For the rank in Yeerk hierarchy, see Visser
VISSER is the third companion book to the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. With respect to continuity within the series, it takes place in parallel and after Book #35: The Proposal, although the narrative covers events which occur before Book #1: The Invasion. The book covers the origin of Edriss 562 (Visser One)'s invasion of earth. From first encounter until the infestation of Marco's mom, Eva.
Official Description
Her human name is Eva. There was a time when she had a loving husband and a son, Marco. When she had a wonderful career. But that was before she was infested by Edriss 562. Before the invasion of Earth. Now, Edriss 562 lives in Eva's head and controls her every movement. And through Eva, Edriss has become the highest-ranking general in the Yeerk empire, surpassing even her arch rival, Visser Three. She is Visser One.
But, it has become known that Visser One's tactics for attaining her current position were less than acceptable -- even to the Yeerks. Now she is on trial for treason. If she's found innocent she'll continue to rule. But if she's found guilty, she'll lose her life -- and possibly the life of her host, Eva. Which will mean that Marco will never, ever see his mother again...
Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake | -- | Siberian Tiger |
| Rachel | -- | Hork-Bajir (Jara Hamee) |
| Cassie | -- | Polar Bear |
| Marco | -- | Silverback Gorilla |
| Tobias | -- | Hork-Bajir (Ket Helpak) |
| Ax | -- | -- |
| Visser Three | -- | -- |
Trivia
- This is the only book, canon to the series, to not have an inside cover. Instead, the second cover is the back cover, which reflects Visser Three from behind his stance on the front cover.
- One of the main questions that fans have about this book has nothing to do with the story, but with the cover instead: Why exactly was Visser Three featured on the cover instead of Visser One? K.A. Applegate admits that she feels responsible for the mistake. One of the first things K.A. had to do for her books was create an outline for Scholastic. They used this outline to write the summaries on the back of the books, and to create covers and titles. The outlines for the books were generally vague, though, so she won't be so limited when writing. For VISSER, she implied in her outline that the book would be just as much about Visser Three as it would be about Visser One, which led Scholastic to choose Visser Three for the cover. But when K.A. actually sat down to write her book, she found Visser One's story much more interesting and the book ended up being all about her. By then it was far too late and too expensive to have a new cover created.
- This is the only book in the series that was only officially printed in hardcover, not paperback like the other books. However, a comparatively rare Scholastic School Market Edition was published in paperback.
- Continuity Note: This is not the end for Visser One, she returns for her final appearance once more in Animorphs #45: The Revelation!
- This book was the first to refer to Marco's mother with the first name Eva. Before that, in the TV series and in earlier promotional material, she had been called Laura.
Inconsistencies
- If the cover Andalite is meant to depict Visser Three, it differs from his depiction in The Weakness. [1] In fact, this depiction has a backwards facing, scalpel-like female tail blade.
Gallery
