Item - Elevator to Nowhere

There sure are a lot of strange scientist uncles in gamebook-land; the first few pages of this book felt awfully familiar to me. Indeed, there are a lot of familiar plot devices on display here, but I found the book to be a lot more fun than I expected. There's a clear mission to accomplish, a variety of places to explore, multiple paths to victory, and a sense of continuity nearly unprecedented in this series -- I was actually able to use something I learned from my first play-through to avoid getting killed during a later adventure. The book is also fairly well-written, having a certain sense of fun while still taking itself relatively seriously and, for better or worse, being surprisingly violent. This obviously isn't a classic, but it's another unexpectedly respectable entry in a series that I never thought I'd hold any respect for whatsoever.

More reviews by Demian

First of all, I must mention that I've never read a regular Goosebumps novel (nor do I ever plan to, thank you very much). Therefore, I have no idea how much this book resembles the source material. If it is anything to go by, however, I'm quite surprised - the level of violence on display here is pretty high for a children's book. Not that this is unusual in gamebook-land (series like Plot-Your-Own Horror Stories were also quite gruesome). Still, parents be warned. Other reviewers have speculated that some - maybe even most - titles in this series were not written by R. L. Stine himself, though this one contains enough sadism (reminiscent of the Hark series from the eighties) to suggest that it was authored by the real guy.

Like Demian, I also enjoyed this book, even if it's far from exceptional. There are two ways - not multiple ones - to achieve victory (though one takes up much more space than the other). The larger portion is an interdimensional adventure (like a lite version of Through Six Dimensions in the Marvel Adventure Gamebooks series), which means that there is lots of exploration and considerable replay value (though it is quite possible to stumble on the correct path by pure chance on the first try, which makes the book less interesting on subsequent reads). Still, there is quite a bit of creativity on display here, and I was certainly never bored. Surviving the book requires a good combination of reasoning, strategy, and luck, though there are also absurd game mechanics inherited from the Find Your Fate line (on which R. L. Stine also participated). These gimmicks make life or death dependent on things such as the type of clothing the reader is wearing or previous knowledge of the regular Goosebumps books. Still, if you can overlook its shortcomings, and even if you are not planning to become a Goosebumps addict, this adventure strikes a good enough combination of story and gameplay to warrant a read.

More reviews by Guillermo

It's been said Give Yourself Goosebumps is a series of inconsistent quality. That's fair, but Elevator to Nowhere offers a surprising degree of excitement, originality, and freedom to roam the narrative however the reader chooses. You feel confident your upcoming school science project will be a good one, since your teacher paired you with Jamie. Not only does she have brains, but her uncle Darius is a professional inventor and has promised to help with your project. You know you're in for a wild ride when Darius shows you his Transuniversal Transvator, which he claims can carry people between parallel dimensions. It seems outlandish...until he uses the machine to transport himself to another universe. In his place returns a man who looks exactly like him, but turns out to be a headhunter from a world full of such brutal predators. Will you and Jamie attempt to evade him here in Darius's house, or hop inside the Transvator to rescue her real uncle from the headhunter's world?

Crashing through Darius's house with the headhunter pursuing, you might find the Disintegrator Closet Darius invented. Will it save the day, or are you better off taking a more defensive posture? Locking yourself and Jamie in the basement buys you time, but caution should be exercised around Darius's inventions. His Ear Irradicator can be a weapon against evil Darius, but using the wrong setting is a ticket to your doom. The Captivator Helmet could give you control of evil Darius's mind, but use it unwisely and you'll lose your head. The Escalator Shoes have their own intrinsic peril if you're not savvy enough. You may be able to stall headhunter Darius until Jamie's uncle makes it back, or sneak into the Transvator and choose to proactively look for him after all, but the odds don't play in your favor if evil Darius corners you.

Ah...the Transvator, this book's central hub. Five labels offer an assortment of worlds to explore, but the main goal is bringing Uncle Darius home. Choose the BUGGY world and you travel to a version of earth where insects crawl everywhere, even all over the humans. Insects are in charge here, and consider any person not swarmed in bugs an enemy. You're at risk of being zombified by the bugs every second you spend in this world; can you make it back to the Transvator with your independence intact? The FAUNA world is a place where animals speak eloquently and humans are speechless; your ability to talk makes you a target. Is this where headhunter Darius is from, or do you need to get back to the Transvator and select again? FLIP is an upside-down world where simply going outside puts you in jeopardy. What happens if you fall up into the sky, where the cold, empty darkness of space awaits? TRUANTS is a universe where children are illegal; for you and Jamie, being on the streets is an invitation to arrest. You may never make it home if the police nab you. The world called TRAPPER pits you against a horde of eager, bloodthirsty men, and navigating their threat with calm clarity is a must if you are to accomplish your objective and return home. Which of these worlds is where Uncle Darius traveled, and can you save him from the headhunters and complete your science project? If you survive, you'll probably never mess with Darius's wacky brand of science again.

Elevator to Nowhere is a pretty good science fiction story. It has silly moments, but never flies completely off the rails as many Give Yourself Goosebumps books do. Some scenes are suspenseful, particularly in the TRAPPER world, where any slight wrong move can lead to an abrupt, macabre ending. I'm intrigued by the subtext of the Captivator Helmet narrative path; if you put the helmet on yourself, all resistance to anything Jamie orders you to do evaporates. You grin goofily and go along with her every whim, just to be nice. But doing foolish, uncomfortable, or dangerous things to be agreeable can land a person in hot water; it's important to set reasonable boundaries you aren't willing to cross, in real life just as in this book. Elevator to Nowhere is one of the better Give Yourself Goosebumps entries, a romp I'll be happy to take anytime I want a certain brand of dark fun.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74