lemony snicket a series of unfortunate events books

Plus the illustrations by Brett Helquist appealed to me and I love his style. So naturally that makes you want to read them and, to be fair, that’s what drew me in, too. I will give this independent readers’ series credit for using reverse psychology in its marketing, which goes a little something like this: these books are so full of misery and so beset with woe that you should not read them. (Just to note, this review focuses only on the book series, not the 2004 theatrical release nor the 2017 Netflix series.) However, as the series’ title is no spoiler, their efforts often come up short against Olaf’s evil schemes. Throughout the course of the series, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny must band their skills, strengths, and wits together if they have any hope of defeating Olaf and his minions. This lands them in the care of various distant relatives, the most notorious of which being the villainous Count Olaf, who stops at nothing to get his clutches on the Baudelaire fortune. All three children are dealt a horrible blow when, one day, they’re told their parents perished in a mysterious house fire. These books follow the dreadful misadventures of the three Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny.

A Series of Unfortunate Events, penned by Lemony Snicket ( pseudonym for American author Daniel Handler), consists of thirteen novels : The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End.

Lemony snicket a series of unfortunate events books