Gargoyles of Gaylord

Michigan Chillers #5

by Johnathan Rand

What happens when you're afraid of the dark and you have gargoyles flying around at night? Corky and Ashley have to put their fears aside and stop the gargoyles from taking over...or is it too late?

Genres: Childrens, Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Middle Grade

204 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Christopher Wright is the author of dozens of horror fiction books for children and young adults. He writes under the pseudonyms Johnathan Rand and Christopher Knight. Almost all of Wright's books (save American Chillers) take place in his home state of Michigan.

Reviews

[Kat Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

5⭐️from middle school me who was obsessed with this book. 2⭐️from current me who had fun rereading as an adult!

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, let’s just address the Gargoyle in the room: the title aged like fucking milk. Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Okay, let’s review this sucker. The immediate upside the second half of this book. I thought the characters were really good there, and there were some nice sequences and an interesting plot forming by then. Darkland land was a wacky concept but I liked it enough. The Gargoyles are interesting villains, really shining when they… uh… use their vocal cords (this is a spoiler free review to bear with me). And it was semi-dark finding out what the Gargoyles plan was. However, the book suffered from a few things, the first being a huge nitpick. Hot take: I wanna fucking know the gender of the main character when you introduce them in a story. This is a wild, insane, and borderline atrocious take, believe me, but I find it… oh what’s the word… cripplingly stupid? Yes, there we go. I find it cripplingly stupid when you wait a hundred and something pages to directly address the gender of your main character, let alone when their name is one of those gender-fluid names, her name being Corrine, or usually called Corky. That’s a boy and a girls name, so god help me if I want to know the gender of someone. Moving on… the book is a slog and a snooze fest in the first half. It’s setting up blatantly obvious things like, for example, THE GARGOYLES ARE ALIVE!!!! OMFG!!!!! Huge spoiler. Apologies. Moving on, it’s really boring and has some familiar tropes and typical plot elements that make you want to skip the first chunk. And a final thing, the motive of the Gargoyles makes no sense. It’s revealed that they want to do a certain thing to a certain demographic, but there’s no reason to do so. My only guess is to breed, as fucked up as that would be in retrospective. Overall, 8/10. I liked it well enough… wait, this is the only other Gargoyle story in kids horror next to I’m Telling from TTGYG3, huh? Balls.

[Sierra Antoinette Busakowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

At my parents for Easter and forgot my current read at home 😭 so I went through my childhood books at my parents and picked this out to pass the time. Was nice to re-read this and reminisce on my childhood.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I think a lot of people are afraid of the dark, but they just don't admit it."

—Gargoyles of Gaylord, P. 7

Johnathan Rand's Michigan Chillers series continues with a classically formulated tale of a gargoyle netherworld and a couple of kids who fight to seal a breach in the wall separating the land of the gargoyles from that of humans, before it's too late and the demonic beings spread across the earth unchecked forevermore. Two preteen girls versus dozens of winged monsters sounds like a mismatch, and it is...unless those girls have a supernatural guardian to inform them of the gargoyles' one weakness, so they can get the jump on them and force the creatures back where they came from before the sun sets and their diurnal constraint is lifted. Will humans or gargoyles ultimately emerge as the surviving species?

Corrine (called Corky) and Ashley are having a blast this summer doing all the things there isn't time for during the school session. They play outside together until well after dark, neatly avoiding their crabby neighbor Mr. Hansel, and are required by their parents only to stick close to home. But summer fun hits the skids when a plague of living gargoyles descends on their hometown of Gaylord, Michigan, abducting Corky and Ashley and spiriting them away to a terrifying underground realm called Darkland. A rescuer happens along in timely fashion to extricate Corky and Ashley from Darkland's throes, but now the girls are privy to a disconcerting secret: Gargoyles are invading Gaylord, and only by helping the Gatewatcher round them all up and return them to Darkland before sunset is there any hope for the world to proceed without harassment by gargoyle enemies.

Racing the clock, Corky and Ashley accept the dangerous challenge and set out to find every rogue gargoyle in Gaylord and eject them to Darkland, in assistance to the Gatewatcher. Not everything goes according to plan, however, as the long summer day dwindles toward night and unlocated gargoyles remain in the vicinity of Gaylord. Is there any way to once and for all rid the world of living gargoyles, or is their curse permanently visited on planet earth?

Nonstandard grammar, punctuation, and usage are a given for Michigan Chillers, and Gargoyles of Gaylord has its share, though not as much as the first book or two of the series. Several plot questions are left unresolved by the end of the story, but nothing too glaring, and the fun spirit of the narrative helps make up for any logistical inconsistencies or weaknesses. As noted on page eighty-five, as well as in previous Michigan Chillers, "Some things are just too strange to understand." I'll grant the book that benefit of the doubt. Some of the story's dangers also feel more immediate than earlier Michigan Chillers, so that's a plus. The Gargoyles of Gaylord crossword puzzle (making its debut for the series), word search, and scrambled word puzzle make this book a good travel companion for a long car or plane ride. I would give Gargoyles of Gaylord one and a half stars, and though that could have almost as easily been rounded down, I did enjoy the read. Johnathan Rand's fans will not be disappointed.

[Tyler Waddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corky and Ashly have been seeing gargoyles taking people from gaylord to the neverlands the neverlands is the mplace where they came from. The Gargoyles have real tongues and take kids to the neverlands at night. In the day time they and hard stone. Corky and Ashley try to get rid of the gargoyles but they forgot one and it took ashly away. Will corky save her and gaylord.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quaint and spooky. Definitely a good read for a youngster. =)

[James Graham · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for a book report in fifth grade and to this day I remember thinking about how I lied to my whole class saying I enjoyed the book so I could get a passing grade on it.

[Allyson Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not definitely the best one but the end there's a twist, it definitely confused me and scared me a little bit .

[Patrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing, story and characters are not great, though the mechanic linking the books in the series is interesting. Not as bad as the first one though.

[Billy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Reading teacher suggested this to me in 7th grade. My reading level was far behind, and the Michigan Chillers books got me on track to being a reader.

[Max Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my Advanced Literature class in the university, we were assigned to read this great big book by Jonathan Rand and analyze how queer theory applies to it.

The old man is a metaphor for repressed sexuality. He hid who he was and grew old alone and sad and bitter. And he tries to fight others like him! It's a sad life.

I bet Jonathan Rand IS a metaphor for repressed sexuality. But that's what makes this book so great. The characters act super happy throughout the book, meaning that Rand is trying to tell us something. When I realized that, shit came out of my ass. Not just the shit, but the poop too. Yes, I lost my shit. I now want to analyze how queer theory applies to his other Chillers books and see what else he's trying to tell us about himself. He also doesn't have kids, which tells us a lot.

Now I'm not saying Jonathan Rand IS gay, since he knows me and could track me down if he wanted to.

But like, c'mon. If he was fully straight he wouldn't have that ponytail.

[Alexia Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this book it was great. i love that the book is short and easy to read. it was both scary and very well detailed i loved. i love that it takes place in the dark it gives you more of a visual. if you like scary easy to read and short books this book is definitely for you!.

[Mitch Nurenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Michigan Chillers Gargolyes of Gaylord" by Johnathan Rand. This is about two kids named Corky and Ashley who spot some gargoyles. These creatures can turn stone like a statue or turn into a real gargoyle. They are dangers and the kids to need to stop it. I recommend this book to kids who want to read a book about weird creatures.

[Jarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a REALLY fast read and was good. It takes place in Gaylord and this boy and his friends go on a walk and see a gargoyle in the front yard of someones house. They try to figure out if it is real of not and when they do that things turn out bad. This was a quick read for me and i suggest it to anyone who likes mysteries.

[Rachel P]

hmm

[JacobT · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was okay, kinda good, It was okay to read too

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

done and good

[Dylanf · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/21/11 My friends told me it was a good book.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

these thing come out at night they will get to anythig they can..... will it be the kids the toys.....

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

PB-B @ 1999, 7/00. Another Michigan Chillers, this time set in Gaylord. Fun J-Book.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's my favorite in the series!

[405917 · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was interesting, but i think could have had more details.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best American Chiller book ever!