After the preamble, we open the book at school with Rachel and Cassie staying after school trying to work on Cassie's science project of having a rat go through a maze to get a nut. The rat won't do it, which makes Cassie fear an impending D. So, the solution is, of course, to morph the rat to see what the problem is. Rachel also has to morph rat with her, for some reason. After some rat fun, they learn the fan in the room is obscuring the smell. But before they can get ready to demorph, a pair of boys show up and start trying to kill the three rats with a broom. Rachel and Cassie then do the only logical thing, attack the two boys and send them in retreat. Why again was there a need for both of them to morph rat?
The Animorphs meet up at Cassie's barn as Tobias has some important news. There appears to be a new logging company that's beginning work at the forest. Cassie is of course the only one who panics because she full on thinks that means the whole forest is going to be plowed down and the animals will lose their homes. Okay, calm down spaz. Most logging companies aren't just evil Captain Planet supervillains. Well, except for this one because this logging company just happens to have armed security, ergo Yeerks. And it's pretty obvious that these yeerks are hunting for any sign of an Andalite feeding ground. Meaning that Ax is in danger. And if Ax is in danger, the other Animorphs are as well.
They decide to spy on the logging camp to see what the yeerks are up to. Jake and Rachel as birds with Tobias while Marco and Cassie morph wolf. They see lots of equipment and Hork-Bajir as well. But most importantly a two story log building that is the clear base of operations. Unfortunately, they get spotted and almost captured, until Ax makes the last minute save and they manage to barely escape. They regroup later and Cassie questions how the yeerks got permission to even start up this business, since it's been established they haven't controlled any high political figures in the town. They need to get inside the building, but it's also under a force field. That means they need to go in undetected, meaning an insect morph. This of course evokes paranoia in everyone because that means they might have to morph ant again, and we saw what happened last time.
But before they make their decision, we get a scene later with Cassie helping her parents wrangle an injured skunk who was hurt by the dracon beam fire in the earlier skirmish. Not long after she learns from her father that this skunk is a mother and that her babies are still out there in the forest. Since this is Cassie, who often levees a lot of guilt on herself, this is going to weigh heavily on her, so of course she acquires the skunk's DNA for later. Later at the mall, they make their decision. They won't morph ant, but termites could work. They're totally different from ants so there could totally not be any bad situations like last time. This is totally going to be a simple mission. TOTALLY! *sigh* Just gonna put that graphic up now.
They morph bird and fly to the destination (Cassie of course trying to find any sign of the skunk babies). They make it near the compound, and through a draw of straws, Jake morphs Wolf to ensure a distraction if needed. The others begin the termite morph and... well, to say this goes bad is a frigging understatement. They make it to the building, but feel constantly pulled by a force, just like the ant morph. This takes them into the tunnels being made by the other termites, where they eat wood pulp and slowly lose more and more control, ending up acting just like any other termite. Cassie ends up being mentally pulled into the room of the termite queen, the one who of course is controlling the termites, controlling the Animorphs. Cassie, with no other option then takes her pincers and beheads the queen, sending the entire colony in a panic, but freeing the control of the others. Cassie, freaked out, demorphs immediately inside the piece of wood, and the others follow suit. They are screwed up from this experience even worse than the ant morph. Which just goes to show you...
STOP! MORPHING! COLONIAL! INSECTS!
Yet regardless, they still made it inside the Yeerk building.They learn from a document that indeed the Yeerks don't have the permission to start logging. They need the agreement from city hall. One member, a yeerk, already said yes, another has said no, and one more named Farrand is still undecided and needs to see the operation before he decides, which means he's prime for yeerking. Ax shuts down the defense system in the building and the kids, sure the hell not morphing back termite, instead morph wolf and escape. Cassie and Rachel return to Cassie's place and try to sleep, Cassie having the hardest time trying to calm down. This could arguably be her band-aid ripping moment. Having to kill like any other feral creature, realizing that these are the things she has to do in this war against the yeerks. That moral fiber that she's clung on to, even with trivial stuff like the whole dolphin concern, kind of doesn't matter here. This is a battle for survival, just like the baby skunks are still trying to survive.
The next day Cassie, still having issues over the termite situation (and almost trying to use the "are we acting like yeerks" mentality) decides that she's going to find those skunk babies. Tobias knows where they are, and that there's four of them. still alive. He doesn't out and out say it, but Tobias totally ate one of them. Cassie morphs osprey and starts to search the forest. She finds the spot where the skunks could hide, and when Tobias leaves, she morphs into the mother skunk. She finds the babies and sleeps with them, only to be woken up by Jake who is kind of pissed that she would do this, especially running the risk of being stuck in morph forever. She demorphs and apologizes, then explains herself to him, trying to rationalize it about how the strong destroy the weak. Jake is pissed because he kind of feels she's making this war more trivial, and that she can't keep protecting the skunks forever, but he does calm down eventually. Despite all this, Cassie wants to keep protecting the skunks until the real mother is healthy, so Jake promises that the others will help her until then. Since it's not far from the whole yeerk logging setup, it can work for now.
The five who can still morph all take turns morphing skunk to protect the babies. Marco even names them after the Ramones. Cassie of all of them is really starting to enjoy this, even the somewhat maternal instincts that come with it, to the point she protects them by spraying Homer, Jake's dog. The reason Jake's there is because Farrand is showing up in about an hour (AKA this book is wrapping up) to oversee the logging operation. They hear the logging equipment activating, meaning that the yeerks are going to likely infest Farrand regardless. The only logical plan is to grab Farrand before that and try to slow the machines down. Tobias and Cassie fly to the car holding Farrand and see him exit it in a rage, taking his anger out on a man that the Animorphs have seen before. Yep, it's Visser Three in his human morph. Because of course he's here.
Visser three slaps Farrand and sends two controllers after him. Jake is in tiger morph but still too far away, so Cassie dive bombs Visser Three and claws him in the head. Farrand tries to run off, but gets caught again. The yeerks open fire on Cassie, catching her in the wing and causing her to fall hard. She even thinks she sees an ant with the termite queen husk because irony as she passes out. She is trapped in a box while the yeerks are pretty pissed off already. The other Animorphs cause a distraction by turning on the logging equipment. Cassie takes this time to morph skunk and when Visser Three looks at her and mocks her puny form, he gets a full on spray right in the face that sends them all in a panic. And for once, they have no choice but to listen to the animorphs or else be cursed with no solution to this foul smell. So, Ax forces them to take Farrand to the hospital and leave him alone.
We end the book with the mother skunk reunited with her babies. Farrand, obviously pissed, has promised that the yeerks little lumber company is done for. Cassie is still kind of having her moral issues on the whole predator/prey stuff, and conflicted that Tobias who ate one skunk baby is now protecting the rest. She chalks it to human nature. Tobias shows up saying the Yeerks have been showering with the juice that Ax told them to use to get rid of the smell. Grape juice, not tomato juice.
The Secret is definitely the most filler book we've come across in the main line. Nothing within the book itself really holds any major revelations, any big shocking moments, or any character growth. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we need a reprieve and after the last few books have hit us with reveal after reveal, it's refreshing to have a calmer book to come in to. Plus, we get some good horror with the termite morph, complete with Cassie having to behead the queen. That's pretty dark stuff. Granted, that means we have Cassie's big ethics issue for the book, this time over the issues of being a predator, but it's far less preachy than the dolphin argument last book. Cassie overall is a better narrator in this edition, and I do like a lot of her involvement in this book. I like the interaction with her family, her devotion to the skunks, her maternal instincts in overdrive. As for the Yeerks, unfortunately they're just there in this book, only made to look like complete morons when they get sprayed. Though if yeerks can tap into the minds of their controlled captives, wouldn't any of them know about the tomato juice cure? But I guess you can chalk that up to plot convenience so we can wrap this book up.
Structurally this book feels rushed and definitely doesn't space out its 158 pages perfectly. The yeerk stuff is mainly an afterthought for the skunks stuff and the termite stuff and Cassie's latest crisis. I dunno, I know that the yeerk fight isn't as important as character development more often than not, but this again feels like they're only in this book because they have to be. Another, much better Animorphs reviewer said it best "Visser Three is there. Visser Three is always there" and that's right, even if he doesn't really need to be. And for that alone, I'd say this isn't the strongest book. A lot of positives, but the negatives are sticking points. It's a filler book in every way, so if that's an issue it's skippable. You want more story development, tune in next time because we got some androids. The Secret gets a C+.
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