Reviews

I love the conceit of this series as a chronicle of Lemony Snicket's early days with "the organization" and the wrong questions that he asked. As with Snicket's earlier series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, I suspect that many of the mysteries of this book will remain unanswered even at the end of the series, but I think that's part of Snicket's appeal.

kilmartinigirl's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

kitsuneheart's review against another edition

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3.0

Unfortunately, it's been several months since I read this book (long backlog of reviews), so I did have to refresh myself via Wikipedia. In this volume of the "All the Wrong Questions" series, the fire-starting habits of VFD come to the fore as Hangfire gets a bit more aggressive. One of the central plot points is the burning down of the local public school, which forces the town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea to send their children to the private Wade Academy. Snicket already knows of the villainy of Hangfire. It's merely that he must find a way to STOP the man before he makes his move.

These prequel books to the "Series of Unfortunate Events" are always a bit...fragmentary. If you've read the original series, there's some points of interest as you connect their storylines, but on their own, it feels unpolished. And unfortunately, it would be hard to convince a young child to read an entire 13 book series BEFORE reading this one, just to get some vague inside jokes.

An okay read for those continuing with Snicket's main writing, but not a good start for newer readers.

arminkhojir's review against another edition

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funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

extrabees's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted 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? Yes

4.75

s_l's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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

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