Reviews
This book is, of course, a little silly and too aware of its own cleverness. That's part of the fun. If you like Lemony Snicker books, this will be exactly what you expect, a quirky, quick read. It nicely introduces this four-book series featuring Lemony himself as a child. I'm hoping we'll get some background on what comes later, but I'm not counting on it.
It makes sense and yet no sense at all
More VFD adventures, this time with Lemony Snicket at the helm? Sign me up!
Read with the kids.
This was a really fun and quick read. I'm so glad I picked this up. Definetly what I needed at the moment.
This surprised me. Pleasantly so. I went into it expecting a cute, childish Shelock Holmes-y story. But it isn't. Not really. It's funny, quite misterious, quirky and at times sassy. It's quite marvelous, if I'm honest. Of course, this is middle grade, so it didn't blow my mind or anything, but I enjoyed it tremendously nonetheless.
This book is full of all of Lemony Snicket's usual tricks and tools. It's full of misdirection, half-explained clues, plenty of puns and a lot of fun. I know that his frequent vocabulary definitions get on some people's nerves but I enjoy it. There's just something that I can't really describe about why I like his easy to read narrative. I like this new series and will work on writing a better review for the second review. :)
I really enjoyed Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events series, even when it became a little tiresome. This book introduces us to a young Snicket (a pseudonym and fictional character/author, if you don't know the books already) as he learns to become a detective. The book contains lots of the usual gags -- a word which here means mildly amusing but sometimes repetitive and occasionally downright annoying stylistic quirks and jokes -- but they just feel a little fractured. The sense of tragedy that runs through the earlier series is not present here, and the book feels a bit like the window dressing without the window. My son had read it and recommended it for a family read. I was game, having enjoyed reading the other series, but this one was a disappointment, and I'm unlikely to read any of the others in this series.
I want to start off by saying something important. I know that this is supposed to be a children's book. I understand. But I just had to read it when I learnt about it. Like many, I loved Mr. Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and so I just had to read this novel. Reading this novel reminded me that Lemony Snicket is a master with words. He's able to make such great comparisons, and is able to draw the strangest but clearest images in my mind. He's also able to invent the oddest thing. I mean, come on, Clusterous Forest is just ridiculous to think about! The plot is enjoyable, and I had fun for the whole ride. I won't spoil the story though. But the main thing that I was interested in this book was for the references to V.F.D., the semi-secret organization in A Series of Unfortunate Events. To put it briefly, the book does not disappoint. There are a multitude of references which kept me engaged. Overall, the book was great. A nice little story, a great backdrop, and the promise of three more books makes me very happy indeed.
