The Alien, published in July 1997 and written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, is the eighth book in the Animorphs series. It is the second book narrated by Ax and his first book as sole narrator.

Synopsis

Plot

Prologue

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill is standing with his brother Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul inside of an Andalite Dome ship as it exits from Z-Space and emerges near Earth. While warrior-cadet arisths like Aximili are typically not stationed on Dome ships, Aximili has been allowed to join due to him being the young brother of the war hero Elfangor. As the Dome ship heads toward Earth, intending to land, the Andalites notice a fleet of Yeerk Empire Bug fighters. rushing toward them. As all Andalites are deployed to their fighter positions, Elfangor runs out of the room to get to his fighter while Aximili follows him. Elfangor orders Aximili to retreat to the Dome since arisths are not permitted to fight, despite Aximili wanting to fight as well. Elfangor tells Aximili that one day they will fight side-by-side, and the two brothers touch their tail-blades together before Elfangor uses a dropshaft to descend to his fighter while Aximili takes a dropshaft into the Dome part of the ship. From there, he watches in horror as a Visser's Blade ship emerges out of a crater of Earth's moon. In order to gain the maneuverability necessary to combat a Blade ship, the Andalites detach the Dome from the rest of ship, although the Blade ship fires Dracon beams, destroying the rest of the ship and killing all of the Andalites on board. The force of the explosion propels the Dome into Earth's gravity well, and Aximili is helpless as the dome enters Earth's atmosphere before eventually crash-landing into one of the planet's oceans. Waiting to be rescued, Aximili spends weeks in solitude before deciding to use a mirrorwave call to send a message about his survival to any Andalites on the planet's surface.

Present Day

In the woods, shortly after their defeat of the Veleek, the Animorphs meet with Ax, who wishes to learn all about humanity. Jake decides that he and Marco will take Ax to the movie theater to watch a Star Trek movie to help Ax learn about human culture, and Ax privately muses that he hopes to be an expert on humans by the time he reunites with his people and that he must find a way to learn about humans without them learning anything about Andalites. The Animorphs, with Ax in his human morph, head to the mall's movie theater, with Ax, Marco, and Jake entering the theater while Rachel and Cassie wait outside along with Tobias. During the movie, Ax becomes distracted with food on the floor and begins to eat it; overwhelmed with the sense of taste, he eats more food off of the floor before attempting to get candy from a child, forcing Jake and Marco to drag Ax out of the theater and into the mall parking lot. Just then, Tobias alerts them that a man screaming about Yeerks is approaching them. The group observes as the man shouts to a crowd of onlookers that the Yeerks are here, and the Animorphs realize that the man is a host body whose Yeerk is dying of Kandrona ray starvation. Jake is ecstatic as he had been waiting for hosts to be freed ever since they destroyed the Kandrona two weeks ago, although Rachel skeptically wonders why they are seeing hosts suddenly fight for freedom now instead of two weeks ago. The team watches as the police arrive along with an ambulance, and Jake, Marco, and Cassie gleefully exclaim that humans are now being freed from control and can share the truth about the Yeerks to the world, although none of them except Ax notice that one of the police officers injects a steel cylindrical device into the back of the raving man's neck, instantly killing him and the Yeerk inside his head. Despite knowing that the Yeerk Empire will kill any host who regains freedom, Ax chooses not to share this information with the others as he does not wish to violate the Andalite law of Seerow's Kindness.

The next day, Ax does his morning ritual when Tobias warns him that there is a rattlesnake about to bite him. Using his tail, Ax subdues the rattlesnake and acquires it before tossing into a nearby bush. Ax then heads to the edge of the forest bordering the grounds of the junior high school, as he will attending the school to learn more about humanity by pretending to be a fake cousin of Jake's named Phillip. At the edge of the forest, with Tobias keeping watch from above, Ax meets with Jake and Cassie and assumes his human morph before joining Jake and Cassie. Ax follows Jake to his homeroom, where Jake's teacher Mr. Pardue is revealed to be a host body who is dying of Kandrona starvation. As Pardue screams for the Yeerk inside while clawing at his head while blood pours, Jake rushes to Pardue's side and tells him that he too was once infested and to keep fighting. Just then, "Chapman" enters and orders the students to leave. Ax pulls Jake away, and as they exit the classrom, the two spot "Chapman" using the steel cylindrical device to instantly kill Pardue and his Yeerk. Horrified, Jake runs outside of the school building, with Ax following. Jake is aghast that Pardue was murdered, and realizes that the Yeerk Empire will simply kill any host on the verge of freedom, which Ax confirms. Jake, holding himself and the Animorphs responsible for any host who was killed since they were the ones who destroyed the Kandrona, realizes that Ax already knew that the hosts would be killed and lashes out, stating that the rest of the team considers Ax to be an Animorph and that he should trust them with what he knows. Jake reminds Ax that Tom could have been killed and that he had a right to know, only for Ax to retort that destroying the Kandrona was vital and that he did not tell Jake since he believed Jake would not have gone through with the mission for Tom's sake. Jake tells Ax that he still does not understand humans and walks away, leaving Ax to return the woods and demorph.

The next day, Ax is visited by Marco, who invites him to come with him to a bookstore, as the Animorphs have all pitched in to buy Ax a book to further his understanding and study of humans. Marco, who along with the other Animorphs had been informed of the argument between Ax and Jake by Jake himself, tells Ax that Jake wants Ax to realize that he can indeed trust them. While walking to the bus stop, Marco realizes he forgot the book money at home and brings Ax to his house. As Marco's father is working from home due to a leg injury, Marco orders Ax to not speak unless spoken to and to only answer with either "Yes" or "No" when prompted. While Marco goes upstairs to his room, Ax spots Marco's father's computer in the living room and notices a computer program, which he assumes is a game where one must find the errors. Believing it is a simple game, Ax "plays" the game and swiftly fixes the errors. He is then interrupted by Marco's father, who demands to know who he is, prompting Ax to respond with "No"; this causes Marco's father to believe that Ax's name is No before Marco returns downstairs and ushers Ax out of the house. The pair go to a bookstore, where Marco purchases a copy of The World Almanac for Ax, which Ax spends the night reading.

The following day, Ax is confronted in the woods by the Animorphs, with Marco yelling that Ax interfered with his father's work by altering the software his father had been designing for an observatory's radio telescope. Ax explains that he thought it was a children's game to fix the errors and wonders what a radio telescope is; when Cassie tells him that radio telescopes can transmit signals into space, Ax realizes that his modifications to the software, coupled with the radio telescope, would allow him to transmit messages into Z-Space, thus allowing him to communicate with the Andalite homeworld. The Animorphs notice Ax's reaction and ask him what he is hiding from them, and Ax lies that he is not hiding anything, prompting the group to disband. That night, Ax runs across the fields as he eats while pondering about his actions. Having broken the law of Seerow's Kindness by modifying the software, Ax contends that per Andalite law he would have to make it right by deleting his changes, but wonders whether he could use the updated software to call his people first. Distracted by his thoughts, Ax runs out into the fields of Cassie's farm and quickly tries to backtrack, berating himself for being so careless. However, Cassie, who had been running through the fields in her horse morph, spots him and strikes up a conversation. Noticing that Ax seems very lonely, she tells him to morph to human and join her family for dinner; when Ax points out that her family would not recognize his human morph and thus would ask questions, Cassie tells him to use his Jake morph instead. As Jake, Ax has dinner with Cassie's parents and enjoys spending time with her father and mother. As the two-hour time limit is nearly up, Ax and Cassie exit her house and walk back toward the woods. Cassie asks about the Almanac, and Ax tells her that his reading of the Almanac has taught him that humans have scientifically progressed at a faster rate than the Andalites; Ax also states that all species carry some form of guilt, which Cassie notices but chooses to not ask for elaboration.

Ax then demorphs and returns to the woods, where he wakes Tobias and asks Tobias if they are friends. Tobias confirms that they are, and Ax follows up by asking Tobias if he would keep a secret from Jake and the others. Tobias agrees to do so if the secret did not harm them, and Ax asks Tobias to bring him to the observatory where the radio telescope is kept. In the morning, Ax morphs to northern harrier and flies alongside Tobias to the observatory. Landing inside while Tobias remains outside, Ax demorphs to Andalite and activates the computer console connected to the telescope, and finds that his updated software has already been installed. Ax uses the telescope to transmit a live video and audio call to the Andalite homeworld. He informs Prince Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss, the Head of the Andalite Council, that he has destroyed a Kandrona by teaming up with morph-capable humans and discloses that they had received their powers from Elfangor. Lirem points that Ax has broken the law of Seerow's Kindness by modifying human software in order to make Z-space transmissions, and not wanting to sully Elfangor's name and legacy as he believes the Andalite people needed a hero to revere, Lirem pressures Ax into taking the blame for giving the Animorphs their powers. Ax reluctantly "confesses" to having broken the law of Seerow's Kindness by giving humans the power to morph, and is officially pardoned for the crime by Lirem. Prince Lirem, who had served as an advisor to the Hork-Bajir when their homeworld was being attacked by the Yeerk Empire, reminds Ax that the humans are not his people and orders him to keep fighting the Yeerk Empire alongside the Animorphs while continuing to keep information from them.

Lirem transfers the call over to Ax's father Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf. Noorlin is relieved to see that Ax is alive and inquires as to Elfangor's whereabouts, forcing Ax to notify his father that Elfangor had been murdered. As per Andalite custom, Noorlin tells Ax that it is his duty to avenge Elfangor's death by killing Elfangor's murderer or die trying, a responsibility that Ax accepts. With the ritual questioning completed, Noorlin starts talking to Ax freely when the transmission abruptly disconnects. The perpetrator, a human-Controller named Eslin 359, admits to having heard the last few moments of the transmission and aims a Dracon beam at Ax. Tobias swoops down and rakes Eslin's human arm, causing a bloody piece of Eslin's shirt to be stuck to his talons. Eslin puts the Dracon beam down and tells the "two Andalites" that he has come to ask for a favor. Eslin explains that he had noticed the software change and realized that an Andalite had modified it to allow for Z-Space communication, and thus waited for the Andalite bandits to arrive.

Eslin tells them that when the Animorphs destroyed the Kandrona, Visser Three promised all of the Yeerks that he would ensure everyone was fed, only to prioritize those he favored while deeming the others expandable. Eslin divulges that the Yeerk he loved the most, Derane 344, was one of these expendable Yeerks, and that he wishes to avenge her death by having Visser Three killed. Eslin discloses that he was the one who sabotaged the recent feeding shuttle, which led to the surge of humans on the brink of freedom who publicly raved about the Yeerks. Wanting the "Andalite bandits" to murder Visser Three, Eslin writes down the location of the meadow where Visser Three feeds his Andalite body, and having eavesdropped on Ax's conversation with his father, reminds Ax that it his duty to avenge Elfangor by killing Visser Three. Ax and Tobias fly out of the observatory, and Tobias flies by the other Animorphs, who inquire about the bloody garment on his talons. Tobias tells them that he cannot explain anything since he made a promise, causing the Animorphs to immediately realize that Tobias made a promise to Ax. The Animorphs confront Ax about how he has not only kept secrets from them but is also having Tobias keep secrets from them, and the argument culminates in Jake telling Ax that he has two options — be an Animorph and confide everything he knows with the team and trust them, or leave the team and fight the Yeerk Empire on his own. As the law of Seerow's Kindness prevents him from telling the Animorphs what they want to know, Ax leaves the group.

In the morning, Ax performs his ritual, although he performs the death ritual instead of the morning ritual. Ax privately laments that he has no future in Andalite society since he was charged with the crime of breaking Seerow's Kindness and that if he kills Visser Three at the very least his people will deem him to have died honorably. Ax believes that he has no chance of killing Visser Three and living to tell the tale, and Tobias urges Ax to reach out to the Animorphs and ask them to help him. Ax refuses, claiming that even though he has left the group, he stills considers Jake to be his Prince and does not want to run the risk of Jake forbidding him from proceeding with the assassination mission. Tobias is stunned that Jake could order Ax to stop, and asks if Jake could order Ax to answer their questions, to which Ax clarifies that a Prince cannot order him to violate the law. Tobias muses that Jake is also his Prince in a way, and asks Ax to tell him where the meadow is, although Ax refuses. Ax runs toward the meadow and spots a fresh Andalite hoofprint by the stream, confirming Eslin's information that Visser Three uses the meadow to feed. Ax decides to morph into the rattlesnake he acquired and waits in a patch of grass by the water. When Visser Three arrives shortly after, Ax bites Visser Three in the leg before slithering away. Visser Three yells at his Hork-Bajir-Controller guards to find the snake that bit him and to kill it, and Ax begins to demorph in order to fight.

While demorphing, he finds himself standing near a Hork-Bajir-Controller; as Ax is defenseless in his mid-morph stage, he accepts his death as the Hork-Bajir-Controller lunges toward him, only for the Hork-Bajir to be charged by Rachel in her grizzly bear morph. The Animorphs arrive in their battle morphs and subdue the Hork-Bajir-Controllers, and Tobias tells Ax that he simply had Jake order him to tell him everything since Jake was also his Prince, and that he already knew where the meadow was as his hawk's superior vision had easily been able to read the note that Eslin had given Ax. With the Hork-Bajir-Controllers near Visser Three fleeing, the Animorphs surround the Visser, only for Visser Three to exit from his Andalite host and escape into the stream. The Andalite host tells them that he is War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass and asks them to kill him. Ax is unable to bring himself to kill an unhosted Andalite and refuses, despite Alloran assuring them that the Yeerk Empire would be able to treat the snake venom in his system and that he would be reinfested by Visser Three. Realizing that the "Andalite bandits" would not be killing him, Alloran simply asks Ax to tell his wife and children that he loves them and divulges that there is a Yeerk presence on the Andalite homeworld before passing out. As Yeerk reinforcements arrive, the Animorphs and Ax make their retreat, knowing that the next time they encounter Alloran, he would be the host body to Visser Three once more.

Two days later, Ax calls the Animorphs for a meeting and notifies them that he wishes to tell them everything. He explains that the Law of Seerow's Kindness came out due to Prince Seerow, who spearheaded the first expedition to the Yeerk homeworld and pitied the Yeerks; Seerow then gave the Yeerks advanced technology, such as Kandronas and spaceflight, which the Yeerks used to escape from their planet and initiate their parasitic conquest of the universe. Cassie realizes that this is the guilt the Andalites are facing as they are responsible for the Yeerk Empire's galaxy-wide subjugation of species. The Animorphs assure Ax that humans are not like the Yeerks and that Seerow had the right idea but simply trusted the wrong species. Ax promises to tell the Animorphs whatever they want to know moving forward and assures them that he will not be keeping secrets from them, and becomes an official member of the Animorphs. Ax later flies back to the observatory to delete his software changes, where an enranged Eslin seethes that Ax had failed to kill Visser Three. Ax instructs Eslin to fire up the Z-Space transmission one last time in exchange for Ax not informing Visser Three that Eslin had betrayed him. Ax shares Alloran's wishes to Prince Lirem and declares that he does not want the humans to suffer the same fate as the Hork-Bajir, and therefore will do whatever is in his power to help them, even if it means breaking the law. Lirem tells Ax that he is just like Elfangor, which Ax takes a compliment.

Appearances

Protagonists

• Jake
• Rachel
• Tobias
• Cassie
• Marco
• Ax

Antagonists

• Esplin 9466
• Various Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers

Other Characters

• Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul (Prologue)
• Nerefir (Prologue) (Only Appearance)
• Pardue's Yeerk (Only Appearance) (Death)
  • Pardue (Only Appearance) (Death)
• Peter
• Walter
• Michelle
• Ithileran-Halas-Corain (Only Appearance)
• Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss (Only Appearance)
• Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf (Only Appearance)
• Eslin 359 (Only Appearance)
  • Gary Kozlar (Body) (Only Appearance)
• Alloran-Semitur-Corrass (First Appearance as Himself)

Locations

• California, United States
  • Mall (Exterior)
    • Cineplex (First Appearance)
  • Junior High School
  • Peter's Residence
  • Cassie's Farm
    • Cassie's House
    • Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic
  • Observatory (Only Appearance)
  • Abandoned Construction Site (Mentioned)
  • Berenson Residence (Mentioned)
  • The Gardens (Mentioned)
  • Naomi's House (Indirectly Mentioned)
• Andalite homeworld (Mentioned)
  • Andalite Academy (Mentioned)
• Yeerk homeworld (Mentioned)

Organizations

• Andalite military (Prologue) (First Appearance)
• Animorphs
• Yeerk Empire
• Police Department

Items

• Dome ship (Prologue)
  • GalaxyTree (Prologue)
• Dropshafts
• Bug fighter
• Blade ship
• Dracon beams
• Raisinets
• M&M's
• The World Almanac (First Appearance)
• Kandrona (Mentioned)
  • Kandrona rays (Mentioned)
• Seerow's Kindness (Mentioned)
• Elfangor's fighter (Mentioned)

Other Mentions

Characters

• Veleek
• Hawjabran
• Ongachic
• Antarean Bogg
• Jean (Indirectly)
• Tom
• Steve
• Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen
• Seerow
• Derane 344
• Nahara

References

• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Ice Capades
  • Winter Olympics (2012 Relaunch only)
• Beavis
  • Shaggy (2012 Relaunch only)
  • Scooby-Doo (2012 Relaunch only)
• USS Enterprise
• Klingon
• MTV
• War of 1812
• Pinocchio
• Oscar
• Nobel Prize
• Albert Einstein
• Discovery of radioactivity
• Trinity
• Wright Flyer
• Apollo 11
• Snickers
• Chicago Bulls
• 1996 NBA playoffs
• E.T.
  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
• The Rolling Stones
• Smokey the Bear
• "Give me liberty or give me death!"
• Patrick Henry

Major/Highlighted Events

• Ax has forged a friendship with Tobias, as they are two outcasts who live in the woods, and Ax comes to believe that Tobias may be his shorm, an Andalite word for "best friend."
• The Animorphs discover that human hosts, whose Yeerks have died due to Kandrona starvation, are being murdered by the Yeerk Empire to prevent exposure, with Jake witnessing "Chapman" kill his homeroom teacher publicly at school. The Animorphs are aghast, as they believed the hosts would be freed when their Yeerk starved and died, and are horrified when they discover that Ax knew the truth and kept it from them. Jake becomes upset at Ax, since Tom is a host body and could have been killed, and claims that the Animorphs have blood on their hands as he finds them responsible for the deaths of the murdered human hosts. The other Animorphs also begin to distrust Ax even more as he refuses to answer any questions that they ask.
• Ax reveals that he is bound to Andalite customs and laws, one of which is the Law of Seerow's Kindness, which prevents Andalites from sharing any knowledge or technology with other species, including his human friends. Ax inadvertently breaks this law when he accidentally updates Marco's father's radio telescope software program into one capable of inter-dimensional communication. Realizing that he can use the updated program to contact the Andalite homeworld, Ax enlists the help of Tobias to locate the observatory, although he hides his intentions from Tobias.
• Successfully establishing a call with Andalite military officials, Ax informs them of the Animorphs' existence and his alliance with them. Not wanting to sully Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul's name by revealing to the public that he broke the sacred law of Seerow's Kindness by giving humans the power to morph, the head of the Andalite council, Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss, pressures Ax into taking the blame, thus besmirching Ax's name and honor. Lirem explains that they are busy fighting the Yeerk Empire in space and do not have immediate plans to reach Earth, although he orders Ax to keep fighting the Yeerks while withholding information from the Animorphs. The call is then transferred to Ax's father, who reminds him that as per Andalite custom, the burden of killing Visser Three is now his honor-bound duty. The call is abruptly ended by Eslin 359, a Controller who wishes to work with the 'Andalite bandits' to kill Visser Three. Eslin reveals that after the Animorphs destroyed the Kandrona, Visser Three only prioritized his favorite Yeerks to receive Kandrona ray rations, which caused his love Derane 344 to starve to death. Wanting revenge, Eslin tells Ax where Visser Three feeds his Andalite form and asks Ax to kill the Visser.
• The Animorphs, having learned that Ax had Tobias sworn to secrecy about where they went, tell Ax to be forthcoming or to leave the group. Unable to answer their questions due to Lirem's order, Ax leaves them to become an independent warrior. The next day, he goes to the meadow where Visser Three is feeding, morphs into a rattlesnake, and bites Visser Three's Andalite host body. While demorphing, Ax is nearly killed by a Hork-Bajir-Controller but is saved by Rachel and the other Animorphs, who followed Ax after Tobias notified them of Ax's plan.
• Visser Three flees his host body for the first time in decades, and Ax and the Animorphs are unwilling to kill the freed Andalite, who reveals his name to be Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. Alloran begs them to kill him, but when they refuse, he merely asks Ax to send a message to his family on his behalf, and warns him that the Yeerk Empire has invaded the Andalite homeworld. The Animorphs then leave the area, allowing Alloran to be reinfested. The Yeerk Empire's presence on the homeworld is further explored in The Decision.
• Ax decides to officially join the Animorphs as their sixth member and agrees to reveal everything he knows to them, and informs them of the truth behind Seerow's Kindness. He explains that Seerow was an Andalite Prince who led an expedition to the Yeerk homeworld for the first time and learned that the Yeerks were a highly-intelligent species trapped on their homeworld. Believing that the Yeerks deserved to travel the stars and visit other worlds, Seerow gave them Andalite technology, including spacecraft and portable Kandronas. The Yeerks then left their homeworld and began enslaving species across the galaxy, causing Seerow to become a pariah and for the Andalites as a whole to feel responsible and guilty over the Yeerk invasion.
• The shades of gray are first explored in this book with all three factions. The first faction, the Animorphs, discover that their biggest victory (destroying a Kandrona) hurt the Yeerks significantly, albeit at the expense of the lives of human hosts, and thus learn about the horrors and desolation of war-time decisions as they realize the mass murder of freed hosts was due to their actions. The Yeerks, who were previously painted as evil, malicious slugs, are also given more depth, when Eslin reveals that Yeerks are capable of love and passion, and that he wants Visser Three dead for killing the Yeerk he loved. Thirdly, the Andalite military, who were previously referred to as heroes for choosing to fight the Yeerk Empire and wanting to save species such as humans from Yeerk enslavement, are revealed to be fighting the Yeerk Empire not out altruism, but rather out of guilt and shame as they find themselves to be responsible for the Yeerk Empire; additionally, they are shown to be indifferent to the fates of other species that the Yeerk Empire targets, such as Hork-Bajir and humans.

Morphs

Trivia

• The cover quote is, "He's only human. When he wants to be...."
• The inside front cover quote is, "Look who's talking...."
• Four Andalite terms are introduced for the first time:
  • shorm, which means "tail blade" but is also a term used for "best friend" since a best friend is someone an Andalite would trust with their tail blade against their throat.
  • aristh, a rank in the Andalite military signifying "warrior-cadet."
  • nothlit, someone who has been trapped in morph.
  • estreen, individuals who possess the ability to control the morphing process.
• The events of this book are stated to be taking place two weeks after The Stranger. Ax also states that it has been quite some time since he acquired his human morph, giving us a sense of the passage of time from The Message to now.
• This is the third book in which the cover art does not depict a morph acquired in the book, as Ax acquired his human morph in The Message.
• This is the first book in the series to feature a human morph on the cover.
• This is the first and only book to feature Ax's "Earth diary" entries.
• This book came attached with a pair of Ax bookmarks with it. The bookmarks come with humorous tear-off corners to resemble Ax having bitten them off.
• This book is the first to have the earlier printings feature a shiny dark color around the Animorphs logo on the cover. For books #1-7, all earlier printings had the 'Animorphs' logo on the cover with a white background, replaced in later printings with a shiny color. Starting with book 8, all book covers had a shiny color either on the Animorphs logo itself, or the background color.
  • The Alien was intended to have the original white background logo, with its original cover design shown on the official website. However, it was changed to the metallic logo prior to its release.
• The cover of this book is the first time any alien is depicted on the cover, and also marks the first instance of an Andalite being depicted. The preview ad for this book, found inside The Andalite's Gift, had the text "cover shows an alien morph!" as this was a first for the series.
• This was the last book to be released as a part of Scholastic's Animorphs Relaunch. While The Stranger was the last book to be released physically, The Alien was released in e-book format online.
• This marks the first time that Alloran-Semitur-Corrass is freed from his imprisonment, albeit briefly.
• This is the second instance in which the book's narrator is the only person to acquire a new morph, after The Stranger.
• Jake and Marco take Ax to the movie theater to see a Star Trek: The Next Generation movie. Ax comments that a Klingon looked like a female Ongachic, and that the USS Enterprise resembled a Hawjabran freighter.
• This is the first time Ax is referred to as "Ax-man"; this is also the first time Visser Three is referred to as "The Abomination", although Ax did refer to him as an abomination in The Predator.
• Ax reveals that he has morphed animals from the Andalite homeworld before. According to The Andalite Chronicles, Andalites typically acquired a djabala, hoober, or kafit bird; since Ax's first flying experience was as a northern harrier in The Predator, the morph(s) he possesses are either a djabala and/or a hoober morph.
• When contemplating his human morph, Ax adds that he would have liked to have acquired Tobias' human DNA as well, but never got to, since Tobias is a red-tailed hawk nothlit; however, Ellimist briefly rendered Tobias human twice in The Stranger, leaving Ax with two opportunities to have acquired Tobias' human DNA.
• Cassie's father asks Ax, who is in Jake morph, if he thinks the Chicago Bulls would make it to the NBA playoffs again this year (1997), as they did the previous year (1996), referencing the 1996 NBA playoffs where the Bulls defeated the Seattle SuperSonics (now known as Oklahoma City Thunder).
• In The Message, Marco and his father's place of residence was low-income garden apartment complex, a place they still lived in by the next book, The Predator, with Marco musing that he used to live in the same suburbs as Jake. However, at the end of that book, Marco's father decided to go back to work, and by the next book, The Capture, Marco and his father had moved to a middle class apartment. By this book, Marco's father has once again purchased a house in the same affluent suburban area.
• Counting Ax's three-day masquerade as Jake in The Capture as one instance, this marks the second instance of an Animorph morphing into another Animorph.

Goofs/Inconsistencies

• In the prologue, Ax refers to Yeerks as slugs while talking to Elfangor. Given that slugs are native to Earth, it seems unlikely that Andalites would use the term when discussing Yeerks. However, as this book confirms that Andalites did study humanity via Earth television programming, it is possible that Andalites learned about slugs and subsequently began to refer to the Yeerks as such.
• Ax states that he cannot use thought-speak when he is in human morph since human bodies are restricted to spoken language. However, in every other instance in the series, Ax has been able to use thought-speak in human morph because it is a morph, and the other Animorphs have also been able to use thought-speech while in morphs capable of verbal language. This is fixed in the 2012 reprint, where Ax states that he can indeed use thought-speech in human morph since it is still a morph.
• The book uses "Yeerk's" when referring to the efforts of the Yeerk Empire; this is rectified to "Yeerks'" in the reprint.
• Tobias tells Ax that rattlesnakes are poisonous; living creatures that can inflict poison are known as being venomous. This is fixed in the 2012 reprint, where Tobias correctly tells Ax that rattlesnakes are venomous.
• Ax states that the Andalite homeworld is "a billion Earth miles away," even though that would place the Andalite homeworld in the Milky Way galaxy not too far from Saturn. The Andalite homeworld is nowhere near that close to Earth, and according to Ax in The Predator, it was 82 light years away from Earth. This is changed in the 2012 reprint, where Ax now states that the Andalite homeworld is "hundreds of trillions of Earth miles away."
• Ax tells Cassie that the Hork-Bajir had a biological time clock that caused them to engage in war among one another every 62 years; however, in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, it is revealed that Hork-Bajir did not understand the concept of or practice any violence whatsoever until the Yeerk Empire enslaved them. This error is rectified in the 2012 reprint, where Ax states that the Hork-Bajir did not engage in war prior to their infestation.
• On p120, the end of Eslin 359's speech is missing its closing quotation mark. This is fixed in the 2012 reprint.

2012 Relaunch Differences

• Cassie refers to Nordstrom's adolescent female section as "Junior Miss" in the original edition. The reprint changes it to "the junior's department."
• Marco refers to Jake's attitude as being akin to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1997 edition. In the 2012 reprint, the Schwarzenegger mention is removed and Marco instead remarks that Jake's attitude is macho.
• When Rachel remarks on Ax's human morph, she exclaims "He looks like me!"; the emphasis on "me" is removed in the reprint.
• In the original 1997 edition, Marco refers to Ax's appearance in his morphing outfit, consisting of tight shorts and a spandex top, as looking like an "escapee from the Ice Capades". In the 2012 reprint, the Ice Capades reference is replaced with "the Winter Olympics" as the Ice Capades were shut down in August 1997, three months after this book initially released.
• Rachel compares to Marco's choice of wardrobe to dressing like "Beavis" in the 1997 edition; the 2012 reprint changes it to "Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo".
• In the original 1997 edition, Ax states: "It was Tobias, on patrol far overhead. Of course, no one could answer him. Humans can use thought-speech only when they're in a morph. And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language." However, since Ax, as well as any others in human morph, are able to use thought-speak every other time in the series as it is a morph, the 2012 reprint rectifies the error by replacing the passage with: "It was Tobias, on patrol far overhead. Of course, none of the humans could answer him. They can use thought-speech only when they're in a morph. Since my human body is itself a morph, I could have responded, but Tobias went on."
• The original 1997 edition refers to the Yeerk Empire as "the Yeerk's secret efforts"; this is corrected to "the Yeerks' secret efforts" in the reprint.
• Ax refers to the Andalite homeworld as being "billions of Earth miles" away numerous times in the 1997 version; in the 2012 reprint, these are all changed to "half a quadrillion Earth miles," "hundreds of trillions of Earth miles," or "eighty-two light-years away."
• Tobias refers to rattlesnakes as being "poisonous" rather than "venomous" in the original, which is fixed in the reprint. The original also refers to the fluid in the snake's sacs as poison; this is rectified in the reprint, where instances of "poison" is changed to "venom" or "toxin."
• Iniss 226 tells the students to go out to the playground in the original edition; the reprint changes it to "quad".
• In the original 1997 edition, Ax tells Cassie: "Every species fights wars. In the past, Andalites made war on other Andalites. And the Hork-Bajir used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty-two years." However, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles makes it clear that the Hork-Bajir were unaware of violence of any kind until the Yeerk Empire invaded their homeworld. The 2012 reprint fixes this earlier error by modifying Ax's statement to: "Most species fight wars. In the past, Andalites made war on other Andalites. The Hork-Bajir were peaceful before the Yeerks enslaved them, but they are a rare exception."
• "Visser", "human-Controllers,", "adrenalin," and "Z-space" is changed to "visser", "Human-Controllers," "adrenaline," and "Z-Space" in the reprint.
• Ax's mental thoughts to himself are written with thought-speak symbols (ex. < and >) in the original version, whereas they are changed to italics in the reprint.
• Ax compares his heavy human legs to feeling like lead in the original edition; the reprint changes it to "concrete."
• In the 1997 edition, Ax remarks that the United States imported $36.7 billion dollars' worth of clothing. In the 2012 reprint, he states that the United States imported $93.3 billion dollars' worth of textiles.
• Eslin 359 and Derane 344's names are written as "Eslin three-five-nine" and "Derane three-four-four" in the original; the reprint uses "Eslin Three-Five-Nine" and "Derane Three-Four-Four" instead, matching the style used in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and VISSER.
• "Hork-Bajir Controllers" is fixed to "Hork-Bajir-Controllers."
• In the original edition, Ax muses that: "Of course, Tobias still did not know that I had communicated with my home." However, Tobias was present when Eslin 359 mentioned Ax's "touching conversation" of having called his homeworld, and thus was aware of it. The reprint amends the line to: "I did not know how much Tobias had figured out about the "touching conversation" the Yeerk spoke of."
• The original 1997 edition has Marco exclaiming that Seerow "hooked up" with the wrong species. However, due to the change in meaning of the words "hook up" from the 1990s to the 2010s, the reprint replaces it with "helped out."

TV Adaptation

The Alien was adapted as part of the Animorphs TV series, which aired on Nickelodeon and YTV between the fall of 1998 and the spring of 2000. The eighth book in the series was covered in episodes eight, "The Alien (episode)". The TV episodes did not follow the books faithfully, altering many aspects of the characters' roles within the Animorphs, the events in the war against the Yeerks, and added plot lines that were not present in the books.

Changes from Book to Episode

• Rachel, Cassie, and Tobias were not featured in the episode.
• In the book series, Jake and Marco took Ax to the movies, and what they saw was a Star Trek: The Next Generation movie. But in the TV show, the movie they saw was an old black-and-white monster movie.

Gallery

"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool." The image gallery for The Alien may be viewed here

References