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mehsi's review against another edition
3.0
Een redelijk spannend boek, ik wist al van het begin wie de slechteriken waren en sommige dingen daar moest ik gewoon mijn ogen bij rollen. Maar, ik heb toch genoten. Goed, ik moest soms even doorzetten, maar ik ben echt blij dat ik niet heb opgegeven. Ik vond Ariel een goed hoofdpersoon, en leuk dat ze zo'n interesse heeft in biologie en zo want dat heeft geholpen in situaties. Plus, ik hou gewoon van boeken over cabines in de middle of nowhere en vooral als er zoveel sneeuw of storm is dat mensen niet even naar buiten kunnen. Het einde was goed en lekker spannend.
millennial_dandy's review against another edition
3.0
After going on an R.L. Stine read and review binge last year, I took a little bit of a breather before now coming back to the task, this time by going through a slew of 'Fear Street' rather than 'Goosebumps' novels.
It's December, so naturally I had to start with one of the chilliest of the lot, 'Ski Weekend.' First off, this book is drenched in winter aesthetics to the point I'm surprised it isn't literally freezing to the touch. Cold permeates every moment of the story, from the inciting incident wherein a group of ill-fated friends attempt to drive through a blizzard in a car with a busted heater to a climactic scene skidding out of control on a frozen lake.
Even tucked away safely inside in a cozy flat I felt the urge to put on a sweater.
The plot itself is not so unusual for 'Fear Street,' but it is a particularly good rendition of some of Stine's favorite character tropes: scaredy-cat female protag, handsome but possibly sus stranger, guy who's too macho for his own good.
Normally, these tropes cause the cast of each of the novels to bleed together, and I can't say this group of teens is any different, but at least the tropes actually served the plot rather than just seeming like they were pulled at random out of the air. For instance, it's established as a sort of random fun-fact about our protagonist early on that she's interested in science (a piece of information that easily could have gone nowhere) and by god, that actually organically becomes useful later on. Pour the wine; Stine has built himself a real character!
The tension in 'Ski Weekend' is what really worked for me.
People (including me) are free to say what they will about how interchangeable some (possibly most) of Stine's characters can be, but let it never be said he doesn't understand how teenagers tick.
The impulsivness and just downright reckless stupidity of some of our protagonists' choices are just so charmingly, frustratingly realistic. I think as a teenager reading 'Fear Street' I resented how immature some of the behavior in the books was (I, of course, being a bastion of maturity myself), but the older I get the more I realize that teenagers really are kids. Kids in a different way than, say, an eight year old, but still...kids.
And that actually let to a really great interplay with the main villain of the story.
So much of the trouble our protags find themselves in is a direct result of the power imbalance they face purely as a result of being kids faced with an adult.
This guy takes them in and ostensibly saves them from freezing to death, sure, but he's a creep and an alcoholic who makes multiple completely inappropriate passes at one of the girls, and generally lords it over them that despite the fact that they outnumber him, he's the adult so they ultimately have to defer to him.
And they do.
And that's to say nothing of the lengths Stine demonstrates that people are willing to go not to break social niceties. Despite the fact that our villain, Lou, behaves outrageously and pays no mind himself to conventional politeness, the kids never point it out because...well...that would be rude. Heaven forbid.
This is on a much smaller and less fleshed out scale than others of its type (the film 'The Invitation' probably being the best example), but it is scary to contemplate just how much we're willing to let slide for the sake of not causing a scene.
Indeed, I would go so far as to say that Lou is one of if not the best 'Fear Street' bad guy. This is a horror novel, so we can assume that he's going to go off the rails at some point a la Annie Wilkes, but you don't know how or when.
I've met guys like Lou in real life. A friend of mine calls guys like him 'chuckle-fucks.'* Such guys love making inappropriate comments (whether that be sexual come-ons, edgy jokes, or what have you) just for the pleasure of seeing how far they can push an audience paralyzed by politeness, unable to really push back because it's so hard to know if a person who acts like that is harmless or dangerous. It's the uncanny valley of human behavior.
I loathed this guy. A+ scumbag writing, Mr. Stine. 10 points to you, sir!
Now, I would be remiss if I sang the praises of 'Ski Weekend' without pointing out quite possibly the most cursed set of lines I think I've ever read in a Stine novel.
Our narrator, Ariel, is grappling with her feelings towards the boy she and her friends offered a lift to, and with my own blessed eyes, I had to read the following:
"He brushed back his wavy red hair with one hand. He looked like a little boy when he did that. I realized I was very attracted to him."
Stine. Girl. I blame your editor for not catching this, but my guy--this was atrocious.
Good story otherwise though. The 'twist' wasn't hard to spot, but just as with the character tropes, it was at least put to good use.
*Upon looking into the etymology of the word 'chuckle-fuck' I discovered that it has been used to mean just about anything anyone can think of, but this definition from the 3rd back of 'Urban Dictionary' is closest to how I myself would use the expression: "A person who indulges (often at length) in laughing obnoxiously at their own statements, be they humorous or not."
It's December, so naturally I had to start with one of the chilliest of the lot, 'Ski Weekend.' First off, this book is drenched in winter aesthetics to the point I'm surprised it isn't literally freezing to the touch. Cold permeates every moment of the story, from the inciting incident wherein a group of ill-fated friends attempt to drive through a blizzard in a car with a busted heater to a climactic scene skidding out of control on a frozen lake.
Even tucked away safely inside in a cozy flat I felt the urge to put on a sweater.
The plot itself is not so unusual for 'Fear Street,' but it is a particularly good rendition of some of Stine's favorite character tropes: scaredy-cat female protag, handsome but possibly sus stranger, guy who's too macho for his own good.
Normally, these tropes cause the cast of each of the novels to bleed together, and I can't say this group of teens is any different, but at least the tropes actually served the plot rather than just seeming like they were pulled at random out of the air. For instance, it's established as a sort of random fun-fact about our protagonist early on that she's interested in science (a piece of information that easily could have gone nowhere) and by god, that actually organically becomes useful later on. Pour the wine; Stine has built himself a real character!
The tension in 'Ski Weekend' is what really worked for me.
People (including me) are free to say what they will about how interchangeable some (possibly most) of Stine's characters can be, but let it never be said he doesn't understand how teenagers tick.
The impulsivness and just downright reckless stupidity of some of our protagonists' choices are just so charmingly, frustratingly realistic. I think as a teenager reading 'Fear Street' I resented how immature some of the behavior in the books was (I, of course, being a bastion of maturity myself), but the older I get the more I realize that teenagers really are kids. Kids in a different way than, say, an eight year old, but still...kids.
And that actually let to a really great interplay with the main villain of the story.
So much of the trouble our protags find themselves in is a direct result of the power imbalance they face purely as a result of being kids faced with an adult.
This guy takes them in and ostensibly saves them from freezing to death, sure, but he's a creep and an alcoholic who makes multiple completely inappropriate passes at one of the girls, and generally lords it over them that despite the fact that they outnumber him, he's the adult so they ultimately have to defer to him.
And they do.
And that's to say nothing of the lengths Stine demonstrates that people are willing to go not to break social niceties. Despite the fact that our villain, Lou, behaves outrageously and pays no mind himself to conventional politeness, the kids never point it out because...well...that would be rude. Heaven forbid.
This is on a much smaller and less fleshed out scale than others of its type (the film 'The Invitation' probably being the best example), but it is scary to contemplate just how much we're willing to let slide for the sake of not causing a scene.
Indeed, I would go so far as to say that Lou is one of if not the best 'Fear Street' bad guy. This is a horror novel, so we can assume that he's going to go off the rails at some point a la Annie Wilkes, but you don't know how or when.
I've met guys like Lou in real life. A friend of mine calls guys like him 'chuckle-fucks.'* Such guys love making inappropriate comments (whether that be sexual come-ons, edgy jokes, or what have you) just for the pleasure of seeing how far they can push an audience paralyzed by politeness, unable to really push back because it's so hard to know if a person who acts like that is harmless or dangerous. It's the uncanny valley of human behavior.
I loathed this guy. A+ scumbag writing, Mr. Stine. 10 points to you, sir!
Now, I would be remiss if I sang the praises of 'Ski Weekend' without pointing out quite possibly the most cursed set of lines I think I've ever read in a Stine novel.
Our narrator, Ariel, is grappling with her feelings towards the boy she and her friends offered a lift to, and with my own blessed eyes, I had to read the following:
"He brushed back his wavy red hair with one hand. He looked like a little boy when he did that. I realized I was very attracted to him."
Stine. Girl. I blame your editor for not catching this, but my guy--this was atrocious.
Good story otherwise though. The 'twist' wasn't hard to spot, but just as with the character tropes, it was at least put to good use.
*Upon looking into the etymology of the word 'chuckle-fuck' I discovered that it has been used to mean just about anything anyone can think of, but this definition from the 3rd back of 'Urban Dictionary' is closest to how I myself would use the expression: "A person who indulges (often at length) in laughing obnoxiously at their own statements, be they humorous or not."
chemwizard22's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
allycat96's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
theperksofbeingmarissa's review against another edition
3.0
I saw the ending coming...Not one of my favourites since it didn't seem all that creepy. A fun read nonetheless.