goosebumps

Review: The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (Goosebumps #5) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (Goosebumps)The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb by R.L. Stine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While on holiday in Egypt, Gabe’s parents get called away, leaving him in the care of his Uncle, who happens to be an archaeologist working in the area.

This also means he’ll be spending a lot more time with his cousin, Sari, who admittedly, drives Gabe nuts. She can such a know-it-all and is always teasing and pranking him.

On an excursion to his Uncle’s worksite, Gabe begins exploring the tunnels of the ancient pyramid. It makes him feel strange being in there, like he’s not alone. It’s so eerie, and then he gets lost!

Will Gabe ever find his way out, or will he be just another victim of the Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb!?

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb was Book #5 in the original Goosebumps series, and as you would imagine, it does feel like one of the classics.

It’s full of jokes and pranks. As any fan of the series can attest, Stine loves a jokester. It’s one of the true staples of his stories. He’s always peppering them in every way he can.

Overall, this is a fun story. There’s quite a bit of action I wasn’t expecting and I enjoyed the Egyptian setting. It’s exactly what I was in the mood for going in. There’s something to be said for Stine’s formula. Sure, it’s predictable, but you always know what you’re getting!

I would recommend this to fans of the Goosebumps franchise. If you’re new to them though, I wouldn’t start here. You have better options for a first go at it.

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Review: Goosebumps — Night of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps #7) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Night of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps, #7)Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Many know Slappy the dummy as one of the most iconic Goosebumps characters of all time. And while I have read other books with Slappy as an antagonist, I’ve no recollection of ever reading this, Night of the Living Dummy, Slappy’s first appearance.

Recently, I needed a quick, fun, not too mentally taxing, audiobook while doing things around the house and decided to pick this up. I’m glad I did, as it fit the bill nicely.

In this story we follow twins, Lindy and Kris, who find a discarded ventriloquist’s dummy. Lindy decides to save it, brings it home with them, and names it Slappy.

Kris, never wanting her sister to upstage her, needs to get a dummy of her own, which she names Mr. Wood. In classic Stine fashion, the sisters battle it out, performing with their dummies, but are the dummies battling too?

Something weird is going on. Disturbing things begin to happen when the dummies are around, and it soon becomes clear there’s an evil lurking in their house. Will the girls be able to band together and figure out what’s happening, or will the dummies force them apart forever?

In my humble opinion, this is definitely one of the stronger Goosebumps stories. At this point in the series, regardless of the direction his character goes in later stories and series spin-offs, Slappy does indeed feel menacing here.

While Stine always loves siblings fighting and having rivalries, I liked how the twins did eventually put their differences aside, and worked together.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this as one of the ‘must reads’ of the Goosebumps universe. I feel like it provides a solid foundation for Slappy’s character moving forward, and is also just a lot of fun!

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Review: Vampire Breath (Classic Goosebumps #21) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Vampire Breath (Classic Goosebumps, #21)Vampire Breath by R.L. Stine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Vampire Breath is the 21st-book in the Classics Goosebumps Reprint series; it was #49 in the original Goosebumps series.

I received the entire Reprint series for Christmas a couple of years ago and have been slowly revisiting these classic tales. They’re just so silly and nostalgic. I love picking them up every once and while as a palate cleanser.

In this story we meet Freddy and Cara. They’re around 12-years old, I think, and best friends. Their friendship-style is a bit combative, they are always rough-housing and trying to one-up each other with how tough they are.

For those of you who have read many Goosebumps books, this will not surprise you, as it’s something that Stine includes quite a bit. If you are newer to these stories, you may possibly read this and be like, wait, these two are friends? They seem more like enemies?

There’s not a lot of kind, supportive, non-contentious relationships to be found in the Goosebumps world. Nevertheless, to me, this is old hat, so I grew use to their combativeness fairly quickly.

On one particular day, they’re playing together in Freddy’s basement, and while rather aggressively wrestling around, they end up knocking over a piece of furniture, revealing a secret door behind it.

Unable to stifle their curiosity, they end up going through the door to explore. They stumble into a mysterious chamber where they find a bottle labeled, Vampire Breath.

Like the proverbial pandora’s box, when they crack that bottle open, a whole host of unexpected and problematic events begin happening to them. Will either Freddy, or Cara, make it through this Saturday unscathed?

I read this one in just under 2-hours. I was on a ferry to the mainland for an appointment and it was a great way to pass my very early morning travels.

It doesn’t require a lot of brain power, but I did find it engaging enough to keep me interested. It had a typical Stein ending, IYKYK, but nonetheless, an entertaining tale. We love a vampire story in this house!

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Review: Goblin Monday (Goosebumps: House of Shivers #2) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Goblin Monday (Goosebumps House of Shivers #2)Goblin Monday by R.L. Stine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Goblin Monday is the 2nd-book in the House of Shivers series.

This entire franchise holds a very special place in my heart, and I was excited when I learned that Stine was adding another limb to the Goosebumps family tree.

I really enjoyed the 1st-installment, Goosebumps: House of Shivers: Scariest. Book. Ever., when I read it last year. It was fast-paced, with a great antagonist and spooky creatures. Overall, a very solid Goosebumps read.

Jumping into this one, I was feeling confident and loved how this one kicked off. The set-up was great and I was anticipating a solid ride all the way through.

In this story we follow Mario. He grew up in South Florida and has very recently moved North with his family. On his first winter break, he gets invited along a holiday trip with his new friends, Todd and Jewel.

Todd and Jewel’s grandparents live in Vermont and their parents take them up there every year. When Marco gets invited along for the trip, he is ecstatic. He’s going to get to see snow for the first time!

He’s warned on the car ride up that Grandpa Tweety and Mom Mom are a bit on the eccentric side, but they’re purportedly harmless and wickedly entertaining.

Mario enters their home with an open heart and excitement for all the adventures that lay ahead that week. Little did he know that soon he would be fighting for his life.

As the cover and synopsis indicate, this story does involve goblins. The way Stine introduced the idea of goblins being on the Vermont property, and slowly bringing them to life on the page, was engaging and admittedly, creepy as heck.

Mario didn’t notice the ominous nature of the events happening at the home as quickly as I thought he would, but once he did, it was hard watching him try to get his friends to believe in the things he had seen and experienced.

They weren’t taking him seriously, brushing off his concerns, and I was getting as frustrated as he was!

I found almost the entirety of this book gripping and fun, but the very end just blew the whole thing for me.

Ultimately, I was really conflicted on how to rate it. It’s so good, I was hooked, right up until the final two scenes. I was seriously was thinking that this could actually be a unicorn 5-star Goosebumps read.

But then, Stine just did his thing where the end is so freaking bizarre and makes no sense in context with the rest of the story. Why, Mr. Stine? Why?

Honestly though, even with that being said, it’s still absolutely worth a read. There were some genuinely scary scenes up until those final few moments.

There’s a lot of creepy content involving birds, and wandering around in a snow-filled forest feeling like something is following you. The build-up and development was great, but yeah, that ending; not good.

Obviously, I still recommend this to any fan of the Goosebumps franchise. We all know at this point the tricks that Stine oftentimes pulls at the end. To long time Readers, you’ll most likely just SYH at this conclusion.

And as far as new Readers go, I always encourage jumping in on new series from the beginning, as soon as you can. It’s fun to just read along from the start as they’re released, and I plan to continue to do so with this series.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Scholastic Paperbacks, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

It looks like the 3rd-installment is going to be a Mummy story and I’m so ready for it. I will never stop reading R.L. Stine’s work, because no matter how old I get, you’re never too old for Goosebumps!!

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Review: Goosebumps: Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls (Classic Goosebumps #31) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls (Classic Goosebumps #31)Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls by R.L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls is the 31st-book in the Classic Goosebumps reprint series. I read this one in a couple hours after receiving it for Christmas.

I am happy to report it’s definitely one of the fun ones. It’s not perfect, but as Goosebumps go, it’s pretty darn good. A great way to pass a relaxing afternoon.

In this story we meet Spencer and he’s a little awkward, not necessarily one of the popular boys. He gets picked on a bit, made worse when he is forced to read an essay he had written aloud to the class and his teacher has nothing but praise for him.

How dare she!? But when the teacher notices the kids turning on Spencer, she doubles down. Spencer’s story involved the local graveyard and the teacher comes up with the idea to take a field trip there the very next day.

In absolute Goosebumps logic, that’s exactly what they do, pre-planning and permission slips be damned!!

Her idea is for the kids to do some grave rubbings and she’ll ultimately turn it into a local history lesson, if nothing else.

As the kids are exploring the graveyard, Spencer accidentally knocks over an eerie-looking tombstone. After that, all heck hits the fan for poor Spencer.

This story involves graveyard ghouls inhabiting bodies and wrecking havoc on the town. Spencer does have one good friend, Audra, and she’s fairly involved in the action as well.

I fully expected this to be one of the stories where Stine strings you along, all to discover at the end that it was a dream, or prank. I’m not saying that that didn’t happen, but I did give it 4-stars, so…

There were a couple details that progressed the plot that I wasn’t necessarily crazy about; mostly involving animals. Overall though, that didn’t affect my enjoyment too much.

I did think that the ending was super fun. It left a sinister little smirk on my face. OMG, Stine, you tricky bugger.

I would recommend this one to Goosebumps fans. It definitely has that classic formula that made me nostalgic for the horror stories of younger years. I’ll never stop reading these books. It’s just part of who I am. Well done by Stine!

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