Item - Return to the Carnival of Horrors

As the title suggests, this is a sequel to the first book in the series, and it's a worthy successor. While it's almost exactly the same as its predecessor in terms of plot and format, it's worth reading for its numerous entertaining puzzles and games-within-the-game. They're not particularly challenging, but they're the sort of thing I always enjoyed when I read these books as a kid -- the hand-eye coordination game is a particular highlight. The book also benefits from an intelligent design -- it's not entirely linear, and in at least one place it refers back to a particular plot elements to keep track of what the reader has and hasn't done already. My only real complaint (a big one, I fear) applies to the rest of the series as much as to this book, and it relates to the blandness of the writing. The characters are pure stereotypes, and the humor doesn't go far enough into absurdity to actually be funny most of the time. If the book had less of a "paint-by-numbers" feel, I might have gone so far as to say it was good. Oh well. I suppose it's also worth mentioning that this is the final entry in the series to feature a nifty prism cover.

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