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Chamber of Horrors #2
Spirits and Spells
Playing Spirits and Spells, a new haunted house game, Travis, Tansy, and their friends find themselves trapped in the creaky old Gulbrandsen house, where they fight for their lives between the attic and basement. Reprint.
162 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 14, 2020
Premise: six teens gather at the Gulbrandsen Place during a dark and stormy night to try out a new tabletop game--and then the game becomes a little too real as the characters the play come to life! Now, no one can leave the house, and come morning, anyone left in it will perish. Can they escape?
Primary characters: our six teens: Tansy Parker, our main lead; Travis Wyman, her boyfriend DM who gets a little too into scaring others; Jenny Erickson and Derek Clarke, another gaming couple; and Tansy's ex Matt McMasters and his game-loving girlfriend Denise Wu; a ghost named Charity Jones; and a tentacle-monster named Arthur.
How Haunted is this House? Technically haunted. The game could have been played anywhere, and the invaders still would have crossed over, which makes things less house-based than I like in a haunted house story. But by sheer coincidence, the house DOES have a ghost haunting it. She's just more of a b-plot, and more helpful than haunting.
Is it spooky? More spooky near the beginning, honestly, when you don't know exactly what's happening. When the invaders' plan becomes clear, it feels like more of a run of the mill fantasy plot.
Is it Halloween? I'd say so, yeah. The game element balances nicely with the very light horror element to give it a bit of a playful sense, and Charity and Arthur are both big personalities that give some flavor. (Which is important, because the six teens have just barely enough character between them to equal one, maybe one and half personalities.) And the plot moves at a really brisk clip; it works against the quality of the story, but it does give it a pacing that really keeps moving.
Quote: "With a cry of triumph Derek raised the broomstick over his head, then smashed it against the tentacle that still gripped his leg. With a horrible shriefk the creature released Derek's leg. The injured tentacle slipped back across the floor, and the creature popped it into its mouth like a burned fingertip. The bulbous body began to shake and swell. Breath rasping in and out, the monster made a strange burbling noise.
Derek wrenched off the tentacle that still had a grip on his arm, then scrambled backward, his eyes wide. After a moment he shot a wondering glance at Jenny and said, "I think it's trying to talk!"
The creature looked straight at Derek. "Thakin obbovver cangoo in retruble!" it said emphatically.
Jenny staggered back against the wall. "You're right! It is trying to talk to us."
Removing the bruised tentacle from its mouth, the creature bellowed, "Of course I'm talking. What I said was, 'That kind of behavior can get you in real trouble!'"
Random thoughts (with spoilers):
--I love Bruce Coville. His books played an enormous part in my childhood reading, and really inspired a love for fantasy and science fiction. With that said... this isn't one of his stronger books. He's trying too hard to write in the style of someone like Christopher Pike. And it's not a terrible job at doing so--he manages to avoid a lot of the sexist and body-shaming things that Pike commonly dabbled in--but in the process, he loses a lot of his typical style. I enjoyed this book a lot as a kid, but it was a little disappointing to go back to.
--it is a big coincidence that the house just happened to be haunted in addition to the game being magically cursed. Maybe the message there is that most places are haunted, but we all need a cursed tabletop game to bring it out.
--Six characters, plus the ghost and the monster and six invaders was probably too large a cast. It's the largest, in fact, of anything I've read thus far. Maybe haunted house stories need to keep it lean.
--I really like that the tabletop gaming hobby isn't particularly stigmatized. Tansy has a stray thought that she wishes her boyfriend were into sports at one point (and that's when the alternative is traipsing around a mansion alone at night), but other than that, there's no moral panic or nerd-shaming.
--I think on the whole, I do recommend it. It's pretty short and moves quickly, so you can get to its good stuff fairly quickly, and the bad isn't offensively egregious.
Primary characters: our six teens: Tansy Parker, our main lead; Travis Wyman, her boyfriend DM who gets a little too into scaring others; Jenny Erickson and Derek Clarke, another gaming couple; and Tansy's ex Matt McMasters and his game-loving girlfriend Denise Wu; a ghost named Charity Jones; and a tentacle-monster named Arthur.
How Haunted is this House? Technically haunted. The game could have been played anywhere, and the invaders still would have crossed over, which makes things less house-based than I like in a haunted house story. But by sheer coincidence, the house DOES have a ghost haunting it. She's just more of a b-plot, and more helpful than haunting.
Is it spooky? More spooky near the beginning, honestly, when you don't know exactly what's happening. When the invaders' plan becomes clear, it feels like more of a run of the mill fantasy plot.
Is it Halloween? I'd say so, yeah. The game element balances nicely with the very light horror element to give it a bit of a playful sense, and Charity and Arthur are both big personalities that give some flavor. (Which is important, because the six teens have just barely enough character between them to equal one, maybe one and half personalities.) And the plot moves at a really brisk clip; it works against the quality of the story, but it does give it a pacing that really keeps moving.
Quote: "With a cry of triumph Derek raised the broomstick over his head, then smashed it against the tentacle that still gripped his leg. With a horrible shriefk the creature released Derek's leg. The injured tentacle slipped back across the floor, and the creature popped it into its mouth like a burned fingertip. The bulbous body began to shake and swell. Breath rasping in and out, the monster made a strange burbling noise.
Derek wrenched off the tentacle that still had a grip on his arm, then scrambled backward, his eyes wide. After a moment he shot a wondering glance at Jenny and said, "I think it's trying to talk!"
The creature looked straight at Derek. "Thakin obbovver cangoo in retruble!" it said emphatically.
Jenny staggered back against the wall. "You're right! It is trying to talk to us."
Removing the bruised tentacle from its mouth, the creature bellowed, "Of course I'm talking. What I said was, 'That kind of behavior can get you in real trouble!'"
Random thoughts (with spoilers):
--I love Bruce Coville. His books played an enormous part in my childhood reading, and really inspired a love for fantasy and science fiction. With that said... this isn't one of his stronger books. He's trying too hard to write in the style of someone like Christopher Pike. And it's not a terrible job at doing so--he manages to avoid a lot of the sexist and body-shaming things that Pike commonly dabbled in--but in the process, he loses a lot of his typical style. I enjoyed this book a lot as a kid, but it was a little disappointing to go back to.
--it is a big coincidence that the house just happened to be haunted in addition to the game being magically cursed. Maybe the message there is that most places are haunted, but we all need a cursed tabletop game to bring it out.
--Six characters, plus the ghost and the monster and six invaders was probably too large a cast. It's the largest, in fact, of anything I've read thus far. Maybe haunted house stories need to keep it lean.
--I really like that the tabletop gaming hobby isn't particularly stigmatized. Tansy has a stray thought that she wishes her boyfriend were into sports at one point (and that's when the alternative is traipsing around a mansion alone at night), but other than that, there's no moral panic or nerd-shaming.
--I think on the whole, I do recommend it. It's pretty short and moves quickly, so you can get to its good stuff fairly quickly, and the bad isn't offensively egregious.
April 16, 2021
Spirits and Spells does indeed have both of those things. The story is that a group of teenagers sneak into an abandoned mansion to play a new role playing game, which is described as a tabletop game akin to Dungeons and Dragons but manifests more as LARPing. The game master has hidden the necessary items (staves, swords, etc) throughout the mansion ahead of time, and as the other teens try to find them based on a series of clues, they gradually realize that the game is becoming real.
It's a good premise, and there are a lot of good ideas. Watching ordinary teenagers discover they now have magical powers as they encounter ghosts and monsters throughout the house is fun. Unfortunately the book feels half-baked. The story seems to stall in some parts and rush through others. The teens are pretty interchangeable--there are six of them, and I kept forgetting which was which and who was dating whom. The most well-defined character is the ghost of a servant girl who was murdered in the service of the rich family who used to own the place.
The back story that explains why the game is coming to life is pretty elaborate, but breezes by in a couple of pages of info dump, and the villains are never really developed. If Coville had another 100 pages to flesh out the story and characters (and exploit the adventure aspects more--the magic powers and fantasy weapons barely get utilized), this could have been a much more satisfying read. Or it would make a good six-part miniseries, the likes of which are so trendy these days.
It's a good premise, and there are a lot of good ideas. Watching ordinary teenagers discover they now have magical powers as they encounter ghosts and monsters throughout the house is fun. Unfortunately the book feels half-baked. The story seems to stall in some parts and rush through others. The teens are pretty interchangeable--there are six of them, and I kept forgetting which was which and who was dating whom. The most well-defined character is the ghost of a servant girl who was murdered in the service of the rich family who used to own the place.
The back story that explains why the game is coming to life is pretty elaborate, but breezes by in a couple of pages of info dump, and the villains are never really developed. If Coville had another 100 pages to flesh out the story and characters (and exploit the adventure aspects more--the magic powers and fantasy weapons barely get utilized), this could have been a much more satisfying read. Or it would make a good six-part miniseries, the likes of which are so trendy these days.
July 7, 2021
I read this one waaaay back in elementary school and for the better part of 10 years I've been trying to figure out what it was. Shoutout to reddit for helping me finally find this book! It seems to have stuck with me much more than I thought, since I noticed tons of similarities between this book and a short horror story I wrote in 8th grade. Aside from that realization, I figured out that this was probably where my interest in supernatural/occult type fantasy stories started! It was much shorter than I remembered, but still a super solid, fun read. The switching between characters (and realities) is a style I've loved all the way through to my adulthood and for a kid, it's no wonder this one stayed in the back of my mind. I'd have loved for more usage of powers and to have seen the tentacle monster healed, but other than that my inner child had a great time.
May 8, 2023
Prvo nisam mogla da se nakanim da počnem da je čitam a onda je nisam ispustila iz ruke! Zbunjujuće mi je bilo jedino kada su duhovi zaposedali tela igrača pa imena nisam mogla pohvatati i nisam mogla skapirati ko je ko.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2017
Interesting book
October 27, 2015
for me this book is not one of his best work.
the beginning and ending felt a bit abrupt. the flow not as smooth as his ither works.
as i was getting used to thw kids have their own powes, the story seems to changed and that spirits from a bygone era trying to free themselves using the kids. it's just not so smooth.
the beginning and ending felt a bit abrupt. the flow not as smooth as his ither works.
as i was getting used to thw kids have their own powes, the story seems to changed and that spirits from a bygone era trying to free themselves using the kids. it's just not so smooth.
May 18, 2017
The Twilight and Dark Forces series which both came out in the early 80's were my introduction to horror and supernatural books as a pre-teen. I still love to read this type of horror. There's little character development but these two series are always a quick and fun read. I have about 20 of the two series and will come back to more of these series at some point this year.
November 4, 2008
this is one of the best books i heve ever read! thee kids decide to try out a new game called spirits an spells in this old abandond house. its a scavenger hunt, little did they know the game and porops would become real.
December 23, 2008
This was the first book that my dad officially bought for me and started my love for reading, especially scary books and mysteries!
August 12, 2011
This was my favorite book when I was a kid! I got it at a flea market, and I've read it countless times. It's not exactly "literature", but it sure did it for me!
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March 27, 2015Loved this book as a kid! I remember reading it more than once. Just the right amount of scary/spooky.
November 5, 2014
tsk tsk... i expected too much. wala man lang twist!!! hahaiz sayang gwapo pa naman ang concept. but i still enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews