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james_c's review
1.0
What a dreadfully written series. What a truly awful thing these people have done to have released these books with the soul purpose to have children read them; giving them the idea that this is an acceptable representation of good writing.
From the release of the 5 books in cute hardcover books, to the way the characters have their own 'unique' interests, it is clear that this was someone, or someones trying to milk the Lemony Snicket tools of success. But, they missed one important thing: Lemony Snicket can write. His characters are smart, interesting, and filled with nuance. Three things these cut-out characters are lacking, Jared, has not discerning qualities except he is mad all the time (implied that it came about because of his parents' divorce) yet he is never not mad- just an angry kid which is not a character trait, thank you. His brother Simon likes animals, and that is all he does; talks about them as if to fill a void that was left when the story has nothing for him to say. Mallory, likes fencing, and luckily for the three kids, her skills are needed... once, and then she is just a sister whose purpose is to fight with Jared as much as she can.
It is all just a waste of space... which is too bad, because the story itself, the actual world that Tony, and Holly have created is rich, and wonderful. A world I would love to see more of, by better writers.
It pains me that poorly written books like this exist, because I worry that kids will grow up never understanding what proper character development is.
As a side note, the film that was made from the books is a rare instance where the movie is better than the source material. All the fiddly bits of crap, and bad characterizations are mostly gone, and a smart, logical story, that is sometimes scary, is told. Watch the film, and skip the books.
From the release of the 5 books in cute hardcover books, to the way the characters have their own 'unique' interests, it is clear that this was someone, or someones trying to milk the Lemony Snicket tools of success. But, they missed one important thing: Lemony Snicket can write. His characters are smart, interesting, and filled with nuance. Three things these cut-out characters are lacking, Jared, has not discerning qualities except he is mad all the time (implied that it came about because of his parents' divorce) yet he is never not mad- just an angry kid which is not a character trait, thank you. His brother Simon likes animals, and that is all he does; talks about them as if to fill a void that was left when the story has nothing for him to say. Mallory, likes fencing, and luckily for the three kids, her skills are needed... once, and then she is just a sister whose purpose is to fight with Jared as much as she can.
It is all just a waste of space... which is too bad, because the story itself, the actual world that Tony, and Holly have created is rich, and wonderful. A world I would love to see more of, by better writers.
It pains me that poorly written books like this exist, because I worry that kids will grow up never understanding what proper character development is.
As a side note, the film that was made from the books is a rare instance where the movie is better than the source material. All the fiddly bits of crap, and bad characterizations are mostly gone, and a smart, logical story, that is sometimes scary, is told. Watch the film, and skip the books.