''The Illusion'' is the 33rd book in the ''

Animorphs ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

'' series, written by

K.A. Applegate Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate or Katherine Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', ''Remnants'', ''Everworld'' ...

. It is known to have been

ghostwritten ''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, B ...

by Ellen Geroux. It is narrated by

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...

Plot summary

The

Yeerks ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

have finished their anti-morphing ray and want to test it. Tobias comes up with a plan to trick the Yeerks into thinking that it doesn't work; if they capture him, they will try to use it on his hawk form, but hawk is his true form now. Tobias acquires Ax—thus allowing him to 'demorph' and reinforce the impression that he is a genuine Andalite—and then gets captured by the Yeerks. Rachel was supposed to be with him in fly morph to be able to rescue him and tell the rest where the lab was. However, sub-visser Taylor gave them an anesthetic so she couldn't grip to Tobias and fell to the floor. Tobias, alone and trapped, tries to get demorphed unsuccessfully since he is already demorphed. He is then tortured by the sadistic

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) **List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Plac ...

with a machine that controls the parts of the brain that induce pain and pleasure. He almost goes insane and nearly dies after receiving heightened, alternating doses of painful and pleasant sensations and memories. He sees painful memories of childhood neglect or battle, after seeing pleasant peaceful memories. This process nearly kills him. Here, he experienced an Utzum, later explained by Ax to be a vision ancient Andalites believed happened at the moment of death to comfort those crossing over. These images are supposed to be passed through DNA. Tobias is spoken to by his father Elfangor who shares with him his own memories of hardship, battle, his moments of questioning himself and his own actions. He reminds Tobias that he is part of a great tradition of warriors in order to comfort him before his death. Tobias is rescued by Ax and the other Animorphs. In the battle he persuades Rachel not to kill Taylor, so as not sink to her level. After the battle Tobias continues to question who and what he is. However he takes comfort in his relationship with Rachel and she kisses him for the first time.

Morphs

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illusion Animorphs books 1999 American novels 1999 science fiction novels Books about birds Works about torture