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Mindwarp #10
Meltdown
Toni wakes up in the hospital only to discover that everyone around her believes her name is Denise and that she is losing her mind, and anticipating an Omega invasion, she seeks to find her friends and avoid commitment. Original.
136 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 23, 2008
Sometimes an author has some nifty little ideas but really cheesy execution. I can see myself being really into the whole Mindwarp series if I were younger, say 9 or 10 years old.
Book 10 was ultimate cheese. At least Chris Archer didn't rely on stupid cliffhangers like R.L. Stine did in the Goosebumps series. But really, self-insertion of the author? I thought that was an amateur trick.
Ending a series can really be tough. I'm not sure the little choose-your-own-ending bit really worked. I would have preferred something like what K.A. Applegate did when she ended Animorphs (truly a great, innovative kids' series that I personally have not seen equaled to this day).
Yes, I'm 25 and I still read kids' books. Trust me, a lot of them have more merit than some of the adult crap I've read in the last 2 months. So much fluff out there.
Book 10 was ultimate cheese. At least Chris Archer didn't rely on stupid cliffhangers like R.L. Stine did in the Goosebumps series. But really, self-insertion of the author? I thought that was an amateur trick.
Ending a series can really be tough. I'm not sure the little choose-your-own-ending bit really worked. I would have preferred something like what K.A. Applegate did when she ended Animorphs (truly a great, innovative kids' series that I personally have not seen equaled to this day).
Yes, I'm 25 and I still read kids' books. Trust me, a lot of them have more merit than some of the adult crap I've read in the last 2 months. So much fluff out there.
November 26, 2024
A weird end to a chaotic series, and probably the first one that really earns the "Mindwarp" title. These books have always been like a middle-grade sci-fi sampler project, and so it's only fitting that the final volume introduces its younger readers to another few classic genre tropes on the way out. First, the story starts with its heroine Toni waking up in a hospital, where she's told that she's just confused, her powers aren't real, and none of the adventures she's been on with her friends truly happened. It's gaslighting, as that ploy always is, but before she sees through the illusion she's introduced to a man calling himself Chris Archer, who says that her memories are a fiction she's read in the Mindwarp novels he's written.
The meta twist is fun, but it falls apart the longer you think about it and doesn't ultimately add much to the plot. (Same goes for a surprise appearance of a choose-your-own-adventure choice late in the text, where both branches turn out to be a dream and lead to the same place after all.) The bigger issue is that by the time the protagonist has figured out it's all a lie and escaped from her capture, the book is already two-thirds of the way done. That's the bulk of the finale spent with just one character, and the remainder with everyone else comes across as a perfunctory rush to tack on a conclusion that only vaguely resolves the wider narrative. There aren't really any satisfying callbacks to earlier installments, farewells to previously recurring characters, or payoff to arcs like Toni and Jack's flirtatiously squabbling banter. The other kids don't even get one last heroic use of their special abilities, although Toni's electricity-manipulation and time travel at least get a solid workout.
It's better as a story about her than as an ending, and I suppose I might be grading on a curve for the intended audience when I award it a passing grade of three-out-of-five stars. This is a series that's alternated between good and great for me, even coming back to finish it as an adult reader, but it's sadly unable to stick the landing in the ultimate analysis.
This volume: ★★★☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆
Volumes ranked: 6 > 3 > 5 > 9 > 7 > 2 > 1 > 8 > 10 > 4
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The meta twist is fun, but it falls apart the longer you think about it and doesn't ultimately add much to the plot. (Same goes for a surprise appearance of a choose-your-own-adventure choice late in the text, where both branches turn out to be a dream and lead to the same place after all.) The bigger issue is that by the time the protagonist has figured out it's all a lie and escaped from her capture, the book is already two-thirds of the way done. That's the bulk of the finale spent with just one character, and the remainder with everyone else comes across as a perfunctory rush to tack on a conclusion that only vaguely resolves the wider narrative. There aren't really any satisfying callbacks to earlier installments, farewells to previously recurring characters, or payoff to arcs like Toni and Jack's flirtatiously squabbling banter. The other kids don't even get one last heroic use of their special abilities, although Toni's electricity-manipulation and time travel at least get a solid workout.
It's better as a story about her than as an ending, and I suppose I might be grading on a curve for the intended audience when I award it a passing grade of three-out-of-five stars. This is a series that's alternated between good and great for me, even coming back to finish it as an adult reader, but it's sadly unable to stick the landing in the ultimate analysis.
This volume: ★★★☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆
Volumes ranked: 6 > 3 > 5 > 9 > 7 > 2 > 1 > 8 > 10 > 4
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
October 21, 2022
Man, this guy did not know how to end this series. Didn’t even pretend to.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews