![]()
Tobias morphing into a German shepherd.
|
|
Author | K. A. Applegate |
---|---|
Cover artist | David B. Mattingly |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Animorphs #49 |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Scholastic |
Publication date
|
December 2000 |
Media type | Print (paperback) |
Pages | 164 |
ISBN | |
OCLC | 45632263 |
LC Class | CPB Box no. 1857 vol. 27 |
Preceded by | The Return |
Followed by | The Ultimate |
The Diversion, published in 2001 and written by K. A. Applegate, is the 49th book in the Animorphs series. It is the final book (fully) narrated by Tobias.
The Yeerks begin to realize the "Andalite bandits" are humans. The Animorphs discover the Yeerks have been testing the DNA patterns in the blood they have left in their countless battles. When they discover the traces of human DNA they begin running massive amounts of tests on blood which has been stored in the area in order to discover a genetic match or root out the Animorphs' families. Using this process a genetic match between Tobias and his mother, Loren, is discovered and gives the Yeerks proof that at least some the "Andalite bandits" are in fact human. They go through a brutal battle at the laboratory where they discover this information in which Marco is nearly killed. After they retreat to Cassie's barn, Jake orders that they all go home and "sleep on it." The Animorphs will meet in the morning to decide whether or not to evacuate their families, thereby revealing their identities and taking the fight into the open.
Tobias does not return to his meadow but goes to the address the blood databank gave for his mother. He is crestfallen to discover that it is only a few blocks from the house in which he lived with his uncle, yet his mother never once came to visit him or showed any interest in her son at all. Tobias easily spots that she is being watched by the Yeerks. He observes Loren leaving the house with a seeing-eye dog and quickly realizes that Loren is blind. With the guide dog, Champ, she walks to a church where she apparently volunteers as a crisis phone line operator, and Tobias follows her.
In the morning, the Animorphs unanimously vote to immediately evacuate their families. Through somewhat comical sequences of events, Cassie and Rachel reveal to their families the truth of the invasion and evacuate them to the Hork-Bajir valley. Marco helps with evacuating Cassie's mother and father, and Ax helps with rescuing Rachel's mother and sisters. Jake tries to rescue his parents, as well, with Tobias and Ax's help, the plan being to subdue Tom and starve the Yeerk out of him, at long last freeing Jake's brother. But they appear to be out of the house when the Animorphs arrive. In fact, Tom's Yeerk has already had Jake's parents infested, and they spring a trap for the waiting Animorphs. They escape, and Jake morphs falcon in front of the Yeerks, because he wants to show that he has been fighting all along to inspire fear in the Yeerks and hope in his family that he will rescue them.