Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

9 reviews

alligatortoast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I might be biased because I first read this series when I was in the same age range as Klaus and Violet, but I think this is overall a really great series and this book sets the tone for the rest of the series in terms of style and voice. It's not my fav of the series by any means, and reading it again as an adult I do see some problematic plot points. (Like a grown man trying to marry a 14 year old? Even though it's just to get their money it stills feels really creepy and weird.) 

Also as others have said, the constant explaining of words is a bit annoying after a while. I understand this is meant for a younger audience but some of the words explained are words I knew at that age. And the author constantly uses more complicated words that aren't overly explained, so it makes the explanations seem redundant and cumbersome. 

Overall this is a solid debut for an excellent series. The later books delve deeper into the story and subplots, but this one is more about introducing the concept and style of the series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

annoyedhumanoid's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

i feel weird critiquing when i know i'm no longer the target audience (🥲) but there are literally five plot points it’s so short. i don't think i fully realized, as a fourth grader, the gravity and emotional trauma of the Baudelaire's situation… like

the slap to the face and all the other adults laugh

?!? pit in my stomach. also, this is not an attempt to "cancel" the book, but what must it be like to read this as a child going through abuse only to have Mr. Snicket tell you twenty times "it doesn't get better for these kids". i guess that’s its form of a trigger warning?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Grief, and Death

Minor: Incest, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

sara_n's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bellaq's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was super 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Bullying and Blood

Count Olaf his klaus and ties sunny in a cage but most of the book is alright

scruffie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I read this one in one go but I'm not sure how I feel about it now that I have. Curiosity certainly kept me going, but I found the story and the characters in it disturbing. Also it relies heavily on the trope of physical traits reflecting people's inner worth and qualities, which I don't like and find dangerous, in general. The explanations "—the word X here means Y—", though somewhat funny at first, were overused in my opinion, and lost their charm after the first few uses.

I'm curious enough to check out the next books, but I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped I'd be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

sallytumbler13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

maeverose's review against another edition

2.25

I like the writing style but dislike that this book falls so heavily on the ‘certain physical traits make you bad or scary’ trope. It’s ableist, fatphobic and transphobic. Also pretty misogynistic at times. I wanted to read these books because the movie was a childhood favorite of mine and I liked the little bit of the netflix show that I watched, but I didn’t like this first book as much as I’d hoped I would. I own the next two so I’ll at least read those.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Ableism, Transphobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Fatphobia

Minor: Blood

mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, and Confinement

writtenbydnicole's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Torture, and Confinement