Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Bad Beginning

My first original review wasn't saved for some reason. This newer version sounds more neutral though lol. Read books 1-7 (I don't remember if I DNF'ed any of the later books I had) and DNF'ed 9 as a kid. From what I remember, I liked the writing style. It made me continue reading. However, the book felt very repetitive. It is a good read if you read one book and stopped there. As you continue, every single book felt the same.

Villain is the same just in disguise, the children protagonists tell someone yet they all don't believe them every, single, time. It's like they don't know disguises existed, and these are adults. Their reactions were so unrealistic I found it stupid. They meet a new character/s and something bad happens to them, the protagonists escape to a new place, then repeat.

It became depressing to read as I continued because of that consistency that I actually stopped reading the series. I felt like the author was depressed or something. I got curious years after as to what happens in the series, if it already ended and what the ending was.

I think I read from Wikipedia that Count Olaf suddenly disappeared, while the protagonists escaped into the sea? And that no one knows what happened to the protagonists. It felt like I read the books for nothing, since it was gonna end that way anyway. It seemed like they wanted to unnecessarily prolong the series.

I suggest watching the 2004 movie instead, also watched it as a kid. It's good if not better than the books, and it covers the first three books in the series. Seeing Jim Carrey makes things less depressing. I haven't watched the 2017 series though, just saw some parts of it. Iirc, they changed some details in certain events from the book I think.

Conclusions: As I look back, I genuinely don't understand how this is a novel series for kids. I don't think I'll even enjoy this at any age lol. I highly do not recommend this to anyone, unless you're an emo. Or if you like dark stories. It's similar to the movie "The Willoughbys" though I found it more depressing. I'm going to rate this entire series that I did not finish with a 1.5 stars, dark, sad, tense and fast-paced. Just not my cup of tea. I read to escape and feel joy, not to feel sad/even more sad. I only put this as "DNF" because I don't wanna see it in my "Read" list.

Content Warnings

More...