For some reason that I cannot name my favorite character was Sunny, although she is only an infant so she cannot actually participate in the story. I found her really cute though, with her positive name and her passion for teeth and biting :) All the three children were very likable for me, actually, as they seemed smart and very well bred (good role models for kids I think). Violet always ties her hair when she is thinking hard (a thing I found endearing) and all kids know and love a good library when they see one (a thing I have also found endearing as I very well know the feeling myself :P ). The kids’ most important trait would be, if you asked me, the fact that they are never discouraged and never give up. They do, of course, despair and get afraid when there seems to be no hope left, but they do not give up — which is what makes for an interesting series after all :P

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.“, cautions the author, almost making me put the book down. And then I thought that, well, it’s a children’s book, there cannot be that much pain and unhappiness in there. So I kept on reading. Turns out I was partly right and partly wrong. Wrong, because the children in the book do get through much misery, orphans at such an young age and in the care of such a horrible man as Count Olaf was. Right, because (SPOILER starts here) the narrator doesn’t let the kids fall prey to the unfortunate event threatening them. They (the kids) do remain in Count Olaf’s power ’til the end, and that’s why the book does not have a happy ending — but they are also saved from the fate the Count was preparing for them (marrying Violet then killing them all), so that is a pretty happy ending for me, in a “so far so good” sort of way :P

Ever since the first mention of the children the book made me think of E.Nesbit’s books (children books that had children as main characters and that I had found absolutely charming), and as such I fell in love with both the book and the kids from the first moments, and kept being in love with them for the rest of the book :) While this is a children book, and as such not as complicated as its adult counterparts, its simplicity doesn’t keep the reader from getting engaged in it — a great thing if you ask me :)

What I liked most: I was mightily amused by the way the author kept explaining the “difficult” words to his children readers — I sure would have liked reading such a book myself when I was a kid :)

What I liked least: One cannot be too critical regarding the accuracy of a children book so truth is there’s nothing I didn’t like while reading the book — even the least probable things (see the way Violet climbed to the tower, with a grappling hook made by her bending a metal bar, a metal bar that was soft enough to be bent by her but also strong enough to support her whole weight later on, not to mention the rope she made out of clothes) adding to the book’s charm not decreasing it.

Recommend it? I think it’s a book very enjoyable for kids (boys especially), but adults might enjoy it too (I know I did :) )

This book is followed by:
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
The End

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