Legend of the Lost Legend

Goosebumps #47

by R.L. Stine

TALK ABOUT A HORROR STORY...

Nobody loves a good story like Justin's dad. He's a famous writer and story collector. That's how Justin and his sister, Marissa, ended up in Brovania. Their dad is searching for an ancient manuscript called The Lost Legend.

Justin and Marissa want to help. But instead of finding The Lost Legend, they get lost. And the woods of Brovania are filled with the strangest creatures. Like hundreds of squealing mice. Silver-coloured dogs. And terrifying Vikings from long ago...

Genres: Horror, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Mystery

122 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Robert 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...

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black cats. Huge heads rising over the trees. Tails curling up like smoke from chimneys.

Two giant black cats, their paws thundering over the forest, shaking the ground and the trees. Their yellow eyes locked on Marissa and me.

This is a real rollercoaster ride!

For one thing, the book starts off with a bang. Most Goosebumps are slow to warm up. Not this one. Justin and his sister Marissa are in Antarctica, on a dog sled - separated from their father. Suddenly the dogs take off and Justin falls from the sled! His panicked sister is still on the sled, getting farther and farther away!

Justin runs after the sled, and to his surprise, starts to catch up to it. That's because the dogs have come to a stop, in front of a huge blue lake. And in the center of that lake, on an ice flow is a sea lion. A blue sea lion. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake! But it's not ground, it's ice. And the kids are floating away on the ocean...

LOL Oh, wait, Stine was just kidding. All this was just a story the dad was telling the kids! Psych!

Turns out Justin, Marissa, and their father are in the Brovanian forests. Yes, Brovania. :) They are here searching for the "Lost Legend." Richard (the dad) is a famous writer and story collector.

"The Lost Legend is a very old manuscript. It is said to be hidden away in a silver chest," Dad continued as we walked. "It hasn't been seen for 500 years."

That night, Justin and Marissa hear weird noises outside the tent. They emerge to find a big white dog waiting for them. It has a note on its collar.

I KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE. FOLLOW SILVERDOG.

The kids try to wake their daddy but apparently he's a very heavy sleeper. *rolls eyes*

They follow the dog, which leads them to a cabin. And in the cabin is a large Viking woman, complete with a horned helmet on her head. (Fun fact: Vikings didn't actually wear horned helmets.) She introduces herself as Ivanna and proves time and time again that she has a terrible sense of humor. For instance, telling the kids that the soup they are eating is poisoned. o.O

Then, a giant werewolf man/dog beast bursts in the door. This, apparently, Luka. He was raised by wolves. No, I'm not joking. Anyway. Ivanna keeps talking about a "test" the kids have to "survive" in what she calls Fantasy Forest. She shows the kids to their room and they fall asleep.

They wake up in the forest, fully dressed and with empty backpacks. Luka is with them and they start travelling through the forest. Unfortunately for them, Luka is easily distracted by squirrels and runs off in pursuit of one. The kids are now alone. It's only then that they notice a note stuffed in Justin's back pocket.

DEAR KIDS,
KEEP LUKA WITH YOU, AND YOU WILL PASS THE TEST. DO NOT LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. BE CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE HIM - OR YOU ARE DOOMED.

That's when things get weird.
...

Tl;dr - I really enjoyed this bizarre adventure novel from Stine. Say what you want about it, it sure isn't boring. And I like the foreign Black-Forest-ish location. The twist ending was pretty good, too.

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

#47 "Finders keepers!"
Squealing mice, silver dogs, Vikings??? Justin and Marissa's dad has taken them to Brovania in search of a good story. Their father is after one in particular called The Lost Legend. When Marissa and Justin try to help to find it they end up getting lost in the woods. And then the real story begins!

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is so different to all the others in the series, this fantasy adventure has a real mythology running all the way through it.

Famous author Richard Clarke takes he’s two children Marissa and Justin to the European country of Brovania. He’s looking for the famous ‘Lost Legend’ Parchment.
In all typical Goosebumps books, the two kids take it upon themselves to try and find the transcript with numerous scares along the way.

With the obvious Scandinavian setting, it’s fun to read the various obstacles they face in the woods.
As it’s so different to the others I feels as if people probably forget this one.
It’s quite enjoyable and I wouldn’t have minded Stine exploring more myths in he’s other books.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely isn’t the best Goosebumps there is but it is still mildly entertaining. I have no memory of it so either I skipped over this one as a kid or it’s just not that memorable. And chances are it’s just not that memorable because I owned the whole series and obsessively read all of them many times over. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it, it’s just not up to snuff with some of the other stories in the series. Which I guess is to be expected when there’s 40+ books, sometimes there’s bound to be a dud or two. I know I’m making it sound awful but it’s really not, I swear! The ending was great and I’ll always love the nostalgia that comes with reading these.

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.5/10

Probaly the most strange book in the goosebumps series, but in a good way. I love the randomness. However the book is not amazing. And has one of the most disappointing endings I have read.

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a different book for the series as it is more fantasy/adventure with some interesting mythology thrown in. It has some of the same tropes: siblings, solving a problem without an adult, spooky things that turn out to not be so spooky, and an ending that will make you think. I just didn't connect with it like I wanted ... still had a good time and the story was fast paced as they encounter one creature/ obstacle after another. 2.5 stars

[Daniel Stalter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Legend of the Lost Legend was a mixed bag. It was rooted in a solid fantasy-based concept and got off to a solid start before getting lost in the woods (sorry I couldn’t help myself). Dad and the kid characters were fine, which was refreshing after several consecutive books where the real horror was the clueless and terrible parenting. I enjoyed Ivana and Silverdog. Luka was also a refreshingly weird character, but he also felt incomplete. What didn’t work for me was the test that the kids were put through. It didn’t seem to have any real purpose other than to run from things. It got a bit tedious. It reminded me of One Day at Horrorland but without the charm. The magic forest was lacking charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. The twist at the end was perfectly unsettling, though how our characters got there left me with some serious questions. I appreciated that the twist felt like the point of the whole book, as opposed to the usual “gotcha” Goosebumps ending. Overall, there was a lot I liked about Legend of the Lost Legend; it was in the details where it didn’t quite hold up.

Score: 3

For my snark-filled, spoiler-laced, deep-dive review; check out my blog:
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[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent a month re-reading all 62 original Goosebumps books to see if they still hold up today, you can check out my 3.5 hour vlog here: https://youtu.be/2C73xc1FS5o

You can also check out my entire ranking of the original Goosebumps books where I review them from worst to best here: https://youtu.be/lBfaxCOwAnA

[Shadyside Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always looked at the cover of this book and thought that the story must be quite boring… so I never read it. To my surprise, the cover is actually very misleading! The story is a lot more fun and zany than what the cover displays. Aside from a pretty dumb ending, I really enjoyed the wacky plot and abundance of twists and turns!

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it nuts and nonsensical? Yes. Is it fun and zany? Absolutely.

[Glenn Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Currently rereading my original Goosebumps collection

Is it just me, or are the later Goosebumps books really lacking in quality? If Legend of the Lost Legend is anything to go by then that's pretty much spot on. This feels like a number of shorter stories clumsily thrown together into one book and it falls apart fairly quickly. The ending felt like it was literally a last minute decision and that's the best he could come up with. I'm hoping the series improves after this catastrophe.

Read from July 14, 2014 - July 14, 2014

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the Goosebumps books I read when I was a tween this is the only one I really remember. I don't know why, but the ending really really scared me.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only explanation for this book (which as a child, I read only the last page to find out what the twist was) is that overworked, over-prolific author R. L. Stine had too much to do and too little time to do it, so he cobbled together bits and pieces of other stories- robots, werewolves, spooky monks, giant cats, monsters, lost legends, icebergs- and hoped that kids wouldn't notice that nothing was going on. Reading it as an adult with the "Blogger Beware" web site experience, I noticed. Boy, did I notice.

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 5 out of 5]

Παρά το γελοίο εξώφυλλο, το βιβλίο αυτό είναι από τα καλύτερα της σειράς. Νομίζω πως ο Stine έχει βάλει πολλά στοιχεία από τον εαυτό του μέσα σε αυτό, πράγμα που βρίσκω ιδιαίτερα γοητευτικό κι ενδιαφέρον. Από την άλλη, ο φανταστικός κόσμος στον οποίο τοποθετεί την πλοκή του απ��τυπώνεται στο χαρτί με τόσο λεπτομέρεια και παραστατικότητα, που θα έλεγε κανείς πως ζωντανεύει μπροστά στα μάτια σου. Επιπλέον, η δράση είναι συνεχής και σου κόβει την ανάσα, ενώ μια σειρά από εκπλήξεις και ανατροπές διατηρούν το ενδιαφέρον σου αμείωτο μέχρι την τελευταία σελίδα.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

And.... it all comes to an end! This is the final book I needed to read to finish the Goosebumps series. I (obviously) didn't read them in order, but rather... availability! Huge thank you to the Toronto Public Library for owning every volume, either in print or digitially and some purchased via the recommendations function.

When I first read Welcome to Dead House in 2014, I didn't have any intentions on continuing let alone completing the series. But a few years back I read a couple now and again, and then that came to be more frequent and more frequent. I definitely came to love the adventures and hijinx, persistence and curiousity of the protagonists as well as endings with a twist.

Legend of the Lost Legend was a great one to the the last one, as it had some of the elements I love (siblings who work together, a mysterious adventure, fast-paced story), and I didn't know where it would go. And I love that even reading them as an adult I can enjoy being surprized by a kids book. So much fun! This was a wild ride and I am so happy I decide to jump in and see where it would go.

[Mikala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was like a fever dream ...definitely in a different tone than most other goosebumps books. Not what I would call "horror," more in the vein of fantasy/adventure. I like weird but this was just too much ...I felt like i was reading a Magic Tree house book 😅 I liked the slight twist at the very very end though.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Bryan Edelmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Legend of the Lost Legend is perhaps one of the more unknown of the Goosebumps extensive novel series, but does in turn find it's footing therein through a more unconventional horror and terrors that many may find particularly gratuitous or rather see the horrifically fear-inducing situations wherein any type of scholar may see as-
eh who'm I kiddin. it's goosebumps. it's goosebumps. 2/10

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing like a run read when you're sick. I rate "Legend of the Lost Legend" 3 stars.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goosebumps. This is the series that kept me reading through my childhood. More than any other series, Goosebumps kept me interested in reading, and R.L. Stein is a wonderful children's writer. I applaud his efforts, and can't express enough my gratitude for the series.

[Liam Underwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had such high hopes following the first two chapters of Legend of the Lost Legend. Stine begins the book in third person, which is a technique he doesn't often utilise, and hasn't been used since Monster Blood III . We're introduced to siblings Justin and Marissa, and I thought perhaps Stine was employing this technique to allow the narrative to hop between these two perspectives, something which he's done before with Stay Out of the Basement - one of my favourite Goosebumps books. However, my hopes were dashed by the third chapter when it's revealed that the opening of the book is just a story that is being told to the siblings by their father, and then the familiar first person narrative kicks in and we spend the rest of the book following Justin's perspective. Also, rather annoyingly, the cliffhanger of the story being told in these first two chapters is never resolved. The opening is therefore just blatant padding.

The rest of the book isn't much better. Legend of the Lost Legend is another Goosebumps entry where Stine foregoes horror and instead provides an adventure yarn, which he's been known to do on occasion - perhaps most overtly with Deep Trouble . Justin and Marissa find themselves embroiled in a series of baffling events with the typical cliffhanger chapter endings, although these often end up having bizarre resolutions as Stine swings away from horror and instead delivers on a whole heap of nonsense. This book quickly ploughs headfirst into silly territory and that is where it remains all the way up until the ridiculous twist ending.

I think that Legend of the Lost Legend might actually be my least favourite Goosebumps book so far. The only vaguely redeeming factors are those opening two chapters (which quickly unravel) and a somewhat likeable protagonist. But everything else here is just truly tedious - even by Goosebumps standards.

0.5/5

Goosebumps Ranked
1) One Day At Horrorland - 4/5
2) Stay Out of the Basement - 4/5
3) Attack of the Mutant - 3.5/5
4) Welcome to Dead House - 3.5/5
5) The Headless Ghost - 3.5/5
6) The Phantom of the Auditorium - 3.5/5
7) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder - 3.5/5
8) Night of the Living Dummy - 3.5/5
9) The Girl Who Cried Monster - 3.5/5
10) The Werewolf of Fever Swamp - 3.5/5
11) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight - 3/5
12) The Haunted Mask - 3/5
13) The Ghost Next Door - 3/5
14) Ghost Beach - 3/5
15) Monster Blood - 3/5
16) Night of the Living Dummy II - 3/5
17) The Haunted Mask II - 3/5
18) Ghost Camp - 3/5
19) Deep Trouble - 3/5
20) How to Kill a Monster - 3/5
21) Say Cheese and Die! - 3/5
22) A Night in Terror Tower - 2.5/5
23) Why I'm Afraid of Bees - 2.5/5
24) The Cuckoo Clock of Doom - 2.5/5
25) Be Careful What You Wish For... - 2.5/5
26) The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb - 2.5/5
27) Monster Blood II - 2/5
28) My Hairiest Adventure - 2/5
29) Night of the Living Dummy III - 2/5
30) Go Eat Worms! - 2/5
31) Monster Blood III - 2/5
32) Say Cheese and Die - Again! - 2/5
33) Vampire Breath - 2/5
34) The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena - 2/5
35) It Came from Beneath the Sink! - 2/5
36) Calling All Creeps! - 2/5
37) Egg Monsters from Mars - 2/5
38) Return of the Mummy - 2/5
39) Let's Get Invisible! - 2/5
40) Welcome to Camp Nightmare - 2/5
41) A Shocker on Shock Street - 1.5/5
42) Revenge of the Garden Gnomes - 1.5/5
43) How I Got My Shrunken Head - 1.5/5
44) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam - 1.5/5
45) The Barking Ghost - 1.5/5
46) Bad Hare Day - 1/5
47) Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns - 1/5
48) You Can't Scare Me - 1/5
49) The Beast from the East - 1/5
50) Legend of the Lost Legend - 0.5/5

[Jesus Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues este más que terror se siente de aventura, pero pues tine monstros y su final muy a lo goosebumps, y si de miedo que te toque ese final.

Finalmente es entretenido y con accion y algunas risas
SPOILERS

SPOILERS

Pues unos niños van al bosque con el papa que busca encontrar un tesoro, de noche uun perro llega y trae una nota tipo "siqueme" y ahi van los dos niños a seguir al perrito, donde una vikinga les dice "si pasan el test de supervivencia, les doy el tesoro que buscan" y pues eso, le salen mil cosas a las que sobrevivir, y con cada una primero el panico de "vamos a morir" para luego resolverlo de forma "chusca", repta varias veces, hasta que sobreviven y les dna el tesoro

[Clare rushby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! So not too sure why legend of the lost legend doesn’t get enough hype, it isn’t particularly scary but there’s just something about it that makes it so Interesting and leaving you wanting to know what will happen next and what the legend of the lost legend is. It was full of mystery, adventure and an atmospheric backdrop that really set the scene. It was also nice having not just the typical siblings bully each other relationship but one where they seemed like the actually cared about each. Definitely recommend you do not skip on this goosebump.

[Pooja Banga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobody loves a good story like Justin's dad. He's a famous writer and story collector. That's how Justin and his sister, Marissa, ended up in Brovania. Their dad is searching for an ancient manuscript called 'The Lost Legend'.

Justin and Marissa want to help. But instead of finding 'The Lost Legend', they get lost. And the woods of Brovania are filled with the strangest creatures. Like hundreds of squealing mice. Silver-coloured dogs. And terrifying Vikings from long ago...

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 is probably more accurate. Nothing special here. I liked the plot itself, but the execution wasn’t amazing. Fun ending, though. I’m thinking I need a break from Goosebumps for a while, so I’ll probably do that once I finish the other two I got from the library.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all like a typical Goosebumps book. This is essentially an adventure/fantasy tale, and maybe it works if you’re into that kind of thing. But to me it just seemed like a random assortment of events that didn’t connect with me. The ending is clever, at least.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a big nope for me. The story was all over the place. The only part I did enjoy was the classic ending.

[alyssawhite · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHAT 😂

[Shelby Ribel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has such a great opportunity to be like the show Lost and the story just wasn’t good. I could barely keep my eyes open through the pages after pages of the cats “playing with their food” and the ending? Did nothing for me.

[Isabel Orama · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Marissa, Justin, and their daddy goes to Europe, weird things starts to happen. One day at night when they were camping, their daddy fell asleep and marissa and her brother were awake. They couldn't sleep because they heard these snarling growling sounds that sounded like a dog. Justin wanted to see what it was, but marissa refused for him to go, but he went anyway. Justin poked his head out of the tent and spotted a white dog. The dog had a collar on, and a note was attached to that collar. Justin courageously went out of the tent and took the note. On the note it said," I know what you are looking for. Follow silver dog". Of course Justin wanted to go, but marissa didn't want to leave her daddy all alone. When Justin started to walk in the dark dangerous looking forest, marissa wanted to make sure that her brother was safe so she followed him. As silver dog leaded them to a cabin, Justin and marissa didn't think that it would be safe to go in a strange looking cabin in the middle of a forest in Europe. But, marissa and Justin wanted to make their daddy proud, so instead they went into the cabin. A big plump lady was in the cabin petting silver dog and told the two siblings that if they wanted to find the treasure, they needed to take a test that started in the morning. As they slept in Ivannas cabin, they both found themselves in a strange looking forest. Ivannas said that they need to keep Lukas (her pet) close to them so they won't get lost. Marissa and Justin lost Lukas so they were on their own. They have been through a lot of trouble scince they were on their own. They've got mechanical mice swarming over them, and a huge cat almost ate them. When they both have finished the test, they went to Ivannas cabin and found out that Ivannas was fake. They also found out that luka is really a man disguised as a dog. When Luka gives them the treasure, they find out that the treasure isn't really the treasure that they were looking for. So, they went back in the cabin and told luka that they were i search for the legend of the lost legend. Luka told them where to go, and they finally found it, but when they read the first sentence it said," who ever owns the lost legend will be lost forever". And so on that day they were lost in the forest FOE ETERNITY. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!