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Fear Street Cheerleaders #5
The Evil Lives!
Everyone at Shadyside High remembers when Corky Corcoran destroyed the evil spirit that attacked the cheerleaders. No one expected the evil to come back. No one knew that there was only one way to defeat it forever. No one knew that the answer lay hidden in Sarah Fear’s grave.
143 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
21 people are currently reading
1520 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,679 books18.6k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
May 31, 2020
When Amanda and the other cheerleaders find a box in an old gym locker at Shadyside High labeled 'DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.’ they think it must be a joke. Everyone remembers the string of odd deaths that occurred when Corky Corcoran led the squad, but none of them think an ancient evil spirit actually had anything to do with it. They decide to call up the evil as a prank, but soon strange accidents are plaguing the squad and the basketball team. Amanda is pulled into the history of the Fear family and the origin of the evil, and she learns how it might be defeated once and for all. Spoilers will be clearly marked. Trigger warnings: death, gore, body horror, severe injury, broken bones, blood, drowning.
If Cheerleaders 1-3 is the original trilogy and The New Evil is the spunky reboot that brings fresh life to the series (Scream 4 style), then The Evil Lives! is the sequel nobody wanted or asked for in a series that should have quit while it was ahead. It’s like watching Final Destination 4 or 5, long after the original cast has disappeared, where there’s barely any plot and the deaths are increasingly ridiculous, if not outright physically impossible. There’s nothing subtle about this book, none of the gradually increasing horror or nightmares leading up to the massacre. Just, suddenly, some people are dead, and it’s not even clear what happened to them; apparently, bones just break and blood spurts out of bodies for no apparent reason.
The new cast is flat and utterly unfleshed out, not that this series ever really had character going for it outside of Corky. I didn’t even remember the lead cheerleader’s name a couple days later when I was writing my review, and Stine knows his characters so little that one’s hair color changes from blonde to brown midway through the book. I’d say it’s stupid that they intentionally call up the evil, but doing stupid things is the premise of so many slasher flicks. (I’ve played with a Ouija board but would never play Bloody Mary as a kid, so I feel like my willingness to do dumbass things in a horror film falls somewhere in the middle.) The only thing this book has going for it is that it expands on the history of Sarah Fear and finally, finally answers the question of where the evil comes from, which doesn’t disappoint. Stine would have been better off writing the flashback novel without the bland framing story.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
The end of the novel is ambiguous about it, but since the deaths of this novel were reversed, I wonder if we’re supposed to assume that the others were as well–meaning that Bobbi Corcoran never dies. It seems like the evil no longer exists in any past timeline and instead comes into being right at the end of this novel, which means the past four books never happened. (The fact that the evil somehow evades death and jumps into a future timeline is nonsensical, but Stine’s novels have always favored shock value over logic.) Normally, I find it irritating to undo timelines (why did I even read it then?), but I like the idea of Bobbi and Corky living HEA.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
If Cheerleaders 1-3 is the original trilogy and The New Evil is the spunky reboot that brings fresh life to the series (Scream 4 style), then The Evil Lives! is the sequel nobody wanted or asked for in a series that should have quit while it was ahead. It’s like watching Final Destination 4 or 5, long after the original cast has disappeared, where there’s barely any plot and the deaths are increasingly ridiculous, if not outright physically impossible. There’s nothing subtle about this book, none of the gradually increasing horror or nightmares leading up to the massacre. Just, suddenly, some people are dead, and it’s not even clear what happened to them; apparently, bones just break and blood spurts out of bodies for no apparent reason.
The new cast is flat and utterly unfleshed out, not that this series ever really had character going for it outside of Corky. I didn’t even remember the lead cheerleader’s name a couple days later when I was writing my review, and Stine knows his characters so little that one’s hair color changes from blonde to brown midway through the book. I’d say it’s stupid that they intentionally call up the evil, but doing stupid things is the premise of so many slasher flicks. (I’ve played with a Ouija board but would never play Bloody Mary as a kid, so I feel like my willingness to do dumbass things in a horror film falls somewhere in the middle.) The only thing this book has going for it is that it expands on the history of Sarah Fear and finally, finally answers the question of where the evil comes from, which doesn’t disappoint. Stine would have been better off writing the flashback novel without the bland framing story.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
The end of the novel is ambiguous about it, but since the deaths of this novel were reversed, I wonder if we’re supposed to assume that the others were as well–meaning that Bobbi Corcoran never dies. It seems like the evil no longer exists in any past timeline and instead comes into being right at the end of this novel, which means the past four books never happened. (The fact that the evil somehow evades death and jumps into a future timeline is nonsensical, but Stine’s novels have always favored shock value over logic.) Normally, I find it irritating to undo timelines (why did I even read it then?), but I like the idea of Bobbi and Corky living HEA.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
May 1, 2020
The ending made me think there should be another book?? What? Where is it? Why you leave me hanging like that Mr. Stine?
July 22, 2021
After the original Trilogy and the re-boot (with the same characters) that is The New Evil, book number five is here. This fifth instalment is set a few years after the original books and features a new bunch of Cheerleaders taking on the “Evil”.
There is a nice connection to the previous books when new character Amanda and her friends discover a box in a locker at Shadyside High which is labelled “DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE” Do they open the box and summon the “Evil”? Of course! Who wouldn’t? This is a chance to see if all those stories of “Evil” and Corky are true.
There is an element of time travel in this book as the history of Sarah Fear, the “Evil” and where, how, and why it was created is explored.
The last book in this saga is The Awakening Evil which is all about the story of Sarah Fear. A prequel to start at the very beginning of the story and wrap up this horror saga of the “Evil”.
There is a nice connection to the previous books when new character Amanda and her friends discover a box in a locker at Shadyside High which is labelled “DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE” Do they open the box and summon the “Evil”? Of course! Who wouldn’t? This is a chance to see if all those stories of “Evil” and Corky are true.
There is an element of time travel in this book as the history of Sarah Fear, the “Evil” and where, how, and why it was created is explored.
The last book in this saga is The Awakening Evil which is all about the story of Sarah Fear. A prequel to start at the very beginning of the story and wrap up this horror saga of the “Evil”.
September 24, 2025
Well this was a wild ride. I do think that since Stine did not revisit this series for a bit, things got wonky here in terms of continuity errors that I was going, what the world about. All of them were concerning Sarah Fear that we learned about in the Fear Street Cheerleaders trilogy. I don't know why Stine did this, maybe to have a new spin on things. But it didn't work because I still own all of the Fear Street Cheerleader books so I went back to make sure I wasn't crazy and had never heard some of this new information (no spoilers).
Then we had the standalone following Corky, continuing this series, and now we have book #5. There's no Corky, there's a new character, Amanda. And honestly, I have a hard time believing that someone growing in Shadyside (or holy cow there's a lot of dead teens here as I call it) didn't know about this whole thing. Also Amanda and her crew get the TSTL crown for opening a box that says:
DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.
Yes. It legit said that. No there is zero explanation after the events in book #4 how this even happened and why in the world would [redacted] have left a freaking evil box in the locker room at the school after they presumably graduated.
Amanda and her fellow cheerleaders are dealing with jealousy on the squad because two girls [Natalie and Janine] boyfriends [Luke and Brandon] are competing for a top spot on the basketball team. So there's already tension going along, Amanda finds the evil box, the squad decides let's do a ceremony that shows instructions (that someone left) on how to call up the evil. You guys, I maybe started cracking up at this point. And anyway, evil is let loose, we get some gruesome teenage death and a really bad ending that I think that Stine was setting up to continue this whole series. But I think he started doing the Fear Street Saga that was following the Fear family that settled in Shadyside. I never read that so I have zero idea if that fixes some of the continuity errors I found.
I read this for Halloween Bingo 2025 "Dark Academia" and for CBR17 book bingo "School."
Then we had the standalone following Corky, continuing this series, and now we have book #5. There's no Corky, there's a new character, Amanda. And honestly, I have a hard time believing that someone growing in Shadyside (or holy cow there's a lot of dead teens here as I call it) didn't know about this whole thing. Also Amanda and her crew get the TSTL crown for opening a box that says:
DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.
Yes. It legit said that. No there is zero explanation after the events in book #4 how this even happened and why in the world would [redacted] have left a freaking evil box in the locker room at the school after they presumably graduated.
Amanda and her fellow cheerleaders are dealing with jealousy on the squad because two girls [Natalie and Janine] boyfriends [Luke and Brandon] are competing for a top spot on the basketball team. So there's already tension going along, Amanda finds the evil box, the squad decides let's do a ceremony that shows instructions (that someone left) on how to call up the evil. You guys, I maybe started cracking up at this point. And anyway, evil is let loose, we get some gruesome teenage death and a really bad ending that I think that Stine was setting up to continue this whole series. But I think he started doing the Fear Street Saga that was following the Fear family that settled in Shadyside. I never read that so I have zero idea if that fixes some of the continuity errors I found.
I read this for Halloween Bingo 2025 "Dark Academia" and for CBR17 book bingo "School."
March 17, 2024
Totally expected the last Cheerleaders book in the series to be a stinker but it ended up being one of my faves. Faces split apart!! Skulls crack open!! Elbows start bending the wrong way!! Weeeeeee!!
I love that in this final Cheerleader book we actually get to see the birth of the Evil, how it all started with the curse of Sarah Fear. And the ending was pretty dang satisfying for me.
The only bummer for me was
I love that in this final Cheerleader book we actually get to see the birth of the Evil, how it all started with the curse of Sarah Fear. And the ending was pretty dang satisfying for me.
The only bummer for me was
June 19, 2014
Rating: 4/5
This is the fifth book that deals with Shadyside's Cheerleaders and The Evil. This one is separate from the others. The story takes places a few years after Corky and her friends face the Evil in the first 4 books, also the main character is another student of Shadyside and yes, another cheerleader.
One day, after practice, Amanda, the cheerleading captain, finds a wooden box in her new locker that belonged to Corky and warns people about the Evil. Inside the box Corcky had left a letter with what happened to her and her friends and of course what caused it. But, there are also instructions on how to call up the Evil. So, of course, Amanda and her friends, not believing it's real call the Evil spirit back and the inevitable happens, people start dying again.
I really enjoyed this book, especially the first half. The Evil was back and people started dying and Amanda was trying to find out who the Evil had possessed. It was fast-paced and creepy. And even though Amanda wasn't the best MC she was better than Corky. Also, this time around, we got to see how the Evil was created, and travelled back to the past!
This is the fifth book that deals with Shadyside's Cheerleaders and The Evil. This one is separate from the others. The story takes places a few years after Corky and her friends face the Evil in the first 4 books, also the main character is another student of Shadyside and yes, another cheerleader.
One day, after practice, Amanda, the cheerleading captain, finds a wooden box in her new locker that belonged to Corky and warns people about the Evil. Inside the box Corcky had left a letter with what happened to her and her friends and of course what caused it. But, there are also instructions on how to call up the Evil. So, of course, Amanda and her friends, not believing it's real call the Evil spirit back and the inevitable happens, people start dying again.
I really enjoyed this book, especially the first half. The Evil was back and people started dying and Amanda was trying to find out who the Evil had possessed. It was fast-paced and creepy. And even though Amanda wasn't the best MC she was better than Corky. Also, this time around, we got to see how the Evil was created, and travelled back to the past!
September 20, 2021
I think I forgot how good R.L. Stine can be when it comes to killing off teenagers! This book is one heck of a reminder!
This book has a good plot, mainly because it's tethered to the past too. I like learning about what happened in the past and what made the evil, well.. evil. It was also funny to read about how petty teens could be at that time. I think I enjoyed the book because it was all about cheerleaders too. It's was fun reading about their lives even if it's just a short glimpse. Anyway, the book was enjoyable and with that ending, this one's a winner!
I thank the Openlibrary for lending me a copy of this book.. ❤️
This book has a good plot, mainly because it's tethered to the past too. I like learning about what happened in the past and what made the evil, well.. evil. It was also funny to read about how petty teens could be at that time. I think I enjoyed the book because it was all about cheerleaders too. It's was fun reading about their lives even if it's just a short glimpse. Anyway, the book was enjoyable and with that ending, this one's a winner!
I thank the Openlibrary for lending me a copy of this book.. ❤️
February 24, 2020
A few fun gory scenes and a confusing ending. But overall a decent book. Still not better then the first three. But worth the read :)
June 21, 2021
3.25 stars. This one completely diverges off of the original trilogy and the fourth book, but it does have some insight into the evil that I would consider pertinent. Pretty bland and boring compared to the rest of the Cheerleaders books though. Review to come.
September 26, 2023
Rounded up to 3 stars but more of a 2.5 stars because I did indeed like...parts of this book.
And it's not that I didn't like the other parts either but they were just kind of...okay.
All will be explained but remember that there will be spoilers for the other books in reading this one as it was technically the last "super chiller" in the original Fear Street run and the last book to mention a curse on the cheerleaders of Shadyside High.
There is a new squad of cheerleaders led by captain Amanda Roberts. Other cheerleaders are Janine Klein, Amanda's BFF, Keesha Wilson, Natalie Morris and Victoria Hopewell.
Only a squad of five? How do they do pyramids...don't you need at least six to pull that off? I've read these books and seen too many cheerleading movies it seems...
Janine is the short one with the "weight", Keesha is the peppy one, Victoria the tall, athletic one and Natalie the quiet, serious one. They are all seniors and everyone of them except Victoria dates a basketball player of the Tigers team.
Keesha is with Andrew Collins, Janine with redhead prankster Brandon Farr, Natalie with blond and confident Luke Stone and Amanda dates Dustin Fields, who is too intense. Brandon and Luke are in the running to start the next basketball game so they are very competitive with each other at the moment and it has rubbed off on their girlfriends...
Even though Amanda is with Dustin, she keeps finding herself wanting to move on with Judd Hunter. He's the center on the team and he is cute and less intense than Dustin at playing the game...it's just meant to be fun.
Amanda is given a new locker when her regular one has the door hanging by a hinge and it seems the lockers in the shower area are very old for other reasons...
Amanda finds a pale blue duffel bag in the back of her new locker and the name tag...states it use to belong to Corky Corcoran. Inside is an older uniform, a picture of five cheerleaders and a wooden box that says:
DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.
Amanda, Victoria and Janine go to grab some food and this box is their topic of conversation. Corky was apparently the captain of the squad when they were either in eighth grade or freshmen at Shadyside. They all think it is a joke so of course they open the box but nothing seems to happen as there are just papers folded up in the bottom.
One is a letter written by Corky.
The contents mostly are if you have opened this box, read this letter and then destroy everything inside the box and the box itself. Corky mentions the Evil and how it came from Sarah Fear's grave in the cemetery that night Jennifer Daly landed on the grave and how she became the first to be possessed.
Corky continues to tell how it then took over Kimmy Bass and then herself but she was able to drown the evil by drowning herself. It mentions how it killed her boyfriend Chip Chasner but no mention of it killing her sister Bobbi or Kimmy. Losing the boyfriend obviously wasn't as painful as losing her sister or her friend...
Dustin shows up and Amanda walks with him to his car so that she can break up with him and returns to find the other girls left with the box. Keesha calls up Amanda and pretends to be The Evil since Janine clued her in about it and Amanda learns that the other papers contained a spell to...ACTUALLY CALL UP THE EVIL SPIRIT!
Either Corky went completely nuts to even think of putting that in the box or Debra suggested it in case The Evil did happen to come back since she was so big into the occult. I don't really know but of course, the new dumb teenage girls want to perform that spell to see if all of this is a big joke...
Amanda's older sister Adele is still home for the Christmas break before college starts back up again so Amanda is curious to know if she knew anything about Corky Corcoran and "an evil spirit". Of course, Adele isn't sure about the "evil" part but she does tell Amanda that people did die...including Bobbi, her sister.
With all of that new info weighing on Amanda's mind, more drama is thrown into the mix. Natalie and Janine get into a fight about their boyfriends, Luke gets to start the game over Brandon who is devastated, Natalie is smug about her boyfriend getting chosen and Dustin is not happy that Amanda dumped him to apparently hook up with Judd after watching them flirt.
Amanda meets up with the other girls and tries to tell them what her sister said but they all still want to call up the evil spirit because dumb and stupid teenage girls.
Amanda reluctantly joins in and they complete the chanting over black candles, a weird flash of white light happens two times in a row before the candles go out and then...nothing except Judd and Brandon showing up to turn on the light switches.
It isn't until the big game that we get confirmation that the Evil truly is back and it does so in a big, gory display that about made me throw up because it had been so long since I read this book...
and then it almost happened again so beware if you are truly squeamish because even a horror fan like me can get creeped out.
It seems as if the evil has stepped up its game so of course it goes into the inevitable question of just who did it possess?
There are some very good suspects among the basketball players and not just the cheerleaders because we got multiple possessions once before and if it has gotten this strong it may not take much to infect others just by contact.
As we get closer to the end, the story starts to get a little strange and for a Fear Street book it isn't too out of left field but...
We get some backstory and it isn't anything we don't already know but I guess in the Feart Street universe of Shadyside this is supposed to be a big, shocking reveal. This knowledge comes in handy to our characters and then we get the big reveal in what we think will be this big, grand climax but...no, not really.
We shift from horror into almost sci-fi territory and I'm confused as to whether I just got dropped into a Christopher Pike novel instead. Yet that isn't even the part that made me go from a possible four stars at most to struggling with either two or three stars...even one star which I hardly ever do.
The potential was there but the last page literally had me going WTF and mourning what we could have got instead. The New Evil didn't even ruin what The Third Evil established as the ending we deserved but The Evil Lives just ruined it.
I said what I said...
W...T...F...?!
And it's not that I didn't like the other parts either but they were just kind of...okay.
All will be explained but remember that there will be spoilers for the other books in reading this one as it was technically the last "super chiller" in the original Fear Street run and the last book to mention a curse on the cheerleaders of Shadyside High.
There is a new squad of cheerleaders led by captain Amanda Roberts. Other cheerleaders are Janine Klein, Amanda's BFF, Keesha Wilson, Natalie Morris and Victoria Hopewell.
Only a squad of five? How do they do pyramids...don't you need at least six to pull that off? I've read these books and seen too many cheerleading movies it seems...
Janine is the short one with the "weight", Keesha is the peppy one, Victoria the tall, athletic one and Natalie the quiet, serious one. They are all seniors and everyone of them except Victoria dates a basketball player of the Tigers team.
Keesha is with Andrew Collins, Janine with redhead prankster Brandon Farr, Natalie with blond and confident Luke Stone and Amanda dates Dustin Fields, who is too intense. Brandon and Luke are in the running to start the next basketball game so they are very competitive with each other at the moment and it has rubbed off on their girlfriends...
Even though Amanda is with Dustin, she keeps finding herself wanting to move on with Judd Hunter. He's the center on the team and he is cute and less intense than Dustin at playing the game...it's just meant to be fun.
Amanda is given a new locker when her regular one has the door hanging by a hinge and it seems the lockers in the shower area are very old for other reasons...
Amanda finds a pale blue duffel bag in the back of her new locker and the name tag...states it use to belong to Corky Corcoran. Inside is an older uniform, a picture of five cheerleaders and a wooden box that says:
DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.
Amanda, Victoria and Janine go to grab some food and this box is their topic of conversation. Corky was apparently the captain of the squad when they were either in eighth grade or freshmen at Shadyside. They all think it is a joke so of course they open the box but nothing seems to happen as there are just papers folded up in the bottom.
One is a letter written by Corky.
The contents mostly are if you have opened this box, read this letter and then destroy everything inside the box and the box itself. Corky mentions the Evil and how it came from Sarah Fear's grave in the cemetery that night Jennifer Daly landed on the grave and how she became the first to be possessed.
Corky continues to tell how it then took over Kimmy Bass and then herself but she was able to drown the evil by drowning herself. It mentions how it killed her boyfriend Chip Chasner but no mention of it killing her sister Bobbi or Kimmy. Losing the boyfriend obviously wasn't as painful as losing her sister or her friend...
Dustin shows up and Amanda walks with him to his car so that she can break up with him and returns to find the other girls left with the box. Keesha calls up Amanda and pretends to be The Evil since Janine clued her in about it and Amanda learns that the other papers contained a spell to...ACTUALLY CALL UP THE EVIL SPIRIT!
Either Corky went completely nuts to even think of putting that in the box or Debra suggested it in case The Evil did happen to come back since she was so big into the occult. I don't really know but of course, the new dumb teenage girls want to perform that spell to see if all of this is a big joke...
Amanda's older sister Adele is still home for the Christmas break before college starts back up again so Amanda is curious to know if she knew anything about Corky Corcoran and "an evil spirit". Of course, Adele isn't sure about the "evil" part but she does tell Amanda that people did die...including Bobbi, her sister.
With all of that new info weighing on Amanda's mind, more drama is thrown into the mix. Natalie and Janine get into a fight about their boyfriends, Luke gets to start the game over Brandon who is devastated, Natalie is smug about her boyfriend getting chosen and Dustin is not happy that Amanda dumped him to apparently hook up with Judd after watching them flirt.
Amanda meets up with the other girls and tries to tell them what her sister said but they all still want to call up the evil spirit because dumb and stupid teenage girls.
Amanda reluctantly joins in and they complete the chanting over black candles, a weird flash of white light happens two times in a row before the candles go out and then...nothing except Judd and Brandon showing up to turn on the light switches.
It isn't until the big game that we get confirmation that the Evil truly is back and it does so in a big, gory display that about made me throw up because it had been so long since I read this book...
and then it almost happened again so beware if you are truly squeamish because even a horror fan like me can get creeped out.
It seems as if the evil has stepped up its game so of course it goes into the inevitable question of just who did it possess?
There are some very good suspects among the basketball players and not just the cheerleaders because we got multiple possessions once before and if it has gotten this strong it may not take much to infect others just by contact.
As we get closer to the end, the story starts to get a little strange and for a Fear Street book it isn't too out of left field but...
We get some backstory and it isn't anything we don't already know but I guess in the Feart Street universe of Shadyside this is supposed to be a big, shocking reveal. This knowledge comes in handy to our characters and then we get the big reveal in what we think will be this big, grand climax but...no, not really.
We shift from horror into almost sci-fi territory and I'm confused as to whether I just got dropped into a Christopher Pike novel instead. Yet that isn't even the part that made me go from a possible four stars at most to struggling with either two or three stars...even one star which I hardly ever do.
The potential was there but the last page literally had me going WTF and mourning what we could have got instead. The New Evil didn't even ruin what The Third Evil established as the ending we deserved but The Evil Lives just ruined it.
I said what I said...
W...T...F...?!
December 21, 2012
I thought this book was going to pull off a two star rating, but in the very last possible moment it did something that forced me to give it one star. This Cheerleaders book has different characters than the previous ones, but I was okay with that. I was even ok with the warning note Corky left, but I wasn't ok with That was soooooo stupid! It's so obvious that this is a writer's convienence, it's not even funny! I liked the way the girls found out the history (Sarah Fear) behind the Evil, although I would chalk it up to a vision, not time traveling as Amanda puts it. The only other thing I hated was the ending.
October 6, 2019
Kind of a bummer way to end the series. A few interesting elements, but mostly just the worst of the hokey-ness of the rest of the series without any of its charms.
October 19, 2024
Stick with the original Cheerleaders trilogy. You won't be missing much to pass this up.
February 18, 2016
Posted originally on my blog:
The Writer's Inkwell
I considered waiting to read this book until I reread the rest of the cheerleader stories or at the very least, the beginning of Sarah Fear's story. Turns out, I didn't really need to wait. Though I have never read this book until last night, I could still clearly recall a lot of what had happened in the previous books that laid all of the groundwork for this book.
It's a few years since Corky Corcoran drowned The Evil and there is a new group of cheerleaders pumping up the Shadyside High School spirit. When the captain of the squad discovers a mysterious box that proclaims to stay out and that evil lies within, she and the rest of girls fail to take it seriously. They even go as far as to "summon" the Evil in question, which turns out to be a huge mistake.
I almost feel as if this book was making fun of the situation at hand. After so many books that tried to be "serious", it was almost as if this book was meant to provide a little comic relief. Especially in regards to the random deaths. Before, the person possessed actually caused the accidents that happened. But I don't remember someone's arms magically falling off or face exploding. Then again, I'm sure I don't remember all of the details of the deaths caused by the Evil. Anyways, I found this to be a fun way to relive this aspect of the series. I've always been more of a fan of the paranormal side of the Fear Street series, as opposed to the typical teenage killer.
The Writer's Inkwell
I considered waiting to read this book until I reread the rest of the cheerleader stories or at the very least, the beginning of Sarah Fear's story. Turns out, I didn't really need to wait. Though I have never read this book until last night, I could still clearly recall a lot of what had happened in the previous books that laid all of the groundwork for this book.
It's a few years since Corky Corcoran drowned The Evil and there is a new group of cheerleaders pumping up the Shadyside High School spirit. When the captain of the squad discovers a mysterious box that proclaims to stay out and that evil lies within, she and the rest of girls fail to take it seriously. They even go as far as to "summon" the Evil in question, which turns out to be a huge mistake.
I almost feel as if this book was making fun of the situation at hand. After so many books that tried to be "serious", it was almost as if this book was meant to provide a little comic relief. Especially in regards to the random deaths. Before, the person possessed actually caused the accidents that happened. But I don't remember someone's arms magically falling off or face exploding. Then again, I'm sure I don't remember all of the details of the deaths caused by the Evil. Anyways, I found this to be a fun way to relive this aspect of the series. I've always been more of a fan of the paranormal side of the Fear Street series, as opposed to the typical teenage killer.
January 31, 2013
Normally R.L. Stine books are really good and a fun read. However, this one was all of those things, but it fell a little short for me. I loved the characters and the story line. They were perfect for this kind of story line and the story line it's self was a good old fashion scare. The part that fell short for me that it started to become a little rediculous when the second victim died. Then it started to get good again. It got good again when the story picked up and explained where the evil came from and why. That was very clever I thought because I would have never guessed it in a million years. Then it kept its pace and continued to be good. Then the ending was a little weird for me. I think it was because it was there was and ending and then it changed and then it changed again. I do have to say that the ending was good, but it was just a little weird for me.
All in all this is a great book from R.L. Stine and it will keep some kids awake at night. However, I would recommend to parents not to let children under the age of 12 or 13 read this book because of the graphic content describing deaths. But that solely depends on your child and what you ok for them to be exposed to. Good read and I recommend this to all R.L. Stine lovers!
All in all this is a great book from R.L. Stine and it will keep some kids awake at night. However, I would recommend to parents not to let children under the age of 12 or 13 read this book because of the graphic content describing deaths. But that solely depends on your child and what you ok for them to be exposed to. Good read and I recommend this to all R.L. Stine lovers!
October 22, 2015
R.L. STINES CHEERLEADERS:THE EVIL LIVES is a good book for teens that like a little death and blood. It's good because it starts out girly with a lot of cheerleaders.As you get deeper in the middle EVIL spirits start possessing cheerleaders and killing them. Some of the cheerleaders made it out of the EVIL spirits a boy named Luke was also possessed.So of the boys were wondering if they were next. This book had many details because it was explaining how they and when died. I would recommend it to teens because it's too much death for kids under 12 yrs..
April 3, 2019
5 ⭐
Glad that Sarah was stopped and Luke and Natalie are okay. Don't get why someone would want to conquer up evil after hearing the story of what happened with it. Wonder what Amanda and Brandon will do now that the Evil is inside them.
Glad that Sarah was stopped and Luke and Natalie are okay. Don't get why someone would want to conquer up evil after hearing the story of what happened with it. Wonder what Amanda and Brandon will do now that the Evil is inside them.
November 14, 2021
I kind of recommend reading this series and maybe...Not this book? Just skip it, it's not really the same story since it's even a whole new cast with a much more boring story, the only good part is that one chapter about the past of what happened to Sarah.
October 26, 2022
Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book
I was so excited to read this because in this book we finally find out the origin of the Ancient Evil. But idk, it was a little disappointing. And not only because Corky and the rest of her squad weren't in this book.
The book had so many character introductions in the beginning I just couldn't keep them straight. As I said, we have a new cheerleading squad. This book was published 4 years after the last Corky book, so I’m assuming this takes place then. Our new main character, Amanda, finds a little something inside her gym locker. Something that belonged to none other than Corky Corcoran. One thing about this book that makes absolutely NO sense to me is why the ever loving fuck Corky would leave behind instructions on how to summon the Ancient Evil?? It makes NO sense! She fought hard to get rid of it! And now these idiots brought it back 🙄
And yes, we finally got the origin of the Evil and ummm? It’s odd...
This was an okay book. The origin of the Evil was interesting but idk that I was super into it. And then that ending... ugh! I am interested in reading the Fear Street Sagas book with Sarah Fear though... Hopefully that one will be better 😅
The Fear Street connection: Sarah Fear! Plus they go to Sarah Fear’s grave at the Fear Street Cemetery.
I was so excited to read this because in this book we finally find out the origin of the Ancient Evil. But idk, it was a little disappointing. And not only because Corky and the rest of her squad weren't in this book.
The book had so many character introductions in the beginning I just couldn't keep them straight. As I said, we have a new cheerleading squad. This book was published 4 years after the last Corky book, so I’m assuming this takes place then. Our new main character, Amanda, finds a little something inside her gym locker. Something that belonged to none other than Corky Corcoran. One thing about this book that makes absolutely NO sense to me is why the ever loving fuck Corky would leave behind instructions on how to summon the Ancient Evil?? It makes NO sense! She fought hard to get rid of it! And now these idiots brought it back 🙄
And yes, we finally got the origin of the Evil and ummm? It’s odd...
This was an okay book. The origin of the Evil was interesting but idk that I was super into it. And then that ending... ugh! I am interested in reading the Fear Street Sagas book with Sarah Fear though... Hopefully that one will be better 😅
The Fear Street connection: Sarah Fear! Plus they go to Sarah Fear’s grave at the Fear Street Cemetery.
August 30, 2018
Re-read...maybe? I honestly didn't remember much other than the set up. It's been five years since Corky finally banished the evil for good. However, for some reason, Corky locked instructions on how to summon the evil along with her old cheerleading uniform into a box in a locker. Amanda, the latest cheerleader captain, finds it and her little friends think summoning some Evil sounds great! Of course, some gruesome and strange deaths happen which leads to Amanda contacting the spirit of Sarah Fear and learning the truth on how the Spirit started.
It was a fun twist on the lore we all thought we knew so well and messes with any preconceived notions of the past books. However, none of the characters were likable nor did I care about them like I did the OG Squad. Other than the graphic deaths, the story was bland and stale...I just didn't care either way. The flashbacks were cool, but Sarah eventually gets her own book in the Saga series...so this was all rather unnecessary. It was a doozy of an end but I'm glad he never continued the story; it's good where its at RL!
It was a fun twist on the lore we all thought we knew so well and messes with any preconceived notions of the past books. However, none of the characters were likable nor did I care about them like I did the OG Squad. Other than the graphic deaths, the story was bland and stale...I just didn't care either way. The flashbacks were cool, but Sarah eventually gets her own book in the Saga series...so this was all rather unnecessary. It was a doozy of an end but I'm glad he never continued the story; it's good where its at RL!
January 19, 2024
The most mind-numbing Fear Street book I've read🤢
When I bought The Evil Lives at a thrift store a few months ago, I didn't know it was the last enstallment of the Fear Street Cheerleaders series. Maybe if I had known about and read the previous books before, I would have enjoyed this one more, but I doubt it. None of the characters held any depth or likability and I kept mixing them up with one another. The chapters ended in misleading cliffhangers and their titles only spoiled what was about to happen, which was really annoying. But the worst was the ending. What does it all mean?? None of it made any sense, especially how Luke and Natalie ended up staying alive. Very Disappointed in what was labeled as a 'super chiller.'
When I bought The Evil Lives at a thrift store a few months ago, I didn't know it was the last enstallment of the Fear Street Cheerleaders series. Maybe if I had known about and read the previous books before, I would have enjoyed this one more, but I doubt it. None of the characters held any depth or likability and I kept mixing them up with one another. The chapters ended in misleading cliffhangers and their titles only spoiled what was about to happen, which was really annoying. But the worst was the ending. What does it all mean?? None of it made any sense, especially how Luke and Natalie ended up staying alive. Very Disappointed in what was labeled as a 'super chiller.'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2022
Full review at: https://www.jackreacts.com.au/fear-st...
Snippet: This one was shaping up to be my new favourite Cheerleader book, but it really fell flat at the end there and became an underwhelming conclusion to the series. I liked the new group of characters, and the deaths were pretty cool, but there was also a lot here that didn’t make sense, especially at the end...
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
Snippet: This one was shaping up to be my new favourite Cheerleader book, but it really fell flat at the end there and became an underwhelming conclusion to the series. I liked the new group of characters, and the deaths were pretty cool, but there was also a lot here that didn’t make sense, especially at the end...
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
August 8, 2023
My latest Fear Street book and I loved it. I love the way R L Stine can find new ways of continuing his series.
This book is centred around the Cheerleaders Saga.
Imagine finding a box where it warns of not letting the evil out.
Imagine reading from the old text to bring the evil out.
Imagine thinking nothing happened
Until
A light shines and then total darkness
A cold feeling surrounds you
Friends start to die in horrible circumstances
And
Suddenly you find yourself in the past before the evil began.
Suddenly you see the evil being created
It is very angry
This book is centred around the Cheerleaders Saga.
Imagine finding a box where it warns of not letting the evil out.
Imagine reading from the old text to bring the evil out.
Imagine thinking nothing happened
Until
A light shines and then total darkness
A cold feeling surrounds you
Friends start to die in horrible circumstances
And
Suddenly you find yourself in the past before the evil began.
Suddenly you see the evil being created
It is very angry
October 9, 2018
A new set of Shadyside cheerleaders are on the scene. Led by their captain, Amanda, they are set to cheer the basketball team onto victory. But then Amanda finds an old gym bag in her locker. When she opens it she finds an ild cheerleading uniform, a squad picture, & a box with an S on it.
The note says that "DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE." The girls open the box and find a letter for Corky, the former cheerleader who had dealt with the Evil.
The note says that "DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE." The girls open the box and find a letter for Corky, the former cheerleader who had dealt with the Evil.
October 4, 2024
3.5 stars - A new group of cheerleaders finds a mysterious box with an ominous note that Corky left behind. This book delves more into the history of the evil and Sarah Fear's past. Right as I thought it was a nice wrap-up of the Cheerleaders series, Stine throws in one of his classic twists at the end.
April 26, 2025
I'm sure publishers and readers alike were clamoring for more books in this series, but they shouldn't have, lol. The Evil was a good villain, some of the kills were classic, but the thing didn't have enough personality to carry through five books (six if you count its origin in the Sagas). I'm going to read 99 Fear Street and then take a break from Stine.
June 4, 2017
I loved the super chillers ......... lol the fear street series all the books are just great for teens I adored them ... I used to devour these books in my teens I highly recommend this series to anyone who wants to get all teenagers reading rather than playing video games
March 29, 2025
We skip forward a few years to a new cheerleading team here. I thought the new twist on the evil was fun enough, but I hated the ending. We have quite frankly, silly deaths in this one and I can't believe that Corky would have left them with a 'this is how to summon the evil' spell.
November 22, 2019
It's like a book version of the Final Destination movies, but milder and with less(er) deaths. Fun though.
February 18, 2020
This was absolutely ridiculous.
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