A Series of Unfortunate Events Collection: Books 7-9 by Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events second season has hit Netflix and I realized that I was missing three books to catch up with the season. As I tried to read it before watching it, I ended up not be able to resist. At this point, I’m done the season and the TV Binge is coming up very soon, however, I did end up finishing to the book that catches up with the TV series. The last few times, I’ve bought them in 3 books collections and this time, I was working out the price and this one was still more economical. Hence, why these posts are structured this way. If you missed the review for the first 6 books, here are the links below:

Books 1-3 Reviews
Books 4-6 Reviews

Now for the reviews for the next 3 books! I apologize in advance if this post gets longer than usual.

A Series of Unfortunate Events Collection: Books 7-9
by: Lemony Snicket

This electronic collection of volumes 7 through 9 in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket is the e-equivalent of having three ghastly accidents right in a row. Contained here are such unpleasantries as kidnapping, disguise, murder, paperwork, another disguise, heart-shaped balloons, false allegations, stiletto heels, a shattered crystal ball, a cryptic map, an irritating song, and quite a few more disguises, all bundled together into a continuous barrage of horror and dismay. – Goodreads

Book 7: The Vile Village

After the Ersatz Elevator, the Baudelaire orphans are shipped off by Mr. Poe to try out a new program called “it takes a village.” They agree because they finally see the initials VFD again and follow the clue to maybe finding their kidnapped friends, the Quagmires. They soon realize that VFD stands for Village of Fowl Devotees and this town is infested by a lot of crows and even more rules than one could count. Theu are fostered with a scared guardian called Hector and sent to do the everyone’s chores. If the previous three books are in the right direction, this story sets off some more of the same like a new group of oblivious people but also creates more action and tension as the secret organization they are seeking is a bit more enlightened. Plus, there are some puzzle solving as they track down the Quagmires and some funny and tragic moments along with the staple puns and phrases to add in that extra bit for the children readers to be acquainted in this fun way to learn some new vocabulary while indulging in a new story.

Theres a lot to love about The Vile Village. The characters are very colorful for one and somehow the dilemmas or situations the Baudelaires get stuck in alwayd might end in one way or another in despair but this one ends with a victory or two or at least a little hope. With all the bad that has happened since the beginning even a little something going their way is a good thing.

Book 8: The Hostile Hospital

After the Baudelaires escape from VFD and now things are a little good since they did find the Quagmires, they find themselves in somewhat of a pickle as they are wrongly accused of murder leaving Count Olaf to be able to wander freely especially since he ia presumed dead but frames another. The Baudelaires meet the blissfully ignorant singing crew called VFD, Volunteers Fighting Diseases and end up at Heimlich Hospital. At the Hospital, they find another crucial and hopeful clue and this time do escape for the most part as they end up in a risky situation as well. Count Olaf and his crew are quite silly to say the least but they also are quite ruthless in their ways especially when their silly solutions are always believed by the clueless characters they encounter. It makes us wonder if it is a social commentary on the ignorance of society. Regardless of that, this one is a nailbiting story. The tensions ramps up as the orphans learn how to use Olaf’s tactics against him and start playing a little more smart to survive.

The Hostile Hospital ramps uo the danger but rewards the orphans with a little more hope. Perhaps for children, they will see these orphans and not see how they haven’t learned but part of growing up is learning to adapt and the speck of reality here is seeing the orphans each grow a little and sometimes make hard choices that question their morals to make it through a dire situation.

Book 9: The Carnivorous Carnival

The tension definitely gets higher as this episode starts with the Baudelaire orphans’ escape in the trunk of Count Olaf’s car and end up at this deserted and worn out carnival called Caligari Carnival. With their wits, they try to mimic Count Olaf and get into a disguise to hopefully figure out more about VFD as the carnival leader and resident fortune teller, Madame Lulu has the symbol there. As this story ends, the orphans have never been in more danger than before. Hard to imagine, but its true.

With that said, The Carnivorous Carnival is a lot of fun moments. There is a lot of great characters here especially with yet again more oblivious people particularly the House of Freaks, but then they are rejected normal people who are made to believe that they are freaks when in reality they aren’t and just being accepted somewhere makes them a little easily convinced into doing things to improve their life. It is one of the features that makes us cheer for the orphans as they are starting to have a few wins as they are learning more and meeting more people but still showing how each of their characters are developing. They should after 8 books before it and thrown into perilous situation after another and really only having each other to get out of these situations. The dark humor here works great. There’s a lot of love for this book that was another page turner. At this point, the story is pushed forward by how connected you are with these characters. Somehow, as much as these stories are linked, they never really need to know the previous book to keep reading which keeps it relatively self-contained. However, this is the first one that truly ends with a cliff-hanger.

Overall…

A Series of Unfortunate Events ramps up on the tension and danger elements for the Baudelaire orphans. It has some great danger elements and keeps with the vocabulary and popular phrase learning for the educational elements for the younger audience. As dark as the stories got, it still retained a bit of silliness in all its evil. Perhaps its the first time we start noticing the little social commentaries but it manages to constantly use a wide array of clueless characters which in all their useless and incompetence provides a level of entertainment but it accentuates how smart these children are and how they are adapting to their situations to try to escape from the grasp of Count Olaf. Its a fun collection to read and elevates the series for sure.