Get ready, because R.L Stine is about to get medieval on your ass. It's time to delve deep into Goosebumps #27. It's A Night In Terror Tower AKA R.L Stine's Limited Knowledge Of England Comes To Light.
COVER STORY
STORY
Siblings Sue and Eddie are visiting London, England. on a tour of Terror Tower. Through the tour guide, a man named Mr. Starkes, Stine gets a chance to play Mr. Educator again, telling us about the castle walls, and medieval torture devices. Racks, thumb screws, the whole messed up magilla. The tour encounters a large man with a hood and an axe. It's just an actor playing an executioner. But there's someone else that's more important to the story that catches Sue's attention. A strange man in a black cape is staring intensely at them. She goes to take some pictures of the torture equipment, but her camera's gone! Turns out that Eddie's character trait for this book is that of a pickpocket. Better than the kid who pinches everything, I guess.
They head up higher in the tower, where the political prisoners were held. The higher up they go, the more Sue begins to get this strange feeling that she's been in this tower before. Starkes brings them to the top of the tower where two royal children, Prince Edward and Princess Susannah were held prisoner, until the lord high executioner ordered for them to be smothered. Starkes talks more about them, but Sue's camera breaks, causing the two kids to miss what else he had to say. However, after the kids argue with each other, they look to see that Mr. Starkes and the tour group have all vanished! They search frantically for them, but run into the man in the cape again, who tells them to keep quiet as he pulls out three strange white stones. Sue and Eddie manage to find a way to escape and start to run away.
They find their way into the dungeon, but the caped man confronts them again, saying that their time is come. The kids are confused, but the man says that they know what he's about to do. They manage to escape again, heading through the castle sewers. They eventually manage to escape and return to above ground, outside of the tower. They learn from a man that the tour group got tired of looking for the kids and just left. Well, that's kind of dickish. They take a taxi back to the hotel to find their parents, but instead of pounds, they have old coins that look fake to the taxi driver. Upon entering the hotel room, They see no signs of their parents. All their belongings are gone. Jeez, everyone's just ditching these kids it seems. They try to get answers from the Hotel clerk, but suddenly neither Sue nor Eddie can remember what their last names are. In fact, their memories are fading at a rapid pace.
While escaping the cab driver they stiffed, the kids once again end up face to face with the man in black. Eddie uses his pickpocket trait to steal the white stones, and tells the man that he'll give them back in exchange for their freedom. The man just takes the stones and chants something. Suddenly things feel like they're warping as the kids black out. When they recover, the man in black is gone and they're in an unfamiliar place. As they wander, they discover that everything looks like it's from the medieval days. Eddie suddenly vanishes. Sue goes to find him, but gets confronted yet again by the man in the black cape.
Sue manages to escape again, and runs into a woman. She asks to hide somewhere, but the woman refuses. She agrees to pay, so the woman places her in a trunk, only to immediately sell Sue out to the man in black, meaning she got double paid. Okay, that's hilarious. The woman does hope there's no hard feelings that she sold her out to the man that we now learn is the lord high executioner. He takes Sue back to Terror Tower and places her in a room with Eddie. The two kids don't know what to do as eventually the door opens, and a man with a white beard and purple robe arrives. This is Morgred, the king's sorcerer.
He tells Eddie and Sue the truth, that they were the prince and princess of the story from earlier in the book. Their uncle, the king, locked them in the tower centuries ago. But before they were killed by the executioner, he used a spell to help them escape. He sent them into the future and erased their memories. This is why they couldn't remember their parents, the king and queen of York, who were murdered by their brother. And now the two kids remain. Why can't he bring them back to the future? Because those stones that the executioner were using where what's needed for the time spell. Without them, there's no way to do so. But, good thing Eddie's pickpocket trait comes back into play, he's had the stones all along.
Morgdred begins to chant the spell, but for some reason it no longer works. Fearing their death, the kids try to run for it, but Morgred casts a spell to freeze them in place. Morgred leaves as the executioner starts to make his way up to the room. Eddie still has the stones in his hand and tries to chant the spell again. Suddenly the door opens, and it's the tour guide, Mr. Starkes. Somehow they managed to return to the present. They then run into Morgred, who offers to take care of them. We end with the "Morgan Family" going out for some burgers and fries. And then he sells them out to the high executioner! Nah, just kiddin'. No twist for this book.
A Night In Terror Tower is a solid Goosebumps book. The setting is unique with the kids trying to traverse through a dark and deadly tower, then we get a brief time in a medieval setting, which is fresh to Goosebumps. Part of me wishes we spent more time there. The executioner is an intimidating villain, but to be honest, if his priority was murdering the kids, why did he wait so long to do it? I guess he just needs to do it in with more oomph instead of just snapping some necks. The pacing is fine, even if most of the book is just them bumping into the executioner multiple times and escaping. The big reveal of Eddie and Sue is also built up well enough. Yes, Stine does blow it a bit by revealing the names of the kids being similar to the prince and princess. But having things start to slowly add up like the lack of parents and their loss of memory all comes into place there, so the plot never feels too messy. In the end, this is a good Goosebumps book. Not perfect, but is definitely one of the best readers for certain. A Night In Terror Tower gets an A-.
They head up higher in the tower, where the political prisoners were held. The higher up they go, the more Sue begins to get this strange feeling that she's been in this tower before. Starkes brings them to the top of the tower where two royal children, Prince Edward and Princess Susannah were held prisoner, until the lord high executioner ordered for them to be smothered. Starkes talks more about them, but Sue's camera breaks, causing the two kids to miss what else he had to say. However, after the kids argue with each other, they look to see that Mr. Starkes and the tour group have all vanished! They search frantically for them, but run into the man in the cape again, who tells them to keep quiet as he pulls out three strange white stones. Sue and Eddie manage to find a way to escape and start to run away.
They find their way into the dungeon, but the caped man confronts them again, saying that their time is come. The kids are confused, but the man says that they know what he's about to do. They manage to escape again, heading through the castle sewers. They eventually manage to escape and return to above ground, outside of the tower. They learn from a man that the tour group got tired of looking for the kids and just left. Well, that's kind of dickish. They take a taxi back to the hotel to find their parents, but instead of pounds, they have old coins that look fake to the taxi driver. Upon entering the hotel room, They see no signs of their parents. All their belongings are gone. Jeez, everyone's just ditching these kids it seems. They try to get answers from the Hotel clerk, but suddenly neither Sue nor Eddie can remember what their last names are. In fact, their memories are fading at a rapid pace.
While escaping the cab driver they stiffed, the kids once again end up face to face with the man in black. Eddie uses his pickpocket trait to steal the white stones, and tells the man that he'll give them back in exchange for their freedom. The man just takes the stones and chants something. Suddenly things feel like they're warping as the kids black out. When they recover, the man in black is gone and they're in an unfamiliar place. As they wander, they discover that everything looks like it's from the medieval days. Eddie suddenly vanishes. Sue goes to find him, but gets confronted yet again by the man in the black cape.
Sue manages to escape again, and runs into a woman. She asks to hide somewhere, but the woman refuses. She agrees to pay, so the woman places her in a trunk, only to immediately sell Sue out to the man in black, meaning she got double paid. Okay, that's hilarious. The woman does hope there's no hard feelings that she sold her out to the man that we now learn is the lord high executioner. He takes Sue back to Terror Tower and places her in a room with Eddie. The two kids don't know what to do as eventually the door opens, and a man with a white beard and purple robe arrives. This is Morgred, the king's sorcerer.
He tells Eddie and Sue the truth, that they were the prince and princess of the story from earlier in the book. Their uncle, the king, locked them in the tower centuries ago. But before they were killed by the executioner, he used a spell to help them escape. He sent them into the future and erased their memories. This is why they couldn't remember their parents, the king and queen of York, who were murdered by their brother. And now the two kids remain. Why can't he bring them back to the future? Because those stones that the executioner were using where what's needed for the time spell. Without them, there's no way to do so. But, good thing Eddie's pickpocket trait comes back into play, he's had the stones all along.
Morgdred begins to chant the spell, but for some reason it no longer works. Fearing their death, the kids try to run for it, but Morgred casts a spell to freeze them in place. Morgred leaves as the executioner starts to make his way up to the room. Eddie still has the stones in his hand and tries to chant the spell again. Suddenly the door opens, and it's the tour guide, Mr. Starkes. Somehow they managed to return to the present. They then run into Morgred, who offers to take care of them. We end with the "Morgan Family" going out for some burgers and fries. And then he sells them out to the high executioner! Nah, just kiddin'. No twist for this book.
CONCLUSION
No comments:
Post a Comment