Animorphs/Fanfic Recs
Proof that the remaining 10% is worth dying for here.
These are recommendations made by Tropers for Animorphs fanfics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found here.
You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting Conversation in the Main Page though; that goes in the discussion page.
Page Reconfiguration in Progress: Fan Fic Recommendations is being split into pages for each individual series, so help is needed to classify each entry into the appropiate category, and to format it according to the template.
Important message unique to this series: Fan Fiction.net dos not allow the use of <Greater-than or less-than symbols,> something very key to the Animorphs series for thought-speak. Most people use (single) or ((double)) parentheses instead. As an alternative, consider using «these symbols» or ‹these ones,› which Fanfiction.net does allow.
Authors, and Websites
- Recommended by {{Felinephoenix Felinephoenix}}
- The LJ group for Animorphs fanfiction. It's been active for quite a few years now, so it's got a good archive of all kinds of stuff - gen, slash, het, AU, you name it!
- Reccomended by Yellow 13
- A small series taking place in the future of the Animorphs Universe. Contains some Squick in the later stories.
Cinnamon Bunzuh by Adam and Ifi (Found here)
- Recommended by: User:Count Spatula
- A site devoted to MSTK-esque review/commentaries of the books. Currently still in progress.
- Comments: I'm one of the people co-writing this, so I'm not sure how comfortable I feel doing the commentary on it. Still, this leads me to... (See below, near the bottom of General Fics.)
- Further fanfiction by the co-author of Cinnamon Bunzuh
General Fics
Stories focused on the family and the friendly relationships of the cast. Plot-focused stories or light day-in-the-life stories. Pretty much anything that isn't focused on romance.
Book 55: The Difference, by Dinosaur Nothlit
- Recommended by Roach Patrol and {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}}
- Synopsis: This picks up shortly after the Animorphs epilogue leaves off. It charts the adventures of the remaining Animorphs, as well as their new friends, as they escape The One and are captured by Kelbrids, ancestral enemies of the Andalites.
- Comments: It's well written and entertaining, and it deals with different alien species with refreshing thoughtfulness and creativity.
- Don't forget: If you like Book 55 and want to read more, there's a sequel: Book 56: The Rebirth. It's just as good - and maybe, perhaps, better - than Book 55. But don't take my word for it! *Da dan dant!*
Peter's Creation, by D. M. P
- Recommended by {{Vapour Vapour}}
- Synopsis: Cassie meets an autistic child who is good at sculpting. He sculpted a Hork-Bajir that Cassie and a controller sees, and the plot unfolds from there.
- Comments: A very good story set sometime before the last ten books (I think, not specified). It captures the personalities of the Animorphs very well and is sweet and touching, especially to those who know autistic children personality. Complete.
- User:Clevomon agrees, but wants to warn that it's a little bit hard to read because of the lack of differentiation between thought-speech and narration
- Animorphs fanfic on FF.Net suffers from that in general, as the site strips out angle brackets, which are used in the series to denote thought-speak.
- While undeniably "sweet and touching," this story has a fair amount of spelling and grammar mistakes, and some internal (within the story) and external (within canon) inconsistencies, as well as characters seeming a tad OOC at times. Ax is the worst, Marco the best, and Cassie somewhere in the middle, drifting toward Mary-Sue (or if you consider her one already, more of a Sue). Above-average sure. This is not the ranting of a crazed fan by a long shot, but this troper is unconvinced that it is truly "worth dying for."
- User:Clevomon agrees, but wants to warn that it's a little bit hard to read because of the lack of differentiation between thought-speech and narration
The Wheel, by L.Emmist
- Recommended by J the Drafter, {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}}, {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}, and User:Amethystasheryn.
- Synopsis: The Animorphs have to stop a yeerk plan to use their driver's ed school as a massive infestation point. Of course, the Animorphs' lives have never been simple, so complications develop.
- Comments: And what entertaining complications they are. (Entertaining for the readers, naturally.) This is an excellently plotted story with great characterization. The story reads just like one of K.A. Applegate's books. The pages wouldn't look at all out of place in a bookstore with a front cover of Marco turning into a gorilla and a back cover with a small summary of what's inside. Fanfiction.net's typing format prevented the appearance of the thoughtspeech symbols, which makes portions of the story slightly jarring. Please don't let that put you off, however. The story is well worth your time.
- Well, just like one except for the extremely blatant Shipping and Mary Sue jokes. KAA's work is fandom-aware, but not that fandom-aware.
- Extremely blatant? There are a few hints that Tobias and Rachel like each other, but the romance stuff hardly dominates the fic. The Mary Sue scene is a little jarring, but still funny, and it's less than a paragraph out of the entire story.
- It was a comment, not a criticism. And I meant the bit about how many times Cassie and Marco had saved each other's lives.
- My apologies. I didn't mean to overreact.
- It was a comment, not a criticism. And I meant the bit about how many times Cassie and Marco had saved each other's lives.
Fear, by Lady Kino
- Recommended by J the Drafter, {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}}, {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}, and {{Joysweeper Joysweeper}}
- Synopsis: The experiences of one controller as she endured being a host during the yeerk invasion of Earth.
- Comments: The story is bittersweet; Connie's Yeerk is capable of treating Connie with compassion, but he is still loyal to his people. Connie gets treated better than most hosts but she still sees, and is used for, some pretty horrible things. If you want a story about friendship, love, sorrow and survival than you'll love this story. If you want a story about overcoming fierce odds and fighting back, than you'd better pick something else. As L.Emmist said, "Being a controller is no picnic." All in all though, this is a great story.
Animorphs Travels #1, by Phoenix004
- Recommended by None Of The Above
- Synopsis: A devoted fan finishes the series, and falls asleep, only to awake as an Animorph. The catch is that he is extremely Genre Savvy simply because he just read the series.
- Comments: Well-written, and awesome to see Mike use his knowledge of the series to do very well in his new life.
- User:Shay Guy: Er...I'm not seeing where it's any better-written than the average self-insertion. The first two chapters certainly haven't impressed me.
A Revolution Without Dancing by Odette_River
- Recommended by J the Drafter
- Synopsis: The life and thoughts of Karen, post-war.
- Comments: This story gives an intriguing glimpse of Karen's thoughts. It's a good look at how she coped after being freed, and how she thinks in the post-war world.
The Perspective, by arin (gay themes, some sexual content)
- Recommended by Felinephoenix {{Felinephoenix Felinephoenix}} and {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}
- Synopsis: The story of a (gay and closeted) boy (Chris Windward) and his Yeerk (Orkath ###).
- Comments: Starts off as just a good, slightly different, human-controller story. Lots of good stuff about growing up as a Controller (and gay), but begins to really grow out the beard when it begins exploring the growing friendship between the Controller and his Yeerk, the Yeerk homeworld, and Humans Through Alien Eyes. Has a couple of wangsty urple moments, but overall it's well-written.
- Author Comment: Arin here. Wow, thanks for the plug, Feline, much appreciated. :) Just a quick note to everyone who may check the story out, I'm currently very slow in working on it - like, 2-3 updates a year slow (started in 2001, as of this note it has 23 chapters, whole run is expected to be about twice that). Someday I'll just take a couple of weekends and knock the rest of the thing out, though, promise. :)
Another Chance, by Kim Hoppy
- Recommended by {{Ani Jen 21 Ani Jen 21}} and {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}
- Synopsis: Loren tries to make a life, all the while remembering she has a son who wants nothing to do with her.
- Comments: A beautiful, in-depth, soulful investigation of Loren's life after the events of the war. A deeper character study than we ever got in the books, this story does such an excellent job world-building and developing Loren that you entirely forget you're reading Animorphs fanfic until Taxxon rights and Andalite tourists are mentioned. Some of the best character development found in any Animorphs fanfic, Kim also does an admirable job consolidating the unfortunately numerous logical fallacies and plot holes from the original series into a fully realized universe.
- {{Guvnorium I}} would like to mention that despite the fact (the odd fact) that there is a Ruritania in here, this is one of the best pieces of fan-fiction I have ever read. For serious. Like Ani Jen 21 said, sometimes you forget it's fan-fiction at all.
The World Can Wait, by Lady Domino
- Recommended by {{Ani Jen 21 Ani Jen 21}}
- Synopsis: A long long time ago the young warrior Alloran-Semitur-Corrass fell in love with the beautiful Jahar. Tired of waiting for him to come home, she sets out to reclaim her husband from the clutches of Esplin 9466.
- Comments: Bouncing between the past (Alloran and Jahar's courtship) and the present (Jahar's risky plan to journey across the galaxy to rescue her husband), this is a dramatic, well-paced, touching, heartbreaking (and in-universe!) story about the woefully undeveloped abandoned wife of Visser Three's host, Alloran. Beautifully written with vivid characters and some of the most evocative descriptions of the Andalite homeworld you will ever read, this story will make you view not only one-off characters like Arbat and Estrid differently, but one of the most interesting characters in the entire series, Alloran himself.
- {{Guvnorium I}} don't know, but your YMMV with this one. While I would definitely not call this story bad, the writing style grates on me somewhat, and Alloran seems, I don't know, off. Oh, and they just forgot to get permission to leave? Too much Fridge Logic for my tastes.
The Class, by Freak Apple
- Recommended by {{powertrash powertrash}}
- Synopsis: The Animorphs go through the traditional high school rite of passage...Sex ED.
- Comments: This might be the funniest Animorphs fanfic ever written. The characterization is spot on and the awkwardness is perfect.
- Seconded by this troper. It's more of crack fic than anything, but nevertheless is quite amusing. The characterisation isn't exactly "spot on" but more accurate than I've seen throughout the fandom.
The Mistake, by Freak Apple
- Recommended by {{powertrash powertrash}}
- Synopsis: Marco & Jake scope out the girl's locker room.
- Comments: Another fic of great high school fun that is both hysterical and completely believable.
Sacred Host, by Qoheleth
- Recomended by {{Lindabhair Lindabhair}}, {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}}, and {{Lady Of Procrastination Lady Of Procrastination}}
- Synopsis: A host (Teresa Sickles) starts sharing the gospel in the cages. First to Toloth 294 and his host, Gef Makkil, and slowly to other sentient species in the Sulp Niar pool. It turns out that some of the Skrit Na are Christians, and one gives Toloth a "Baibul" which he can hide in a pocket dimension of Z-Space. Some of the Yeerks, including Teresa's Yeerk Malcar 745, begin to worry if Christianity is powerful enough to significantly shake up the Yeerk Empire.
- Comments: Ok, this was serious YMMV when I first read the first chapter, but the story grew on me. Seriously. It takes an annoying concept and forces it into the shape of a good story. It's awesome.
- If there are any Christians out there, or even if you're not a Christian and you're curious as to how a fan fiction could be so good even though it brings in religion, give this story a try and you might be amazed. Many people in the reviews have praised how this story doesn't get preachy, and how it seems to fit naturally in the Animorphs' universe, despite only mentioning canon characters in passing.
- This fic provides a fascinating and character-driven exploration of a concept that I would previously have said is impossible to do well. If that doesn't convince you, read it for the diverse cast of well-rounded characters, the detailed and vivid world-building, and Qoheleth's superbly compelling writing style.
Wrong Side of the Wall, by Tiamath
- Recomended by {{Sarah 1281 Sarah1281}}
- Synopsis: AU At the end of the Yeerk Human war, Jake finally manages to save Tom from the Yeerks...but things are not always all they seem...
- Comments: This becomes AU with book 49 but it's such a fascinating story. The unnamed Yeerk develops a form of Lima syndrome but towards Jake rather than Tom. He's suspicious of Jake's not very well disguised hatred of him and slowly realizes that he's not just an Andalite pawn but morph-capable and ultimately decides not to turn him in. It's really amazing how such a short story can be so evocative and complex.
The Earth Diary of Toby Hamee, by {{Ani Jen 21 Ani Jen 21}}
- Recomended by {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}} and Rook Encounte
- Synopsis: Tobias encourages Toby Hamee to keep a diary of what she does every few days. Within the story, the events near the end of the Animorphs books take place from 6/28/99 to 2/3/00. Toby says: "I am writing this diary so that someday, people can understand what it was like to lead the Hork-Bajir through the Great War."
- Comments: At almost 55 thousand words, this is the longest fan ficion on the site with Toby Hamee as a main character. She talks about her struggles in leading her people and also having to deal with her desires for a kalashu and possibly kawatnoj. Meanwhile, events such as Marco and his dad having to fake their deaths and the "beaver dam" battle at the free Hork-Bajir colony intersect with Toby's story. It's not finished yet, but I'm loving what I've read so far.
- It's now finished. It is the most amazing and profound piece of fanfiction that this troper has every read about a Hork-Bajir (including the Hork-Bajir Chronicles) and has been well worth the wait. Be warned, though, the final chapter is at least as long as the rest of the fic combined and may take a minute or two to load. If you are an Animorphs fan and have even the slightest interest in Toby (or even if you don't) you should definitely read this fic.
Home for Dinner and Weekends by HotPinkCoffee
- Recommended by {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}} and {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}
- Synopsis: This story details the life of Eva Salazar, Marco's mom, leading up to and including her infestation by Edriss 562. We get to see a lot of what both Eva and Edriss think about each other. Eva swears that she'll be free one day, even if it's in death. In the sequel, The Husk, we see more of how Eva deals with Visser One as she works toward her goals, and the last few chapters are about how Eva helps Marco after she is freed and after the war. Great character study.
- Comments: Be sure to read the sequel, too. I ended up making my comments in my synopsis by accident.
Animorphs Dementia by Veravine
- Recommended by Jagzariamut
- Synopsis: The Animorphs find out that there is an alternate dimension where everyone is of the opposite gender, Arbron gave them the morphing power instead of Elfangor (who is still alive, albeit as a human nothlit), David worked out and Rachel went nuts, the word 'squirrel' is spelt with a W and Ax's fur is darker.
- Comments: One of the earliest fics ever (hence the four-digit code) and yet one of the greatest.
Idyllic by Sarah1281
- Recommended by Lady Stacy
- Synopsis: It was a secret war they pretended didn't exist for so long but eventually they all became aware of it and then there was no going back for any of them. The ending was almost inevitable but it's the journey that matters. Snapshots of the Berenson family.
- Comments: A damn good series of introspections and missing moments in the books. The author's got Jake's voice down really nicely and has done a great job developing Tom. The few Jean and Steve chapters are a little weak but still good.
The Agreement, by From.The.Tower
- Recommended by {{Dogman 15 Dogman15}}
- Synopsis: After Cassie traps herself in the body of a caterpillar, and after the Animorphs let Aftran go to fulfill her end of the deal, there's work to be done, and things to think about. Aftran's point of view, first person.*
- Comments: There's some emotion hidden in this story. It's an excellent story that fits in perfectly with canon.
- Seconding the rec. The story gives a good look at Aftran's mind, and it does a nice job showing the parts of Aftran's story after the Animorphs released her that canon didn't cover.
The Opinionated Animorphs Book Guide
- Recommended by {{Janewwwu Janewwwu}}
- A summary of each and every Animorphs book, done by poparena, and a work in progress.
- Comment by Joysweeper: Mixed review. They're entertaining, but poparena's bias against Cassie sometimes becomes grating. In the review for Megamorphs #2 he has a guest with a paleontology degree and totally ignores most of what she says. He asked her if Tobias could have learned as much about dinosaurs as he knows in the books - she says that dinosaurs aren't well covered in schools and many books about them that kids would read aren't very accurate, but there are some which are, and she's known a lot of kids who know a lot about dinosaurs. He asks if Tobias makes any mistakes she can pick up, and she points to one page in which he lists every prehistoric creature he's seen, calls them collectively dinosaurs, and there are plesiosaurs - dinosaur cousins, not strictly dinosaurs - in that list. Poparena proceeds to say that according to his expert, Tobias would be working on bad information and had already misidentified some dinosaurs. Also, Poparena's condemnation of Jake as a "pussy" because Jake's been to a concert that included a female singer and knows the name of an ice skater - cardinal sins against precious masculinity, clearly! - is really fucking obnoxious.
The Salvation, by TobiasFliesFree
- Recommended by: User:Metz 77
- Synopsis: Rachel is given a second chance at life, but when Tobias is captured by Yeerk extremists, she needs to find a way to reunite the Animorphs to get him back. Contains some Rachel/Tobias, obviously.
She Dreams in Color, She Dreams in Red, by natural-blue-26
- Recommended by: User:Metz 77
- Synopsis: A collection of twenty-five Rachel-centric drabbles, examining her life from her own perspective and those of the people around her.
Six Days the Animorphs Were Idiots (aka Ifi's Fanfiction) by Ifi
- Recommended by: User:Count Spatula
- Synopsis: Visser Three sulks and develops a predilection towards adopting cats. The brightly colored clouds on the book covers are explained as a result of Marco's illicit drug use. Cassie forms a whale-worshiping cult. Essentially a compilation of the in-jokes from the Cinnamon Bunzuh! project. Until things dive straight into Cerebus Syndrome. (Now concluded.)
- Comments: Pure, unadulterated crack, yet everyone seems bizarrely in character.
- Frighteningly so.
Shipping Fics
Stories focused on the romantic relationships between the cast.
Pure Sunshine, by attica (AU)
- Recommended by Roach Patrol
- Pairing(s): Rachel/Tobias
- Synopsis: Set after the war. They won, and Rachel's still alive, but Tobias has given up on being human and does his best to live as a hawk.
- Comments: It's sad and sweet and hopeful.
- I don't like this one, to be frank, but then again I've never seen why Tobias being a hawk is a big deal, not since the Ellimist gave him morphing power again.
- His base form is still a hawk. And if he spends more than two hours as a human, he'll be stuck like that, out of the war for good. Besides, he's lived and hunted and grown older for years anyway - it's hard to go back after that.
- I don't like this one, to be frank, but then again I've never seen why Tobias being a hawk is a big deal, not since the Ellimist gave him morphing power again.
Elfangor's Folly, by Kim Hoppy (AU)
- Recommended by Pickled Plums and {{Ani Jen 21 Ani Jen 21}}
- Pairing(s): Elfangor/Loren
- Synopsis: An AU where Elfangor survived the crash and led the Animorphs, while also rekindling his relationship with Loren.
- Comments: This is a Fix Fic done right! It follows canon pretty closely, while also putting in reasonable changes as would be expected with a more experienced leader like Elfangor. And the romance between Elfangor and Loren is so beautifully well-done, not pulling any punches or glossing over any difficulties while allowing the growth to be realistic and touching! Just to warn people, it's...rather long.
- It's fairly well written, and some of the character interaction is well-done and believable, but some of it doesn't make much sense. For example, the kids seem to react very similarly or identically to how they do in the series when confronted with various situations, despite the fact that most of the reasons for them developing to ____ point is removed by Elfangor's constant formulation of plans that always work perfectly and allow the kids to escape with a minimum of any trauma. Cassie quitting in book 19 doesn't make much sense unless there's been some major crap that's gone on before that, and the kids probably would have died on Leera or the Iskroot world unless they had some serious experience beforehand and had become a well-organized and disciplined military team who were very used to making crap up as they go. And... they don't. The end result is that thus far the fic feels much Lighter and Softer than the series did, and there is little on-screen character development which makes some of the plots very hard to buy. Most of the action has also been removed - this fic is all about Elfangor/Loren, and doesn't show much else.
- I found Elfangor's smug, superior attitude towards everyone incredibly grating. The author goes out of their way to point out how inexperienced and wrong the Animorphs are in comparison to Elfangor in an attempt to show how he leads them correctly, but ends up just making Elfangor boring and annoying. The lack of development for the rest of the cast doesn't help.
Crossover Fics
The Animorphs Enter the Beast Wars by Gaz42
- Recommended by User:The Rich Sheik
- Synopsis: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Erik warns the Animorphs that Visser 3 has obtained an almost functioning time machine. During the battle to seize it the device is hit by a dragon beam, activating it and sending the group, Visser 3, and 30 controllers back in time to the Beast Wars.
- Comments: Humans that become animals teaming up with Robots that become animals. Explores the parallels in character personalities between the heroes and villains. Sadly no Villain Team-Up here. (Terrasoar and Waspinator can beat the controllers.)
My Brain Slug by Insane Troll Logic - Animorphs / Scrubs Crossover
- Recommended by User:B 2 WM and {{Guvnorium Guvnorium}}
- Synopsis: So Turk just extracted a brain slug from a patient, JD’s being stalked by a red-tailed hawk and Cox has been acting a little different. Not exactly your average day at Sacred Heart.
- Comments: Quite possibly the weirdest matchup I've ever seen with this fandom, yet the voice is perfect JD and the Animorphs are true to character. Very much worth checking out.
- Quite possibly the best crossover I have ever read. A hearty seconding of this recommendation.
- It utterly astounds me how well the author managed to convert JD's cutaway gags into text form.
Make A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul by Joking - Animorphs / His Dark Materials
- Recommended by Joysweeper
- Synopsis: They can't tell you their real names, or their dæmons' names. The Yeerks are everywhere. But they're going to fight back. This is a fusion with His Dark Materials - basically, Animorphs but with dæmons.
- Comments: It's a rehash of the first book from the perspective of Tobias, a Tobias with a dæmon going by Elhariel. Just as in HDM, dæmons reflect the kids' internal states. I like details such as what happens to dæmons when kids morph or people are infested by Yeerks. This fic adds even more angst to poor Emohawk. Rated Teen for mention of domestic violence and child abuse, plus "the usual Animorphs nightmare fuel".
The Shapes of Our Souls, by Joking - Animorphs / His Dark Materials
- Recommended by Joysweeper - Seconded by User:B 2 WM
- Synopsis: The Animorphs - and their dæmons - reshape themselves. Or, six moments from the time period of books 2 - 5, as told by each of the six Animorphs.
- Comments: Continuing on from the above fic. This AU just seems well thought out.
- The author has a whole Daemorphing series on Fanfiction as Bird of Poetry; the series Needs More Love there.
- I love this fic. Ax and Tobias' relationship is particularly powerful, and everyone is in-character.
- The author has a whole Daemorphing series on Fanfiction as Bird of Poetry; the series Needs More Love there.
Shifting Times by Shadewolf7 Animorphs/Harry Potter
- Recommended by The Warrior of Many Faces
- Synopsis: The Animorphs had an unofficial seventh member. A very young girl who got caught up in their secret war and was given morphing powers to survive. That girl moved to England. And years later, an owl comes for her.
- Comments: Brilliant. Simply brilliant. Her morphing abilities have well-planned effects on her magic, the story is well-written, and the characters feel real. Main character is an author insert, but it seems to be handled well; though, a few reviewers have noticed some Sue-ish qualities. So far, the main Animorphs haven't made anything more than cameos and references; if you don't like OC Animorphs, don't read this. The fic appears to have died, however.
The prize we sought is won by tigriswolf. Animorphs/Supernatural.
- Recommended by withrainfall.
- Synopsis: Oneshot. In exchange for unprecedented powers, Tobias makes a deal with certain beings after the war. Set post-Animorphs and in Season 1 or 2 of Supernatural. No knowledge of SPN required, but it certainly helps if you're familiar with it.
- Comments: Tobias is a good choice of character, as he was in a particularly vulnerable frame of mind as the war ended. Excellent writing.