Teen's latest book club book

A Series Of Unfortunate Events is a book series that intentionally is guided to a much more depressing and despondent type of story. I've seen several sad stories in my life, mind you, but this has to be the first franchise I've seen that uses the title of the book to show it's viewers how sad it is. This is a pretty risky move on the author's behalf, because younger viewing audiences are attracted to a much more  genre of novels. So, is A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning worth reading, despite it's gloomy outward presentation? Well...

The story centers around the three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. They lived in a mansion with their wealthy mother and father, and enjoy doing all sorts of things, like building contraptions, reading, and- wait a sec, am I reviewing the right book here? Honestly, a book that uses the word 'Unfortunate' in the title is sure to be a most saddening title indeed, but this - this book right here - seems to be a dream come true, doesn't it? Well, it actually is. Well, until their parents die. The Baudelaire children lose their fortune, as none of them are of age to inherit it from the bank, and are required to go live with their fourth uncle three times removed(or is it third uncle, four times removed? details.), Count Olaf.
Count Olaf.
Even the name is unpleasant. Count Olaf. *shudder*

Let me just say right now that Count Olaf is quite possibly the most despicable, commendable, abomination-of-a-book-character I have ever seen. He is cruel, heartless, vile, ignorant, inconsiderate of other people's live, and more. If anybody asks you why A Series Of Unfortunate Events is such a heart-wrenching sad story, your first and only answer should be 'Count Olaf'.
Well then, now that we've got THAT out of the way, let's talk about the plot. Despite it's outward demeanor, this book is very intricate, and does a good job on keeping the reader entertained, turning the pages as they go. The story is rather short though, and comes with a pretty frightening price tag, but this book is worth a rental or borrow from a library and such. While it's not the greatest story ever told, there are very, VERY few problems and/or issues I have with the book. The only thing that ever really got on my nerves was the constant trend of the narration telling me the definition of certain words. I would be fine with this in any other child's story, but, like I said, most people who read this are 10 years or older, and (should) know these definitions. It's not a major issue, per se, but did agitate me quite a bit.
So, can I recommend A Series Of Unfortunate Events to you, the viewer? It depends. If you're not fond of sad stories, then this book is the bane of your existence, and you should probably close your internet browser right now. But, if you are feeling a bit adventurous, then this book will do a good job satisfying your appetite.

 

 

6.8 ENJOYABLE
+ Always keeps you on edge
+ The most evil character in a book ever
- It insists on holding your hand
- short and expensive

This is GadgetJax, signing out. *click*