It's Alive! It's Alive!

Goosebumps SlappyWorld #7

by R.L. Stine

Goosebumps available soon on Disney+! Livvy and Jayden are the stars of their school's robotics team. Livvy is especially enthusiastic because her own mother works in a robotics lab and experiments with Artificial Intelligence. To impress her mom, Livvy and Jayden build a robot. Livvy wants to name their robot "Francine," but Jayden thinks that's too silly for their creation. Desperate to win, Livvy and Jayden "borrow" an Artificial Intelligence module. They soon realize they've made a terrible mistake. Francine has too much brain power. She's alive! And using this newly gained brain power to dream up a deadly contest!

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Young Adult

134 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2019

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Justin Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oldschool meets newschool in this 7th entry of the SlappyWorld series. Fans of the original books will recognize nods to Night of the Living Dummy (of course) but also Stay Out of the Basement and I would argue a hint of The Ghost Next Door as well. The robotics project gone wrong idea is a great way to launch Goosebumps into current trends. Definitely one of the best from SlappyWorld so far.

Heads up, the audio narrator does an incredible job. I'd listen over reading this one.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Through seven books, the Goosebumps SlappyWorld series is a mixed bag, but occasionally it rises close to the level of the original series, and It's Alive! It's Alive! is one of those times. Twelve-year-olds Livvy Jones and Gates Warwas are members of their school Robotics Team. Livvy's parents are professional Robotics innovators with a basement full of secret technology, but Livvy doesn't want their help for school competitions; she and Gates believe they're smart enough to defeat other preteen Robotics engineers without professional assistance. The upcoming Springdale Robotics Meet versus Swanson Academy and their own young Robotics star, Chaz Fremont, will show if that's true.

Francine is a large robot, designed to look like something from a 1950s science fiction movie. Livvy and Gates have programmed her to crack eggs for use in baking, but Francine severely malfunctions on her debut run. The robot acts violent and shows no interest in cracking eggs, as though she were never programmed to do that. Chaz, Livvy's parents, Mrs. Bernard (the Jones housekeeper), and Coach Harrison Teague of the Robotics Team seem to suspect Livvy and Gates had something to do with Francine's unruly programming. When Livvy's parents inspect the robot's software, the coding indicates she's acting according to Livvy and Gates's written instructions, but they deny ordering Francine to do anything but crack eggs. The robot's behavior jeopardizes her eligibility for the Springdale Robotics Meet, and Livvy and Gates are desperate to get the bugs worked out so they don't miss the event. Reluctantly, they ask Livvy's parents for help.

But the two professional Robotics engineers have kept a major secret in their basement, and Livvy's understanding of her life falls to pieces when she sneaks downstairs and witnesses a shocking scene. Artificial intelligence has the capacity to threaten human existence, and Livvy and Gates face this reality as they uncover the truth behind Francine's resistance to all remedial coding measures. Disappointment over missing the Springdale Robotics Meet pales compared to the crisis Francine presents, but what can Livvy and Gates due to neutralize a superior technological intelligence? Are their best efforts destined to come up short?

While in several ways resembling Stay Out of the Basement, an early Goosebumps classic, It's Alive! It's Alive! has its own twists the likes of which we haven't seen in the SlappyWorld series. The plot surprises are a nesting doll, one inside of another, and there's no telling which will be the last. This book might have equaled some of the best from the original series if the storyline didn't come apart a bit at the end. Regardless, It's Alive! It's Alive! is second only to Please Do Not Feed the Weirdo among the first seven SlappyWorld installments, and fans of 1990s Goosebumps style will feel at home in these pages. When R.L. Stine writes a good Goosebumps book, it's fun to read.

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. I am seriously impressed by this Goosebumps book, especially for being a SlappyWorld book. Nothing against the series or anything, it's just that every other SlappyWorld book that I've read did NOT slap. Urk urk urk
And to be honest, I didn't exactly love this book or anything, but it's the most solid and coherent of the bunch, without a doubt (of the ones I've read).

In this book, our protagonist is building a robot for a friendly school competition. I'm assuming this book takes place in the future(?) because everyone and their mother knows about robots and how to build them. Literally.
But the robot that Livvy (M.C.) builds starts to go a bit hay-wire and she's convinced that someone is sabotaging/reprogramming her robot in secret. Not only that, but her parents are acting weird, and she suspects something is going on with them down in their basement/laboratory where Livvy isn't allowed to go...

So this book kind of revolves around this mystery of who is messing with her robot / and/or why the robot is acting as if it has a mind of its own. Then of course, she discovers something strange about her parents, and wants to know what they're up to all the time in the basement (science-stuff, no doubt) and decides to get to the bottom of things.

This book surprised me. A lot of other modern-GB titles, including the other Slappworld entries, just throw the kitchen sink at you. This one actually has a fairly linear story where everything is tied together towards the main plot. There isn't much wasted stuff in here and not a bunch of annoying fake out scares and forced twists. (There is one slightly annoying dream sequence).
I will say, that Sci-Fi / Robots is not a genre that typically interests me, but if it did, I think I would have liked this book even more. This is an above-average Goosebumps book in almost every way.
The characters in here are slight upgrades from what we normally get. (Still flat, as always, but a bit more personality than usual) - and this is also one of those rare entries that introduces some deeper themes. And although the story itself isn't exactly original, it approaches the plot-structure from a new angle that is honestly a breath of fresh air after reading so many of the SAME Goosebumps.
This is one you can analyze a little bit or simply have fun with. While I was impressed by it, I didn't exactly love it. The twist was a little too ambiguous, and I'm not against ambiguous endings, but it felt a little out of step with the rest of the book.

Some interesting, thought-provoking quotes from the book:

"Don't you want to know the truth?" I demanded. He shook his head. "Not if the truth is too scary."

What a weird person she is, I thought, I never did anything to her. It's like she was programmed to be mean

Overall this is probably my favorite Slappyworld book. It does have a few minor plot-holes, and the plausibility of the resolution is questionable, but even my favorite GB books have some questionable stuff in them. So, while I didn't love this book, I think it's pretty solid for the most part and I think it may be the best SlappyWorld has to offer. Still, I would only recommend this one to fellow GB fans. For the more casual fans or someone looking to get into the franchise, I would start with almost any book from OG62 over this one. (Over any modern book, honestly).

I give It's Alive! It's Alive!, a solid 3 / 5 stars. That might seem low, but honestly that's a pretty good rating from me, especially for a modern entry.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the better "Slappyworld" books. Really fun engaging book, with twists I didn't see as an adult. highly recommended.

[Larissa Blong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of R. L. Stine books aimed toward younger readers, and this one impressed me. Unexpected twists and the robot was pretty scary.

[M. Cadena · Rating 2 out of 5]

What the fuck did I just read, bro? I know that in my last review of a R. L. Stine book I wondered why the hell I keep buying them if only 3 of the 14 I read this year weren’t shit, but I just can’t stop reading them, 'cause I still have (had) hope that they can be good, and are like my comfort place, but this one is SHIT.
At the first 90 pages NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, HAPPENS. So, here’s all my hate with spoilers, where I’m gonna save you from reading this:

The story starts with this random girl —that I can’t remember her name even if I read this yesterday, so we’re gonna name her Mary, 'cause she was kind of a Mary Sue— and her best friend Gates (who had less personality than my bedroom door).
They were both in the Robotic Team of their school, so goes to Mary's house, where they had the Robot they were building to win a concourse against their rival school or something like that.
They do a few stupid things—like show this random guy from the rival school the useless function of their robot—, and we met her parents, who were really good scientists, or how I prefer to name them, Mary Sue Mother and Gary Stu Father.
They had a secret laboratory in the basement, place that was a FORBIDDEN ZONE, 'cause they were capos de la droga, thing that make them bEtTeR sCiEnTiSt ThAn EiNsTeIn AnD HaWkInG, 'cAuSe ThEy DiScOvErEd a NeW dRuG tHaT rEvEls tHe SeCrEtS oF dEaTh AnD uNiVeRsE, aNd CaN't LeT mArY sEe ThE cOrpSeS oF tHe FaILeD tEsTeRs tHeY hAd In ThErE.
(Well, no; that would had being a better shitty plot than the actual one).

For the first 90 pages, we only read the stupid theories of Mary, who though her robot wAs ALiVe aNd TrYiNg To RuIn HeR LiFe, but her perfect parents told her she was crazy and needed a therapist or they were gonna send her to the asylum so they’re reputation won’t get shatter and anyone can discover the drug. (Well, they didn’t say that, but they should had).
Somehow, after watching a Shark tv show on the Discovery channel—'cause tHeY wErE nOt LiKe OtHeR kIdS—Mary and her unique best friend decided to look down at the basement, just to check if Mary Sue Mother and Gary Stu Father hadn’t a corpse down there, and OMG, PLOT TWIST, THEY SEE THE MORHER CHANGING WIRES INSIDE HER DAD'S NECK.
Mary is now SURE about her parents being robots, so she tells the servant (who I’m gonna name Dorothea 'cause I don’t remember her name either), and then she ask her parents if they were robots and they send her to the asylum.
End.
(Actually, that should have been the end.)
In the remaining 30 pages, Mary do other stupid stuff, and then tells her unique and detergent friend that they NEEDED to look down at the basement AGAIN, 'cause her last brain cell was dancing the Macarena while singing la mamá de la mamá remix at that moment.
They enter, and PREPARE YOURSELVES, GUYS, 'CAUSE YOU WOULD NEVER HAD DISCOVERED THE PLOT TWIST (*drumroll*) DOROTHEA THE SERVANT WAS EVIL.
OMG.
Dorothea tells the smart kids that she had pass her ENTIRE life designing robots like her parents, and when our intelligent Mary asked her why, Dorothea only say fOr FuN. She spent her entire life designing an artificial intelligence that can replace humans just for fun.
Anyway, now that our beloved protagonists had discover the truth, Dorothea is going to dEsTrOy ThEm.
They run to Patagonia, and then Mary has the BRILLIANT idea of calling 911, 'cause when your servant tries to kill you using your robot parents you should tell the police, 'cause EVERYONE is gonna believe you, and if not, tHeY hAd To.
We have an EPIC ending, 'cause when she calls the police, a minute later a patrol comes to rescue them, and the guy believes the random kinds until they arrive to the house, where the robot parents had a typical 50s family scene: the scientist drug lady mom making cookies while the scientist drug lord dad was reading something while smoking.
The police guy tells them that they should have a FaMiLy TaLk and goes. Then Dorothea appears from el orto (nowhere) and control the parents with a tv control; we have a 30 seconds battle before Mary—who I told you is brilliant—discovers a disc in her parents ears that control them, so she touch that and the parents come back from whatever they’re consciences where. Then the dad beheads Dorothea and we have ANOTHER PLOT TWIST OMG. Dorothea WAS A ROBOT. The drug lord parents tell Mary and her detergent friend that they CREATED Dorothea but she took the control of them with an Uno reverse card.
Now that things were good, Mary and her incredible unique friend are allowed to return to the Robotic Team ('cause they were banned after Mary’s robot did something stupid), and OMG, AN OPEN ENDING, OMG. The robot Mary though was alive, was REALLY ALIVE and now WAS GONNA KILL THEM ALL. OMG, WHAT A SHITTY BOOK.

[Shawn Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livvy Jones and her friend Gates Warwas are part of the Robotics team, and have built a lifelike girl robot named Francine. Gates think it's weird that they made their robot look life-like while all the other robots people made look like machines but Livvy insists on making Francine this way.

When they get to Livvy's house one day, they discover that Francine is gone but she's just been taken by Chaz Fermont, a kid from the rival school's robotics team. He starts bragging about how much more advanced his robot is, which makes Livvy brag about how Francine can make an omelet. When they turn Francine on, she grabs Chaz's hand and squeezes it hard. They swear that Francine was not programmed to do that. Chaz leaves and they still want to try out Francine's omelet making skills, but she goes haywire and starts breaking the eggs.

Later, Livvy's parents, who are programmers, inspect Francine and say it seems like she was programmed to toss eggs and smash them on people, but Livvy swears that isn't the case. That night, Francine appears in front of her room and her parents think Livvy did it. The next day during a robots club meeting, they try to show off Francine but all she does is make a "pffft" sound. Later that day, Livvy's parents check Francine again and say that they didn't find any programming inside her when they inspected the robot.

The following day, Livvy visits Chaz and accuses him of messing with Francine. He denies it and then Francine gets out of control and stomps his foot, then destroys Chaz's bot. The robotoics team has a meeting to discussing Francine's programming issues, and the kids are disqualified. Livvy's parents take Francine down to their lab to see what is really going on with her. After an hour, Livvy and Gates go down there and find mom working on some wires that are sticking out of dad's neck.

They tell their housekeeper Mrs. Bernard about this and she before can say if she knew all along or not, Livvy's parents appear. They tell them what they saw and they laugh it off, and just say that Livvy only thinks she saw that. They allow Livvy to check dad for wires and she doesn't find anything.

During dinner, she asks about Francine and they say they found nothing wrong with her so they have no idea what is going on. After school the next day, Livvy's dad accidentally cuts himself while making dinner, but he doesn't bleed. That night, Livvy plans to inspect her parent's lab but she bumps into Francine, who has somehow been put back together. Francine starts talking but before Livvy can hear more, her parents appear and take Francine away, thinking Livvy had put her back together.

The next day after school, Livvy and Gates finally inspect her parent's lab to found out what is going on. They discover dad with his head on a nearby table, as mom is sticking a cable in her own neck. Suddenly, Mrs. B storms in and screams that her "bots need more time!". She reveals that Livvy's parents were robots that she created to prove robots can take over for humans. She was also the one who programmed Francine to go out of control.

The kids escape and call the police, who quickly show up to investigate their claims. But when they drag the cop inside the house, Livvy's parents are acting normal and tell them nothing is wrong. The police leave and Mrs. B tells the robot parents to finish off the kids. Livvy then notices a white desk in dad's ear and takes it off, and he does the same to mom. This makes them start acting normal and they stop attacking the kids.

Dad rips off Mrs. B's head, revealing that she is a robot. Mom and Dad explain that Mrs. B had been built to help around the house, but they gave her too much intelligence, causing her to get out of control. The robot parents the kids saw were just doubles that Mrs. B had built and she used the white disks to control the human parents.

That Saturday, the kids re-enter the robotics competition as they figured out what is wrong with Francine and have her under control. When it's their turn, Francine steps away and stomps on Chaz's foot. She then announces that she has locked all the doors and that she must be listened to, or people will get hurt.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda creepy and has a big twist

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

With parents who are experts in robotics, Livvy wants to follow their lead and build an amazing robot for her robotics competition. She has her friend Gates to help her and they put together Francine, who looks human-like. She's supposed to have the ability to crack eggs, but things seem to go wrong.

Livvy and Gates are unsure if something is up with her coding, but her parents have trouble finding anything too. When Francine keeps "malfunctioning", Livvy can't help but think something else is wrong with her. It's almost as if Francine is actually alive. Just when things can't get any crazier, Livvy sneaks into her parents' basement lab and discovers an even creepier secret.

I love Slappy from the Goosebumps series and this is the first book I've read in the SlappyWorld spin-off. While Slappy wasn't a character, I enjoyed his inputs between some of the chapters. I could even read it in Slappy's voice from the Goosebumps movie. As expected from R.L. Stine, we get a creepy story that makes you think. I love his style of writing and signature, unexpected twists!


Final Verdict: I would recommend this to fans of Goosebumps, horror stories, and robots.

This review can also be found on YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kidsfic...

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG, this was awful. Cardboard characters, generic setting, ridiculous plot setup. RL Stine obviously made no effort whatsoever to find out what robotics teams do and how robots are programmed or how robots are built before writing this "robots are taking over" horror story. What Stine is really good at, though, is the unexpected horrible twist: after most of the book being about how the robot they built is secretly evil with a mind of its own, it's "Eek, her parents are really robots!", "Eek! The kindly housekeeper is an evil roboticist in charge of her robot parents!", "Eek, the housekeeper/roboticist is herself a robot!", with the final twist leaving it open-ended horrible.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed from library.

FS: “I dreamed our robot came alive and went berserk,” I told Gates Warwas.”
LS: “I’ve locked all the doors,” she announced. I’m in charge now. Listen to me. Listen to me carefully - and no one will get hurt!”

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just as i remember goosebumps books being: full of awesomeness. I mean what can you do when the robot you built is turning against you and you have no proof. To watch as the world then thinks your crazy and to have it all seem to fall apart in front of you.

[Brittany werntz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this one with my 7 year old and we both have enjoyed it! I loved Goosebumps as a kid and then Fear Street in High School so it is fun to see my son enjoying these books. Actually some fun twists for a kids book that I liked and was surprised by. :)

[Elina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book but scary the next time I have a dream I know it will come true. And I will never make a robot and never ever name it Francine. It was so scary even scarier then the normal goosebumps books. I won't read slappy world books any more. The normal ones are much better.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Already paranoid about advanced technology, Stine really creeped me out with this book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boys loved this one and begged for more after every chapter.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The SlappyWorld series can be hit or miss, but this was by far the best one in the series. There were quite a few twists that genuinely surprised me, and I enjoyed the story a lot.

[Clover · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR;
Typical fast-paced R.L. Stine. It was nice seeing Livvy and Gates be so passionate about robotics. I appreciated Livvy being the lead over Gates. I disliked the plotline with Rosa, I wish there was a better ending to it. Lots of dialogue. Good plot twists, some being classic Goosebump tropes, but some I didn't see coming. I enjoyed it.

Alive or AI?:
Livvy Jones and Gates Warwas believe they’ve built and coded the robot that will finally beat Swanson Academy at the Springdale Robotics Meet. Livvy is the daughter of two well-known computer engineers who have “top secret” projects in their basement, à la Stay Out of the Basement (1992). Livvy has gone ahead and named the robot Francine much to everyone’s disapproval. Francine is supposed to crack eggs but instead goes berserk. She smashes eggs on Livvy and Gates and throws them all over the kitchen. Francine does basically everything BUT crack eggs. Francine attacks Swanson Academy’s finest robotics student, Chaz. She destroys anything she likes. Francine is examined multiple times by Livvy and Gates, even Livvy’s parents. Sometimes the code was written wrong, sometimes there was no code, but no one knows why she is malfunctioning. If Livvy can’t fix Francine properly and if Francine keeps acting out, Livvy and Gates will be kicked out of the competition. Is Francine actually alive or is she only coded wrong?

I enjoyed Livvy as a character, it was nice having a female lead in this story. I disliked Rosa’s character plotline though, I felt that was childish and annoying. I wish it was tied up better, I was left feeling very dissatisfied over it. The plot twists seemed classical Goosebumps, but some I didn’t see coming and were a huge delight. This seems to be a stronger one in the SlappyWorld series. It was true to Goosebumps but added its own little flair. I am happy that this is one of the first ones I read.

Once again, it is very interesting to see another Goosebumps book with a totally different blurb on online platforms than what the book is about. Attack of the Jack! is also wrong on Goodreads and my local library systems.

I wrote a short review before deciding I wanted to create longer ones so I have no quotes about this book. I do recommend getting this book from your local library and giving it a shot!

This is Day #5 of my October Goosebumps Challenge.
Day: 5/31
Books: 5/31

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fan-favorite modern Goosebumps book, and I kind of get that, but only kind of. The book has its highs but it has some of the lowest lows. Let’s start with the good of this book. The main duo is pretty cool and rather likable, and the side characters are just alright. I enjoyed the ideas in this book involving artificial intelligence and whatnot, it was pretty fun to read that stuff when it came around. The mystery is the best thing this one has to offer as it keeps what would be a boring story all throughout going and helps the book out a lot. And the climax was relatively an upgrade from the first half, I guess. Speaking of halves, the first half is borderline shit. Yeah we’re jumping into downsides already; the biggest downside is, like I said, the first half. It’s literally just Night of the Living Dummy with a robot, and my god is it just bland. Whilst I can appreciate the opening bloodshed and the creepy scene of Francine (the dumbass robot) appearing at the Livvy’s door, it’s just a really uninteresting and uninspired Goosebumps story until the second half. The side characters have what seems to be plot points or pivotal roles in the story, like one kid who may be behind it all (which they’re not), and a girl who gives a robotics for dummies book the main character, and they all just end up not mattering in the long run and are just filler. That’s another thing—this book has a good chunk of unnecessary scenes sprinkled all throughout which just fees really stupid to include. And a final thing is the reveals and ending… they be kinda dog shit. The character actually behind it all has a weak explanation and whilst a shocking reveal, no real motive and isn’t an interesting character. The climax feels wonky getting from point A to point B (from the hedges to back into the grasps of the villain) and just ends pretty quickly. Whilst it’s better, it just feels off. Shitty ending. I give this one a 6/10, which is honestly generous but hey, this isn’t a bad book at the end of the day, and the main characters are really well written, but man could this have been better. If I could change anything, I’d make the final chapter about what Francine was trying to say for the last thirty fucking pages. I WANNA KNOW!

[Elijah Spellmeyer]

Livvy Jones and Gates Warwas are making a robot for their robotics competition but when they make it, it looks a little too alive and sometimes does stuff that they didn't program it to do. Can they find out what is causing all this or will the robot turn on them. Goosebumps Slappyworld It’s alive! It’s alive! By R.L Stine, (his real name is Robert Lawerence Stine), is about two middle school students that like to make robots and they are in a robotics club at their school, and there will be a robotics competition coming up soon and so they are going to try to make the best robot ever.

Their robot, Francine, starts doing things that they did not program it to do, like throwing food everywhere and moving on its own and making an annoying laugh. So at first they thought that it was their bully who is also in the robotics club, Rosa but it was not and they are still trying to find out why Francine is acting like this and then they think it was their other bully Chaz, who goes to the school that they are competing against in the robotics competition, so they take a bus to his house and find him in his front yard working on his robot which was about the size of a small weiner dog and Francine was the size of a large human. When Livvy and Gates confront Chaz he denies everything but then Francine does something weird. She starts moving towards Chaz’s robot, which is lying on the ground, and then Francine crushes the small robot with her foot. Everyone was shocked and Livvy and Gates' robot got banned from the robotics competition. They are trying to find out why their robot is doing stuff that they did not program it to do.

Honestly, this is not that bad of a book. I would recommend this book to people who like scary stuff and horror movies. My favorite part of this book is when Francine starts doing weird things. If I gave this book a rating I would rate it a 8/10.

[B.J. Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally, I read It's Alive! It's Alive! in early March, but thanks to several life challenges, I never got around to writing the review. To refresh my memory, I reread the book this morning.

The plot involves artificial intelligence, and ironically it's the same theme featured in the movie Replicas which I just watched yesterday! Most Goosebumps books have a horror plot, but the plot in this tale is more science fiction. The two main characters are your typical middle graders; similar in vain to the ones found in all the other Goosebumps stories. There are a few interesting twists towards the end, which I kinda saw coming a mile away.

Overall, Goosebumps SlappyWorld: It's Alive! It's Alive! has a nifty concept and a cool cover art, but it's lacking any real "goosebumps" thrills! It's not a total loss, it has a fun little story that will easily appeal to kids, especially those who love robots!

[Uriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is really slow-paced. But considering its a short story I decided to push through the book and kept going.

I really like the plot twist at the end. It was confusing but i managed to get whats going on when the twist came!

The ending of this book was just classic good goosebumps book that I like reading back in my teenage years.

Overall, it was amazing. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a good slow-paced goosebumps story with a good twist.

R. L. Stine you did a great job in this one.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The next Goosebumps SlappyWorld novel. Also stand alone. This one is fun with its twists and turns. If you’re a fan I don’t have to sell you on this one. This is fun with robotics and takes a different turn than I expected. A fun little read and about average for scary for someone age appropriate for this novel. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[Leander · Rating 2 out of 5]

A classic run of the mill Goosebumps story.
Two geek friends, who are a bit socially misfit. A bully. And parents who just won't believe anything their kids say. And, that one seemingly innocent character that turns out to be the villian at the end.

A pretty okay-ish read.
Won't necessarily recommend per se to anyone above seventh grade. (Or eighth grade)

[TheReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for kids. A quick and easy read right up to the near end. That last chapter though, too open and unsatisfying.

Blurb is misleading, it’s not what the main story is about at all but is probably an explanation for what that final chapter is. Come to think of it, this blurb is just a summary of the first chapter and the last chapter lol.

[Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kinda like robots and literally this whole book is about robots gone wrong, like the house keeper robot and the robot the kids made. I wonder why the housekeeper robot programmed the robot the kids made to do those terrible things and I wonder why even though after the house keeper bot was destroyed the robot still was evil.

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Robotics competition can get pretty fierce. Could Livvy have wanted to win so bad that she made her robot come to life? No way! How would she have done that? She gets some pretty scary images of this robot in this story. But the weirdest part of all was her parents acting like…robots. What was going on here?

A wild robot adventure! A good read!

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good book!

[Daniel Duggan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good but happy endings are best

[Kitty Maschan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Monster Rating: 4.5