Reviews

The Capture by K.A. Applegate

Only show reviews with written explanations

trin's review

3.0

Jake gets taken by a Yeerk! I've been reading too many romance novels and am uncomfortable about how I phrased that!!!

Ever since The Worst Bestsellers pitched the idea for a gritty Animorphs Netflix reboot, I keep picturing how I would write scenes and plot points for this TV adaptation no one has hired me to do and that doesn't exist.

To start with, I was disappointed that

Spoiler

everyone figures out so quickly that Jake is be-Yeerked. I guess this had to be the case, because if the Yeerk were left alone for two seconds, the first thing it would do is tell all its Yeerk buddies all of Jake and his friends' secrets and then the series would be over. But if I were making this show, it would be hard to resist the temptation to drag it out a little longer. Faux-Jake (Fake? Ha!) fooling all his friends while the real Jake screams inside his own head is just SO CREEPY and intense and you've gotta milk that for at least a couple sweeps episodes.

I was impressed with how clever and vivid the scenes of Jake's initial capture and

Spoiler

the Yeerk's attempted nighttime escape

were. 10/10 would not change.

But how could anyone resist the comic potential of actually showing on screen the scenes where

Spoiler

Ax pretends to be Jake?

Awkward and ironic: my favorite types of humor!

Anyway, I am really upset now that ~~I am not~~ no one is making this show! GET ON IT HOLLYWOOD.

shandyt's review against another edition

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4.0

Ah, now here is where things start to get really real. The series doesn't shy away from body horror or existential dread even from book 1, but

Spoiler

actual possession and slavery and drawn-out, torturous murder

take things just a step farther. My only complaint about book 6 is that the plot's major impact doesn't hit until 2/3 of the way through the book, and it doesn't last long enough. Of course K.A. probably didn't want to linger on the most disturbing part, but the grimdark lover in me wanted to see real psychological implications come to light. (IIRC it comes up more in later books, at least.)

Jake's narrator continues to be my favorite, which is ironic considering Jake is one of my least favorite characters. His voice for Tobias is great.

yet's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

giannidamaia's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

A solid entry in the Animorphs saga. The formula gets a slight but much needed disruption here. Instead of an unnecessarily tense opening, a character building middle section with a new morph acclimation sequence, and a climatic battle that leaves the status quo relatively maintained, The Capture leans into the science fiction of it all and focuses on a tense and surprisingly dark reversal of audience expectations. The first half is relatively mundane as the heroes concoct a half-hearted plan to bring some offensive heat to the enemy, but the novel’s second half features a captivating, prolonged sequence that threatens to uproot the series and characters for the future of the series. It doesn’t of course. But the threat is real! And the character exploration is unique and interesting. It seems clear Applegate wanted to get to the meat of this back half and the first half suffers as a result, but for anyone invested up to this point, the tension of this novel’s lengthy climax is well worth the price of admission.