobias didn't get exactly what he wanted, it was less a dig of the knife like what happened to Elfangor. 

This is definitely the most action heavy book in a while. Not just the battles with the Yeerks, or the escort mission with Jara and Ket, but multiple occasions where Tobias, still a hawk, has to deal with real threats like bobcats and raccoons. Giving us a book that works well as a mix of action heavy and stuff that's important to the overall story. Thankfully that didn't affect the pacing too much either. And Jara and Ket make for fun characters and the little bit of lore for now that we get of the Hork-Bajir. We'll be getting much more later down the line. But that's a chronicle for another time. 

In the end, this is another solid Animorphs book. The first in a while that does feel like less of a filler book and is important to the development of Tobias. As for why the decision was made, I guess even Applegate figured there really couldn't be many stories with just a hawk Tobias, and with the Ellimist established, we can just reset button on the whole "trapped forever" thing, while still technically keeping him trapped as a hawk. And again, after the ordeals in the book, I'll easily accept a happy ending for once. So for a book that sets things in motion and is a strong book itself, it's an easy recommend. The Change gets an A+.