Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

by Frans de Waal

The difference in intelligence between humans and animals is not as much as we'd like to think. A lot of this book -in the beginning at least- is showing a history of animal cognition studies, how every time scientists demarcated humans from animals (we can use tools! we have language!) experiments showed certain animal species entirely capable of doing the same things. Even birds and fish have proved able to do complex problem-solving. Dolphins recognize each others' names. Chimpanzees plan ahead.  It turns out that in many cases, earlier studies that failed to illuminate animal smarts often weren't taking into account how that animal perceives the world. What matters to it. What motivates it. Or even physically how it could manipulate the offered tools. Their brains are not necessarily higher or lower on a scale to ours, they are simply other. That's not to say all are equal in ability- there's a seabird that can't recognize its own young- but then it would never have to, since it nests on cliff faces and in no natural circumstance would another chick stumble into its nest. But it performs other feats we could never match. This book is dense with information and very intriguing studies and I fail to do it credit here- I've been unwell the past week so read this in pieces with a lot of breaks for easier fare (mostly Chi's Sweet Adventures). I really would like to revisit it someday when I can give it better attention. At the end of this book, I could totally see how de Waal was gearing up to write Mama's Last Hug next. Similar reads: Animal Wise and Bird Brains. I'm sure there's more titles I could link to but I can't think of them now.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5         340 pages, 2016

more opinions: Reading the End  . . . anyone else?

Chi's Sweet Adventures

vol 4
by Konami Kanata
Adapted by Kinoko Natsume

This fourth volume of Chi's Sweet Adventures is obviously aiming more at entertaining children watching the cute tv show, so it wasn't quite as appealing to me. I really prefer the earlier series that sticks more or less to what a real kitten's life is like. There's still plenty of normal stuff in here- Chi gets repeated lessons from Blackie on how to hiss and intimidate- practicing on frogs and lizards- but she's too darn cute to make it convincing. Chi and Cocchi go wandering at night, someone gives them fish to eat, but older stray cats chase them trying to steal the food. The kittens are out on a very hot day and try desperately to find shade- sometimes in amusing places. They chase cicadas up trees and then admire the view, but are a bit scared to come down again. They're frightened by a coiled hose, thinking it a snake. At home, Chi watches her family argue and fight, and feels lonely in the empty rooms when everyone's avoiding each other- and later she helps them come together again.

The bits that stretched reality were Chi and the other kittens climbing up into the clouds (turned out to be a dream), pushing a skateboard then deliberately jumping on it for a ride, and Chi visiting the beach with the family. That part could be realistic, except Chi acted excited and curious and played with the waves more like a dog than a cat, in my opinion. I did appreciate one part that was really true to modern life- the boy Yohei busy playing video games on a device, ignoring both Chi and his dad. Dad brings out a bunch of nostalgic old-fashioned toys trying to convince Yohei to play, Chi starts joining in which finally gets the kid interested too. I liked that.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 2/5           88 pages, 2017

Chi's Sweet Adventures

vol 3
by Konami Kanata
Adapted by Kinoko Natsume

More kitten cuteness. I finally realized these books aren't supposed to chronologically follow the first set of Chi stories, but fit into the same timeframe. If I'd known that from the start, the overlap wouldn't have bothered me! In this one, the kittens explore together, run into a dog, and momentarily get stuck in a tree. The dad tries to take photos of Chi to enter a "chic cat" contest, but mom realizes Chi would be appreciated more for being cute and silly. Chi and Cocchi go roaming, and people offer them food, responding to Chi's cute pleas. So Cocchi tries to copy Chi's "smile". The Bear Cat has to give him some pointers on that! As Cocchi's usually kinda cranky. He tries to be more playful with the other kittens, but it's hard for him to act carefree- having to worry about survival as a stray. Blackie tries to teach the kittens how to play-fight, holding back their claws and biting gently. They don't quite get it. The parakeet shows up again, startling the kittens when it mimicks Chi. Then there's family stuff- Chi playing hide-and-seek with Yohei, messing up the dad's work by stomping all over his keyboard, feeling antagonized by the roomba. Being freaked out by the cat tower the dad builds her. Yohei gets sick and the mom wants him to stay in bed and rest, but she can't keep Chi out of his room. Then there's the part where Yohei briefly runs away, being angry with his dad. And the four kitten friends go on a grand adventure, venturing further than they ever have before, out of the park. It ends with a dog encounter, which oddly enough has the kittens clinging to the dog's back as he bolts down the sidewalk, ending up in a nice garden, and the kittens find out this dog at least, can actually be friendly.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5           88 pages, 2017

Chi's Sweet Adventures

vol 2
by Konami Kanata
Adapted by Kinoko Natsume

Well, the cute factor keeps me reading on, but really the 'episodes' are too short and once again stuff was repetitive- like the part where Chi and Cocchi get stuck in the rain and end up snuggling together in a tiny spot- after the kittens spat over the space. Chi searches for a warm spot when the power goes out in the family home. Chi has more lessons from the older cat Blackie- how to sneak up on prey, how to find safe spaces, avoiding bad food. Chi follows along when the mom of the house does exercises (something I think a dog would be more likely to do). Chi attends a gathering of cats, but is disruptive so Blackie leaves her with some other kittens, being tended by an "Auntie". Later Chi and Cocchi romp and play with the tabby kittens, puzzled again by their similarity to Chi. There's a tender nostalgic moment when the three tabbies tumble into a bucket together, curl up in a group and promptly fall asleep. Chi has a nagging sense of memory but can't quiet place why this feels so familiar and comforting. Then there's a part where Chi forgets Blackie's teachings and eats some spoiled meat off the ground, getting sick later. And a funny part where a frog gets loose in the house- the mom freaks out, Chi and Yohei both try to catch it.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5           91 pages, 2017

Chi's Sweet Adventures

vol 1
by Konami Kanata
Adapted by Kinoko Natsume

I checked out the first few volumes of Chi's Sweet Home, thinking my eight-year-old would like it. (She does immensely!) Discovered at the same time there's a new series featuring the same kitten- Chi's Sweet Adventures. Seems to be based on a television show. Not quite as good as the original Chi- the snippets of storyline can feel abrupt, the material is somewhat repetitive (in this volume Chi meets Cocchi for the first time?) the panels are smaller so I don't enjoy the art as much and it doesn't have quite the same depth of feeling. The little boy in the family, Yohei, looks older now- so I guess the story has advanced chronologically (which makes it confusing why Chi doesn't already know Cocchi, but oh well). Regardless, it's still darn cute. I'm enjoying them for a light read. In this one, Chi attempts to eat various things in the house that aren't for cats (a bread loaf, a potted plant, daddy's coffee), goes on excursions with Blackie for safety lessons (how to deal with dogs), goes camping with the family, gets put into a costume for Halloween, meets temptation when the family babysits a neighbor's parakeet, and finds that while the vacuum cleaner makes a terrifying noise, it feels wonderful on her fur.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5              91 pages, 2017

The Martian

by Andy Weir

You've probably heard of this one. Astronaut gets stranded on Mars and has to figure out survival completely alone in a hostile environment, for over a year while he hopes for rescue. He does manage to make contact with Earth eventually, so knows when he might get rescued- and the food will run out long before it's possible. So he rigs stuff up, activates soil, reclaims more water, grows potatoes. Has lots of equipment failures or simple mistakes that throw things awry, sometimes to the point of disaster it looks like- but he always manages to squeak past death and survive another day. I thought I would enjoy this just as much, if not more, than the movie version- which I saw quite a while ago- because a lot of the science is explained here (and it's based on a lot of research, reputedly very true-to-life what that kind of situation would be like) but unfortunately the explanations mostly either went over my head or were boring, so I found I didn't get more out of it. The film was more gripping, I followed along better seeing the suspenseful moments, whereas this book doesn't really convey a lot of emotion. You hardly get to know the main character as a person. It's all about the problems he's tackling. There is some humor thrown in there- but honestly I didn't find it funny, just tiresome. Being a gardener, I was pretty interested in how he got a potato farm going on Mars to feed himself, but even that lacked the kind of description I enjoy. When the story moved on I still wanted to see how it all played out (having forgotten a lot of key points) but turns out it was fairly dull and I didn't get a sense of tension in the end, I was just turning pages to be done. So this is another case where I actually preferred the movie. That's all.

However, lots of other readers enjoyed it- see the links below.

Rating: 2/5           435 pages, 2011

more opinions:
Indextrious Reader
BookNAround
Attack of the Books!
That's What She Read
Bookalicious Babe

Herb Gardening at Its Best

Everything You Need to Know About Growing Your Favorite Herbs
by Sal Gilbertie and Larry Sheehan

Simply a practical how-to on growing herbs. Written by someone who grew them commercially for over forty years. The cultivation methods are slightly different from what I've been doing, and maybe I will try some in my own garden. I knew enough to water the herb bed less frequently than the other plants, but didn't realize they also require less fertilizer. Because the oils that give herbs scent and flavor are less concentrated if they have lush, excessive growth. So I might quit feeding that bed compost and just give it leaf mold. Except this book also says that herb gardens shouldn't be mulched during the growing season, as it keeps them too damp. It's pretty hot here in summers so I'm not sure about that in my case. Anyhow, aside from information on germination, cultivation and harvest times for herbs, the book also has a section of layouts for different types of herb gardens, each with a specific focus. Herbs for making tea, for soups, for adding to bread or making potpourri. Herb gardens for medicinal use, to attract bees or selections to repel pests. There's a list of plants to include in a collection of just basil, thyme or sage (so many varieties!) and I'm most intrigued by the scented geraniums. Aside from some general suggestions for culinary uses, this book doesn't tell much about the different plants' characteristics, but the names of ones I'm unfamiliar with intrigue me to look up more: sweet woodruff, bergamot, costmary, tansy, comfry, dittany, santolina etc. So many I don't know. Although many have suggested uses I wouldn't need- for dying cloth, for cure-alls or love potions haha! I do find it interesting the wide variety of herbs out there and their properties. Also, the cover of this book is hideous. There's another with very similar title by the same author, Herb Gardening From the Ground Up, which looks like it might be an updated version of this edition, I'm not sure.

Rating: 3/5        245 pages, 1978

Birdology

by Sy Montgomery

Another great book. I think I'm spoiling myself! The subtitle kind of tells it all with this one: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur. The "living dinosaur" is a cassowary, surprisingly difficult to find. The author traveled to areas of Australia where cassowaries were known to lurk, but barely caught a glimpse of one before returning home. Relates what she learned from the locals about them, which isn't a lot- the giant birds are very elusive and actually dangerous, which makes them difficult to study so they're still fairly unknown. The other chapters are more personal- she tells about her own flock of chickens- their intelligence, keen observation and social conniving. And the surprising differences between her flock and the chickens a tenant brought to her property- which in the end she attributes to flock "culture" handed down by the original group of hens. Next Montgomery visits a woman who cares for orphaned hummingbirds, then gets up close with birds of prey with a falconer, hangs out with some pigeon fanciers (who race the birds), meets Griffon a parrot who is part of a language study (started with Alex), and visits a city that has been inundated by a huge number of crows- to the delight of some residents and the consternation of others. There's a lot of intriguing stuff about each of the bird species detailed here- the fierce, riveting intensity of hawks, the amazing stamina and physical ability of pigeons, the incredible delicacy and keen aggressiveness of minute hummingbirds. The wry humor and sharp intelligence of parrots- a famous one who dances to music is prominently featured here. And the strong social bonds and ingenuity of crows.

This book enriches a lot of others I've read not so long ago on the same species: Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests by Arnette Heidcamp, H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald, Once Upon a Flock by Lauren Scheuer, Pigeons by Andrew Blechman, The Parrot Who Owns Me by Joanna Burger and  Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg; Bird Brain by Nathan Emery. I have no basis of comparison for the cassowaries- which made it all the more intriguing, to read about them! Definitely would like to add a copy of this to my permanent shelf someday.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5             260 pages, 2010

more opinions: the Stay At Home Bookworm- anyone else?

Saving Jemimah

Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay
by Julie Zickefoose

A beautiful, tender and eye-opening book. Author and bird rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose tells how she raised a wild blue jay, named Jemimah. It was found as a young chick on the ground under a despoiled nest. Zickefoose had a lot of experience raising other young birds, but not any corvids before this. Lively, intelligent and very social, the jay demanded a lot from her and her family. The bird's care, feeding, habits, learning, socialization and eventual release are all detailed. Not without some difficulties- at one point the jay is ill and needs quick treatment (hard to manage as Jemimah was already flying free outdoors at that point, although still visiting the house regularly). Later on Jemimah breaks some feathers, seriously hindering her flying ability and Zickefoose wonders if she'll ever survive to her second year, so handicapped. Some investigation reveals that the feathers were probably weakened by an illness the jay had as a chick, and might even be the reason it was originally ousted from its nest. Against the odds Jemimah survives with a wild flock she's taken up with, and the author is overjoyed to see her again over a year later. In the time between, she tells of a few other jays that were rescued and rehabilitated (some successfully, some not), her methods for photographing birds that visit her yard, identifying markers she uses to tell jays apart, and what she learns by meticulously going back through hundreds of photographs- sometimes able to recognize a certain bird again, and piece together some data about its circumstances. During the time she raised Jemimah, the author also debunked some commonly held practices in caring for young blue jays. It's all fascinating, very heartwarming and makes me very keen to see a flash of blue among the trees again (jays visit my yard sometimes, but never stay long).

Borrowed from the public library.

Edit add: I found some videos online of Jemimah.

Rating: 4/5               254 pages, 2019

A Thousand Miles of Mustangin'

by Ben K. Green

This is one of the books I got at Powell's. It's not quite as lively and funny as Horse Tradin', but I still found it plenty interesting. The author needed work during the winter so he travelled south -horseback of course- to Big Bend country in Texas, across the border into Mexico, and later on to Arizona. All to try and catch wild horses he'd heard of but nobody seemed sure they were even in the area. Used his smarts to find the mustangs, several different methods to catch them, with the help of some Mexicans in one area, and members of the Yaqui tribe in another, usually individuals who just wandered into his camp and offered to help (for a bit of pay, of course). In some cases he chased down and roped the wild horses, in another instance a local set snares for them, and in a third place Yaqui runners (mostly young girls on foot it turns out) would follow the horses for days until the worn-out animals gladly integrated themselves into Green's herd when gently driven towards them. The story rounds out by telling how he moved his growing herd of horses back towards home, dealt with Mexican bandits along the way who tried to extort money out of him, and then ranchers who didn't necessarily like him crossing their land. Gradually taming and breaking to ride some of the wild horses as they travelled, traded off a few along the way, and sold the main bunch to a man he knew who supplied them to the government. All through the story, the dependability and skill of his main horse Beauty really stands out. And more than anything, I was intrigued to read of some cures that he came across when in remote areas of the desert- in one case a Mexican treated a horse of snakebite using yucca (called dagger plant in the story), and in another instance an old woman used flour and yeast to grow mold- penicillin!- to treat an infected wound in Green's hand (where a mare had bit him). (Interestingly, there's another account of someone using yucca to cure a dog of snakebite on this page of a 1920's Dog Fancier publication). Oh, there's also a few encounters with cougars- he called them 'panther cats'. Green would kill a young burro to distract the cougars from his horses, which incensed some of the Mexicans with him, who valued the burros just as much as horses, if not more. He actually lost a few helpers over their disagreement on this point.

Rating: 3/5                   145 pages, 1972

Last Chance Mustang

by Mitchell Bornstein

Subtitled The Story of One Horse, One Horseman, and One Final Shot at Redemption. This guy is a lawyer, but his passion on the side is working with problem horses. He takes on a project to train an adopted mustang that seemed impossibly violent and unpredictable- the horse attacked other animals and people, destroyed property, fought viciously any attempts at being handled, and constantly injured himself on fences trying to escape. He'd been caught off the range after living years of his life a free wild stallion, and was gelded at the age of twelve- which did very little to change his behavior by the way. The owner asked Bornstein to work with him as a last resort. So this book is about how the author worked through issues with the intractable horse, step by step teaching him that this one person, at least, did not mean him harm, and working to get him to accept halter and lead, bridle and eventually even a saddle. The details about methods used to approach and train the horse- readjusting its thinking from flight-or-fight to understanding and then acceptance- was fascinating and the reason I kept reading. The rest of the book- not so much. I got tired of the repetitive, flowery clichés and how the author explained himself over and over again. While the atrocities of how wild mustangs were treated by government management programs is useful and interesting information, I felt there was too much of it in this book. It did give me more detail than what I've gleaned from books like The Horse Lover or Nobody's Horses, but to the point that I started skimming a lot- rather felt those sections interrupted the story instead of enhancing it. And while I don't mind a bit of anthropomorphism- I do believe that animals have emotions- I felt this author took it too far, and I often questioned what he imagined the animals were thinking. (He also made a lot of assumptions about abuse the horse must have suffered in its past). While I enjoyed the main story, and admire the patience and perseverance this man had to work with a horse nobody else could handle, overall I was left with a feeling of unease akin to the end of reading A Dog Called Perth (but not for the same reasons).

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 2/5            300 pages, 2015

The Snow Child

by Eowyn Ivey

Suprised at how much I liked this novel, which is kind of like a modern fairy tale, haunting and grittily real at the same time. Tender and harsh, it is the story of an older couple who make a new start homesteading in Alaska. They have long been childless, and one day playfully make a small figure out of snow. The next morning the snow has been scattered, the scarf and mitten they'd placed on it missing, and a single set of footsteps leading away. Then a thin, strange girl starts to show up near their cabin- flighty and shy yet fierce and wild. She apparently lives alone in the woods. Concerned for her well-being, the couple tries to draw her into their lives, while their friendly neighbors are frankly skeptical of her existence, wondering if the middle-aged wife has symptoms of cabin fever. Years pass with the girl coming and going when the first snow falls, disappearing all summer. Until finally one day the neighbors' son, a young man who's been helping out at the homestead, spies her in the forest and realizes there is some truth to the crazy tales. The story isn't just about this wild mystery child, it's also about their struggle to live in the remote wilderness, the toll it takes on the couple's relationship, and what turns to bring them together again. How they come to depend on the neighbors, and help each other out when times are hard. How the wild animals circle in the dark trees, admired for their beauty or hunted for their pelts and meat, but always with their own secret lives just offstage. It's an intriguing story that I enjoyed very much, in spite of some frustration that there's no clear answer at the end, with a broad streak of sadness through it all.

Rating: 4/5         391 pages, 2012

more opinions:
Page 247
Savidge Reads
You've GOTTA Read This!
Things Mean a Lot
Don't Be Afraid of the Dork

Spineless

the Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone
by Juli Berwald

I finished this one several days ago, but didn't have time to sit and write. It's one of those amazing books that I read slowly on purpose, in order to drag it out longer. Every chapter it seemed, was filled with stuff that astonished me. I didn't realize how little I knew about jellyfish before! The author is, quite simply, a woman who became enthralled with jellyfish. She read about them, watched documentaries, traveled to visit scientists who studied them and fishermen who caught them. She kept some in a special tank in her living room, and several times ate jellyfish- once cooking it herself. She took her family on detours during vacations to visit beaches where jellyfish had been sighted. And more. The details are mind-boggling. Jellyfish have a very complex and curious life cycle- and one species at least, is known to reverse the process. The way they physically move through the water is intriguing- so different from how we do that it's hard to understand. They can be incredibly fragile- literally dissolving away once in open air- and yet jellyfish blooms- when certain populations suddenly reach staggering numbers- can dramatically change local oceanic ecosystems, causing fish numbers to crash. Then there's the jellyfish toxins- their sting can be mildly irritating, or deadly. Jellyfish stinging cells move faster than anything- even the mantis shrimp, whose strike is so fast it literally makes the water boil. I'm boggled. I was also blown away by the verve the author had to follow her growing passion- she had a job in a different field, an everyday family life with kids- yet sought out people and events revolving around jellyfish, even sitting down at conferences about them. There's a lot in here not only about the physiology and mystery of jellyfish (so much we still don't know), but also what jellyfish indicate about ocean conditions, which throws light on what we are doing to the ecosystem. It's a book I'm very glad to have read, which has fired my mind with so many questions and curiosity for more.

My father gave this book to me.

Rating: 4/5               336 pages, 2017

Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms

the Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind
by Richard Fortey

This book by a paleontologist (who also wrote Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution- a book my husband happens to love) is all about various living things- animals, plants, bacteria, etc- that still exist on earth today since prehistoric times, the "living fossils" so to speak. In most examples, the author travelled to view each creature in person, and described the experience (including a lot of details on locations). A few he was unable to access, and had to describe others' observations of them. Included are the titular horseshoe crabs and velvet worms (which I knew very little of before), the coelacanth, lampreys, Lingula brachiopods, nautilus, ginkgo trees, horsetails and liverworts, the lungfish, cycads, monkey puzzle trees and crazy welwitschia. There's echidnas and platypus, sea sponges and jellyfishes, crocodilians and the tuatara. Many other creatures deemed primitive or very very long-lasting, and mindboggling hosts of tiny things like bacteria that can live in extreme conditions. Oh, and stromatolites, which I never heard of before. A lot of the book is about the tiny things, as they comprise the largest mass in terms of numbers, and have lasted the longest. So sometimes I got bored, or it made my head hurt, to read what felt rather like a biology textbook. It wanders a bit but always comes back to the point. I certainly learned a lot, and much was put in perspective for me. Certainly a hefty respect for those living things that have been here doing their thing for countless centuries. Like magnolia trees. Did you know magnolia trees have been around since the Cretaceous? Wow.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/4                     332 pages, 2011

Dragon Outcast

Age of Fire Book Three
by E.E. Knight

Eh again. I thought I'd give this a try because it was the one that initially caught my interest in the series. It's about the third dragon, maimed by his siblings at birth and shoved out of the nest. In the first two books he's portrayed as a traitor, but this one shows from his perspective, how the dwarves tricked him and he crawled away in bitterness at what he'd done. Travelled for ages underground and fell in with a lot of bats that wheedled him into letting them suck his blood, in return for which they guided him to a hidden stronghold of dragons. So the part with the bats was engaging. The mishaps and scrapes along the way, dismissive. The encounter with dragon society, so dull. I just did not want to read a lot of what came across as court intrigue and power struggles- at some point, in spite of the constant fighting and mention of draconic characteristics- greedily snarfing down meat, snapping their tails around, caring for the health of their scales- it felt like I was reading about people, not dragons. As before, I liked well enough the first part, when the dragon was travelling companion with another animal species. Almost halfway through the book, when he joined the other dragons, I lost interest. I did skim enough to see where this was going- in spite of his outcast status and multiple physical shortcomings, the copper dragon overcomes the judgement of the other dragons to obtain a position of power among them and- presumably- lead them against their enemy mankind. But the execution was just so poor I never got there. Bummer.

Abandoned                  379 pages, 2007

Dragon Avenger

Age of Fire Book Two
by E.E. Knight

Eh. I thought at first this one was going to be better, even though the pace at the beginning when the dragons are hatchlings moves too quick. If I hadn't read the first book, I might not have picked up on everything going on. I kind of like how each book in the series tells the story from the viewpoint of a different dragon, all siblings from the same clutch. When their cave is attacked by dwarves, this green female dragon Wistala flees with her brother Auron and they part ways soon after. She makes her way back to the home cave and finds some of her family's bodies skinned and mutilated. The rest of the story is how Wistala seeks revenge for the dragons. At first, still being small and vulnerable, she travels the wilderness alone, pitting her wits against other animals and creatures.  Tries to fight dwarves and barely survives. Kind of accidentally falls in with an elf and lives on his estate, cannily learning more about hominids so she can fight them later. That part- well, it just got to be very boring. I liked the part when the dragon was hanging out with a vulture- amusing how the carrion birds considered themselves to be more refined than any predator- because they politely wait for prey to die on its own! I also liked the part where the dragon befriends a cat- each finds the other has some very familiar and similar traits- although their trip underground to find treasure in rat tunnels was confusing. Once again, I'm intrigued by this author's portrayal of dragons, their reasons for hoarding precious metals, their mannerisms and all. Wistala encounters her father again- I won't say more about that, it's a pivotal moment in the story- and talks hotly of fighting the hominids, but her father advises her to help the dragon race by repopulating with "lots and lots of hatchlings" because he of course thinks fighting should be done by male dragons. So she's asserting herself outside the usual female dragon role- going off on her own to battle trolls that are troubling the realm, for example. (This book has the weirdest depiction of trolls ever. I could not get my head around what it was supposed to actually look like. I feel like it should have had a made-up name like the blighters, because it wasn't anything like your typical fantasy idea of a troll). But oh, it got tedious when the dragon was living with the elf. That part of the story dragged on and on- I skipped ahead and read a later portion where Wistala left to try and find more dragons- that section held my interest until, disillusioned by the reclusive dragons' attitudes, Wistala returns to the elf's home again- and once more I just didn't care. Skipped and skimmed so much I really ought to called this one Abandoned.

Rating: 1/5                        390 pages, 2006

Dragon Champion

Age of Fire Book One
by E.E. Knight

It's a story from a dragon's perspective, and that's the main enjoyment I got out of it. The young dragon hatches in a secluded cave guarded by his parents and immediately pitches into a battle for survival- the male hatchlings fight for dominance and one ousts all others from the nest. The young dragon then grows with its sisters under the watchful eye of parents, learning dragon lore and practicing hunting skills on slugs and bats. Before he is old enough to venture into the outside world, their cave is attacked by a band of dwarves, and the dragon barely escapes with one of his siblings. He embarks on a long trek- at first attempting to return to the cave and discover what happened to his family, but then gets separated from his sibling and is just scrambling to survive. He falls in with some wolves, then gets caught by elves and escapes, then makes a deal to guard a caravan of traders, then goes on a search to find an ancient dragon who might tell him why their race is dying out. Eventually ends up in the company of humans- and part of a tangled confusing war- all the different hominids in this world (elves, dwarves, humans and creatures called blighters) are fighting each other, but one group seems to be overpowering the rest because it controls dragons to battle for them. Our dragon seeks them out, hoping to discover what enabled one man to command the dragons, but he finds much more than he'd bargained for.

Well- there's a lot I liked about this book, and a lot I didn't. I found this author's idea of dragon physiology really intriguing- especially the main character who was different from the other dragons, being born without protective scales. While others immediately saw him as a weakling or a freak, he found his own strength and was often quite clever and bold. I was just as curious as the protagonist to find out how the other dragons were being held in thrall, and the part where he infiltrates the enemy island was pretty interesting. But all the middle of the book- what a slog. It seemed that any part where the dragon was accompanying hominids got to be very dull and boring. I just did not care about their factions and battles and different cultures. The conversations are often awkward, the characters' reactions to things feel flat, and the pacing is sometimes odd. I like these dragons, but the execution felt a bit poor. In spite of that, I'm moving on to the second book in the series, there is something about the story that makes me want to find out what happens.

Oh, and if this might bother some readers- there's a lot of death. The dragon eats children, bites the head off foes, tears apart animal prey and so on. It's really quite brutal and bloody- which you'd expect from a story about the dragon's viewpoint- but also very tame for all that- the descriptions never really made me feel squeamish or horrified- just oh, so that guy lost his head too? Moving on! which was part of the disconnect I felt through the whole thing . . .

Rating: 2/5                            371 pages, 2005

Inheritors of the Earth

How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
by Chris D. Thomas

Much like Nature Wars, this book argues that life overall is doing just fine in spite of the destruction mankind has wreaked on Earth. The author examines several aspects of this problem including humans wiping out other animals and destroying habitats, the impacts of climate change and movement of species into new areas- and in each case makes the point that while a few species here and there will die out in the face of rapid changes, many new ones arise as they diverge or hybridize, which is a wave of future evolution. He states many times over in the book that species diversity is actually increasing worldwide (is this true? several other reviewers have cast doubt on that). He posits that the mixing of species into new territories shouldn't be seen as a threat, but instead welcomed as a way of naturally seeing which animals, plants and other creatures are most fit to survive the future. There's lots of examples of rapid evolution and explanations that animals live nowadays where they never did ages ago, so what we see as being the "natural state" of things is arbitrary. Very similar in this vein to Where Do Camels Belong?

While he does say that we should avoid excessive impacts on the environment he doesn't seem to mourn the extinction of any unique species as long as the group as a whole is represented- loosing the short-tailed bat on New Zealand (which walks on the ground to catch prey) wouldn't matter overall because so many other bats are still here. Even if I didn't always get the argument, I found the examples fascinating- reading about hybridized sparrows, and how they spread from one small location to literally inhabit the entire world. I've heard of the finches Darwin found in the Galapagos, but didn't know about the mockingbirds there- also very different on each island. I never read about the apple fly before- which uses markings on its wings to mimic a spider. I thought that monarch butterflies only wintered in Mexico, but this book tells me there's a group that overwinters in California (so the premise of this book might not be so far-fetched!) That's just a small sampling. I strongly disagree with the author's final argument that since humans are of course, natural living creatures, anything we do to the Earth is also part of the natural process and we should just let things unfold. That really rubs me wrong. But it was an interesting read that did give me a lot to think about.

I mentioned animals mostly in this post, but the book also talks about plant species a lot. While the copy I borrowed from the public library looks like the first cover shown here, I like this second one- because I'm partial to ferns and its lushness conveys the main idea the author had- that life is thriving and will continue regardless of what we do (not sure if agree with that and I'm simplifying here, but it's the main impression I came away with from reading this book).

Rating: 3/5                 300 pages, 2017

Unbound

Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity
by Arelene Stein

A sociologist examines the choices made by several individuals who had elective surgery to remove their breasts. Most- but not all- identified as male and had the procedure to address gender dysphoria. I thought this was going to be a volume of personal stories- their personalities, struggles, reasons for choosing the surgery, how their lives were changed by it, and so on. It is, but it's also a lot more. The book is just as much about social norms and how they are changing in regards to gender identities, how perceptions are shifting and how they might continue to evolve. It's got quite a lot on the history of LGBTQ rights. It's about the importance of people feeling comfortable with who they are, and making the choice to do something often considered drastic- altering body parts- so that other people will see them as they see themselves. Those who agreed to share their stories here- the author meets them in the surgical clinic, visits them in recovery, and follows up with a few several months later to see how they are doing- are very different in circumstance. They don't all have the same reasons or needs- one doesn't even identify as trans. Some have family support and others don't. Some felt dysphoric and others didn't. I'm glad the author shows people beyond the stereotypes. Sounds like they were all happy with the results. It was really interesting to read the more detailed examination of how their lives were different afterwards- not only how it affected their families, their employment, the reactions (or rather, easy acceptance) of strangers to their changed appearance, and their own individual self-perception. I did think it a little strange when the author compared trans men to lesbians, going into some tangents on how the feminist movement has changed over recent years as gender is being understood in new ways. This book is a lot more dense with more information than I expected it to contain, so I've actually been reading it in pieces over the past six weeks. Sometimes it was just difficult to get through a single chapter. While I didn't always agree with the author's viewpoint and some of her statements made me feel uncomfortable, I do feel like I have a better understanding now. Or at least, I would hope that I do.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5                   339 pages, 2018

Secret Go the Wolves

by R.D. Lawrence

The author and his wife lived in a remote area of Canada on a farm (I don't know if they grew any crops but there is a description of them working to tap maple trees). One day he encountered a Native American on the river- drunk and about to capsize his boat. Lawrence saved the man, discovered he had recently killed a female wolf for the bounty on her pelt and was carrying two surviving cubs to Mattawa intending to sell them. Lawrence made an instant decision and bought the cubs on the spot, took them home to raise with his wife. He already had experiencing raising wild "foundlings" to release into the wild again- mentions a beaver and a deer fawn. And he had observed wolves in the wild a lot, understanding some of their behavior. I think he was just as eager to have the chance to study how the wolves grew up, as well as to save them and release into their natural home- he frequently mentions taking meticulous notes on their growth rate, emerging personalities, development of skills and so on. With the help of his malamute dog Tundra- who kept the cubs clean and warm, and disciplined them as they grew- Lawrence successfully raise the two wolves. He did as much as he could to mimic actual wolf parenting- feeding them raw meat as if he was regurgitating it, shaking them by the scruff when they misbehaved, taking them on long rambling walks in the woods and joining them on a kill when they finally pulled down deer on their own (he was inspecting the deer to find out if it was weak, ill or injured in some way that had given the wolves an advantage, but pretended to the wolves as if he was eating alongside them). This book reminded me a lot of Joy Adamson's work with Elsa the lioness- the work Lawrence did was during a time when wolves were still mainly feared and reviled- in fact Lawrence and his wife had to keep their project secret from any neighbors or visitors, shutting the wolves up when they were young if people came by, and when they were older successfully teaching them to be wary of strangers. Especially intriguing to see the difference in behavior between the malamute dog and the young wolves, how the dog adjusted his behavior with the wolves, and how the human couple likewise tried to act in ways that would keep them safe from the wolves' natural strength and sharp teeth, but hone their skills to live in the wild. Personally I can't judge how well they did at that (a few times in the narrative it seemed to me they made some risky decisions), but there's a very good review on Goodreads that explains why wolves should not be raised with the methods Lawrence used. But it's a fascinating account and very engaging to read, a well-told story. There's also a lot of wonderful description of the natural environment and seasons, and some contemplative passages where the author talks about the natural world, our impact on it, and his qualms about things like seeing the wolves kill their prey. His wife was particularly attached to the wolves and I didn't care for how condescending Lawrence sometimes sounded towards her- but he is also honest and points out when she was right in some regard he judged differently.

Rating: 4/5                       232 pages, 1980

more books noted-

thanks to my fellow readers, additions to the (joyously) overwhelming TBR:

at my public library:
Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley- Bermudaonion, Melody
Birds of Pandemonium by Michele Raffin
The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell
The Library Book by Susan Orlean- Book Chase
Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson- Semicolon
You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy- Caroline Bookbinder
Wild Things, Wild Places by Jane Alexander
The Great Pretender by Susanna Cahalan - Bermudaonion
Stargazing by Jen Wang- Caroline Bookbinder
Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan- Book Chase
Saving Jemimah by Julie Zickefoose
Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri - Bookfool
The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell- Read Warbler
Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel
Pippa by Design by Claudia Logan- Caroline Bookbinder
Autopsy of a Boring Wife by Marie-Renee Lavoie - Indextrious Reader
Normal People by Sally Rooney- Bookfool
Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott
Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon - Captive Reader
The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - Bermudaonion
Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee- ditto
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson- Indextrious Reader
The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine - Caroline Bookbinder
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson - Bermudaonion
How to Catch a Mole by Marc Hamer
Beyond the Last Village by Alan Rabinowitz
An Indomitable Beast by Alan Rabinowitz
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang- Shelf Love
A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry
What It's Like to Be a Dog by Gregory Burns
Not if I Can Help It by Carolyn Mackler- the Last Book I Read
A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman - A Bookish Type
Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson- Bookfool
Rough Beauty by Karen Auvinen
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Father of Lions by Louise Callaghan- A Bookish Type
Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas- Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
The Way Home by Mark Boyle- Stefanie
We're Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey- Semicolon
Dry by Neal Shusterman-  It's All About Books
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan- Book Chase

not at my library:
Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck- Indextrious Reader
Dolphins Under My Bed by Sandra Clayton
Turtles in My Wake by Sandra Clayton
Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell- A Bookish Type
The Otter's Tale by Simon Cooper
The Home-Maker by - Dorothy C Fisher- Ardent Reader
Earth by Bill Mack
Wink by Rob Harrell - Bermudaonion
The Borrowed House by Hilda van Stockum- Semicolon
Chasing the Dragon's Tail by Alan Rabinowitz
Life in the Valley of Death by Alan Rabinowitz
Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson - Bookfool
When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn- Reading the End
What Is a Dog? by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger
Crown of Flowers by Joel Kurtzman- Neglected Books Page
Sweet Bobby by Joel Kurtzman- Neglected Books Page
One Hundred and Four Horses by Mandy Retzlaff
The Roots of My Obsession edited by Thomas Cooper
Call of the Cats by Andrew Bloomfield
Rinda Daughter of Rin Tin Tin by Marguerite Lofthus
Seegoo Dog of Alaska by Sara Machetanz
Plants are Terrible People by Ruggenberg
Goat Song by Brad Kessler
Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones
Lions, Tigers and Hamsters by Mark Goldstein
1491: New Revelations of the Americans Before Columbus by Charles Mann

(those at the bottom of this second list, that aren't linked to anyone's review I had found at Powell's but left on the shelf. So you can see I had some restraint!)

The Mutation

Animorphs #36
by K.A. Applegate

Terrible. Ridiculous plot, which I could go along with, except the writing was so poor I just couldn't. In a nutshell- the enemy aliens built a submarine ship called the Sea Blade in order to access a hidden underground resource they shouldn't have, and then experimented on making Hork-Bajir amphibious in order to use them to get there. The Hork-Bajir the Animorphs find are so tortured that they vow revenge, and also have to keep the enemy from their goal, of course. So they morph orcas (also whales and sharks at different points) and dive in the ocean at first to just physically try and damage the Sea Blade. Then they find an underwater civilization that has taken sunken ships captive for thousands of years, making a sort of display gallery out of all their preserved crew members. They get trapped by the undersea people and have to cleverly escape, which also means, in the end, making a deal with Visser Three so they can all get out alive together. Because he's down there trapped in the Sea Blade.

It's pretty bad when the first scene is so poorly written I didn't understand at all why the Animorphs were feeling vengeful. Even with the way they could change morphs to avoid death while battling the aliens underwater against the Sea Blade, the injuries they took were so horrific I just don't see how any of them made it. The premise of how the aquatic civilization had come to exist, and how the Animorphs figured it all out made no sense. Many scenes in the book were so badly described I had no idea what was actually happening, or how the Animorphs reached the conclusions they did. The part where they collaborate with their worst enemy to escape together was so eye-rolling I was skimming at that point and didn't care any more how nonsensical it was.

I'm deleting this one from my e-reader. It seems to have no relation to the rest of the series, so doesn't matter and I definitely don't want to waste time reading it again.

Rating: 1/5      160 pages, 1999

more opinions:
the Library Ladies
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

new-to-me books!

That's me. Not a flattering picture, but I was so delighted to finally visit the City of Books! It was - well, overwhelming. I did not even have time to browse all the sections I normally would; just the size of the store and the large number of other shoppers wore me out. But it was nice to see so many people there for books! and I enjoyed things like overhearing an elderly couple argue about should they buy the newest installation of the mystery series they love now, or wait until it comes out in paperback at a lower price, but then they'll be behind. (Sounds like their favorite author is prolific).

So. These are books I picked up because I knew I wanted them. Top to bottom: the dragon books. I already had number three in the series, found at a thrift shop one day and it looks good but I wanted to start at the beginning and my library doesn't have any. So I got one and two. Secret Go the Wolves and Worms Eat My Garbage (on the very bottom) I've read before- really glad to add them to my collection. I have the sequel to Flame Trees of Thika (not yet read) and enjoyed the film, so I hope the book is good too. Archie Carr is a naturalist I've heard praise of, John Hay is an author I already like (I have his Undiscovered Country), and likewise with A Thousand Miles of Mustangin'- this is by the same author as Horse Tradin'. How to Catch a Mole is one that recently caught my eye on others' reviews, and You Grow Girl is a gardening blog I follow- so I bet I'll love her book!

The second stack there's less to say about- I bought a handful of gardening memoirs that looked good, and a collection of stories from a veterinarian. I hope Grow More with Less teaches me to be a better frugal gardener, and Being a Beast was something I couldn't pass up- reading the flyleaf was seriously reminiscent of the crazy book that is GoatMan.

These five are not from Powell's. I stayed with my parents over the holidays and visited my great-aunt one day. A lifelong educator, she is elderly and frail now and can no longer see well enough to read. I remember as a child visiting there and being awed by the bookcases that spanned an entire wall in one large room downstairs, and several shelves always full of books around the fireplace upstairs. Most of her library is gone now- there were only four shelves with books remaining. I brought these home: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew is one I recall my mother reading to me. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Being Mortal are both on my TBR. Star looks like a nice horse story, and Sinclair Lewis is a famous author I'm not sure if I ever read any of his works yet but this is supposed to be one of his best. I hope my aunt knows how much I appreciate having a few of her books.

And I brought this all home on the plane, plus a box of old journals from my childhood and teen years. It was a lot more than I expected to haul! Happy New Year everybody. Hope there are many good things in store, books being just one of them.

VISSER

by K.A. Applegate

Another good one! Like The Andalite Chronicles, it fills in a ton of backstory about the Yeerks invading Earth. This one jumps around between the present narrative and the past, because it's Visser One being on trial for multiple counts of treason, and having to explain herself- recounting how the Yeerk Edriss first discovered Earth and realized humans might make good host species, how they took their first hosts to explore the possibilities and learn about humans, how the Sharing was initially set up, how Edriss and her companion Yeerk went through several different hosts until Edriss ended up in Marco's mom, and so on. Half of this is Edriss simply telling it, the other half is "memory transfers" where everyone gets to view exactly what went on, revealing some details Edriss would have rather kept secret. All the time Visser Three is there- goading her and spouting anger and at risk of being put on trial himself, as Visser One takes every opportunity to point out his mistakes. At one point someone dumps a tiger and a bear into the group- as a distraction?- to make them think it's the Animorphs but later someone let the actual Animorphs know where they are and they face a real attack. It was actually cool to see the Animorphs through their enemies' eyes. Also to see how humans appeared to them- kind of a character study on the human race. As in The Departure, this one lets the reader see things from the other side, making Visser One not exactly sympathetic, but definitely more of a gray character- you can see why she was driven to do the things she did, but she readily displays her ruthlessness- for all she appears to have developed fond feelings for humankind (living among them in disguise for over a year before any more Yeerks came to Earth), she has no qualms about killing children to meet her ends (and that's just one example). Visser Three, on the other hand, remains thoroughly himself the whole time in this book- angry and blustering and bloodthirsty. Not one of the funnier books, but definitely intriguing and laid a lot of things out. Incidentally it was difficult at some points to tell who was talking, or who could hear whom using thought-speak though, when the narrating Visser One was communicating with her host or someone else, or they were in one of the memory replays- but I skimmed past some of that muddle regardless. As a trial it's all one huge farce, because in the end the Vissers evade the death penalty and carry on- with some warnings is all. If you're interested, do check out some of the other reviews I linked to below. Some of them go into a lot more detail than I cover here.

Rating: 4/5                      220 pages, 1999

more opinions:
Arkham Reviews
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales
the Library Ladies

2019 Stats

Total books read- 117

Fiction- 56

Non-fiction- 61

fiction breakdown

YA-7

Fantasy/Sci-Fi- 28

J Fiction- 32

Animals- 31

Historical- 1

non-fiction breakdown

Gardening/Food- 9

J Nonfiction- 2

Memoirs- 15

Nature- 15

Animals- 42

Medical- 6
Travel/Adventure- 8

other formats

Short Stories- 5

E-Books- 9

sources

Owned- 72

Public Library- 43

Borrowed from friend/relative- 3

Received from publisher/author- 2

re-reads- 2

abandoned books- 7

Notes: the numbers don't add up perfectly, as always, because some titles fit in more than one category. How did I do this year? Well, trying to finish the Animorphs series really added to my numbers of animal, juvenile fiction and sci-fi. Because they're so short. Didn't read any classics or graphic novels this year- must get back to some of those because I do like them. Balance of reading owned/borrowed books and fiction/nonfiction is roughly equal, which satisfies me.

Travels I made in the pages (not counting alien worlds in the Animorphs) : Belize, Madagascar, the Congo, Botswana, Zambia, Mauritius, Tibet, England, Liberia and Tanzania.

Favorite books: Bringing Nature Home- very inspirational for a gardener like me. Eating Animals- this one made me a lot more conscious of food choices, and prompted my husband to buy our meat from a local farm (an hour drive). We eat less of it now, too. Animal Wise was another really good one- lots of specific studies on thinking processes. The Last Wild Wolves was just beautiful, and informative. Jaguar is another very good one- exactly the kind of writing I like about field studies, natural history and foreign places. In fiction, I really liked White Dog Fell From the Sky- subtle yet intense is a good word. There's convincing talking animals in a prehistoric setting and very good characterization in Darkwing. Another favorite book for me was Indian Saddle-Up- an older, dated novel but just a very well-told engaging story. And finally, People of the Sky is a sci-fi novel I have simply not been able to get out of my head. It was just fascinating.

The Proposal

Animorphs #35

by K.A. Applegate

This was one of the light ones. Stupid, ridiculous and pointless maybe, but funny as heck. The Animorphs find out that some famous guy is using his television presence to promote the Sharing- which could of course rope tons more innocent humans into being Yeerks, so they have to stop him. They use squirrel morphs (which sounded fun, I wish they'd spent more time as squirrels) to sneak into his mansion, and then morph cockatiels to fly around undetected, as the guy has a huge bird collection he lets free roam his house. I liked that it was difficult for them to actually put their hands on the birds in order to acquire them- that's pretty realistic. (Side note: I thought surely cockateils don't say "twooit" but I looked up a video of one screaming and yeah, they do kind of sound like that!) So they find out this guy is kind of unhinged but keeps his cover by pretending to be kind and love animals, as the human host does. They decide to use animal morphs to antagonize him in public so people will see him acting violently towards animals and it will ruin his image. All kinds of ridiculous hijinks ensue. Of course half the plans go wrong. Especially because Marco is suffering from extreme stress- not only due to the ongoing alien warfare but also because his father is dating a woman without realizing Marco's mother might still be alive. So now Marco randomly looses control of his morphs, becoming a meld of two animals at once- the spider/skunk one was pretty alarming- and he doesn't tell his friends about it at first. They all find out pretty quick, though. In the end, Marco morphs his father's girlfriend's poodle (which he detests) and uses it to continually harass the guy until he goes berserk in the tv studio, they catch it on live film and success! but only just barely managing to avoid blowing their own cover, of course. Through all this, Cassie shows a lot of compassion towards Marco trying to help him talk through his angst about his father's situation, and about the war in general- she's got some pretty levelheaded advice, too. Don't dwell on what should or shouldn't have happened in the past. Deal with what's happening right now. Although all her talking doesn't really help- it's Jake yelling at Marco to pull himself together that does it at the end.

Incidentally, I found out how long it actually takes me to read a 150 page book when I am completely uninterrupted (on a long flight): just about three hours.

Rating: 3/5                 147 pages, 1999

more opinions:

the Library Ladies

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Arkham Reviews

The Prophecy

Animorphs #34
by K.A. Applegate

This was one of the better Animorphs books for me. I really liked all the ethical and morality questions it raised. It starts with a dash of humor- Cassie and Rachel using animal morphs to sneak into a teacher's house and retrieve a piece of homework that had "Cassie loves Jake" doodled on it, haha. Then a Hork-Bajir shows up: the free Hork-Bajir in the hidden valley have been approached by the last surviving Arn, that species that invented the Hork-Bajir so long ago. He wants their help to use DNA samples from the Hork-Bajir to create more of them to fight the Yeerks, and also to find a cache of weapons on the Hork-Bajir home planet. The Animorphs are brought in as consultants because the Hork-Bajir with their lesser intelligence don't understand all the implications. Winds up that they all travel back to that planet to find the weapons, but first they have to get the spirit of Aldrea- whose memory and personality was "backed up" or saved in some kind of device- because only she knows where the cache might be. This is weird and corny, but after Aldrea enters someone's mind- happens she chooses Cassie- it gets really interesting. Some other reviewers refer to this as the book where Cassie is possessed by an alien ghost, but I didn't see it that way at all. Once Aldrea was sharing Cassie's body, it was far more reminiscent of how the Yeerks take over their hosts- a fact which the Animorphs did not miss. Cassie actually struggles as Aldrea tries to wrest some control from her- because she has her own ideas, of course. There's some really interesting interactions between Aldrea and Ax- both being Andalites after all- Ax can't help looking down on Aldrea for her choices, they both have a huge helping of arrogance about everything, and Ax scorns Aldrea for her connections to Seerow (who first gave the Yeerks superior knowledge they weren't ready to handle) but Aldrea points out that Elfangor did the exact same thing to the human teenagers, so who's judging? Aside from all that, there's this impossible mission they have to pull off because the weapons cache is under a Yeerk pool, Aldrea is horrified to see how her home planet has been ravaged by the Yeerks, and Toby (the Horjk-Bajir who came to get help) sees her ancestral home planet for the first time, then doesn't want to return to Earth. The morphing scenes were crazy. Cassie's ability with this really shines, and Aldrea's admiration for it (and moment of shock at how the Animorphs are actually utilizing the morphing technology to thwart the Yeerks) is really something, coming from the race that invented it. Lots of heavy stuff. I liked it.

This one seems to be a continuation of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles. Had a copy of this on my e-reader.

Rating: 4/5              141 pages, 1999

more opinions:
the Library Ladies