This is the fifth entry in the Goosebumps series. This Goosebumps review may be cursed, as I cover the snoozefest which is The Curse of the Mummies Tomb.

Synopsis:

Gabe and his parents are visiting Egypt. They’re driving to Cairo, passing pyramids on their way. His parents are there on a business trip to sale refrigerator parts. Maybe they know Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration.

They reach their hotel. Gabe’s parents almost immediately have to leave. His parents have to go on an emergency trip. Gabe doesn’t want to go with them, so they leave him at the hotel to wait for his uncle Ben. Uncle Ben is an archaeologist and has a daughter named Sari, who Gabe doesn’t like. Luckily for Uncle Ben, he is not related to Peter Parker.

Later, we learn Gabe has brought his mummy hand. He got the hand from a garage sale back in the United States. Pretty strange. We get our first cliffhanger of the book as a mummy walks in through the unlocked hotel door.

Turns out, it’s just Uncle Ben and Sari pulling a prank. Gabe learns he will go to the pyramids the next day. Later in the evening, Uncle Ben quizzes Gabe on ancient Egypt facts, which Gabe knows the answers to, since his dad gives Gabe random quizzes. They spend the night at the hotel.

The next day they head to the pyramids. They explore the unexplored pyramid Uncle Bob is working at. It’s revealed that Gabe’s shoes are always coming untied. Gabe says he always double knots his shoes and knows how to tie them. This is dubious as his shoes become untied throughout the book and it’s always at the most inopportune time. For future reference, every time Gabe gets lost, it’s because his shoe comes untied.

Gabe has to slide down a rope, it’s too bad Gabe doesn’t know rope is coarse as he let’s go on his way down. Sari saves Gabe by grabbing him with both her hands while she’s on the rope and using her third hand to hold onto the rope. Huh?

As they explore, they run into Ahmed, who is a scientist from a university and believes in curses, like most scientists. Ahmed couldn’t possibly be trying to enact the curse of the mummy to scare off archaeologist.

Sari and Gabe go off on their own to explore. Gabe gets lost as Sari goes off on her own. He finds a sarcophagus. Sari pranks Gabe by jumping out of the sarcophagus. After a day at the pyramid, they head back to the hotel.

Some of Uncle Ben’s workers have come down with a mysterious illness. Uncle Ben leaves the hotel. Gabe and Sari decide to go to a nearby museum on their own.

At the museum the kids run into Ahmed. Ahmed chases them through the museum. After cornering them, Ahmed says Uncle Ben has sent him to pick them up and take them back to the hotel. Ahmed says he will give the kids a ride back to the hotel. They follow Ahmed back to his car, this can’t possibly go well.

After getting into the car with Ahmed, he starts to drive the wrong way and tries to kidnap the Sari and Gabe. Wow, more boneheaded kids making dumb decisions.

After the car is stopped while in traffic, Gabe and Sari escape and run away. After escaping the kids run until they find a taxi. They ask the taxi driver for a ride to the hotel, but they’re already outside of the hotel, I guess Gabe and Sari are blind.

Back at the hotel, Gabe and Sari tell Uncle Ben what happens after he gets back. Uncle Ben says he has to go back to the pyramid. Thus He takes Gabe and Sari with him this time.

At the pyramid Gabe gets lost again. He walks into a room, where the floor collapses under his weight. He falls into a floor below him. Despite falling at least a story, Gabe is okay. Gabe realizes he’s a room with many mummies and scorpions.

Sari finds Gabe. Then Ahmed finds them and says the place is cursed. Ahmed claims he is executing Khala’s curse. He says he has mummified other intruders. Which leads to Ahmed saying he wants to mummify the kids.

This whole section feels like a really dark Scooby-Doo episode, as we learn that the mummies were never the villain, but instead, a scientist who has lost his mind.

Uncle Ben talks with Ahmed after the kids find him. Ahmed doesn’t listen and knocks out Uncle Ben. Somehow Ahmed is able to use both hands to hit Uncle Ben with a torch while also holding a dagger, so another character with a third hand.

Ahmed begins a tarpit fire with the torch. He next puts an unconscious Uncle Ben in a tomb, then tells both of the kids to get in a coffin. Gabe and Sari argue with him, but eventually relent. All of a sudden, Uncle Ben is in their tomb. He is now conscience and knows a secret escape hatch in the coffins. After finding the secret hatches they run for it, since Ahmed seems to be missing.

I think Uncle Ben may have a concussion as he seems unbothered by anything going on and tries to continue his reasoning with Ahmed later.

Ahmed greets them at the exit. He says now, since they escaped, he will instead throw them in the tarpit. Ahmed forces them back to the burning tarpit, while Uncle Ben tries to reason with him. This may be shocking, but it doesn’t work.

At the last second, while in front of the tarpit, Gabe pulls out the mummy’s hand and holds it above his head. Ahmed freaks out, since it is Khala’s hand. All of the mummies come to life and grab Ahmed. Consequently, nothing bad happens to Ahmed as he escapes, somehow.

Sari, Gabe, and Uncle Ben are now safe, and back at the hotel they have dinner. Gabe’s parents arrive. Book ends.

Review:

This book is a complete snoozefest. I started reading it at night, and had to stop, since I was falling asleep reading this book. Almost everything in this review happens after the halfway point. The Ahmed reveal doesn’t happen until around 20 pages are left, and the mummies don’t show up until the last 6 pages or so. There are a few mistakes in this book, mainly with characters having three hands. Nobody, at any point, even the end, call the cops on Ahmed, especially since it’s revealed he’s been mummifying people.

This book has almost no mummies in it, and the real villain is Ahmed, who is barely in the book. Most of the time you get Gabe being bored, or in a pyramid. Also, there are long flashbacks, which can be easy skips. Also, feels like the unexplored pyramid has been explored quite a bit.

I can say a few positive things. Gabe isn’t that annoying, the setting is cool, and when the mummies do show up, it’s well done.

I can’t fault this book too much, it’s just rather boring. My rating for this Goosebumps book 4/10.

Twist Ending:

The mummies hand or the mummies actually showing up.

Memorable Line:

“Do you miss your mummy.” So punny.

Memorable moment, cliffhanger, etc.

Ahmed reveals he has mummified people. Okay.

Bad Parenting:

Uncle Ben after learning about Ahmed’s attempted kidnapping of Gabe and Sari, decides to go back to the pyramid and not call the police.

Random References

National Geographic, Indiana Jones, Game Boy, CNN, Coke, Super Mario Land, Tetris, Quasimodo, Scrabble, Frosted Flakes, and Tony Tiger. Goosebumps, they’re great!

Tropes in Books:

character is 12 years old, another character is 12 years old, crazy cliffhanger, pranks, and dumb pun.

TV tie in:

None. So bad it didn’t even get an episode. 0/10.

Come back soon for more reviews and Goosebumps fun.

To read the last Goosebumps review: https://goosebumpsblogger.com/goosebumps-4-say-cheese-and-die/

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