Review: Another Solid entry in Peter and the Monsters Series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 29, 2013
When we last saw Dill, Peter, and his grandfather, Dill was in a bit of trouble (I won't say more because I don't want to spoil anything).Peter and the FrankensteinIn order to solve Dill's little problem (see Vol. 2), Peter's grandfather calls a friend of his, one Dr. Veedermeier. However, Peter soon discovers the good doctor has secrets of his own. This story starts out on a light note, but turns dark very quickly. I loved the variation on the frankenstein's monsters that we see in this story, although they are very disturbing. Dr. V is a fun character, I hope we see more of him in the future.Peter and the Gingerbread MenA few weeks after the Frankenstein incident, the baker is murdered. Dill wants to see a CSI team at work and drags Peter to the crime scene. But what they find instead is an army of cute little Gingerbread men, who attack Dill and Peter. The boys barely manage to escape. They return in the morning with their grandfather in tow and discover that someone set the baker up with a magic formula for creating golems. Unfortunately, before they do anything about it, grandfather is arrested by the police for disturbing the scene of a crime. The boys are again attacked, and are only saved by the intervention of a few old friends. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but at the end of this story Peter and Dill make a new friend.Peter and the Dark SideAfter a bad day at school, Peter wishes he were bad so he could get back at his mean teacher and the bullies at school. The next day, it seems his wish comes true. The majority of this story is told from Dill's POV, and I really enjoyed being as his head (as opposed to Peter's) as he reacts to evil-Peter's school-day shenanigans. In fact, I hope we get more stories from Dill's POV in the future. The whole gang must team up to stop Evil-Peter before he ruins the Christmas parade - and Peter's reputation!Peter and the YetiPeter and the gang head to Mount Woccaminoa for a school ski-trip (although Dill hilariously referes to the Mountain as Mt. Wocca Wocca for the entire book - and the Yeti as the Wocca-wocca). At first Peter's grandfather refuses to let Peter go because Woccaminoa means `Snow demon' in the native Indian tongue. However, Peter's mom over-rules grandfather (because of course they don't tell her about Peter's monster problems or about the name of the mountain) and insists that Peter can go on the trip.The first night Peter sees the monster from afar. The next day, things go wrong and Peter and Dill end up captured by the monster. Now they face death by monster or hypothermia unless they can escape an entire family of Yeti!Peter and the MorgueAfter their brush with death on Mount Woccaminoa, Peter and Dill are taken to the local hospital. Dill is totally unharmed, but Peter has frostbite and must stay overnight in the hospital - alone. Now the bodies in the morgue on the 2nd floor have come back from the grave to kill Peter. He must escape with his life - without the help of his friends he has come to rely on so much.This volume fixes one of the problems I had with volume 2 by really jump starting the over-arcing plot narrative. We find out more about the curse on Peter, more history of the family, and a lot more information about Peter's grandfather. The mysterious phrase uttered by the Psycho trick-or-treaters, `the boss says one more year,' is explained.On the whole, this volume is also darker than the proceeding narrative, which I like. I also like that not every monster is of the traditional variety. The story Peter and the Dark Side is my favorite out of this collection for this very reason. Peter and the Morgue is the weakest story in this collection by far, but it is also a freebie (every other collection only had 4 stories, but the inclusion of Peter and the Morgue clocks this bunch in at 5 stories, so I can't really complain.)