Animorphs: The Andalite Chronicles

By: K. A. Applegate

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul is an Andalite war prince--the one who gave the Animorphs the power to morph. "The AndaliteChronicles" is the story of how this warrior-cadet ended up on planet Earth.

©1997 Katherine Applegate (P)2023 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.

MacLeod Andrews surprised me immensely at how different his Elfangor is than his Jake.

Andalite Chronicles was the first novel I ever read on my own. Specifically, I stole it from my 1st grade teachers purse when I saw the cover and thought to myself "I've never seen an animal like that, what is it?" I read the whole thing over many days and weeks, asking parents for the meanings of words I didn't know. I don't think I need to point out that they were often as confused as I was, as I neglected to mention I learned them from the book I had stolen. my parents didn't know what a Taxxon was, or a Visser, but they did know what "seldom" meant, so it mostly worked out.

If you are here reading this review to know if the book is good, know that it is. An alien's account of his adventures that introduced him to, had him fall in love with, and eventually die for, Earth. There is action, horror, suspense, and moments of humor throughout the story. I read it at 7 years old, and I'm reading it again at 29, and I love it as much now as I did then.

If you are here because you want to know how the narrator for Jake from the other books could POSSIBLY be an acceptable choice for Elfangor's story, then let me set your mind at ease. If I hadn't read that they were the same narrators, I wouldn't have guessed. MacLeod has a deeper voice, more serious, more (dare I say) heroic baring throughout this story then in any of the books where he voiced the middle schooler Jake from the rest of the series.

In fact, I stayed away from listening to this book for a long while because I seriously doubted he could do the character justice, especially after learning the other Chronicles books had new narrators than the main cast to do the voices for non-animorph characters. I held myself back, disdainfully incredulous that they could possibly make such a blunder. "Jake? The voice of Jake? Near panicked, voice cracky, warbly uncertain Jake? That isn't what Elfangor sounds like! How could they do this to me?!" I asked myself many times.

I cannot express how happy I am to be proven wrong. I am sorry I ever doubted the range of MacLeod Andrews, and the impressive tone and effort that went into this recording. I have to retract all my doubts and snide thoughts, and admit that I cannot think of anyone else who could have done it better. Well played Animorphs, well played indeed. I never should have doubted it

awesome!

amazing narrator, voices portrayed and done well , I love the series, when's the movie coming out?

The voice actor did very well

Love the series and this prequel nails it . It’s fun to see the history of the guy who gave the kids their powers.

I can't get no... satisfaction 🤣😂

you need to get to the funny part OMG

I don't like that the story isn't as hopeful in the sense that the good guys experienced too much hardship

but it's a great read great performance

and that joke 😂

Wow really good side story!

This story does a good job of filling in the blanks that lead up to the events that start everything. Excellent voice acting, and a very exciting adventure all the way through.

So cool coming back to this story!

My favorite book as a kid. still holds up well more than 20 years later.

Just as good as I remembered!

Beautiful, devastating story. I’m so glad these books from my youth are being made into audiobooks! Such a great series, and the voice actor did a wonderful job.

Amazing, again!

I would like to start off with praising MacLeod Andrews. This story, a prologue to the Animorphs series, contains a variety of characters, not all of them human. in the perspective of an Andalite cadet. MacLeod's vocal character range and consistency is insane! You'd think they hired multiple narrarators for each character, but nope, it's just MacLeod Andrews!
The story is awesome, and I'm enjoying it as much as I did as a kid.

Keep 'em coming!