Reviews

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Only show reviews with written explanations

purplelemon23's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious 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

3.5

jdurkan91's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

ASOUE #1: The Bad Beginning / Lemony Snicket

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

~ They didn't understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so... ~

I picked all 13 of these up in a charity shop a while ago. I wanted to read them as a kid but I never got around, and I would never get them all separately for that price so here I am.

A strong start. The Bad Beginning is a very accurate title. A Marvellous Marriage indeed. Fair play to the kids for copping on as all the adults seem fairly stupid throughout 😂

I can imagine that things will get a lot worse for the Baudelaire Three as things go on. Is saying I’m looking forward to it a bit morbid?! 😂

ainslie62's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

radikl's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

joeyhannah's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

mrs_faith_owens's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Unobjectively, I hate this book. I’m just not a fan of books that are this kind of dark, even though I enjoy books about murder. But objectively, I have to say this book is really well written. While it is super dark, it isn’t too graphic for most elementary age readers, and this book does a fantastic job of introducing new and very large words to the reader in a way that fits the tone of the book.

Overall, this book — and series — is impressively written with an oddly deep lore for a children’s book. Be warned… if you read this book and continue on with the series, you will be left with more questions that answers… and the answers may not match any questions you ever thought of.

Content Warnings

shitholden's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Sinceramente, esperaba un cuento infantil, y aunque en forma y formato lo sea, imaginarme leyéndolo a un grupo de niños y niñas me ha parecido aterrador. Había visto la serie, y sí, a pesar del dramatismo era una comedia, sin embargo en la lectura ni hay música ni efectos de sonido, solo unos pobres huérfanos aterrorizados.

Una experiencia muy distinta a la serie de Netflix, pero igual de recomendable, sin duda seguiré leyendo la saga.