1. Abracadanger
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: 2003
ISBN: 0-448-43224-2
Length: 138 pages
Number of Endings: 19
Plot Summary: Ben, a young magician, finds the kit of a famous
magician known as Dr. Presto and discovers that it works all too well....
My Thoughts: This is an underwhelmingly average book. The
"magic gone out of control" plot has been done before with
remarkably similar results, and there's really nothing to make this adventure
differ from its predecessors. Every good characteristic (like the fact that
Ben and his friends take a rational view of their situation until they are no
longer able to, or the decent plot consistency) is counteracted by a bad one
(the excessive familiarity of the plot, or the lack of especially interesting
characters or places). The book is fairly successful in what it does, but
what it does isn't all that exciting. This may be of interest to readers who
have never seen such a book before, but to a veteran, it's just a bit more of
the same old stuff.
2. Now You See Me, Now You Don't
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: 2003
ISBN: 0-448-43225-0
Length: 144 pages
Number of Endings: 22
Plot Summary: Amy, a shy, lonely girl, gets a necklace for her
twelfth birthday which allows her to become invisible.
My Thoughts: This book is pretty similar to the last one; the premise
is overly familiar, the writing is fairly uninspired, and there's an
unfortunate lack of quirkiness to the whole thing. I did find it more
enjoyable than the previous book, though; although Amy's character and her
struggles are both stereotyped and exaggerated, it was nonetheless nice to
have a little bit of character development intertwined with the more
fantastic elements of the adventure. If a bit more effort had been made to
be original, this could have been pretty good; as it is, it's just another
average, unremarkable gamebook.
3. Eye Spy Aliens
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: 2003
ISBN: 0-448-43226-9
Length: 144 pages
Number of Endings: 20
Plot Summary: Evan Kim, a fan of Harriet the Spy, acquires a
very special piece of surveillance equipment from Sebastian Cream's Junk
Shop....
My Thoughts: It may simply be because I'm partial to the subject
matter, but I found this to be the most enjoyable book in the series so far.
The book takes the central plot device from John Carpenter's They Live
(an object which reveals the identity of aliens hiding among us) and uses it
to tell a number of familiar but enjoyable (and sometimes intertwined) tales
of visitors from space. Most of the choices are interesting, some of the
outcomes are at least a little bit unpredictable, consistency between paths
is high if not absolutely perfect, and I appreciated the fact that the book
takes itself more seriously than the average Give
Yourself Goosebumps title (though the names of the various alien races
are awfully cheesy). Although not a classic for the ages, this is an above
average entry in the simple horror gamebook niche.
4. Revenge of the Gargoyle
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: 2003
ISBN: 0-448-43227-7
Length: 144 pages
Number of Endings: 19
Library of Congress Summary: When a teenager selects a marble from
Sebastian Cream's Junk Shop, she is unaware that it is the missing eye of one
very angry gargoyle.
My Thoughts: This is about on a par with the previous adventure. It
takes itself seriously enough to be more engaging than a Give Yourself Goosebumps book, and it has a certain
degree of internal consistency -- repeated readings reveal new layers of
plot, though some of these layers seem slightly contradictory, and the whole
thing keeps getting harder to swallow. Certainly, the architecture and
geography of Bleaktown is a bit on the exotic side. There is a mild attempt
at enhancing the sense of series continuity by featuring a brief appearance
by Evan Kim, the protagonist of the previous adventure. There's also a
slightly unusual choice where the reader decides not which action to take but
rather which characters to continue reading about. Beyond that, there's
nothing too notable about the gameplay, and while the plot is one of the more
original ones in the series, it's not too groundbreaking, nor does it fit
very well with the book's title. Like the rest of the series so far, this is
a solid but unexceptional adventure; it might make a good gift for a young
reader unfamiliar with gamebooks, but it is unlikely to excite a long-time
fan.
5. Three Strikes and You're a Monster!
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: 2004
ISBN: 0-448-43359-1
Length: 144 pages
Number of Endings: 15
Plot Summary: Baseball fanatic Matthew Carter is a great catcher but
can't hit to save his life... until he finds an unusual baseball bat in
Sebastian Cream's Junk Shop.
My Thoughts: Like many of the Give Yourself
Goosebumps books, this is structured so that it contains two completely
independent stories separated by the first decision -- depending on which bat
Matthew picks up, completely different adventures await him. Of course, in
one path, it is possible to exchange a bat at the store and thus start over
on the second path. The actual content of the book is, as usual, not bad but
not too special. There are some missed opportunities for more interesting
gameplay (the exploration of a cave, for example, which offers three openings
to enter but doesn't bother to distinguish them in any way) and more sheer
stupidity than usual for the series (the solution to a quest for a monster's
name was not only a missed opportunity for some sort of puzzle but also made
me cringe). I'm glad to see that this series is selling well enough to make
it into a second year of publication, but I hope it gets a little livelier
before it comes to an end -- with just a little more creativity or
quirkiness, I think this series could produce something memorable.
6. The Day of the Dead
Author: Tracey West
Illustrator: Brian W. Dow
First Published: April, 2004
ISBN: 0-448-43360-5
Length: 144 pages
Number of Endings: 19
Plot Summary: A pair of twins stop into the Scream Shop to pick up a
gift for their great-aunt, who they will meet for the first time during a
trip to Mexico during el Dia de los Muertos.
My Thoughts: Of the series so far, this book definitely stands out as
the most unique. While the various supernatural events which take place
during the course of the adventure are fairly familiar, the Mexican setting
and well-integrated cultural references give it a unique flavor and even add
an educational side to the book. I also enjoyed the fact that in one path,
the characters can visit a Mexican junk shop remarkably similar to the one
back home in Bleaktown, a detail which builds interestingly on the premise of
the series. My biggest complaint about the book is one of my most common
gripes: a lack of consistency. There are both large and small shifts in
story details at numerous points in the book, and as usual, I found that it
made things less interesting. Fortunately, even without a consistent story,
there is some motivation to replay all the paths, because different sections
reveal different interesting facts about el Dia de los Muertos. This is an
above average book, and I am left a little curious about why this was
released in April; it would probably get more of the attention it deserves
around October, when it could theoretically be put on display with other
holiday-themed books.
7. The Curse of Count Blood
8. War of the Trolls