The Suspicion

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 SUSPICION

Animorphs #24
by K.A. Applegate

Summarized Plot:

The Animorphs are unexpectedly confronted with a second invasion of Earth: the tiny Helmacrons have come to town, swearing to be Earth's new masters even though they're only about a sixteenth of an inch tall. Unfortunately, the Animorphs get caught up in this absurd attack because the Helmacrons have zeroed in on their blue morphing cube as a power source. When the tiny warriors try to steal it, suddenly everything's a lot more serious . . . and on top of that, they've managed to focus the device's energy to power a shrink ray, putting half the Animorphs on THEIR scale where they're suddenly a lot more dangerous. As if that's not bad enough, the Yeerks get involved when the Animorphs attempt to use Visser Three as a decoy (being that he's also morph-capable and attractive to the Helmacrons, like they are). And when Visser Three also experiences the mighty Helmacrons' shrink ray, they may even have to join forces to beat the tiny megalomaniacs. . . .

About this book:

Narrator: Cassie

New known controllers:

• None

New morphs acquired:

• Jake: Anteater
• Cassie: Anteater
• Marco: Anteater
• Rachel: Anteater
• Ax: None
• Tobias: None

Notable:

• This book has each chapter begin with a sort of absurdist quote from a Helmacron ship log, introducing us to these tiny megalomaniacal aliens. It's its own mini-story from the point of view of the Helmacrons aboard the either the Galaxy Blaster or its rivals on the other Helmacron ship, the Planet Crusher.

• A narration error pops up; Cassie is the narrator, and earlier in one chapter the narration says they're flying toward "my farm" but later it is referred to as "Cassie's farm," as if the author forgot whose voice she was using for a moment.

• The Helmacrons use thought-speak, like Andalites, but also have the ability to make spoken sounds. They also dedicate themselves to dead leaders and don't actually experience mental death when they're killed.

• Cassie figures out that acquiring DNA from an animal after she's been shrunk will enable her to morph into that animal at the size it's supposed to be. After they're returned to normal, it seems that if the shrunken DNA resulted in small versions of the animals, the anteater DNA would now be prepared to turn them into colossal anteaters if they used it. This isn't explored.

Best lines:

Cassie: "Come here. I just want to see if it's even possible for dirt to cling to you."

Marco: "We grovel like the pitiful losers we are! We grovel like a guy who hasn't got a date the day before prom and the only girl around is the head cheerleader, that's how much we grovel. Cassie, you could join in any time, you know."
Cassie: "We grovel . . . um, like grovelers."

Cassie: "The loud, hyper ones are females. This one is a male."
Marco: "Oh, man. Now I'm really scared. It's an entire species of Rachels."

Marco: "How about if we call you 'wuss'? Listen up, Wuss--"
Cassie: "That's not very nice, Marco."
Marco: "He doesn't have a name, and let's face it: He's a wuss. So, Wuss, tell me: What's the deal with the captain? He's dead."

Visser Three: "I don't know about you, Andalites, but these creatures are really, really, really annoying me."

Next book: The Extreme, Animorphs #25