Hey guys! How's it going? I'm doing okay. Welcome to another Animorphs book review. I ended up finishing The Predator, which is book #5 in the series, before I went to bed last night so naturally I'd be coming on here to talk about it this morning. So let's get right into it. Before we do though, I do want to point out that I will not be discussing the changes made to this book like I have for the previous four books in the series. Mainly because there aren't any major ones in this book like there were last time. I'll just be talking about the story and characters etc. Alright now we can get into it.
The Predator is a major turning point in the series, especially for Marco. I'll get into why in a little while, but this book is anything but a filler. Unlike the previous book though, this one starts off like it's a filler book. It's not until chapter 18, out of a 24 chapter book, that you begin to realize, as do the characters themselves, that this is more than just your average filler book in the series. Which is kinda neat the way K.A. Applegate did that, because you are not prepared for it when the Animorphs's trap for the Yeerks is turned around on them and becomes a trap by the Yeerks for them. Alright, so going forward there will be spoilers, so if you haven't read this book yet, be aware of this.
Okay, so this is the first book narrated by Marco and it really packs a punch. You meet his dad in this book, you see the inside of Marco's apartment for the first time, though we saw the outside of it in the last book, and you learn the terrible secret that Marco's mom did not die in the boating accident that Jake mentioned back in The Invasion. Instead she was one of the earliest human hosts for the Yeerks, and eventually rose up the ranks to become Visser One, the leader of all Yeerk forces, the one who discovered Earth, even though...you know what, I don't think I'm going to mention that right now since it does tie into The Andalite Chronicles, which I won't get to for a while yet. Anyway, Visser One discovered Earth, infested Marco's mom, and began the invasion of the planet after spending a while on the planet as a Human Controller. Because unlike Visser Three, Visser One took the time to learn about the cultures on Earth, between inhabiting a human body, and spending lots of time on the planet. Which actually makes her the most competent Controller on Earth given that it seems like the Controllers under Visser Three's command only seem to know enough to blend in wherever their cover is, like with Chapman at the school, and Tom's Yeerk at Tom's house.
What fascinates me about this book is right up until he discovers his mom is alive and is Visser One, Marco was ready to leave the Animorphs as his breaking point was the two really bad morphing experiences he had in this book. I mean the lobster morph was bad, but man that ant morph was even worse. But like with Jake and Tobias in the first book and Rachel in the second, Marco finally has a personal reason to fight the Yeerks.
Marco is a great character. When I first read Animorphs in the sixth and seventh grades I didn't like Marco all that much. As I said in my review of The Invasion he always seemed too obnoxious for my taste, especially since I'd had to deal with people like him at school. Even when I would reread the series as a teenager I found it difficult to connect to the character the way I could Rachel, Tobias and Ax. Revisiting it as an adult though, I find myself intrigued by the character of Marco, and understand that his obnoxiousness is a coping mechanism for all the bad things happening around him. Something that I couldn't grasp at the age of 12, or even 15 and 16, but as a 34 year old living through a global pandemic, I can completely understand the concept of a coping mechanism.
I like the idea that none of the Animorphs except for Jake would recognize Marco's mom. Despite Cassie basically being Jake's girlfriend, and Rachel being Jake's cousin, the four kids didn't all hang out together until they got their powers so they wouldn't've known Marco's mom, Tobias wasn't part of the group either back then, and Ax wasn't even on Earth yet. So it would make sense they wouldn't know who Visser One's host is. Whereas Jake is Marco's best friend, as well as his oldest friend, so he'd be the one to recognize Marco's mom.
Aside from that lobster morph, my favourite scene in this book is when Jake and Marco take Ax to the mall to get the material he needs for his distress beacon. This is the first time that Ax has been in his human morph around people who aren't the Animorphs, unless something happened off screen that the audience isn't made aware of. That's unlikely though since at the beginning of chapter 4 they're planning their mission to take Ax to the mall and don't know how he'll behave in his human morph. Which they'd know if something had happened off screen.
The Yeerk politics in this book are incredible. This is really the first chance we've had other than the hints of it in The Visitor, of there being different factions within the Yeerk hierarchy, with Visser Three being a powerful, though hated, being within that hierarchy, for us to see the seeds of the Yeerk politics that will be introduced in the later books. I love the fact that Visser One let the Animorphs go just to make Visser Three look bad. That is the most petty thing ever, but it works because Visser Three is such an idiot to begin with. So any chance to see him look bad is great.
Overall this is a great book. As an adult I'm able to better appreciate where Marco is coming from in these early books than I did when I was a kid. I don't know if that's because I am an adult now and have a better understanding of other people's situations, or I'm just able to recognize certain things for what they are. Either way, this read through has made me appreciate, and like, Marco more than I did when I was a kid. And like I said before, this book, while it may feel like a filler when you start reading it, by the final act, this is the most plot heavy book we've had since probably The Visitor, when we learned more about Chapman and first heard about the Council of Thirteen.
Alright guys that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back with a comic book review sometime tomorrow. So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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