Goosebumps, will you get them with this new series? (Goosebumps: The Creep from the Deep - R. L. Stine)

Member Name: Jonni_boi

Product:	Goosebumps: The Creep from the Deep - R. L. Stine
Date:	11/02/09 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good book, new stories

Disadvantages: R.L. Stine not at his best!

Let me guess... You were expecting me to write a review on this book fairly soon. Well I cannot help myself. I would consider myself as a massive fan of R.L. Stine, but now, as I'm growing older and older, and endeavouring in more and more adult stories, I am leaving R.L. Stine behind. I have to admit he is a very skilled author, however his works have less and less interested me due to the fact that they are aimed at about 9 year olds. Me, being 16 now, makes me "too old" to read these books (I'm surprised I said "too old". Thought I'll never say that until I was old).

Goosebumps have been part of my whole life. I have grown up knowing most of the stories and I think these were one of the first long books I ever read. But back then I didn't care what Goosebumps book I picked up. However, today I am collecting, or trying to collect, every single last one of them. And I'm missing the 7th one; I hope I'll see it in a charity shop on holiday (hopefully). Anyway, it doesn't really help when R.L. Stine releases more and more books in the series. Well, OK, there are different "spin-off" series, such as "Give Yourself Goosebumps" and "Goosebumps 2000". And this is "Goosebumps HorrorLand" a whole new series. An all-new. All-terrifying series. However is it as scary?

Well this book is the second book in this HorrorLand series. I shall not bore you to death with me talking about the first book, as I'm specifically reviewing this second book. I honestly think you should read my review on the first book in this series called "Revenge of the Living Dummy". Now I have to admit the first book scared me to death, I couldn't put the book down, and I was that scared. However this book push my fear of creepiness down and down and very deep. Therefore it was not able to rise. I was really bored with this and constantly was close to fall asleep; I am expecting the books will be a bit better, hopefully

So this book is about 2 people called Billy and Sheena. They always expect an adventure, whenever they stop at their uncle's, Dr Deep, on his high-tech boat. Only their adventure they expect is nothing compared to what they get into. Where there's a hunt to find lost treasure, which leads to a two-hundred-year-old sea captain ... who refuses to stay dead.

That was the inevitable boring part of the story. There is 2 parts of the story. There's this part based around what kids have done during their summer, and then there's one based around those 2 kids going to HorrorLand, a fantastic theme park.

In the first book, the first part was my favourite, I was really scared (okay not as scared as I was reading "The devouring") But scared anyway. So I did really expect this book to follow on with the scariness and creepiness. But it obviously didn't give me Goosebumps; it must have given me sleeping powder, as I was THAT bored with the first part.

As I explained earlier the second part is about the theme park: HorrorLand. In the first book, it was more of a twist, a mystery, rather than anything to do with creeping me out, or giving me Goosebumps. However I changed my mind as I was reading this part of this book, as R.L. Stine did a really clever thing, and linked the 2 books by making the people in each book cross paths and befriend one another. So I've become really intrigued in reading the second part now!

The second part is about. Billy and Sheena. Just when they think the tide is turning, they accidentally dive into a dangerous mystery. A chilling surprise awaits them in HorrorLand, the theme park where their worst nightmare is about to come to life.

I was really impressed by how R.L. Stine did the second part. He always leaves a little mystery at the end of the HorrorLand part, and then in the next book resolves it. From what I remember about the first one, this part solves it in seconds which really tells me that there was no need to think it as a mystery. However I would have been as scared as the characters from the first book was. There's 3 mysteries' in this part, in the end, and I expect we'll get a new character added in the next book. I hope these 3 new mysteries are solved later rather than it was first.

I am now scared that I've made no sense what so ever and you do not understand. I think it isn't too hard to know my meaning, however I might not make a lot of sense so I'm sorry if you don't quite understand what I'm saying!

In the first book I gladly registered on to the HorrorLand website. As each book is "your ticket" to the website. I know it is not, however, if you want to make sense of the maps you have to read the books. I plan to write a review on the website once I have used all the maps and read all the books.

The first book I enjoyed going on the website and doing the quests, I have to admit it wasn't exactly easy and there was a complete story line to it. However this second book was no help what-so-ever. I followed Madame Doom's instructions and just kept on playing the constant game, it was hardly challenging, unlike the first book. And I completed the checklist (in the back of the book) in a matter of minutes. I must have taken 1 hour to complete the first checklist.

I bought this book as a pack. It was a pack of this book and the 1st book. I got them from my school library's catalogue by scholastic (August 2008). I think I must have only paid about £5.00 for both the books, when the RRP is £9.98, so I took it for a bargain. Only to realise that the latest catalogue (January 2009) has all 4 books for £8.00, that's better than spending £4.99 on each book. I wouldn't say I was ripped-off, because I obviously wasn't. These were the 2 books that were released then, and even though I should have waited for all of them to come out, and then got a real deal, I just couldn't wait. Although, I am eager to read more from this new series, and really don't mind spending £4.99 on each book.

I hope I haven't confused you and by the looks of things this review has turned out like a little comparison. I rated this book 4 stars, even though it was not up for scratch to the preceding book, I still reckon it was good. I hope I do see more reviews on both books, but I doubt I'll see any.

Kids from about 9 years old will enjoy this book and the other books in the series, more than I did, so I totally recommend them. Thank you all for reading!

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