I missed yesterday, so I was going to just own it and be a day behind, but Cbishop pointed out that I did make a schedule, and I realized if I took a fall day the whole calendar I so painstakingly made would be moot. So, with that half-hearted intro we press on with More Goosebumps: Monster Blood For Christmas #1 & #2 of 8.

Monster Blood was one of the earlier, and more popular of R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series. It was so popular that it spawned three or four sequels, and at least one cameo in a different book. And of course it inspired these two stories. More Goosebumps was one of those groups that sadly never took off, and even GR2 gave up after these two entries and we may only speculate how the story was intended to end.

The story centers on a little douche named Derek Royigon. And not to nitpick so soon, but we only know he is a butt because GR2 tells us he is. He does have kind of a bratty attitude, bu we don't really see him being super bratty. In Goosebumps story the bratty one is normally the antagonist to the main character, but we would see the the misdeeds and the bad attitude. The problem is both of these issues move at break-neck speed. Given the amount of content they really should have been posted as one chapter.

Another story problem is the lack of a blue can. If you are a fan of the Monster Blood series like me, you know the stuff always comes in a blue can. Yes, that really is a nitpick, but there is really no reason to omit it unless it was going to be addressed later, which is was not, so I'm sinning it.

Its a pretty standard format for the series, just done far too quickly. Kid gets Monster Blood, and it starts growing and spreading super fast as the kid tries desperately to deal with it. I can't say more because there's not a ton of story, and it stops too soon.

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I can't really recommend these stories for a general lack of content, and plot that is spread thin and smeared fast. 5 coal.

Further reading:

For more Christmas spooky reading I recommend The Tomb of Horror Classics and Horror Inc

And now that I'm back on schedule, come back tomorrow for the continuation of the Santa Hamster saga.