Customer Reviews

Revenge of the Living Dummy (Goosebumps HorrorLand, No. 1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes that's right, gentle readers, the master of fright is back nearly after a whole decade with a new book series called Goosebumps: Horrrland for kids. The first new book is called "Revenge of the Living Dummy" and the second book is called "Creep from the Deep." The writing style is still the same, but that's what makes R. L. Stine so interesting. He wrties on kids level so that it is easy to read and undertand and his stories are so original and entertaining that I can't wait until the next book releases. (Which will be in June!) So, again, I'm very surprised that Goosebumps has finally awakened again after all these years! If Goosebumps: Horroland stays around long enough, it might be even better than the Harry Potter series, (in my opinioin!) but you never know if FOX might make an attempt to ressurect the show for the new series, (hey, I can dream, can't I?) So 'readers beware, you're in for a scare'!

Britney Crosby is not very happy, and that is an understatement. Her pain-in-the-neck cousin Ethan has moved into her house. That's bad enough, but Britney's mother gave Ethan her room, so now she's sleeping in the sewing room! At least Britney has her BFF, Molly Molloy, to sympathize with her. Ethan is a complete brat, but Britney's parents insist she be especially nice to him because he's had such a hard life.

This is nearly impossible, especially when Britney sees Ethan's best buddy --- a creepy smiling ventriloquist's dummy that Ethan calls Mr. Badboy. Bam! Mr. Badboy whacks Britney on the forehead the moment she meets him. Ethan, of course, denies any responsibility, insisting that the dummy hit Britney all on his own. Meanwhile, Mr. Badboy screeches, "I'm a BAAAAAD boy!"

Britney's mom makes her take Ethan (still toting Mr. Badboy) to Molly's house. Molly's dad is a folklore professor who travels everywhere, bringing home bizarre artifacts like horrible-looking dolls, old toys and skulls. When Professor Molloy sees Mr. Badboy, he's intrigued, saying that the dummy looks vaguely familiar to him. He takes the children up to his attic museum and shows off a doll with a shrunken head that he's recently acquired. The doll is called a Mind Stealer, and supposedly it can take your mind right out of your head. Even worse, Professor Molloy believes it's actually capable of doing the evil deed...but he feels it's safe under thick glass.

When Britney and Ethan get home, Ethan shows her his ventriloquist act. Surprisingly, he's excellent at throwing his voice to make Mr. Badboy talk. Or so Britney believes, until she sees the dummy moving all on its own. Britney is sure her cousin has rigged the dummy, even though Ethan appears to be trembling in fear. She continues to believe that Ethan is putting one over on her, until something happens that is completely unexplainable. How can a dummy move and say, "I don't like you, Britney!" when its ventriloquist is away from the room?

Britney is terrified, but (not surprisingly) her parents don't believe her when she tells them that Mr. Badboy is alive. That's terrible, but things go even further downhill for poor Britney as Mr. Badboy grows increasingly violent. And her life gets more complicated when Molly calls, begging Britney to come help bury the Mind Stealer doll.

Along with each complete horror story, each entry in R. L. Stine's Horrorland series --- a spin-off of his popular Goosebumps books --- features a serial tale in installments, which takes place in a creepy amusement park known as Horrorland. In this first book, Britney and Molly have received a puzzling invite to the Horrorland amusement park, which is complete with a werewolf petting zoo and a quicksand beach. The girls think this is the most amazing thing ever...at first. But it isn't long before they experience the true horror in Horrorland.

REVENGE OF THE LIVING DUMMY is a fun, fast-paced, spine-chilling thriller for kids who love to be scared. These readers will also enjoy the first episode of the serial story, which will leave them yearning for the next title in this 12-book series.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

After almost a decade R.L. Stine decided to please his fans and write more Goosebumps books. I have to say that this has been the best Goosebumps book I have ever read. I am a teacher and I read the Goosebumps series to my class. My class loved this book. They are big fans of Slappy so they basically forced me to get this book. There were laugh out loud parts and scary parts. This has been the funniest Goosebumps ever and then when you think the tale is over R.L. Stine throws a whole new story in. The family gets an invitation to go to Horrorland. From who? The reader doesn't know but my class has some ideas about what or who it might be. The family then goes to Horrorland where weird things begin to happen. The story ends and the reader still wants more just like the previous Goosebumps book. But the reader should feel satisfied because it seems like all of our questions are going to be answered within the 10 Goosebump Horrorland books. I don't want to spoil any parts for anybody but R.L. Stine throws in another doll into the story and its not a puppet. All I can say is that the doll was very interesting and brung a whole new type of scare to this story. There are also extras in the book like a map of Stagger Inn. Every book has its own map. There is also more extras that I won't spoil for you so just pick up the book.

After almost a decade, R.L. Stine brings Goosebumps back! And what better way to inaugurate the new series than with new adventures of Slappy the Dummy, the series' most popular character? Sadly, R.L. Stine drops the ball with the series debut, creating a disappointing rehash of the previous Slappy books.

The first Night of the Living Dummy was a brilliant book which set the standard for future Goosebumps book - well-written, suspenseful and occasionally even frightening. Parts II and III were pretty good follow-ups, and Bride of the Living Dummy was almost as good as the original, and easily the best of the Series 2000 books. Slappy's Nightmare was a bit too tongue-in-cheek but did put an interesting spin on the plot thread.

But Revenge of the Living Dummy slavishly adheres to the Dummy formula. The dummy shows up, nasty things happen, kid is unfairly blamed, it turns out to be a prank, THEN the dummy REALLY comes to life, and so on. There are a few twists - the main character isn't the one blamed for the dummy's activity, and the finale - but nothing really worth mentioning. It's a really disappointing, formulaic, by-the-numbers Goosebumps book. We can only hope that the future installments will improve on it, especially as the recurring plot and characters are introduced.

Revenge of the Living Dummy was not the best book. It got a little boring in HORRORLAND. Kidnapping mom & dad was genious.

3, 2, 1, BOOOO!!!!!!! Do you want to get so scared that you have to stay up all night? Get a goose bumps book because it will send shivers down your spine. I recommend this book for six and up. The best goose bumps book is Goosebumps horror land creep from the deep. The author Is R L stein. Genre is nonfiction 137 Pages.The story is about how a guy named max and a girl named Sheena go on a wild adventure and get into pirate adventure when they get stuck in a trap do they have what takes t escape the island a live read this book and you will see the dangers in this book. I give this book 5 stars because it was scary and it was full of adventure. The book has no moral or illustrator but still a good book. My favorite part was when they get to too the island.

This is a completely new and surprising return to Goosebumps. Because of the new twists in the storytelling--each book has two parts inside--you really don't know what will happen next! I hope CREEP FROM THE DEEP is just as silly/scary as this one. p.s. Don't forget to look in the back of the book!

Synopsis: The book starts off with Britney Crosby and her friend Molly Molloy digging a grave in the middle of night at the old graveyard. Suddenly a hand reaches out and grabs on to Britney's ankle! Flashback to two weeks earlier, where Britney is worried about her annoying cousin Ethan coming over to stay with her family. However, when Ethan arrives, he brings along a ventriloquist's dummy that his father got for him, that he calls "Mr. Badboy".

After getting creeped out by Mr. Molloy's (Molly's father) strange Mind Stealing shrunken head, Britney decides to let Ethan entertain her with his ventriloquism. She thinks Ethan is very talented at the way he makes Mr. Badboy talk and make rude jokes at her. Even though she notices the dummy move by itself and makes noises at her, she thinks that it is just Ethan playing one of his practical jokes on her, even though he looks scared and tells her that he isn't. She decides to invite him to share his talents at her great aunt's retirement home where she would be teaching them a painting lesson.

But things start taking a turn for the worse when Britney sees her favorite Skullboy poster torn and shattered and a red moustache and red eyes drawn over the portrait of her deceased dog Phoebe. She knows Ethan would have done it only because he kept warning her not to keep the Skullboy poster because Mr. Badboy liked it, and he probably didn't like the fact that she took it anyway. When she goes to confront Ethan about it, she sees the dummy get up by himself and tells her that he doesn't like her. When she goes to have it out with Ethan, Britney is shocked to see the dummy come alive, and doesn't know what to do about it. When she tries telling her parents, they don't believe her. Later, Mr. Badboy pushes her down the stairs and whispers for her never to snitch on him again. Things become unbearable when Mr. Badboy strikes disaster at Britney's great aunt's retirement home during the painting lesson. Can Britney somehow find a way to stop Mr. Badboy before her life is completely ruined?

Enter Horrorland Synopsis: Britney and Molly are excited to go to Horrorland, where they have been invited as very special guests. However, strange things start happening to Britney, her parents and Molly as soon as they enter Horrorland, such as a Horror (the guide at the theme park) burning their suitcases, their ride going out of control, another Horror coming up to them and warning them to get out, and finally Britney trying to relocate her parents as she finds a clue in the room they were in.

Review: I have to admit, I thought this was a good start to the series, and I enjoyed both the main story and the Horrorland part of it. While I thought the main story was more thrilling to find out how Britney could stop Mr. Badboy, I found the Horrorland part to be more suspenseful and creepy and wanted the story to continue in this book itself.

But, the main reason I gave this a 4 starts instead of 5 was because I was really frustrated at how Stine never resolved Ethan's character. Here is a person who has done horrible things to Britney, and he never gets punished for it even once in the book. Furthermore, his character is not even mentioned in the Enter Horrorland part, and I thought this was rather strange, because the author never even bothered to mention what happened to him. I found this part to be really annoying, and I wish that Stine could have spent one page, or just a paragraph at least, mentioning if he got punished, or had to go back or something.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading this book. Some parts of the book that gave me goosebumps were when Mr. Badboy trips Britney down the stairs, or tells her he doesn't like her, or when Britney is trying to stop Mr. Badboy in the graveyard, or when Britney and Molly arrive at her parent's hotel room to find them missing.

I also like format in which this book is written, in that the Horrorland parts of the book ends in a cliffhanger, that makes me want to pick the next one in the series and find out what happens next. Fans of the Goosebumps series and particularly "The Living Dummy" books in the series will enjoy this book.