Well, finally, after a few years, I've completed a truly epic and astonishing series of books: The Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate.
I remember, as a kid, when this series first showed up on scholastic school fairs, and the cover did NOT impress me. And it seemed like every time I looked again, more and more books were released and I was glad I was never that interested in getting started - it seemed confusing to get in to, and expensive. Eventually the series reached past 54 books.
Years later, as an adult, a few comments on a forum led me to look at the series I had not thought about for a decade, and read the first book. I was expecting goosebumps level children's fiction.
From the first moment, you just know that there is something much better under the hood. I don't know how I can really describe how I know, but suffice it to say that you never feel like you're reading children's fiction. You feel like you're reading fiction about children.
I mean, what children's fiction ends with one of the protagonists, as a witness at the Hague, wondering if he should also be on trial?
Reading it as I have, with ready access to each book as soon as I'm done the next, I can't imagine how awful the wait must have been for each novel to come out when they were first being written - even with the breakneck pace they set.
If you're at all a reader, or an audiobook fan, I can't stress enough how incredible the series is, and even more so, how addicting. I'll take my love of this series with me forever, and wish I had tried it out back in 1996.
I love being so surprised by youth-focused fiction. Tell me your feelings about Animorphs! And was there other series you found that completely blind sided you like Animorphs did?