The Twisted Tale of Tiki Island

I decided to read this one only once, mostly because the story's theme doesn't interest me nearly as much as [b:Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum 125609 Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum (Give Yourself Goosebumps, #12) R.L. Stine https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920307l/125609.SX50.jpg 120974], the first book in my attempt to stroll down Memory Lane with Goosebumps. I'm fairly certain I'd never read this one in the past, but I could be wrong and maybe it just wasn't memorable enough to stick with me for a couple decades. (I can barely remember the books I read earlier this year, so that's not impossible.)Either way, as a bit of a fun exercise and to give y'all an idea of what there is to this book, I decided to provide an a quick walkthrough of ‘my' story, as experienced playing this book the first time. Obviously, it contains spoilers - especially with regards to where certain choices lead - so tread carefully if you're planning to experience the story for yourself.My cousin, Gina, and I decide to go snorkeling on Tiki Island. She's kind of a ditz, as evidenced by the fact she forgot to wear sandals and has to hop across the hot sand. But we're rich, apparently; my mom is a 'travel writer' and brings us here yearly. Maybe we should stop by a gift shop and get Gina some new shoes? No, apparently not, she's made it to the dock.I make eyes at Kala, the resort owner's son, but he ignores me and my mood deflates. He looks broody, and I can't help wondering what's gotten into him. But good luck getting him to communicate! He won't even answer whether he recognizes me. Ouch.Kala claims that a curse has befallen the island, and instead of using my braincells to ask more I assume he's pulling a prank and tell Gina to just ignore him. (Famous last words, anyone?) He warns us again before we go snorkeling on the reef, letting us know that people have been disappearing in the waters out here, but my skull is made of concrete and I don't take him seriously. I'm probably just bitter over that obvious crush he's grown out of......and that begins to show, the further out into the water I get with Gina. Maybe I should have listened?! But it's too late to turn back, now, so Gina and I just make a pact to stick together. This is a horror story, so we all know that won't last for long.True to expectations, it doesn't take long before we get split up heading into an undersea cave. Gina goes ahead to explore, but I notice Kala jumping up and down and waving at us from the boat. He's warning us of a shark! The shark is heading straight for me. I can swim for the cave with Gina, or dive down for a gleaming item that looks like a spearhead.I don't want to hurt the shark when I'm the one invading its home, so I swim for my life after Gina. We lose the shark when the cave tunnel narrows, but I get sucked into a strong current. I can't come up for air!But it's okay. The current drags me somewhere safe, where my head can break above water. I gasp for air and assess my surroundings. There seems to be a staircase on the cave wall, and Gina's still with me, but there's one small problem. No, make that a big one. We're being dragged down a waterfall by the current!We survive, landing in a portion of the cave where the walls are made of pink crystals and there's a black, sand-like material forming a 'beach' around the pool of water. So beautiful! I can't resist the allure, and take a piece of pink crystal for myself... which seems to be a terrible idea. Once-clear water turns black and the cave glows red as the ruins of a ship rise out of the water near us.In the eerie silence which follows, we investigate and discover that it's a pirate ship. And there's a full treasure chest on the deck! Being the absolute idiots that we are, Gina and I move closer... only to be stopped by a shadowy, skeletal figure. It chases us, and we flee together, but by time I make it through a cavern I've lost both the skeleton and Gina. Her scream startles me, but I can't tell where it's originated.I don't want to go back to the haunted ship, but I also can't abandon my cousin. So, back to the wreck I go, heart hammering in my chest, just in time to see Gina being dragged into the ship by the skeletal pirate. When I finally reach the ship, I see Gina blindfolded and gagged, tied to one of four chairs. The other three have skeletons in them. This doesn't bode well for my dearest cousin!I want to get help, but I can't fathom trying to backtrack a waterfall to find Kala, so the best I can do is put on a brave face and try to save Gina myself. For some reason, as soon as I sneak onto deck - Was I not already there, to see her tied to a chair? - Gina is in the hands of several skeleton pirates who are now dragging her into a closet. I overhear them talking about leaving her there until she's nothing but bones like them. They want us both dead, to keep the treasure safe!Captain Bones - no relation to Temperance Brennan, for the record - captures me and explains that we'll soon be part of his crew. I'd really rather not, though. I mean, being a skeleton is so out of style... But, hey, at least I've found Gina. Kind of. We're locked together in a tiny, stinky, dark closet. I fumble around trying to untie her, too afraid to use my snorkeling light lest it alert the undead pirates to our escape attempt. Once I get her untied, and remove her gag, Gina explains that she overheard even more of the plan. Apparently, the pirates want to take over the island and the only thing that ever stopped them was not knowing the way up. I mean, sure? But if they know what up is, shouldn't they... Oh, nevermind. Anyway, they want us to lead them. If we don't, they'll kill us right away. And if we do, they'll take over Tiki Island... and then kill us and everyone else, anyway. This, my friends, is what we call a lose/lose situation. I don't want to die, and I'm very fond of procrastination, so I figure that anything to prolong my life and Gina's is better than ticking off these monstrous pirates. We lead them to the waterfall and show them the staircase-looking portion of the cave wall. How did we find a location where a staircase atop a waterfall we already plummeted down could be visible? The world may never know. Either way, I get to work manipulating the undead pirates. A whisper here, a murmur there, and soon they're fighting over who gets what share of the treasure.While the skeletons duke it out, Gina and I climb the stairs, carrying treasure with us. Did we just... teleport to the top of the waterfall? No time to worry about that, we have to keep moving! Somehow, our slippery feet and/or swim fins - it's never described which - can make it up the stone stairway while carrying a treasure chest between us, but the skeletons' bones have no traction. Alright, then. At least it means we can't be followed. And, even better, the currents are suddenly working in our favour so we can let them drag us to the surface and back to the boat. Not sure that's how waterfalls work, but alright.We've been gone for a while, it seems. Kala has his father and our parents on the boat waiting for us. Why didn't they send a rescue crew? So rude. And now that we have a giant treasure chest, Kala is friendly again. I see how it goes. Apparently, we've recovered the long-lost treasure of Tiki Island, stolen from the "Tiki tribe" by pirates long ago. We've lifted the curse!But how? If the treasure was taken so long ago, and the curse wasn't in place during our visit last year... You know what, never mind. I ask Gina if she wants to go snorkeling again, but she taps out and suggests a 'nice walk' ... on a volcanic mountain. After the day we've had, it sounds like a nice and calm way to spend our time.That was... interesting. It was nowhere near as good as the previous book I read and the writing had a lot of flaws in it with regards to plot logistics. You'll see my remarks on the ones I found in the little summary of ‘my' story above, if you choose to reveal the spoilers. If not, I'll explain it vaguely as “at several points, it appears that characters have teleported to new locations, and also the timeline of the curse is retconned in at least one of the endings.” Very weak writing, and nowhere near as engaging or thrilling as I'd have hoped.But, I'll have to admit, it's still pretty good for middlegrade horror. It actually does bring a few scary elements to the table - albeit a more campy variety than I had expected. It's also very much a product of its time, originally written in the 1990s... but on the other hand, it was re-released in this edition in the mid 2010s and honestly that should have been a time where the editors knew how iffy the whole “strangers come along and solve all of the island Natives' problems” concept is. At least one of the endings - the one I achieved - has that trope, and it does leave a bit of a negative taste in my mouth.Not terrible, not great, and not quite middle of the road. It's just... alright, I guess.