The Revelation

Disclaimer: If you've heard of Animorphs and you're thinking "Aww, how cute," maybe you should read my introduction to the first book to see how wrong you are.

THE REVELATION

Animorphs #45
by K.A. Applegate

Summarized Plot:

Shortly after finding out that his dad discovered Z-space at work, Marco finds himself caught in a nightmare. His father is kidnapped for infestation, and Marco is very close to not getting there in time to stop it. He has to fight off the Yeerks and get his dad to safety, and ends up having to let his dad in on the secret of the war he's been fighting. Soon his dad knows everything: that Earth is under attack, what the Yeerks and Andalites are about, what Marco's role is in all this, and the fact that his presumed-dead wife Eva is the host body of Visser One.

The Chee help fake the death of Marco and his dad, and then they hide at the free Hork-Bajir colony. But then, while they're working on using Marco's dad's knowledge (and Ax's) to build another Z-space communicator to spy on Yeerk communications, they find out Visser One is back on Earth to be executed, and the Animorphs organize a mission to go get her. Though it involves stealing a Bug fighter, flying into the Yeerk pool, posing as Controllers, and taking many risks (as well as fighting Visser Three himself yet again), they manage to both get Marco's mom to safety and kill Visser One the Yeerk, permanently. Marco is weighed down with guilt because he knows his dad loves his new stepmother (and now she's a Controller), but he does get to see his parents reunite in the Hork-Bajir valley, and he does get to participate in Earth's first Z-space communication--from Jake to the Andalite world.

About this book:

Narrator: Marco

New known controllers:

• Marco's dad's co-workers
• Nora

New morphs acquired:

• Jake: None
• Cassie: None
• Marco: Hork-Bajir
• Rachel: None
• Ax: None
• Tobias: None

Notable:

• This book was ghostwritten by Ellen Geroux.

• Marco finally expresses some semblance of sulkiness over being the only romantically single human Animorph in this book, against the backdrop of his dad having just gotten married as well. Usually his cockiness and his insistence that girls love him precludes him from expressing such things.

• When Marco is showing his dad his morphs to get him to believe what's going on, he says he can morph "about twenty other animals" after he's shown three. In reality, his total is closer to forty. Could be a mistake, or could be Marco literally has no idea how many he's acquired.

• A misspelling of Erek was included in this book. One line called him Erik.

• At one point Marco's dad reaches through a hologram that a Chee is projecting for his body, able to touch the real android inside. It's said in previous books about the Chee that they also have force field abilities that they use to make their illusions seem to behave like they're solid masses. It's not really said why Erek didn't turn his on with the visual part of it, enabling Marco's dad to reach through it.

• Marco and his dad have to fake being killed by Controllers at one point, and it's surprising that even though their cover is being legally dead, there are never any reactions from anyone--Jake was his best friend, and people had to wonder how he was taking losing his best friend. The book didn't go into whether there were any funeral arrangements or how many people really knew Marco was supposed to be dead.

Best lines:

Marco: This was the end of smart. And the beginning of right.

Marco's dad: "I love Nora. I love her as much as I loved your mother."
Marco: Nora was nice, but . . . she was a math teacher.

Marco: "Dad, it's about to get weird."
Marco's dad: "Please. It can't get any weirder."
Marco: "Dad, just a suggestion, but when you're dealing with the Animorphs, never say it can't get any weirder. It always does."

Rachel: "Marco acted like a human being. There's a first time for everything."

Marco's dad: "But that doesn't make it right."
Marco: "Dad, nothing is right anymore."

Ax: "At times you humans truly scare me. A mere four decades from the first orbital spaceflight to the discovery of Zero-space communication? We Andalites may wish we had left you to the Yeerks."
Rachel: "So far you Andalites have left us to the Yeerks."

Marco: "Look, our odds for success might be pretty good in a world where Rachel is short, fat, and ugly, and Tobias is a stork. But in this world? We've used up most of our nine lives, kids."

Marco: "Uh, Ax-man, do you have even, like, one little clue?"
Ax: "I now have several. I will need several more before I can pilot the craft effectively."

Next book: The Deception, Animorphs #46