Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy by R. L. Stine

This book features R. L. Stine's Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy, in which beloved characters return, academics debate, and, wait, what happened to that guy?

Get the book: https://bookshop.org/a/80100/9780545177948

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Spoiler-Free Review

03:50 - Spoiler-Full Review

12:09 - Outro

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Should you read this book?

★★★★★ - This book was written specifically for me.

★★★★ - Absolutely.

★★★ - If you enjoy this genre, this is something you should try.

★★ - It’s difficult for me to recommend this book even for its intended audience.

★ - No. Just no.

I’m a bookish nerd on a mission. I’m rereading the books from my ‘90s childhood: The Baby-Sitters Club, Goosebumps, and Fear Street, and writing summaries and reviews. I’m Amy A. Cowan, and this is Rereading My Childhood - The Podcast.

Rereading My Childhood is written by me, Amy A. Cowan. For a list of every Baby-Sitters Club, Goosebumps, and Fear Street book review I have written or subscribe to the Substack, go to RereadingMyChildhood.com. To listen to the official podcast, visit the website or search for “Rereading My Childhood” in your favorite podcast app. For more information about me, visit AmyACowan.com.

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Transcript

I'm Amy A. Cowan, and this is

Rereading My Childhood - Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy by R. L. Stine

In which beloved characters return, academics debate, and, wait, what happened to that guy?

Like any good horror series, there has to be a sequel, and the Goosebumps series has several. Today's review is Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy, a direct sequel to Goosebumps: The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb. If you remember my review(https://open.substack.com/pub/amyacowan/p/goosebumps-the-curse-of-the-mummys?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web),  I enjoyed that book. Can this one live up to the original, or should it be sealed away for thousands of years?

Gabe, our favorite mummy-hand-holder, is back in his ancestral home of Egypt. Once again, his Uncle Ben Hassad, archaeologist extraordinaire, is on the verge of a huge discovery in a pyramid - the tomb of Tutankhamen’s cousin, a prince named Khor-Ru. Along with Uncle Ben, we have returning character Sari, Gabe’s cousin and antagonist, Dr. Omar Fielding, Uncle Ben’s antagonist, and Nila Rahmad, a journalist. Will the tomb be a great discovery that will lead to a new understanding of the ancient Egyptians? Or will it be empty and pointless, like Geraldo Rivera standing in Al Capone’s empty vault on live TV? (Something we should never forget happened.)

The previous entry, The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, featured a smaller cast and focused on the dynamic between the cousins. The kids shined in its straightforward plot. With the Return of the Mummy’s extended cast, the kids no longer drive the plot, and instead, we are treated to more twists and plot elements. It’s not better or worse—it’s just different.

And that’s the thing—I enjoyed extrapolating the differences in ways events are perceived by the kids versus the adults. The kids, Gabe and Sari, are surprised when a character reveals their nefarious intentions, but none of the adults are surprised. Gabe and Sari mistake general academic debate for ire and jealousy. The kids use subterfuge and light stalking to solve their problems, while the adults have a conversation and consult emergency services. The kids see twits, but the adults see due diligence and reasonable assumptions. This is possible because there are more adults than usual, but the point-of-view character is still that of a child.

However, if I were a kid, would I want to have so many adults in my fun horror story? Part of the appeal of these books is that kids can have adventures within their own kid community, divorced from boring, coffee-drinking, news-obsessed adults. In this book, the adults drive the plot as Gabe watches them from the sidelines. While he and Sari observe the plot, the adults move it. As a kid, I might have noticed the lack of adolescent involvement, and that might have bothered me. In the end, though, the thing that really matters is the nexus of the series: the horror.

Return of the Mummy contains gruesome yet age-appropriate body horror and peril. Seven-year-old Amy would be happy with just that, even as a bunch of boring adults conversed ardently about history and probable outcomes. Gabe and Sari are still fun to follow, and the story keeps the humor that made The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb so enjoyable.

While Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy is not as good as the original, I still found something to enjoy in this book. A kid might not appreciate the dichotomy between points-of-view, but there’s still enough kid-centric horror to enthrall the most die-hard of Goosebumps enthusiasts. There’s also a familial bond between Gabe, Sari, and Uncle Ben that is sweet without all the cavities. The only cavities here are body cavities that are embalmed with mummy stuff.

Should you read Goosebumps: Return of the Mummy?

4★/5 - Absolutely, but expect more adults doing adult things. Like calling the cops.

Gabe is on a plane to visit his Uncle Ben and his cousin Sari. He still has the mummy hand (known as “The Summoner”) from Goosebumps: The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb. You know, the one that controls mummies? A very powerful artifact like that belongs in the hands of a tween, a group of people who are known for their responsibility.

After he lands, Gabe thinks a random guy is his uncle before finding his actual uncle and his cousin. Again, this kid has a powerful mummy PlayStation controller in his pocket. While he may not be the most observant kid, Gabe has thoughts that resonate with me:

I think of myself as a typical American kid. But there’s still something exciting about visiting the country where your ancestors came from.

I also consider myself a typical American, well, not a kid anymore, but adult enough to purchase alcohol and guns. (And American enough to do both at the same store!) But there is something about leaving your usual surroundings and visiting the faraway place where your ancestors walked. It connects you to a time before your own in a very tangible way and makes you contemplate the lives of the people who came before. What decisions helped them survive? If they had made different choices, would you be here? You wonder if they’re still out there, checking in, satisfied with their progeny using their precious time to review kids’ books.

Anyway, a mummy attacks Uncle Ben while Sari and Gabe watch. Just kidding! It’s a friend of Uncle Ben’s in a mummy costume. His name is John. Please remember it. I’m sure John will return in a glorious third-act reveal wherein he saves the day. Or I will make a note of this man and expect the third-act reveal, but he won’t return and disappears from the world like the many mummies that the British consumed. (It’s the latter.)

Uncle Ben has a gift for Gabe - an amber pendant with a scarab inside. Sari thinks it’s gross. I think it’s cool. Gabe thinks the scarab moves.

Uncle Ben and his team of nameless archaeologist assistants are on the verge of opening the tomb of Prince Khor-Ru - King Tutankhamen’s cousin. I didn’t know if King Tut actually had a cousin with that name, so I did what anyone does: I asked AI and destroyed a pond. And according to AI, not only was Khor-Ru King Tut’s cousin, Khor-Ru also married Nefertiti and perfected the recipe for Rice Krispy Treats. That was a joke. I Googled it, because I’m not inept. Khor-Ru is exclusive to the Goosebumps universe therefore he is not real. But that’s okay. I don’t confer with Goosebumps for historical accuracy.

Just as they are about to enter the tomb, a very pretty journalist named Nila Rahmad stops them. Nila is wearing the same pendant as Gabe, except it’s just the amber—no scarab. So she’s wearing tree detritus around her neck. Very nice tree detritus. No shade. I would wear amber around my neck if I could. I regularly wear rocks, and you could argue that rocks are earth detritus. Jewelry aside, why is a journalist from the local paper here?

Nila wants to accompany them into the tomb. Uncle Ben is taking his twelve-year-old daughter and his same-aged nephew, and Nila is, once again, very pretty because the book likes to remind me, so why shouldn’t she join them into the unknown? The more people, the more bodies to chuck at rampant reanimated mummies.

Omar Fielding is why not. He is a fellow academic and doesn’t think they should open the tomb. He is concerned about a curse.

“The warning is very clear,” Dr. Fielding continued heatedly, his tiny raisin eyes narrowed at my uncle. “If anyone should disturb the prince, if anyone should repeat the ancient words written on the tomb five times—the mummified prince shall come to life. And he shall seek his vengeance on those who disturbed him.”

The ungrateful mummies. They get a second chance at life, and they never appreciate it.

The expedition opens the vault anyway, and it’s empty, but it’s just a false chamber. The real chamber is the next one, and that one is filled with treasure and Prince Khor-Ru himself. Not hanging out, watching old episodes of Maude and ordering Door Dash. He is a mummy. And not a moving mummy either. Just a regular one. We know this because the kids open the lid. Not the archaeologists—the kids.

That night, Nila wants to know the six words that will bring the mummy to life. Because she’s just so darn pretty, Uncle Ben does a little show and says the words:

“Teki Kahru Teki Kahra Teki Khari!”

Nothing happens. Of course, it’s because they have to be said five times. So let’s hope no one has said those words four other times. I’m assuming they have to be said five times in a row. Imagine if Candyman showed up because you said his name once every five years, and it’s been fifteen years. Weird, I think I just saw something in my mirror. (It was Bloody Mary. She asked if I wanted to buy Girl Scout Cookies from her kid, so I’m getting some Thin Mints!)

Dr. Fielding asks the kids for Uncle Ben. Later, the kids see Omar and Ben heading into the tomb. Omar leaves, but Ben is not with him. The kids are concerned because Omar and Ben were fighting earlier, so they assume the worst and enter the pyramid to save Ben. They reach Khor-Ru’s tomb and discover a closed coffin. They open the coffin and find Uncle Ben—alive but unconscious. Suddenly, a mummy shambles into the room. Gabe reaches for his mummy controller, but it’s gone!

Nila enters hooting and hollering while swinging around Gabe’s mummy controller.

“I have waited so long for this day,” Nila told the mummy. “I have waited so many centuries, my brother, hoping that someday someone would uncover your tomb and we could be reunited.”[…] “You and I will share all this treasure. And with our powers, we shall rule Egypt together—as we did four thousand years ago!”

Which one of you guys is going to run for president? The woman or the dessicated corpse? The corpse has a better chance—people vote for mostly-dead men over all-alive women constantly.

Nila orders her brother to attack the kids, but the mummy attacks her instead. His hooting and hollering is about wanting to rest in peace. So she’s the sister who barges into her older brother’s room and jumps on his chest while he’s trying to sleep off seven Jagerbombs.

During the attack, Nila’s amber necklace falls to the floor and shatters. She screams. That amber was her home for the last couple of thousand years. Long ago, she turned into a scarab, crawled into the amber, and lived there. Eventually, she left her micro-apartment, posed as a journalist, and stole keychains from tweens. She turns back into a scarab, and Khor-Ru goes back to sleep.

Omar returns with the police, and Uncle Ben wakes up. Turns out he has been suspicious of Nila since she asked for the exact number of words to awaken the mummy. He called the newspaper, and they had never heard of Nila Rahmad, a move you’d think he would have done earlier, but I digress. Omar saw her entering the pyramid, so he and Uncle Ben followed her. She attacked Uncle Ben, and Omar ran to get the police. Neither Uncle Ben nor Dr. Fielding saw Prince Khor-Ru, and they are leaving the manhunt for Nila Rahmad to the police.

Sari thinks Dr. Fielding is jealous of Uncle Ben’s work, but the mundane truth is that Dr. Fielding has some serious concerns about opening a tomb. Is the pursuit of knowledge at the expense of the wishes of the dead a worthwhile exchange? Is there another way to study the past that doesn’t disregard the people who lived during that time? Are the people of the past being myopic when they insist on keeping their secrets? In a way, aren’t they disregarding the people of the future?

Meanwhile, Gabe is so enamored with Nila that he doesn’t suspect her, but Uncle Ben saw right through her charms, well, not quickly, but certainly before Gabe. The kids think Dr. Fielding left Uncle Ben to die, but Dr. Fielding was doing the responsible thing and calling the authorities.

Kids are usually pilots in Goosebumps books, but Gabe and Sari are moved to the side while the adults take care of the situation. Uncle Ben isn’t perfect. He allows children onto a digsite, and it takes him a few days to call the newspaper and ask them about staffing. But all things considered, Dr. Fielding and Uncle Ben move the way semi-responsible adults would move. And while Gabe and Sari are sort of relegated to side characters in their own story, they still get to have a spooky, magical adventure.

In the end, I like the juxtaposition between the supernatural elements and the regular, boring adult elements. As an adult, you could make a case that none of this happened. A crazy lady attacked Gabe, and to cope with the trauma, he made up a story about a mummy coming to life. I don’t really like to think like that. As far as I’m concerned, the adults were doing the responsible things while a four-thousand-year-old scarab lady attacked Gabe and Sari, and a mummy came back to life. Plain and simple. I don’t think this is complicated.