Reviews

I've always held this book close to my heart because I got it during a book drive in elementary school. Outside of that, I didn't remember a lot of it so that made this fun to pick back up.

While the orphans being raised by the village feels a little like Snicket was running out of ideas for who could be the new caretakers, it was given a fun twist because of the "takes a village" saying so it's easily forgiven. Also, throwing in all of the ridiculous rules and chores gave this book its fun spark in an otherwise bleak setting.

Also!!! Getting some more focus on V.F.D. gets me a lot more excited to continue with the series. Something about this mysterious organization that ties back to their parents creates a great backbone for why this series is playing out the way that it is. I do wish the Quagmire triplets were in more of the book, or at least that they didn't have a similar plotline to the previous novel (being hidden for most of the book, being found by he Baudelaires, and then quickly whisked away). At least this time they had more information about V.F.D. and gave the orphans their first big clue to work off of.

Upon my rereads, I'd rank each novel as follows:

1. The Austere Academy
2. The Wide Window
3. The Vile Village
4. The Miserable Mill
5. The Ersatz Elevator
6. The Reptile Room
7. The Bad Beginning

keiyhta's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

swaye's review against another edition

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3.0

The most lackluster, nonsensical and frustrating of the series so far.

Regardless, I love the Baudelaires with all my heart and can't wait to devour the next book!

karis_lit's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? No

4.0

kriavidar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

emileeandherbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

Everyone come up with your own V.F.D. acronym! (No spoilers or I’ll hunt you down like Olaf hunts down the Baudelaires).

I’ll start:

Visceral Federal Drugs

What’s yours?

🐦‍⬛

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