The Carnivorous Carnival (Series of Unfortunate Events #10

I don't know why I thought it would be a good reason to reread this series, I mean the things that happen to the Baudelaire children are more than unfortunate, rather they are downright dreadful and nauseating. I had forgotten some of the horrible things that happened to the Baudelaires and it’s almost like I'm reading these books for the first time. 

If you recall, the previous novel left Violet, Klaus, and Sunny squished in the back of Count Olaf's car in an attempt to escape the fire Count Olaf has started in the hospital. The Carnivorous Carnival starts moments after the previous novel ended with the three orphans stuck under mounds of clothes for hours as Olaf drives. Finally, the car stops and Olaf and his associates get out talking about seeing Madam Lulu and her circus freaks.  Taking the opportunity, the three children get out of the trunk and follow them to Madam LuLu's tent. Eavesdropping below the window, the three children overhear count Olaf thank Madam LuLu for always helping to find the children and assisting in his dastardly deeds. Shocked, the three hurry back to the car where they disguise themselves as circus freaks in order to hide themselves and continue to learn more about how Madam LuLu always knows where to send Count Olaf. 

Disguised as a two headed person and a wolf-hybrid, Madam LuLu begins to tell the children about how once she belonged to an organization that used codes, disguises, eye tattoos, and fires. Not only were she and Olaf once members, but the Baudelaire children realist that their parents and maybe even the quagmire parents were once all apart of it. 

The bad situation only gets worse when Olaf tries to feed the Baudelaires to a pack of hungry lions only to have Madam LuLu and one of his associates die in the struggle. Count Olaf then steals Sunny and pushes Klaus and Violet down a mountain, where the 9th book ends with their screams. 

I feel like this is where my memory almost completely fails me. The books at this point are becoming so heartbreaking, and the realization that things really won't get better for the Baudelaire children sets in. I had forgotten all about the children being separated and honestly can't remember how it gets fixed, thank goodness I already own the books!!

The Hostile Hospital (Series of Unfortunate Events #8)

After running away from the Village of Fowl Devotees, the Baudelaire children find themselves in yet another unfortunate circumstance in The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket. While traveling through the desert, the Baudelaires come across a group calling themselves VFD, Volunteers Fighting Disease. Pretending to be new volunteers themselves, the three children get into one of the vans heading for the hospital. After questioning all the volunteers in the van, the orphans realize that this is not the VFD they are looking for.

While at the hospital Violet, Klaus and Sunny end up working in the records room and come across a file with their name on it. Inside there is a picture of their parents and some of their friends. Attached to the file is the last page of a report, a report that had been torn out and removed. The last page was enough to make the children look at each other with wonder; the page mentions that someone from the fire is not dead. Violet and Klaus hope beyond hope that one of their parents are still alive, but before they can do any more research Esme and Count Olaf appear in the hospital, setting it on fire.

The only way the three children can escape is to sneak into the back of Count Olaf’s trunk as he drives away, and this 8^th novel ends there, with the three Baudelaire orphans hiding in the trunk of the man who wants them dead.

I apologize for the quickness of this review, but it could not be helped. 

Vile Village (Series of Unfortunate Events #7)

Unfortunately, this is one of my least favorite books in the series. Not because it is poorly written, or has plot holes, but because the Vile Village is the novel the changes the Baudelaire children's lives so drastically that I actually starting crying in the waiting room of the CPR clinic I was attending. 

The Vile Village by lemony Snicket is the seventh novel in a Series of Unfortunate Events, and begins with Violet, Klaus and Sunny sitting in Mr. Poe's office while he tries to find them a new guardian. On his desk is a pamphlet about a town who believes in the philosophy "it takes a village to raise a child" and Mr. Poe decides to send the children there after numerous calls to potential gaurdians fails. At first the Baudelaires think that it might be perfect, the village had the initials VFD, and they hope that this town might be what the Quagmires were trying to tell them about. 

Of course, it's never that simple for the Baudelaire orphans, as VFD actually stands for "Village of Fowl Devotees" and the residents have adopted the children solely to do all of their chores for them. Everything from makings ice cream sundaes and cleaning the windows, to trimming hedges and cleaning the ugly crow statue the town just had installed. The only bright spot is that the town, not wanted to be bothered feeding, educating or clothing the children, moved them into Hector’s house on the outskirts of town. Hector was a quiet man, but he liked to tinker and read. In fact, he had a warehouse full of books and mechanical devices that the town had outlawed with their thousands of insane laws.

Hector listens to the children and their concerns about Count Olaf and the Quagmires, and instead of brushing it aside believes them. Hector has been building a self sustaining flying mobile home and promises the Baudelaires that when it is finished they can all fly away together and rescue the Quagmire triplets.

Of course, who should show up in the Village of Fowl Devotees, but Count Olaf and his new girlfriend Esme Squalor pretending to be a detective and chief of police. They immediately arrest the children for a murder that they themselves have committed, and the village decides to burn Violet, Klaus and Sunny at the stake (one of the insane rules).

While in jail Violet and Klaus manage to not only break out, they are smart children after all, but realize that if Count Olaf is in town so are the Quagmires. After escaping from jail the Baudelaires look around the town and come to the conclusion that the crow statue installed just before their arrival must house their friends. Indeed, when the three smash it to pieces Duncan and Isadora are inside. The five friends embrace and run for Hector’s house, who has finally finished the airborne mobile home. Unfortunately, the Baudelaire’s bad luck prevents them from ever reaching it. Duncan and Isadora manage to climb aboard, but Esme stops the Baudelaire orphans from reaching their destination.

Still accused of murder, the Baudelaire children have no choice but to run, and keep running. This is why this book makes me so sad. The Quagmires are safe, but in all probability the friends will never get to see each other again. And while very few of the guardians the Baudelaires had were good ones, at least they had a place to rest their heads and food in their stomachs. Now, they are truly alone. No guardian, no Mr. Poe, just them trying to outrun Count Olaf.

Ersatz Elevator (Series of Unfortunate Events #6)

This series gets more and more thrilling with each book! The action of the Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket keeps the pages turning long after I had planned to take a break for work and sleep. The story starts, as they all have, with the Baudelaire children meeting their new guardian. This time it is a rich couple names Esme and Jerome Squalor. Esme only cares about money and what is in it fashionable. Jerome is actually loving and caring, despite his faults if hating arguing and going with whatever Esme wants. The situation a actually starts out rather favorably, the Squalors happen to live near the Baudelaire's old home, so they are at least in an area with one caring guardian for the time being. 

All that changes when Esme begins working with a new auctioneer, Gunther who is really Olaf in disguise. The children try and tell Jerome but he doesn't want to listen as a using Gunther could potentially lead to an argument. While trying to find out Count Olaf's plan, the children stumble over the kidnapped quagmire triplets who have been caged in a broken elevator shaft. 

Knowing there aren't dead brings hope to the Baudelaire orphans, but they lack the ability to free them at the time of discovery. 

Hoping to save them during transport, Violet, Klaus and Sunny once again go to Esme for help, this time with proof. Unfortunately, Esme has been in league with Count Olaf the entire time. The two met years before, and Esme has been infatuated with him ever since. 

With Esme's help, Olaf is once again able to escape with the quagmires and evade police capture. Jerome, wanting to forget the whole mess tells the children that he will continue to care for them only if they give up trying to rescue the quagmires. Violet tells him no, they won't give up in their friends. So the three once again find themselves alone and without a guardian. 

Austere Academy (Series of Unfortunate Evens #5)

I think that the Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket might be one of my favorite in the series. This is the first book where the Bauldelaires meet the Quagmire triplets, and their story arch is one of the best in the series. 

The book begins with Violet, Klaus, and Sunny beginning boarding school at Prufrock Preparatory School where the motto is "Memento Mori," latin for "Remember You Will Die." Not a pleasant motto for a school. The children meet their new Vice Principal Nero, a ghastly man who insists on playing the violin for hours despite having no talent for it. He forces the orphans to sleep in a shack with crabs that pinch their feet, fungus that drips from the ceiling, and ugly pink and green wallpaper. Classes involve listening to stories about milk and measuring frying pans and pencils, plus there is no weekend. School goes for all seven days, and concludes with a violin concert that every student is forced to sit through. 

Carmelita Spats is also introduced for the first time in this novel (her role becomes much greater in future books). She is mean, rude, and insists on making fun of the orphans for losing their parents and constantly calls them cakesniffers. Despite Carmelita, the horrid housing, and the violin concerts the Baudelaire children have one silver lining, they meet and befriend the Quagmire triplets.

As it turns out, the Quagmire's have inherited a large fortune when they  lost their parents in a horrible fire, just as the Baudelaires did. Only the Quagmires also lost their brother, leaving only Duncan and Isadora. 

The Baudelaire children should know better to be hopeful in any situation. Within days, Count Olaf was at Prufrock Preparatory School disguised as the new gym teacher, forcing the orphans to participate in his S.O.R.E. program in the hopes that Vice Principal Nero would let him home school the children and become their guardian. 

With the help of the Quagmire triplets, the Baudelaires are able to defeat Count Olaf... But at a price. Two if Count Olaf's associates, the white faced women, kidnap the Quagmires. While speeding away, Duncan yells out, "The V. F. D.  You need to know about VFD!" 

This concluded the book, leaving the Baudelaires again with no home, but now with a purpose. To not only find out what VFD means, but more importantly to save their friends. This novel starts the connection between books. Before, they were all individual novels, tied together by Olaf chasing the children, but now things start to get more in depth. Characters reappear, and ideas and the VFD become important in the children's lives.

The Miserable Mill (Series of Unfortunate Events #4)

While Count Olaf has many associates from his original acting troop who help him in his attempts to steal the Baudelaire fortune, The Miserable Mill is the first book where someone from outside joins the attempts. Dr. Orwell is an optometrist who lives in Paltryville, the city where our story takes place and she plays a huge role in this novel.

The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket, starts off with the Baudelaire children being adopted by Sir who runs the Lucky Mills Lumber Company. Instead of providing a warm and nurturing home, he forces the three children to work the dangerous lumber machines, share a bunk in a dormitory with fellow workers, get paid in coupons, and have a lunch of a mere stick of gum. Even Sir’s partner Charles, who is treated like an assistant rather than an equal, thinks that the children shouldn’t be working. Charles tries to sneak them extra food and show them the library, but as he won’t stand up to Sir, it does little to help the situation.

While working at the Mill, one of Count Olaf’s associates trips Klaus and breaks Klaus’ glasses. To get them fixed, Klaus is sent to the only optometrist in the area, the aforementioned Dr. Orwell. After his appointment, Klaus returns confused and doesn’t seem to hear and understand what Violet and Sunny say to him. As it turns out, Dr. Orwell is a hypnotist and has hypnotized Klaus to cause accidents and hurt people around the mill. When Violet and Sunny go to confront the doctor about what is happening they discover Count Olaf in her office, and the villains laugh at the orphan’s pitiful attempts to stop them from stealing the fortune and their lives.

Luckily, and that is not a word often used to describe the Baudelaire children since that dreadful day at Briney Beach, they are able to outwit the evil adults (with no help from Charles, Sir or Mr. Poe). Violet, not usually a researcher, reads books on eyes and hypnosis to break the hold on her brother, Klaus helps to build an invention that stops the lumber machine from killing anyone, and Sunny uses her sharp teeth to protect her siblings from being stabs by Dr. Orwell.

Unfortunately, Sir blames the entire incident on the children, and sends them off to a boarding school until Mr. Poe can find another guardian to care for them. This book start to reveal that the evilness of Count Olaf and his associates is much more far-reaching than the children thought. Dr. Orwell was willing to hurt the children and listen to Count Olaf even though she wasn’t in his acting troop. The novel sets up that the children need to be wary of people they haven’t met as Count Olaf might know them from somewhere else and be working together.