TLDR;
Twins, Jillian and Jackson Gerard, get gifted superpowers but are being hunted and watched by the Institute. They just want to live normal lives, but unfortunately have to deal with another set of twins, Nina and Artie Lerner, who think they’re all best friends. This one was fun. I liked their powers, I liked what they did with them, and I hated Artie. There was a good twist in there. I liked the HorrorLand part too, it just keeps getting better.
Twin Trouble:
Jillian Gerard and her twin, Jackson, love superheroes. They are about to watch Butt Kicker II—their favourite superhero—when Nina and Artie Lerner sit down beside them in the front row of the theatre. “Jackson and [Jillian] can’t stand those kids.” Nina says everything gives her a headache and Artie’s nose is constantly running. Artie wipes his nose on his hand and helps himself to Jackson’s popcorn, spilling it, and in turn ruining Jackson’s new sweater. Jackson loses it and a fight breaks out and they’re all kicked out. Outside, Jillian and Jackson find a fortune teller box, “Madame Doom.” They throw in a quarter and their fortune gets stuck. Jackson reaches into the book, Jillian helping him forwards, and both of them get electrocuted. He grabs their fortune card that’s fallen to the ground and it says “Welcome to Horrorland.” The next morning, the twins find out they have superpowers.
They decide they need to practice their powers so they go out to the park after dark. A strange boy approaches them named Finney. He also seems to have powers. He says they must come to the Institute. They run away but eventually both of them end up at the Institute. A strange Dr. Cranium does a few tests on them and lets them leave. “The Institute doesn’t make mistakes,” Finney whispers to them as they leave, having denied the entire time that they don’t have any powers. The Institute is now watching them, and they try their best to live normal lives and not draw attention to their powers. But of course, the annoying Lerner twins have to ruin everything.
HorrorLand
Jillian and Jackson want answers, so they accept their invite to HorrorLand. However, Dr. Cranium isn’t done with them and keeps shouting some strange things at them as they fight. They head down the Doom Slide to try to get away get grabbed by some Horrors. They take them to the rest of the group that is being held by Dr. Maniac and the Purple Rage. Jillian and Jackson use their powers to help the group. Unfortunately, the group gets split up. Jillian notices two people following them in the shadows and instantly doesn’t trust them. But they’re all in this together, and they have to find out how to get back with the rest of the group.
This was fun. I loved The Institute by Stephen King, so this concept was really fun for me. I found Nina and Artie insufferable, mainly Artie with his disgusting, snotty hands. Nina was kind of cute with her ear plugs, but she did come off very whiney. The HorrorLand part was interesting, I wonder why Jillian is reading the newcomers to the group like that. Is she correct? Why wouldn’t she be? Things are getting more and more tense with each book. This is getting pretty good.
(This was supposed to be my last review for my Goosebumps October Challenge but I somehow forgot to post it :P)