The Pretender

Animorphs # 23
by K.A. Applegate

It's been quite a while since I read an Animorphs book, so I had forgotten what happened last, but it didn't matter. This one has a tidy plot on its own. Tobias the human-turned-hawk is struggling with his identity. He's starting to feel bitter about being trapped in a hawk body- hates killing animals for food, stressed about a rival wild hawk encroaching on his territory, sometimes wants to morph into his old self and stay that way forever (but then he wouldn't be able to morph again at all). Two main things happen in this book: Tobias finds out that someone is looking for him, a woman claiming to be a cousin who wants to take him in- as family. This is a strong lure for Tobias in his moments of wishing to be human again, but he's suspicious. Something doesn't seem right about the situation. Meanwhile, there's a young Hork-Bajir gone missing from the hidden valley where the free aliens live, and of course the Animorphs get involved in a plan- it turns out he's in a shabby roadside zoo- but quickly the alien Yeerks find out and take him captive before the Animorphs can get there. So there's a lot about Cassie's outrage at how the animals are treated, Rachel's eagerness to plow through the place and destroy it all. Tobias is involved as lookout from the sky, as usual, where he sees something that clues him in to the true identity of the woman claiming to be his cousin. There's also revelations in this episode about Tobias' background, why his father had disappeared, etc. But really what I liked best about it was all the stuff from the hawk perspective, how Tobias felt about certain things, how he had forgotten a lot of human mannerisms from being a bird of prey so long, so when he was in human form to meet his so-called cousin, he had to put on an act, which really turned out to be for the best. That scene where he's sitting in a lawyer's office next to an enemy in disguise and confronted with some shocking information but his hawk nature enabled him to appear unconcerned and avoid blowing his cover- very intense.

Rating: 3/5                176  pages, 1998