Book Club '23: The Invasion

Okay, one week in. We’re doing this. The first couple days had me worried it was all a terrible mistake, but I’m getting warmed up.

In both chapters 1-5 of War and Peace and Animorphs: The Invasion, we are introduced to what I assume will be core characters. Both have portents of wars to come, and people hiding their true selves in order to manipulate others. The Tolstoy had more conversational French, which I liked picking apart before looking up the translation, but the Applegate had more aliens bestowing morphing power on teens with attitude.

War and Peace, if you can believe it, was the more subtle of the two (this week!). Our first chapters take place at a dinner party in which the guests maneuver for social status and favors. Highlight: Prince Ippolit tells an anecdote that doesn’t go anywhere.

The Invasion finishes with an exciting action scene and an abrupt ending. I suppose with 53 volumes to go, there was no reason to think things would resolve in a tidy fashion. Actually, I just realized that I don’t know if the story actually does conclude, or if the books just got cancelled at some point. I’m not going to look it up and ruin the meta-suspense.