Hey all. Many
fans, with me included as a strong voice :), have pondered about the fate
of Animorphs - is it good or bad? Actually...in my eyes, if Animorphs keeps
going down the path it has been since the release of the series in June
'96, the outcome doesn't look good.
Why is it that Katherine
Alice Applegate feels the urge and constant need to curve the series towards
the younger audience, when the fact is brightly clear that a high percentage
of the readers are "older"? Many of the readers are above the age
of thirteen and go up through at least sixteen, yet she seems to "deny"
this fact. It's not because it's for Scholastic. So why?
Why does she feel the need to produce such shorter books with less intricate
plots then when the series was first started? What about us older readers?
Don't we get anything good?
Now, the author is
leaning more towards her "older" bookseries - Everworld - or so it seems
to me. With the
introduction of "ghost writters" on the
series, the Animorphs have lost yet another good principle. What
next? Write in a new author completely?
Also, the series, in my own opinion, should be less repetitive and predictable.
Why is it EVERY opener must be "My name is [fill in a character]."?
I think the series would benefit if the author would choose to do away
with the idea of picking up anybook in the series for the first time and
understanding the plot without reading any
other - after all, haven't the readers
read all the books? And even if they have not, isn't the "excitement"
of one book enough to hold the interest? I think so. Atleast
it should be.
Another idea - make
the plots more complex. Kill off a character if you have to - bring back
David (he, in my opinion, brought great interest to the series - gave it
a sense of suspense - broke the "Animorphs law" that all the characters
will "turn up safe and sound without any harm done."
Now I realize there
are several of you out there that disagree with this. But you can
not deny the fact that many AniFans are getting fed up with this.
Animorphs isn't what
it used to be. It's followed the path Goosebumps paved awhile back.
Something needs to be changed, lest AniFans be in for a big disappointment.