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A review by kadyjak
Dangerous Girls by R.L. Stine
1.0
This was my first Stine book, and I'm fairly certain it'll be my last. I wasn't much of a reader as a kid, but I always kind of figured his books must be good because they were so popular. But I guess kids aren't known for great taste in literature.
The plot was actually decent. Had it been fleshed out better (much better), and, you know, had actual good writing, it might have been pretty good.
I didn't get Renz. Was he just crazy? There didn't seem to be any real logic to his decisions. Why does he believe in reincarnation? I'm not aware of that being a big thing in Italy even in present day. It definitely wasn't a common idea a few centuries ago. What reasons, besides looks, does he have for pegging certain girls as Laura? There didn't seem to be any. Which, alright, sure, he's a vampire, and maybe in this world, that's enough of an explanation - that he's psychotic, but there should have been some kind of explanation. Otherwise, why go back and show us glimpses of his life in the past? They were kind of interesting, but didn't really tell us anything we couldn't have gotten from a few lines of dialogue.
Why did he pick Destiny and Livvy and their mom? He's obsessed with Laura, but it seems anyone with the right eye color and certain facial features will do as her substitute. And why is he so inept that he can't seem to get the process down? With the exception of Livvy, who didn't want him (which he's apparently fine with...???), every single time he tries to make his 'Laura' a vampire, he's interrupted and has to wait a month, which causes him to lose her completely. It never occurs to him to go about it another way where that can't happen?
As mentioned earlier, the writing was not stellar. The dialogue was laughable at some points -and like nothing kids would say- and it all felt very abrupt. Words were just sort of thrown out there, with no regard for how they flowed or even if they completely made sense. Moments that should have been exciting or horrifying were comical or weird. The comparison that kept coming to mind was (for those of you who are Gilmore Girls fans) Kirk's movie.
And of course after that, I couldn't take the book seriously at all.
Honestly, it just had the feel of a story written in a hurry to make money because of the name on the cover.
The one bright spot was when Destiny kills Renz. I didn't see it coming and I didn't think she was that smart. Of course everything after that was pretty goofy...
The plot was actually decent. Had it been fleshed out better (much better), and, you know, had actual good writing, it might have been pretty good.
I didn't get Renz. Was he just crazy? There didn't seem to be any real logic to his decisions. Why does he believe in reincarnation? I'm not aware of that being a big thing in Italy even in present day. It definitely wasn't a common idea a few centuries ago. What reasons, besides looks, does he have for pegging certain girls as Laura? There didn't seem to be any. Which, alright, sure, he's a vampire, and maybe in this world, that's enough of an explanation - that he's psychotic, but there should have been some kind of explanation. Otherwise, why go back and show us glimpses of his life in the past? They were kind of interesting, but didn't really tell us anything we couldn't have gotten from a few lines of dialogue.
Why did he pick Destiny and Livvy and their mom? He's obsessed with Laura, but it seems anyone with the right eye color and certain facial features will do as her substitute. And why is he so inept that he can't seem to get the process down? With the exception of Livvy, who didn't want him (which he's apparently fine with...???), every single time he tries to make his 'Laura' a vampire, he's interrupted and has to wait a month, which causes him to lose her completely. It never occurs to him to go about it another way where that can't happen?
As mentioned earlier, the writing was not stellar. The dialogue was laughable at some points -and like nothing kids would say- and it all felt very abrupt. Words were just sort of thrown out there, with no regard for how they flowed or even if they completely made sense. Moments that should have been exciting or horrifying were comical or weird. The comparison that kept coming to mind was (for those of you who are Gilmore Girls fans) Kirk's movie.
And of course after that, I couldn't take the book seriously at all.
Honestly, it just had the feel of a story written in a hurry to make money because of the name on the cover.
The one bright spot was when Destiny kills Renz. I didn't see it coming and I didn't think she was that smart. Of course everything after that was pretty goofy...