As is the case with these books, given that the protagonist is often presented as the reader and no specific gender is given, I'll be using They/Them and "The Player" when I talk about our protagonist. Cool? Let's go.
The player and their friend Zoe are on an expedition in South America with a nature study group, the Junior Explorer Adventure Group, led by a woman named Mrs. Wheedle. Mrs. Kakuna and Mr. Beedrill weren't present. After almost stepping on an endangered flower, the player finds what looks to be a strange statue behind a bush. After Zoe leads away the group, the kids discover it's a strange looking cat-like gargoyle with sharp fangs and bulging eyes. Also, it starts to attack the kids, which given they disturbed its slumber, it's warranted. As the creature attacks the kids, they're met with our story split. Either we fight back with sticks and stones, or we jump in the nearby lake. And with that, we have our two paths. Fight or flee? What'll it be?
PATH #1: FIGHT OR FRIGHT
The player and Zoe run from the creature. In their attempted escape, they find a strange table with small ball-like objects. The creature, upon the sight of the table, recoils in fear. That's when Zoe and the player realize that those aren't balls on the table, but shrunken heads. As the kids recoil at the sight of the shrunken heads, the player smells something delicious. Strange looking fruit from a nearby basket. And despite, you know, already concerning area with shrunken heads and all, they eat the fruit anyway, which surprisingly isn't a path option, you just do it regardless. Of course, this ends up being a bad idea as the player is transformed into a monster similar to the one on the cover, only more grayish scales than the purple on the cover. Zoe panics and runs off with the player not knowing what to do, until they hear the sound of someone coming. You can choose to find the person to help, or you can hide. Hiding leads to bad endings, so help we go.
It turns out to be another one of the Junior Explorers named Ben. And he seems to know that the player was human. He almost eats a banana from the fruit basket, but the player swats it away. Ben thanks the player saying that this was part of the spell from a tribe of medicine men called the Muglani. Yup, we're going misanthropic witch doctor stereotypes in this one. Which again I'm surprised Stine showed restraint with How I Got My Shrunken Head. The Muglani hate all other humans, so they enchant the fruit to lure people so they can be turned into monsters. Ben notes that there is a fruit that can heal the player's ailment called the Fireheart Fruit which conveniently was where Mrs. Wheedle was earler. This leads to a coin flip option where you have to flip to see which direction you take. Interestingly, there isn't an instant screwover with either side and both can lead to what are considered the good endings of this path.
Taking the heads path first. Taking the left path causes the player and Ben to get caught in a net. A group of Amazon women show up, weapons drawn, but ultimately free the kids. The leader, Unger, tells the kids that they are the enemy of the Muglani who must be defeated and ask for the player's help. Unger even mentioning that the Muglani shrunk her sister's head, which she now keeps in a bag at all times. Well that's both sad and disturbing, good work book. Refusal ultimately leads to two bad endings, so the player agrees to aid the Amazons. The group pass an orange tree, but given most of the fruit here is cursed, Unger gives the player flowers to eat, which are edible and non-cursed. They lead the kids to a cave and then leave, before warning them of a guard dragon. Inside, the player and Ben find the Fireheart Fruit, but also a giant dragon. They manage to get the fruit, but the dragon attacks, but given the player is a monster, they can turn giant and deadly, which is enough to scare the dragon off. The player eats the fruit and returns to normal. Only now they burp fire, which isn't so bad, in fact the player becomes famous for it.
So that's one good ending from one path. What if we went right? Taking the right path, the player gets their foot caught in a giant anthill with the ravenous red ants swarming them. Ben digs the player's leg out while the player just eats the ants, since I guess being a monster it's not too bad for their digestion. The kids return to camp where they see Mrs. Wheedle and the other Junior Explorers have found the Fireheart Fruit. The player and Ben tell them what's up and the player eats one of the fruit, turning them back to normal. However, they don't eat the entire fruit, so when they visit their parents later, their parents don't believe them, until the player ends up catching a fly with their tongue and eating it. That was the end of that plot, but what happens if we went to the waterfall instead?
PATH #2: DON'T GO CHASING WATERFALLS
The player and Zoe run from the monster and jump into the water, the player taking a stick with them for defense. They notice a large cave behind the falls, and swim toward it, but not before Zoe scares the player by grabbing their leg. Because I guess even in times of great peril in Goosebumps characters have to suck. Zoe leads the player through the cave where they find a strange room with a throne atop a pyramid. Suddenly strange humanoid creatures with white skin, round heads and blobby white eyes surround the player. They're then greeted by the king of the creatures who looks similar but with is about ten feel tall with horns on his head and gold skin. The king refuses to let the player and Zoe leave, but will allow them if they can pass his test by finding three pieces of gold in the cave before time runs out. They have a whole Palooka to do so, which is a poorly specified amount of time to these beings. But he does give you a timepiece to use.
So the player and Zoe begin their search. There's a tunnel and a ladder to take, but the ladder leads to a bad ending, so the tunnel it is. The player gets lost from Zoe and eventually runs into a strange little troll creature wearing Lederhosen, which admittedly even given how batshit these books are, I wasn't expecting. The little troll goes by the name of Cronby and wishes to shake your hand. The player opts not to, because that's a bad ending. Cronby shows the player two pieces of gold and tells them that he'll lead them back to Zoe if they can answer this piece of Goosebumps trivia. And given he's a troll and all, the question is about Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes. What animal scared the gnomes, a bat or a dog? The answer of course is Buster, the Burton family dog. This angers Cronby, but he does say he'll give the player a third piece if they get this next R.L. Stine question correctly. I love that these books balance the fate of a character on if they've read these books. Such a weird thing when you think about it. It's like being held at gunpoint and the only way to survive is if you know your Simpsons trivia. The second trivia piece is on The Cuckoo Clock of Doom and what the name of Michael's bratty, time-erased sister was. The answer being Tara the Terrible. The player gets it right, gets the gold, finds Zoe and it all just ends there.
But what if the player tires of trivia? The player tells Cronby to give them the two pieces of gold, which he ultimately does. He also had Zoe trapped in a stone closet. Zoe throws him in and locks him up which, hey, justified. The two find tunnels and head through the one that isn't wet. They get split up again, but the player runs into a giant ant. Yep, more ants. This book should have been called "Deep in the Jungle of Ants". The player runs from the ant and finds a split in the tunnel, which the path to take depends on the color of clothing you're wearing. If you wear blue, one way, if not, another. Good thing I'm not as the blue clothes path is a bad ending. The player finds a room filled with jewels, which they start to line their pockets with, forgetting about Zoe and the gold hunt. That's a bad call as the stalactites coming down upon them, ready to crush them. They remove the jewels and escape in time. They find Zoe in a room with a giant piranha-infested pool with a giant gold piece in the center. The player tries to fish for it, but the piranhas attack them. The kids manage to get rid of them, but they encounter a giant piranha who asks to be set free. Doing so gives us a time loop which takes the book back in time to the beginning of the book.
Instead, the kids take the gold and head back to the king's throne room. they managed to get everything done in time, but the king is more pissed that the player entered his treasure room. He sends his guards to attack the kids, but Zoe had a pocket flashlight on her that scares the creatures off. The kids return to the Junior Explorers group. That night, the player discovers they kept some of the jewels in their pocket and splits it with Zoe, making both of them millionaires.
A big jungle adventure would of course lead to many a bad path to take. And in this book there's 21 in total. What horrid fates were there to wind up with? Let's check them out and give them score rankings. YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE, BABY. YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIIIE!
#1. Refusing to accept Unger's offer reveals that the Amazon women were actually the Muglani the entire time. The player and Ben try to escape, but get caught and left to hang, their fates sealed.
RATING: 2.5. Solid swerve and the most logical ending of the story. Why would the Amazon women be truly trustworthy?
#2. Trying to avoid the Muglani by jumping over a tarpit turns out to not be a good idea as the player and Ben fall in and sink to their deaths.
RATING: 2.5. Another very straightforward death. Just dark enough to work, but not as exciting as you'd hope.
#3. Choosing to run from the dragon results in it spitting lava at the player, burning them to death.
RATING: 3.5. Really good dark ending. The little "Liar Liar, pants on fire" bit at the end is a nice touch. I approve.
#4. The player falls into a pit where two tiger skeletons come to life. The player defeats the skeletons, but is still trapped and will likely die.
RATING: 3. The touch of the living tiger skeletons make for some good horror in a book that does do a decent enough job with jungle magic. And the payoff for defeating them makes for a fun screw-over.
#5. Singing to the tiger skeletons keeps them from attacking the player. Unfortunately the player has to keep singing forever since they can't escape.
RATING: 1.5. I feel the screw-over works far better for the other skeleton tiger plot. This feels like too much of an added beat that doesn't succeed.
#6. The leader of the non-Amazon Muglani reveals that this was all a test for the player and offers them to join their tribe. Refusal to do so has the Muglani turn the player and Ben into monkeys.
RATING: 3. Good silly payoff to not joining the Muglani.
#7. The player grabs vines to swing away from the Muglani, only to grab a boa constrictor which smothers the player. The Muglani look on, annoyed they couldn't shrink their head.
RATING: 3.5. Would have been like a 2.5., but the little touch of the villains also being screwed over was a great addition.
#8. Ben goes to get water to drown the ants, but it'll be too late before he gets back as the player will have been eaten alive and torn apart.
RATING: 3. Really dark implications with how this is written out makes this one pretty memorable.
#9. A group of hunters mistake the player for a monster. The player hides in a flower to evade it, only for that flower to be a giant Venus Fly Trap.
RATING: 3.5. Another good dark payoff.
#10. The player evades the hunters by jumping into the water. However, it causes the player to never be able to breathe air again and live our their life as an Abominable Fish Monster.
RATING: 3. Solid screwover and the player seems to be at least cool with their life of forever being a fish-mutant.
#11. Shaking hands with Cronby allows him to hypnotize the player and make them their slave.
RATING: 1. A bit too much of an obvious twist. I mean, you don't shake hands with strange monsters for reasons like that.
#12. The player lies about going into the treasure room and the king and his subjects celebrate with a meal... that transforms the player and Zoe into creatures like them.
RATING: 2.5. Kind of a deserved ending for lying like that.
#13. The player trips over their shoelaces (Who are they, Gabe?) and into the giant ant that steps on them before saying that they should get an exterminator for these pink bugs.
RATING: 3.5. The talking ant is a bit silly, but that's still a good gruesome death.
#14. The player chooses greed over survival as the ceiling closes in and becomes trapped forever.
RATING: 3. Good parable twist. And while it doesn't out and out kill the player, the idea of being trapped forever still works for a scare.
#15. Getting the Tara answer wrong leads to Cronby eating the player and Zoe.
RATING: 2. Not bad, but kind of rushed.
#16. Saying that it was a bat in Lawn Gnomes catches the attention of a giant talking bat who thinks that Cronby was insulting him. And despite the attempt to plead their case, the player and Cronby are presumably eaten.
RATING: 2.5. Right kind of a silly twist and a better payoff than the other Goosebumps question.
#17. The player and Zoe return to camp, but the king finds them and turns them both to stone.
RATING: 3. A good extra beat to screw over the player in the end.
#18. Trying to avoid the cave creatures leads to the player and Zoe being captured by a giant tarantula instead.
RATING: 4. That's a big ol' creepy nope for me.
#19. One of the tunnels ends up being dug by a giant worm, who shows up and eats the player.
RATING: 3.5. Why does this book have more interesting giant bug stuff than Purple Peanut Butter?
#20. Entering the cave turns out to be a bad idea as it's actually the mouth of a stone monster. And Zoe led the player to the monster so she could be let go. The story ends with the player being eaten alive
RATING: 1.5. I think the problem is there's no logic to this one. Zoe was just in trouble with a stone monster this entire time? I mean it's dark and an okay screw-over, but it feels lacking.
#21. The stone monster attacks the player and... licks them... seemingly forever.
RATING: 2. A bit too goofy, but I guess the rock tongue will just tear the player apart so it's at least effective.
BEST ALTERNATE ENDING: SPIDER FRIGHT
WORST ALTERNATE ENDING: SHAKE HANDS WITH DANGER
This one was honestly not too bad. I think I worried a bit more about the Muglani stuff than I should. I think I look more to the design from the Goosebumps movie and worried that this could get really collar-tugging, but it really isn't that bad. Neither the Amazons or the Muglani come off as stereotypical as I feared, and do work as villains. As does the king and the stone monsters who do have some really freaky designs. With some exceptions in design like the stone bodies and fuzz heads, I kind of had a vision of them looking like Goons from Popeye. And for as odd as he was as a character to insert, Cronby is a memorable enough monster. Another one that managed to slide into the Goosebumps movie as well as the point and click game. Part of me wonders if his initial intent was to be more of a leprechaun but it would have somehow made less sense. Speaking of Cronby and the stone king, it's the best path of the two. A lot more bridging paths to take, more focus on games of chance with the blue clothing and Goosebumps trivia. And there are some good horror elements that come from going through the cavern and dealing with giant beasts.
The first path is also good, but feels the most linear. Far less paths, especially early on. I like the monster transformation angle and the book does a few neat things with it, but not enough. Honestly after Ben shows up, it feels less special that your character becomes this reptilian beast and only really gets a chance to be fun when you deal with the dragon. Otherwise it just feels like an added beat that doesn't get that much of a chance to shine. The Amazons are neat though. There's also no really awful endings. A couple that feel too obvious and lack a really fun extra beat. I'll also say the lack of any mini-game in this one caught me for a loop. You at least get one or so in most of them, so the lack in this one is noticeable. But it doesn't deter one of the better Give Yourself Goosebumps books. It uses its setting well, has some memorable endings, decent horror and even Stine's groaner lines for the bad endings are even fun which, even for Stine that's a surprise. I give this one a recommend. A perfect book to wrap up this year's (Woo!) Party Summer month. Deep in the Jungle of Doom gets an A-.
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