The Invasion (novel)
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''The Invasion'', published in 1996 and written by K. A. Applegate, is the first 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. It is narrated by
Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a ...
.


Plot summary

Young teenagers
Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a ...
and
Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...
leave the mall one evening. On the way out, they meet Rachel and
Cassie Cassie is a feminine given name and a short form of various other given names mostly used in English-speaking countries. It is more rarely a surname. People and fictional characters named Cassie include: People with the name Given name or nickna ...
, who are together, and
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 ...
—all children from their school—and decide to walk home together. While taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site, an alien spacecraft lands nearby. The badly injured
alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
pilot, an Andalite named Prince Elfangor, emerges from the ship and explains to the children that
the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...
is being invaded in secret by a race of aliens called the Yeerks, a slug-like parasitic species who infest humans through their ear canals and take complete control of the human's body, turning them into what is called a Controller. The human controllers are still self-aware but the Yeerk in their head has complete control over their body and what they say. Elfangor tells them that the Andalite fleet has been defeated and more Andalites will not come to Earth for a year or more, and by then, Earth will already be completely taken over. To combat the Yeerks, he gives the humans morphing ability: the power to become any creature they touch by absorbing the creature's DNA. Elfangor warns them to never stay beyond two hours in a morph, or they will be trapped in that form forever. The Yeerks, led by
Visser Three ''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 ...
, arrive to kill Elfangor and eliminate all traces of him and his ship. The humans hide and watch, but are discovered and chased by the Yeerks. The group escapes shaken, but more or less unhurt. The next morning, Tobias visits Jake and informs him that the previous night was not just a dream; he had already morphed into his pet cat. Jake is skeptical, but then acquires and morphs his dog Homer. The five kids meet at Cassie's farm, where a police officer arrives and informs them that a group of teenagers were sighted setting off fireworks in the abandoned construction site the previous night. He asks if they know anything about it, and the five of them realize that the police officer is a Controller. Later that day, Jake's older brother Tom expresses a similar interest in the teenagers at the construction site and presses Jake for information. Marco realizes—much to Jake's anger—that Tom is also a Controller. Tom invites Jake and Marco to a meeting of a local community club called The Sharing, which the teens quickly determine is a front for the Yeerks to acquire new hosts. They also discover that their assistant principal Mr. Chapman is the leader of The Sharing and a human-Controller. The next day, Jake morphs into a green anole lizard to spy on Chapman, and discovers that there is an entrance to the Yeerk Pool—a large, underground control center where the Yeerks can feed and recuperate—in their school. The teenagers, newly christened as Animorphs ("animal morphers") by Marco, head to The Gardens, a large zoo and amusement park, to acquire some new, battle-capable morphs. That evening, they decide to infiltrate the Yeerk Pool in order to rescue Tom, but find that Cassie has been kidnapped by the policeman-Controller. With no time to plan a strategy, the four remaining Animorphs head into the Yeerk Pool. They manage to rescue Cassie, but find themselves outnumbered and outgunned by Visser Three and his Yeerks. Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie barely escape along with a woman who is free. During the escape, the policeman-Controller is killed. Tobias is able to escape later, but has stayed in morph too long and gets stuck in morph as a
red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...
. The Animorphs fail to rescue Tom, and Jake promises to keep fighting the Yeerks until the Andalites arrive.


Inconsistencies

*Jake uses thought-speak while in human form early on in the book, thinking ''at'' Tobias who is in cat morph, but in subsequent books it is stated that this is impossible. This is because K. A. Applegate changed her mind about this, but forgot to correct the scene. Later editions and the audio book corrected the mistake. *When talking to Elfangor, Visser Three's dialogue gives the impression that the two have never met, but ''
The Andalite Chronicles ''The Andalite Chronicles'' is a science-fiction novel and is the first companion book to the ''Animorphs'' series, written by K. A. Applegate. Within the timeline of the series, this book takes place before the first book in the series, ''The ...
'' reveals that in reality, Elfangor was indirectly responsible for Visser Three acquiring his current host (although this implied lack of knowledge could have simply been Visser Three's attempts to taunt Elfangor with how little he has accomplished in his struggle against Visser Three). *When Tobias comes over to Jake's house, he said that when he morphed, his cat freaked out and scratched him, and he still had the scratches, even though morphing heals any injury. They discover this later when acquiring injured animals at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic.


Morphs


TV adaptation

''The Invasion'' was adapted as part of the ''Animorphs'' TV series, which aired on
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
and YTV. The first book in the series was covered by the first three episodes, "My Name is Jake" (Parts 1 & 2)", and "Underground". *In the TV adaptation, Homer, Jake's
golden retriever The Golden Retriever is a Scottish breed of retriever dog of medium size. It is characterised by a gentle and affectionate nature and a striking golden coat. It is commonly kept as a pet and is among the most frequently registered breeds ...
, is with the kids at the video arcade, and runs away from them while they are playing video games. The Animorphs chase the dog into the construction site, finding him standing next to Tobias. There, they see the lights from Prince Elfangor's landing fighter. In the book series, the Animorphs-to-be (minus Homer) meet up upon leaving the mall and together take an ill-advised shortcut through the construction site on their way home before seeing the lights of Elfangor's ship. *Elfangor brings the Escafil device with him as he steps out of his damaged fighter, rather than having Jake retrieve it as it happens in the book. *Jake's first morphing is the correct animal: his
golden retriever The Golden Retriever is a Scottish breed of retriever dog of medium size. It is characterised by a gentle and affectionate nature and a striking golden coat. It is commonly kept as a pet and is among the most frequently registered breeds ...
, Homer. However, it occurs not in front of Tobias in Jake's room, but while he is hiding from the Controllers at the construction site, after witnessing the destruction of Elfangor's ship. Jake morphs Homer to escape the Controllers currently searching for him. *The Animorphs meet at Cassie's barn the day after their alien encounter, where they try out their morphing abilities. Tobias' first acquired morph is, incorrectly, the red-tailed hawk morph he would become trapped in (his first morph was his pet cat, Dude). Rachel's first morph is a cat, whereas in the book it is an elephant. Marco morphs a
brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...
, Bitsy, an animal he never acquired in the books. Also, in this version, Tobias' hawk morph is a
Harris hawk The Harris's hawk (''Parabuteo unicinctus''), formerly known as the bay-winged hawk, dusky hawk, and sometimes a wolf hawk, and known in Latin America as peuco, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south ...
, not a red-tailed hawk. *In the TV series, both Marco and Jake morph into
skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...
s, a type of lizard (though they actually morph into
eastern fence lizard The eastern fence lizard (''Sceloporus undulatus'') is a medium-sized species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is found along forest edges, rock piles, and rotting logs or stumps in the eastern United States. It is sometimes ref ...
s); in the book, only Jake morphs into a lizard, a
green anole ''Anolis carolinensis'' or green anole () (among other names below) is a tree-dwelling species of anole lizard native to the southeastern United States and introduced to islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. A small to medium-sized lizard, th ...
. * In the TV series, Rachel's fighting morph is a lion, as opposed to the books' African Elephant. * In the TV series, the Animorphs morph with their clothes, which is impossible in the book series. * In the book, Tobias is the first to approach Elfangor and is the first to morph, convincing Jake and the rest, as opposed to the TV series, where he is the last in all of them.


Re-release

On May 1, 2011, Scholastic re-released ''The Invasion'' with a new lenticular cover that changes as the person holding it turns the book back and forth.


Graphic novel adaptation

In October 2020, a graphic novel adaptation by Chris Grine was published by
Graphix Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
. Grine is currently contracted to adapt book 2, '' The Visitor'', and book 3, '' The Encounter''.


References


External links


Official page
at Scholastic.com
''The Invasion''
at OpenLibrary.org
The Invasion
on Amazon
The Invasion
on Indiebound
The Invasion Description
at Science Fiction Magazine
Animorphs: The Invasion Begins
on Rotten Tomatoes
The Invasion on Powell's Books

Review on KidsReads

Review on BookMooch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Invasion Animorphs books 1996 science fiction novels 1996 American novels American young adult novels 2020 graphic novels Science fiction graphic novels Scholastic Corporation books