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rkking's review against another edition
2.0
I recently got a bit of the nostalgia bug when thinking back to the Goosebumps books I read as a kid. Goosebumps, and by extension the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series, definitely introduced me to the genre of horror. After Goosebumps I moved onto classics like Dracula and Jekyll/Hyde, then on to the gown up stuff throughout my life and to this day. Well, this nostalgia bug got me wanting to re-collect the original 62 run of Goosebumps books, and in their first run printings because of the amazing covers. Perhaps the best part of the series was the covers. Next up;
#41, Bad Hare Day
I initially though this would hold an interesting story; revolving Goosebumps creepy-ness around stage magic. Thought it might be a kid friendly version of Lord of Illusions or something. Unfortunately not. This was a bit of a lame duck in the series, filled mostly with bad cliffhanger scares, an overly annoying sibling, and a villain that was just silly. Not much of a 'scary' Goosebumps book at all.
Interesting that it did break the pattern I've been seeing of book cover colors. Until now I got to assuming that orange covers equaled less-scary entries in the series. But this cover was brown. So, pattern broken, at least for what I've come across thus far.
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
#41, Bad Hare Day
I initially though this would hold an interesting story; revolving Goosebumps creepy-ness around stage magic. Thought it might be a kid friendly version of Lord of Illusions or something. Unfortunately not. This was a bit of a lame duck in the series, filled mostly with bad cliffhanger scares, an overly annoying sibling, and a villain that was just silly. Not much of a 'scary' Goosebumps book at all.
Interesting that it did break the pattern I've been seeing of book cover colors. Until now I got to assuming that orange covers equaled less-scary entries in the series. But this cover was brown. So, pattern broken, at least for what I've come across thus far.
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
borderlineilliterate's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
alyceea's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mrsandwitch77's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
morganpoptart's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
jgurniak's review against another edition
4.0
Looking back on R.L. Stine's books and I cannot believe how many of them I read or even why I like them so much. None of them are really all that great.
calcifer93's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
alexampersand's review against another edition
4.0
This might be the first Goosebumps book that I actually wish was longer and felt almost suffered from the shorter length.
I thought it was great; the first half with magic tricks and sneaking out gave it a fun setting and a nice adventurous tone. I was just pretty surprised when what seemed to be the big tension of the story came about 80% through the book, and hence was resolved very quickly... sort of. A pretty nice ending too, but again it just felt a little bit rushed to me.
I thought it was great; the first half with magic tricks and sneaking out gave it a fun setting and a nice adventurous tone. I was just pretty surprised when what seemed to be the big tension of the story came about 80% through the book, and hence was resolved very quickly... sort of. A pretty nice ending too, but again it just felt a little bit rushed to me.
paulabrandon's review against another edition
2.0
Tim is an aspiring magician and is thrilled to get tickets to his idol Amaz-O's show, despite being forced to take his annoying little sister, Ginny, along. Afterwards, when he tries to meet Amaz-O, the guy is a jerk who tells him to go away. Angry, Tim swipes his bag of secret tricks. However, when Tim tries them out, things get wacky and out of control.
Stealing the bag of magic tricks could almost be considered a spoiler, because it doesn't happen until at least the mid-point of the book! I had been looking forward to this one as a little breather from psychological thrillers with dumb-asses for protagonists, but wound up quite disappointed by it. It has the usual fast pace of the series, but never really goes anywhere. I like the Goosebumps books that manage to be a little creepy and maintain the logic of its own universe. This book is just silly, the why and what behind the bag of magic tricks is left unexplained and unexplored, and the reveal is simply arbitrary. The obligatory twist ending also falls short of satisfaction. The title has very little to do with anything.
Stealing the bag of magic tricks could almost be considered a spoiler, because it doesn't happen until at least the mid-point of the book! I had been looking forward to this one as a little breather from psychological thrillers with dumb-asses for protagonists, but wound up quite disappointed by it. It has the usual fast pace of the series, but never really goes anywhere. I like the Goosebumps books that manage to be a little creepy and maintain the logic of its own universe. This book is just silly, the why and what behind the bag of magic tricks is left unexplained and unexplored, and the reveal is simply arbitrary. The obligatory twist ending also falls short of satisfaction. The title has very little to do with anything.