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penguin_horowitz 's review for:
Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?
by Lemony Snicket
"Villainy, I thought to myself, despite all the myths and fairy tales, despite all the stories in books and all the articles in newspapers, is not very mysterious at all. It is a person in a room."
The conclusion to the four-book All the Wrong Questions series, "Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?" is among Daniel Handler's strongest works. Handler/Snicket is very likely the only author capable of combining neo-noir mystery, YA, comedy, and existentialist dread into one poignant little 300-page package. This one's a doozy. It's got murder on a train (a casual throwback to the Murder on the Orient Express references earlier in the series), three different statues of a mysterious sea creature (two of which are made of cardboard, and the other of which is capable of doing something quite sinister in the wrong hands), backstabbing, dishonest librarians, improbable jumps, half a dozen plot-twists, and a gut-punching finale. If you thought the ending to A Series of Unfortunate Events was too dark and uncertain for a children's series, just wait until you see how this one ends.
One of my favorite things about A Series of Unfortunate Events was the mysterious question-mark-shaped "Great Unknown." The Bombinating Beast is either a reference to this dark force of cruel entropy or is literally the same thing, and the way it's incorporated into this finale perfectly mirrors the way it was utilized in A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book has a few problems, but they all feel rather nitpicky. Sure, a lot of the events, and the characters' uncanny ability to think three steps ahead, feel improbable (think of L and Light Yagami's ridiculous mind games in Death Note), but these improbabilities fit the tone and absurdity of Snicket's writing so well that it scarcely matters. All the little mysteries that were set up across four books are solved to varying degrees of satisfaction. Most importantly, this book ends with a pretty big plot twist, but the plot twist feels in-character. It's the kind of event I didn't see coming, but totally accepted afterward. I do think the book ends a bit too abruptly, about 1 chapter after the climax, but, for the most part, it works. A couple of the VFD- and Kit Snicket-related plot threads feel unfinished, but it's nothing too serious. My biggest complaint would have to be Hangfire's somewhat weak motivation as a villain. He turns out to be a pretty neat character, but ultimately he just seems more dedicated to his cause than makes sense. And if there's one theme I wanted Snicket to hammer home a little bit more it's the clear parallels between the two primary organizations in the series, VFD and the Inhumane Society. We briefly get glimpses of just how similar the two groups are, but it seems unlike Snicket to leave that irony unspoken.
The conclusion to the four-book All the Wrong Questions series, "Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?" is among Daniel Handler's strongest works. Handler/Snicket is very likely the only author capable of combining neo-noir mystery, YA, comedy, and existentialist dread into one poignant little 300-page package. This one's a doozy. It's got murder on a train (a casual throwback to the Murder on the Orient Express references earlier in the series), three different statues of a mysterious sea creature (two of which are made of cardboard, and the other of which is capable of doing something quite sinister in the wrong hands), backstabbing, dishonest librarians, improbable jumps, half a dozen plot-twists, and a gut-punching finale. If you thought the ending to A Series of Unfortunate Events was too dark and uncertain for a children's series, just wait until you see how this one ends.
One of my favorite things about A Series of Unfortunate Events was the mysterious question-mark-shaped "Great Unknown." The Bombinating Beast is either a reference to this dark force of cruel entropy or is literally the same thing, and the way it's incorporated into this finale perfectly mirrors the way it was utilized in A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book has a few problems, but they all feel rather nitpicky. Sure, a lot of the events, and the characters' uncanny ability to think three steps ahead, feel improbable (think of L and Light Yagami's ridiculous mind games in Death Note), but these improbabilities fit the tone and absurdity of Snicket's writing so well that it scarcely matters. All the little mysteries that were set up across four books are solved to varying degrees of satisfaction. Most importantly, this book ends with a pretty big plot twist, but the plot twist feels in-character. It's the kind of event I didn't see coming, but totally accepted afterward. I do think the book ends a bit too abruptly, about 1 chapter after the climax, but, for the most part, it works. A couple of the VFD- and Kit Snicket-related plot threads feel unfinished, but it's nothing too serious. My biggest complaint would have to be Hangfire's somewhat weak motivation as a villain. He turns out to be a pretty neat character, but ultimately he just seems more dedicated to his cause than makes sense. And if there's one theme I wanted Snicket to hammer home a little bit more it's the clear parallels between the two primary organizations in the series, VFD and the Inhumane Society. We briefly get glimpses of just how similar the two groups are, but it seems unlike Snicket to leave that irony unspoken.