I jumped into my usual re-read of H.G. Wells; Time Machine, Dr. Moreau, Invisible Man...then this happened.

If you know this then you are certainly a 90's kid.

Animorphs.

I missed this.

I seriously forgot just how good these are. I managed to stumble across the last book I needed (#52-curse you and your unavailability!!) and started at no.1 for the first time in years. Not only was this pretty damn good sci-fi but it was also chock full of extremely good character development. And it was intended for kids. From Scholastic of all places. It's an absolutely hopeless premise. Dark. Grisly. Hellish. Filled with the stuff of nightmares. How in the heck these kids didn't immediately start suffering from PTSD is amazing.

Yet for most of the series they manage to somehow hold on to their sanity. This is what always really made it stand out in my mind.

Sure you can't openly read them in public because they're ostensibly kids books. But if these were made into a film you'd have an impossible time negotiating for a PG-13 rating. There's some truly silly books (#14 has to do with Area 51 essentially guarding a primitive alien toilet. Yep. Really wish I was making it up.) and #24-40 something were ghostwritten, but damn it if these weren't great reads.

They still read well today despite the now dated late 90's setting. I started a few days ago. Already downed 18 of them.