Werewolf Village. The Doom Slide. The Coffin Cruise. These are just a few of the famous attractions awaiting Luke and Lizzy Morris at HorrorLand, the amusement park where terror comes free with every ticket.

I liked this book for several reasons. It follows the Morris family, Mom, Dad, Luke, Clay and Lizzie, discovering the Horrorland theme park after getting lost. The plot is full of suspense.Each chapter is left with a hook, such as in chapter 4 when Lizzie states, "He was just trying to scare us- wasn't he?" The language used is descriptive and brings the characters to life like the Horror, who we know has a big green head and black balloons bobbling from on top of it's head. The big idea of the book is hidden- but the main themes seem to be teamwork (the children working together) and that things aren't always what they appear to be. ( )

#16 "Enter if you dare...."
Lizzy, her parents, her younger brother and his friend are all on their way to Zoo Gardens Theme Park, but when her father leaves the map at home and they take a wrong turn they end up staring at a sign that reads "Welcome to Horrorland where nightmares come to life!" The attractions seem fun and everyone's excited to try things out. Things turn scary very quickly however. Suddenly things aren't so fun anymore. ( )

"As we entered the gates to HorrorLand, we had no idea that, in just a few hours, we would all be lying in our coffins." And thus begins the story of one's family mistake of entering an amusement parks where the thrills are just too scary.

As a child, I don't recall ever reading any of the wildly popular Goosebumps series, which is not particularly surprising given that I was not a huge fan of the horror genre. Obviously, as an adult who still isn't a fan of horror, I am not the target audience for this book.

That being said, I can definitely see the appeal for kids -- the language isn't terribly difficult and the story is told in a fairly straightforward manner. Almost every chapter ends with a "hook" of something scary happening, which is then resolved with a simple enough answer by the next chapter. The book ends in a way that is arguably "happily ever after" but without negating all the supernatural/evil that has come before. This is perfect for allowing young readers to enjoy the spine-tingling fear without actually coming away being terrified.

This particular book from the Goosebumps series was apparently so popular that it spawned its own spin-off series as well as a video game. I am curious to see if this book is typical of others in the series and may very well read another title in the future. ( )

Time for more Goosebumps sacrilege.

I've previously posted about my dislike of the Monster Blood books, and now to add to it I'm going to admit that I don't fully get the appeal of the Horrorland ones. Given, this might be slightly due to the fact that they spent next to zero time in the Werewolf Village and I love werewolves. Maybe. I don't know.

While the theme park itself was relatively cool, and I'd LOVE for a good game to exist where you get to explore it and try to survive it, it doesn't work especially well in this book. Too much time was spent looking for parents and/or other siblings, and too many idiotic choices were made. After it became established that the rides could easily kill you, I don't think I'd continue to go on the rides. I think I'd just try to, you know, get out.

Even the parents were stupid when it came to that. They went along with it,when escape would have been far easier. That having been said, the concept is relatively strong all the same. I think the villains suffered somewhat from the Signs stigma of being too easily defeated, and the whole... twist at the end was rather cringe-worthy.

But hey, it rocked when I was a kid and remains one of the most popular Goosebump titles. Wonder how they'll persuade the kids back. ( )