Reviews

Abominable bonhomme de neige by R.L. Stine

phinepupc's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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? N/A

3.75

borderlineilliterate's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

wuthrinheights's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've always been fond of this book as a kid (even before I knew how to read) and when I picked it up today, I saw that my mum had written inside, saying it was my first selection of book. Pretty cool (ha get it?).

Beware, The Snowman was actually quite good, story wise. A big city girl had to move to the middle of nowhere, only snow all around, and with very little people in that village. A village with a creepy superstition--beware the snowman. 

But which one? The whole town was filled with the same looking snowman: black, beady eyes, crooked carrot nose, bright red scarf, angry raised hands made out of sticks, a scowl, and a deep scar on one cheek. In front of every house and peppered through the town: snowman, snowman, snowman. 

It was creepy and it had you guessing a lot. A certain plot twist/cliff hanger had me howling with laughter because I really didn't see it coming! 

RL Stine, you did it again. I'm hooked through and through. 

emleemay's review against another edition

3.0

A book that started scary and became increasingly unbelievable and stupid. I had to give it two stars instead of just one for the tension and suspense that Stine created expertly in the first half of the book. But I was waiting for him to take it to a very scary and clever climax and that just didn't happen. Instead he warped a good story and made it into a joke. He should have carried on down the path of horror, instead of rationalising a story about a snowman that comes alive to terrorize people.

maxathousnd's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Reminder that you can read anything you want at any age. And getting back into goosebumps is the best choice. Not my favorite story but a standard good time 

jgurniak's review against another edition

4.0

Not one of the best Goosebumps books.

paulabrandon's review against another edition

3.0

Jaclyn moves with her aunt Greta to a place called Sherpia, near the Arctic Circle. It's not only super cold, but the town is weird. Everybody has built an identical creepy snowman in front of their homes. There are strange howling noises in the night. A man and his wolf live in a cabin at the top of the mountain and won't let anyone go any further. Jaclyn learns about a legend of an evil snowman that lives in a cave at the top of the mountain. She's not sure she believes it and is determined to get to the truth.

Another typically fun Goosebumps entry. R.L. Stine and whichever writers they got to pitch in to help really knew what they were doing. The stories are short, so these books typically dispense with deep characterisation, and operate more on delivering a fun scar story than relying on logic. Nothing here really holds up, but it's easy to forgive because you're having such a good time. You can see why these were so outrageously popular back in the day. Indeed, I was too old for them when they first came out (I was already reading Pike, Point Horror and Fear Street), but I reckon I enjoy them more now as an adult than I did as a teenager!

You can just turn your brain off for an hour and have some innocent scary fun. The last paragraph actually gave me a good giggle.

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

5.0

It might surprise some as the average rating from this book is low, but this book is one of my favourites of the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine. Let me tell you why; It's scary. It has action. It's original (ever seen some other book about a creepy snowman? I didn't) and most importantly it had a twisted turn. But of course I don't want to spoil anything, you better read it yourself. All I can say is; I had LOTS of fun reading this and it kept me excited till the very end. 

alyshadeshae's review against another edition

5.0

How does a snowman have a scar? Wouldn't the snow just shift to fill in the gash? The things that bother me when reading childrens' books...

grandmoffparkin's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely nuts twists and turns towards the end. I had a great time!