Another excellent throwback read for me!

I used to binge Goosebumps like they were the only books available on Earth. They are spooky, quick paced, and just all around fun.

In this book, Gabe, his cousin Sari, Sari's Dad and a lot of other adventurers are on an expedition. There's a Mummy's tomb they want to open and see what's inside. But there's a traitor in their mix that is going to mess with this Mummy...

This book was fun and fast paced! Each little cliffhanger, twist and turn was packed full of fun and made it super enjoyable for me. I ended up binging the whole book because it was just so fun! It's not scary to me as an adult, but it did have me on the edge of my seat. I can easily see young horror lovers grabbing this book. It's definitely one of my more favourite Goosebumps books.

FYI - this is the sequel to The Curse of the Mummy, but you can easily pick this book up without reading the last book.

Four out of five stars. ( )

#23 "He's back... from the dead!"
Gabe's back! And this time his adventure is deader than ever LOL. When Gabe learns a chant that will supposedly brings mummies back to life things start getting a little too creepy for him again. ( )

Aside from not using the word "sarcophagus" once, this was just as good as the first one. I think the narrator also played a part in that. ( )

Readers Beware, you're in for a [a: R.L. Stine|13730|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1194380070p2/13730.jpg] sequel!

I previously praised [b: The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb|125601|The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (Goosebumps, #5)|R.L. Stine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328867783s/125601.jpg|120966] for evoking severe claustrophobic feelings. The dark musty interior of the pyramids were brought to life, along with the terrifying possibility of venturing down those ancient halls and never finding your way back. You're stuck forever there, amongst the scarabs, scorpions, and spiders. You're stuck breathing the ancient air and choking on the dust of uncountable centuries.... This book didn't exactly evoke the same level of visceral feelings as the first, though it certainly tried at times.

The failure of this book, for me, apart from the rather repetitive plot to the first title, was the fact it focused a bit too much upon the horrors of mummification. The fear of being lost in the pyramids was more effective to me than any grossness surrounding the embalming process, though for a lot of kids I doubt that would be the same case. This book was more magical than the first, though it did raise some interesting archaeological points.

What do you do when the dead want to be left alone? ( )

## He's back...from the dead!

More fun than my negative rating implies, Return of the Mummy is held back by some outdated stereotypes and ignorance of foreign cultures. It's a cheeky followup to Goosebumps fun early entry, the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb. Cheeky because it follows most of the same beats, and feels like the same book.

[N.B. This review includes images, and was formatted for my site, dendrobibliography -- located here.]

I feel cognitive dissonance on this one: While I adore stories set around Egyptian mythology, mummies coming back to life, hidden tombs -- all the good Egypt stereotypes -- for fueling so many great childhood memories, stories like this are born from ignorance of other cultures that borders on tacky.

Gabe returns to Egypt to visit his Uncle Ben, a famous archaeologist on the verge of discovering a new, untouched tomb, and his cousin Sari, with whom he has a competitive rivalry. The untouched tomb his uncle's found is also conveniently located in one of Egypt's great pyramids right beyond Cairo's busy streets, and belongs to an even wealthier relative to King Tut. As the family descends into the pyramid, they're joined by Uncle Ben's grumpy academic associate, Dr. Fielding, and a local news reporter, Nila. Both are soon cast into suspicion as the tomb is uncovered, a mummy discovered, and superstitions erupt over a vengeful spirit and curses.

Don't worry, there's definitely a mummy shambling around, seeking revenge for being disturbed.

The Egypt of both Goosebumps mummy stories is built on Karl Freund and Boris Karloff's 1932 film. It's a very white and western vision belittling people who can't reply. Stories like this don't really work anymore, because they're built on ignorance and distrust over anything not western (even if it's totally benign and meant for kids). So, even though I can vouch for this tale being just as fun as the preceding Gooseboops yarns, it repeats too many beats from Gabe's earlier adventure, and the reduction of Egyptian culture and history to basically being evil, beautiful white people who speak perfect English has gotten harder to look past as an older reader.

Not one of the better Goosebumps adventures.

R.L. Stine's Goosebumps (1992–1997):
#22 Ghost Beach | #24 Phantom of the Auditorium ( )