HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The First Evil (Fear Street Cheerleaders,…
Loading...

The First Evil (Fear Street Cheerleaders, No. 1) (edition 1992)

by R. L. Stine

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3741267,841 (3.35)1
"Give Me a D-I-E!"Newcomers Corky and Bobbi Corcoran want more than anything to make the cheerleading squad at Shadyside High. But as soon as the Corcoran sisters are named to the team, terrible things happen to the cheerleaders.The horror starts with a mysterious accident near the Fear Street cemetery. Soon after, piercing screams echo through the empty school halls. And then the ghastly murders begin...Can Corky and Bobbi stop the killer before the entire cheerleading squad is destroyed?… (more)
Member:vkhowll
Title:The First Evil (Fear Street Cheerleaders, No. 1)
Authors:R. L. Stine
Info:Simon Pulse (1992), Mass Market Paperback, 176 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

The First Evil by R. L. Stine

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 1 mention

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
These are solid 3.5s for me - I enjoy them a lot and they exhibit some of Stine's best writing moments (in terms of characterization, dialogue and overall feel of the mysteries), but still induce a sort of "why are you all this dumb?"

In our first outing (which you can follow my live read tweet thread here: https://twitter.com/PRationality/status/1248441702421053441 as my book slowly crumbled in my hands) the Fear Street Stine Starter Pack is in full force:

- new student (two! sisters!)
- warned about Fear Street
- new student gets attention from popular kid
- student population instantly hates or love new student
- Fear Family Shenanigans are the genesis of this horror
- realistic Red Herrings are thrown out to the reader like party favors

And I call foul on naming a kid "Corky Corcoran". That's begging for issues.

As the new kids, the Corcoran sisters have little idea about the Fear Family or why being so blase about living near the burned out Fear mansion, Fear Lake and Fear Street cemetery is something to not be casual about. And for whatever reason none of our named characters with lines think to mention these things (one character did, before the book began, who we never see again).

I'm still of the mind that the "Evil" spoken of doesn't just possess a person, but can psychically effect others through their malevolence. Though its also possible that 18 years out of HS means I don't remember exactly how awful teen girls can be/think.

Well worth reading if you dig Teen pulp horror books, want to read Fear Street (this is practically obligatory) or like cheerleaders? I'm not as sure of that last one since I have no real idea if this is a good portrayal of that culture or not. ( )
  lexilewords | Dec 28, 2023 |
A book where EVERY chapter ends with a jump scare or a cliffhanger. And here I thought lazy, petty jump scares where only found in horror flicks.

I thought reading this would be a breeze but I was so uninterested it turned out to be a bit of a chore. A chore I gladly did only because I read it as part of a book club so I knew I wasn't alone in my suffering. My main problem was that it was badly written. It jumped from one scene to another, without notice, pause, or any explanation making it feel like the first draft of a TV script.

The characters where paper thin archetypes and clichés and everything about the plot was completely expected. The bad writing and the try-hard jump scares/cliffhangers made the experience lack any enjoyment. The non-ending ending sealed the deal and made this tiny book a one star experience. We deserve better teen horror books than this.

On the plus side, and trust me it's only a plus because I've been reading a lot of Stephen King lately, it doesn't sexualise teenage girls and no mention or descriptions of underage nipples are present. I feel I've reached a new low in my literary journeys for this to even be a sentence my brain can form, let alone an actual positive fact about a book but there it is. Thank you for nothing Stephen King. ( )
  Silenostar | Dec 7, 2022 |
Fear Street # 20

Bobbi and Corky Corcoran are new to Shadyside. Their parents bought a house on Fear Street near the cemetery, but the girls don't mind. The only thing that matters is that the girls land a spot on the cheer-leading squad. Team Captain Jennifer Daly is all for anything that will give them an edge in states, but Kimmy Bass is pissed that these pretty blonde girls can waltz onto the team and bump off freshman Ronnie Mitchell.

Jennifer and Miss Green will do whatever it takes to give their team an edge in competitions. Is that even feasible with a seven person squad? That seems small, but I know nothing about cheerleading outside of the movies. Shadyside has a gymnast team, but it can't afford to field a full-size Cheerleading program?

Tragedy is always just around the corner in Shadyside. During a rainy night and running late for an away football game, the cheerleaders have their driver Simmons take their small bus down Fear Street to pick up some fire batons. Simmons decides to speed and open the folding doors and crashes into the Fear Street Cemetery. Jennifer is badly hurt, the paramedics even think she's dead for a minute.

Jennifer lives, but she's paralyzed from the waist down. Tensions escalate on the team when newcomer Bobbi is made team captain over Kimmy, presumably because she's blonde and thin.

'The First Evil' really starts to take off here. Stine pushes the envelope further with his death scenes, twists, and incredibly toxic female relationships. It's amazing. Stine would release 'bonus' trilogies every year until the end of the original series. I hope they are all as entertaining as this one.

'Cheerleaders' being a new high bar to the series is confirmed with an excellent middle installment.

Fear Street in Publication Order

Next #21: 'The Second Evil', Cheerleaders #2

Previous #19: 'Goodnight Kiss', Super Chiller #3 ( )
  ManWithAnAgenda | Nov 23, 2020 |
Oh Fear Street, how I have missed you. I think next year for Halloween bingo I may just read nothing but Fear Street books for squares. This is the first book in Stine's Fear Street Cheerleaders series. There are five books. As a teen I loved this whole series and couldn't wait for all of the installments. Fear Street and Shadyside High sounded like such dark and scary places and I always cracked up when something would happen and the police would just be all, well "Fear Street." This book definitely has a lot of girl get some sense moments, and there is actually not one, but two deaths. Stine never does shy away from killing off characters in a gruesome way. What was surprising is how we follow one main character and then it switches to another who will remain the lead for the rest of the series.

"First Evil" follows sisters Bobbi and Corky Corcoran. Both girls were very good cheerleaders back in their hometown and even were part of a team that went to state and appeared on ESPN. Seriously this gets mentioned a lot and I loved it. However, not everyone wants Bobbi and Corky to join the Shadyside cheerleading squad. When an accident leaves the former head cheerleader unable to walk again, Bobbi is named the new head cheerleader which causes a lot of resentment towards her. And then accidents start happening and Bobbi wonders if someone or something is stalking her.

So I loved Bobbi. She really wants to just be a cheerleader and make friends. She does make some dumb mistakes though. And at one point when she seems to throw herself into "dating" one of the local football players who has ties to another cheerleader I just shook my head. Bobbi and Corki though don't share a lot of scenes together though after a certain point which I thought was a mistake. Bobbi does try to go to Corki to talk to her about what she has seen and what she thinks is happening to her, but her sister doesn't believe her.

Corki is treated as a secondary character through the majority of the sister, until she is not and then we get to see more of her personality. We also follow former head cheerleader Jennifer and current cheerleader and queen of resentment Kimmy. Stine perfectly captures teen girls and how quickly they can turn on one another.

The writing is good, short and to the point at times. Stine definitely makes you scared about what is going on with Bobbi and also Fear Street in general. Also how does anyone live on Fear Street at this point? It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everyone realized how weird their town was and never brought it up really.

The ending was really good and I just maybe laughed at someone just going Fear Street and people stopped investigating what really happened. This is the first in a five book series, so think that Stine did a great job of making you care about the characters you read about and what happens next. ( )
1 vote ObsidianBlue | Jul 1, 2020 |
Another vintage I needed to clear off my shelves. The story isn't bad for the age and it's not as predictable as a lot of his other works, but the exclamation points and false chapter cliffhangers get old. I mainly liked the characters, as simple as they seemed (which is usual), and probably should have seen the ending coming. I did know it was something to do with one girl (was right on that), but was completely wrong on how it had to do with her. Overall the story was decent but the dialogue painful. ( )
  ErinPaperbackstash | Jun 14, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
"You are evil," Corky said in a hushed whisper.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

"Give Me a D-I-E!"Newcomers Corky and Bobbi Corcoran want more than anything to make the cheerleading squad at Shadyside High. But as soon as the Corcoran sisters are named to the team, terrible things happen to the cheerleaders.The horror starts with a mysterious accident near the Fear Street cemetery. Soon after, piercing screams echo through the empty school halls. And then the ghastly murders begin...Can Corky and Bobbi stop the killer before the entire cheerleading squad is destroyed?

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.35)
0.5
1 3
1.5
2 10
2.5 4
3 19
3.5 3
4 19
4.5 1
5 10

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,193,981 books! | Top bar: Always visible