Josiah > Recent Status Updates

A few of my choices have led me to page eighteen, but never having first met the boy who's half dog and half kid. Will I ever find him to give me the silver whistle I require?

The dogs had to show up eventually. This time will they be docile, or rip Sam and me to shreds?

Let's turn around. This Canine Maze has all sorts of nasty tricks...

What happens if my coin flip turned up tails?

We're going to turn left in the Canine Maze.

Amusing, but the continuity fails when it turns out your mom is still working here for Dr. Eeek. I can overlook a couple of these blemishes, but too many and any gamebook is sunk.

I think it's a safer bet to keep running and not look back to answer Dr. Eeek.

I'm curious what happens if we originally went with Vanessa the receptionist to participate in the Raster Experiment.

Note to self: don't ever be a stationary target for a hungry Komodo dragon.

Ha! Sam is a laugh riot. I knew there was good reason I initially committed to reenter the VR death trap and save him!

Will tripping the sprinkler system be enough to bounce Sam out from VR captivity?

An intriguing ending. The fact that actions you take in the virtual reality bleed over into real life is unnerving, but executed here with surprising consistency.

Ha! Very nice. Dr. Eeek, an elderly, arthritic man at the ancient age of fifty-eight! :-D

Sam is great; I'm going to risk my life to pull him out of his awful virtual reality.

I guess reneging on the Raster Experiment had no positive outcome.

I suspect I made the wrong turn at that juncture, since the vamporilla killed me.

Is reneging on our word and running out of Dr. Eeek's offices actually an option?

This time, I'll agree on Sam's behalf to participate in Dr. Eeek's Raster Experiment. Though...it must be fairly bad if the mad doctor felt the need to force me to sign on for it.

I like Sam. He's the kind of sidekick I want for Give Yourself Goosebumps: fun and irreverent, but not uncaring.

Is "Dr. Eeek" being upfront with me? Is there an antidote to be found in this office inside the next two minutes? I have little option but to search like my life depends on it.

I wonder why Dr. Eeek is so insistent we participate in this "Raster Experiment"everyone on his staff keeps talking about. I'm not down for it.

This lab comes across as an odd place. I know I love Sam's playful nature, but I'd rather sit in the lobby and wait for my mother.

Cover art by Mark Nagata. It does a good job pulling the reader in; who is that monkey, and why is the sickly green liquid steaming and bubbling in the beakers? I've never given this book a full read and thoughtful review, so...here we come! My Give Yourself Goosebumps reviews take hours to write and perfect, but I'm happy to creatively engage with the franchise.

My final ending. It's a weird one, but Richard Brightfield really sticks the landing. Island of Doom is the best of his gamebooks I've read, better than any from classic Choose You Own Adventure.

Ah, yes...the story moment that inspired Bill Schmidt's cover art!

On our way...

I'm not a fan of 'it was all a dream' endings in gamebooks. Except R.A. Montgomery's Spooky Thanksgiving; the ones in that book border on brilliant.

Nice! And this ending was foreshadowed by the desk manager, who mentioned musicians coming in to perform.

Of course I'm going to eat the bananas and eschew the strange fruit.

The sign could have been turned around. We'll go toward the thinned-out area of the jungle.

We'll take ou chances in the jungle, after dark...