I don’t read enough, and I feel bad for that. As a writer I want more book reviews. But by becoming a writer, and refusing to not indulge in all my other favorite mediums, that took a lot out of my reading time. So it’s come to the point where I knocked out a quick goosebumps book for a review. Anyway, this is my first goosebumps review, so a quick background. I read some of these as a child, I read them, they’re enjoyable things for kids, and I have some memories with them. That being said, I never read Welcome to Camp Nightmare. I did however see it on the television show that had episodes based off of these books. So with all that being said, let’s jump into this. The ninth entries into the very long Goosebumps series takes place in Camp Nightmoon, which yeah, the book is called Camp Nightmare, so you get the idea. Can’t have something go right. Campers are disappearing, big mystery, and that’s about it. The characters like most in the series can be described in about one sentence. Average protagonist, scared friend, kid with sunglasses, scary camp director, strange counselor. You get the idea. I’ve been to camp before, I can see some scary-ish things about it, and that’s what these books do best, make a slightly anxious or nervous situation scary. Like if I went back to camp after reading this, I’d probably be like, "Hey canoeing is a little more scary now that I have a visual of my friends being carried away and never seen again.” The main draw is as it always is, and that’s the mystery. And to be honest, I think watching the Television episode ruined it for me as a kid. But that being said I think the television episode had much better execution, and was just better done. As for the writing style, I thought maybe going back to an old kid’s book series might be a little unenjoyable, but I was mildly surprised. As always, kid’s stories can be good for adults. Nothing in the writing style bothered me except maybe the fact I think the characters cried shrilly like fifty times. But one thing this series depends on is its ending, that is crucial. I remember reading one and hated it because the ending was so anticlimactic. But this one just… it’s a little out of nowhere. And again, maybe it would have hit harder if I hadn’t watched the show, but oh well. The ride up to it wasn’t bad, I could feel the sense of dread. Much of the story is kind of wasted throwing characters into situations where they disappear, and that makes up most of the plot, but it ends right as it gets tiring, and on a good note. Did I get goosebumps, no not at all. When you put the book down like twelve seconds after finishing it, and not staring at the blank pages in reflection, that’s not a good thing. But did I enjoy coming back to the series? Yeah, it was a nice experience, but this book I can’t put up high enough to say it’s compared to other books, that’s why the rank is so low. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t offer much, and I think that most from this series will be the same. (I do remember some good ones though) Will I review some others from the series to knock out some reviews? Yeah, I liked it enough to do that. Although like an idiot I had sold a lot, so I might have to get my collection going again. If so, I’ll keep these coming. Hopefully the others will actually be worthy of getting goosebumps.

Welcome to Camp Nightmare gets a 2/5

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