The Hork-Bajir Chronicles is the second companion book to the Animorphs series, written by K. A. Applegate. With respect to continuity within the series, it takes place before book #23, The Pretender, although the events told in the story occur between the time of The Ellimist Chronicles and The Andalite Chronicles. The book is introduced by Tobias, who flies to the valley of the free Hork-Bajir, where Jara Hamee tells him the story of how the Yeerks enslaved the Hork-Bajir, and how Aldrea, an Andalite, and her companion, Dak Hamee, a Hork-Bajir, tried to save their world from the invasion. Jara Hamee's story is narrated from the points of view of Aldrea, Dak Hamee, and Esplin 9466, alternating in similar fashion to the Megamorphs books. Background The Hork-Bajir Chronicles is one of the most unusual novels in the Animorphs series because, like The Ellimist Chronicles (which is also a book ended with a scene involving one of the Animorphs), it has an almost complete lack of human characters (Tobias, who appears in the prologue and epilogue, is human, albeit trapped in hawk morph). Although the moral implications of war are a common theme in the Animorphs series, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles is one of the novels in that series that deals most heavily with that theme (such as the loss of innocence during the battle on the Hork-Bajir homeworld and war crimes being committed by the usually honorable Andalites). It describes a peaceful world that is torn apart by violence. While clear divisions of good and evil exist in the Animorphs series, K.A. Applegate has stated that she wanted to write The Hork-Bajir Chronicles to show that "most stories of conflict are more complicated than any one side would have you believe." The ghostwriter and spouse of Applegate, Michael Grant, likewise said during a Reddit AMA, "Hork-Bajir Chronicles was neat because it was basically a Vietnam parable. We even incorporated a version of the famous line, 'We had to destroy the village in order to save it.' HBC was history and politics and philosophy snuck into a kids' book about monsters in trees." The Blade Ship, Visser Three's personal ship, is built during the time of these chronicles and plays a constant role in the series. The ship is shaped like a medieval ax with the bridge in the handle and twin scimitar-like wings that form the blade. Plot summary In