Hello Blogging World!
Jonny
I’m Jonny, and you won’t find me anywhere near the depths of the ocean, pirate treasure or not. Hard pass!
Misty
I’m Misty and I have to agree with Jonny on this one!!
This buddy read and rant is for Creep from the Deep (Goosebumps HorrorLand #2) by R.L. Stine.
Blurb:
Billy and Sheena always expect adventure when they join their uncle, Dr. Deep, aboard his hi-tech boat. What they don’t expect is a treasure hunt leading to a 200-year-old sea captain… who refuses to stay dead!Just when they think the tide is turning, Billy and Sheena accidentally drive into a dangerous mystery. A chilling surprise awaits them in Horrorland, the theme park where their worst nightmare is about to come to life.
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***Brief disclosure***
Jonny is an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post. It’s a great way to help him keep things running on his blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase.
Buddy Read Book Rant:
Misty
So what did you think of this one? Did you enjoy it as much as you did the first one? For me I’m still feeling neutral about it.
Jonny
I have to say, I think the nostalgia is beginning to wear off with this one. I felt a lot more neutral than the past one. Overall I think it tried to do too much in too short a time and it kinda fell flat for me.
Misty
I wish I would have read his books when I was younger. I feel like I would have liked them a lot more than I am now.
I thought this one was ok. I will say there were sometimes when I couldn’t tell what was actually happening and what was the imagination of the little boy.
Jonny
Yeah, it’s definitely a different experience reading it as a kid than as an adult. I tend to like them a little bit less on my rereads, but I just counted my bookshelf at home and I have 21 of the OG series books to read, so if you ever wanna give those a try we can do those too.
I totally get that! Billy’s imagination kind of messed with things in spots and it made it seem like he was hallucinating. I didn’t really like that very much. I will say I liked the beginning part with the exploration and adventure. Being in their little submarine would’ve been terrifying and it felt really claustrophobic, this coming from a guy with a big fear of large bodies of water (thalassophobia).
Misty
I’ll let you know about if I want to read those at any point. As of right now I’m kind of regretting buying this set of 10 books because I’m not enjoying them like I thought I would. But never say never. Yeah I agree about the exploration it was fun to read even it’s a bit unrealistic it was still fun. You couldn’t pay me to get into that submarine. The way it was described it sounds like it was a thrown together experiment. 😂
Jonny
I completely understand. This series has a different format than the OG that is making me like it less. The HorrorLand part of each book still feels weird and kind of unnecessary. Oh, and can we address the cover too? The eel looking monster they put on there isn’t even in the book. What the heck! I think they just should’ve put a creep undead pirate on it.
Haha, right? That rinky dinky submarine would be terrifying to get in, let alone explore the depths of the ocean.
Misty
Yeah that Horrorland section in the end just seems like a completely different story. Like I’m entertained by it just like the main story we get but it feels random aside from it having the characters from the main story in it. I’m hoping will understand its importance soon. That eel was from the boys imagination in the very first chapter.
Jonny
Yeah, I really liked the original HorrorLand book, but this is a little meh. It’s just hard to know where they are going with that section of things. Oh, that’s right! My bad! Did you like any of the characters? My favorite was Sheena because she seemed the most consistent out of everybody. The bratty little sister vibe was pretty decent.
Misty
I didn’t mind any of the characters they were all ok.
Jonny
Fair! Did anything surprise you in this book? I thought the reveal of what was really going on with the pirates and the island was interesting, but I wish they would’ve spent more time exploring that. I thought it was a pretty cool idea. It just didn’t really deliver.
Misty
The only thing that surprised me was what captain Ben was wanting. I didn’t see that coming at all. I thought he was after the same thing the kids thought he was after.
Jonny
Oh yeah, that one surprised me too. It was a funny moment. Captain Ben was a lot like Slappy with his megalomaniac thing going, but just with a pirate accent lol. He was even partially wooden!
Misty
I didn’t even consider that but you’re right he was.
Jonny
Yeah, I didn’t really think on it till we started chatting and I’m like, hey this guy’s almost the same villain! Did you want to continue reading this series or give something else a try? We can always hit the brakes and veer if you like.
Misty
I bought these books so I kind of want to read them even if I’m not loving them. If you don’t want to continue on I totally understand. I think I’m going to be giving this one a 3 star as well.
Jonny
Oh, I’m totally happy to keep reading these. I still like the nostalgic references, it’s just a little disappointing so far. Hopefully we’ll get a cunning villain soon, maybe a vampire or something! Yeah, I also gave this one a 3 star rating. Readable? Sure! Great? Eh, not so much.
Misty
Ok sounds like a plan. I wouldn’t be mad at vampire villain. Yeah they are definitely readable but not literary masterpieces.
Jonny
Yeah, that or just a full book inside of HorrorLand. I took a little peek at the next one and it looks like we might be spending more time there. I hope it’s true and we can get a deeper look into what’s going on in HorrorLand. So far it seems relatively harmless and just a more extreme version of an amusement park, kinda like Action Park. You ever heard of that place before?
Misty
Oh hopefully we will!! No I haven’t heard of that place.
Jonny
Fingers crossed! Yeah it was an amusement park known for super dangerous rides that killed people back in the day, I think back in the 80s. It kind of reminds me of the rides they go in in HorrorLand. The real kicker is that the park still exists today, but they renamed it and the rides are a lot safer nowadays.
Misty
Oh wow that’s crazy. I don’t think I want to go there.
Jonny
Haha, right? I think it’s called Mountain Creek Waterpark nowadays and it’s in New Jersey. But yeah, hard pass! Thanks for reading this one with me bestie! Hopefully things will get a bit better as we go along.
Misty
I always have fun with our buddy reads. I hope the next one will give us some insight into Horrorland.
Jonny
We shall see!
That’s A Wrap!
Thanks for joining us on our buddy read and rant of Creep from the Deep! We had a lot of fun, and hope you did too! We will definitely be doing some more buddy reads in the future, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, why not check out Misty and Jonny’s other fun buddy reads?
Buddy Read: Revenge of the Living Dummy
Buddy Read: Shadow War
Buddy Read: Shadow Flames
Buddy Read: Shadow Pawn
Buddy Read: Shadow Walker
Buddy Read: Slewfoot
Buddy Read: Cemetery Boys
Buddy Read: Ravensong
Buddy Read: Wolfsong
Buddy Read: Magic Bites
Buddy Read: The First to Die at the End
Buddy Read: They Both Die at the End
Buddy Read: Under the Whispering Door
Buddy Read: The Burning World
Buddy Read: Warm Bodies
Buddy Read: The Wicked Deep
Buddy Read: The Locke & Key Series
Buddy Read: Dark Lover
Buddy Read: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain
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