Book #31 in the series
Animorphs by K.A. Applegate.
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 CONSPIRACY
Animorphs #31
by K.A. Applegate
Summarized Plot:
Jake's great-grandfather dies, requiring the whole family to go out to a cabin for funeral-related events for four days. Since his brother Tom is a Controller, this is trouble for the Yeerk in his head. Jake's dad won't let Tom skip the functions, so the Yeerks try first to infest his father and then to kill him. Jake and the Animorphs manage to prevent these attacks from succeeding, but Jake is coming apart at the seams and making bad decisions because he's too close to the issues, so Marco is running the show. Finally, they decide to cause an attack of their own to distract the Yeerks from caring about Tom's Yeerk, and they kidnap Chapman because he's a more powerful Controller. This plan works and ends up forcing Tom to go to the cabin with the family, but he's got plans of his own and tries to kill their father himself with one of his dead great-grandfather's war heirlooms. Jake's friends, knowing he'd need their support, foil this plan and injure Tom so he has to be taken back to civilization, thus stopping any more attempts on their father's life. Jake learns that he needs to trust Marco and the others to see when he is not equipped to head up a mission, and he has some realizations about war that he and his great-grandfather surely shared.
About this book:
Narrator: Jake
New known controllers:
New morphs acquired:
- Jake: None
- Cassie: None
- Marco: None
- Rachel: None
- Ax: Osprey (maybe a mistake?)
- Tobias: None
Notable:
- This book was ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss.
- Jake is said to have a "Grandpa G" in this book who identified him at a young age as having an "old soul." It's not clear whether the grandfather knew something he shouldn't have, but it's written as just an incidental comment about Jake's demeanor. Grandpa G was quite right.
- This book expresses that Jake and Rachel are related through Jake's father's side, which means Grandpa G was not Rachel's grandpa since he was related to his mother. Also, Jake's dad is a doctor.
- Ax uses an osprey morph in this book. Previously, his main bird morph has been a northern harrier, and he never uses an osprey morph before or after this book. More than likely this was an author mistake and Ax was supposed to use his northern harrier morph, but the text specifies that he was an osprey, so maybe he's incidentally supposed to have acquired it in this book or a previous one.
Best lines:
Ax: "I will gladly fight this Controller and even, in fair battle, kill him, but I am not a torturer."
Jake: "Christmas, when they were all homesick in their foxholes, they sang 'Silent Night.' The enemy sang it, too, in German. Far off they heard it. Both sides lonely for their homes. Both sides wishing the war was over."
Tom: "You think everything is so simple, don't you? That it's all either right or wrong, black or white. A good guy, a bad guy, and nothing in between."
Jake: No, Yeerk, I don't. Not anymore. I used to. But I've been across the line; I've done things I cant let myself think about. I know all about the shades of gray.
Jake: "You're my best friend, Marco. If you ever again tell me I'm losing it, getting too involved, can't lead--"
Marco: "You'll kick my butt?"
Jake: "No. I'll listen. I'll listen. Then I'll kick your butt."
Next book: The Separation, Animorphs #32