I think this one is my favourite so far! It was something new and fresh and didn't talk so much about going to the relative and making plans about how to eliminate Olaf. Such a good read!

This was the worst audiobook I’ve ever listened to. One minute he was talking so low I had to turn the volume up only to have my ears shredded when he started shrieking and yelling.

The story was actually not bad, but the audiobook was awful. Hopefully the next one is better.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. It felt like one of the stronger stories of the bunch and I appreciated that the villain wasn't as in your face obvious as last few books. But did a baby have a sword fight with her teeth? Did I read that correctly? That was a very weird addition to this book.

In any case, an ok book in the series. As miserable as ever!

Este libro me pareció mucho más interesante que los otros tres.

Mr. Snicket begins each book in this series with a warning about how depressing the book will be and an offer for the reader to stop before things get really bad, but when I ask my boys if they want to stop, they clamor for more. The discouraging introduction for this particular book was particularly amusing:

“Sometime during your life—in fact, very soon—you may find yourself reading a book, and you may notice that a book’s first sentence can often tell you what sort of story your book contains. For instance, a book that began with the sentence 'Once upon a time there was a family of cunning little chipmunks who lived in a hollow tree' would probably contain a story full of talking animals who get into all sorts of mischief. A book that began with the sentence 'Emily sat down and looked at the stack of blueberry pancakes her mother had prepared for her, but she was too nervous about Camp Timbertops to eat a bite' would probably contain a story of giggly girls who have a grand old time. And a book that began with the sentence 'Gary smelled the leather of his brand-new catcher's mitt and waited impatiently for his best friend Larry to come around the corner' would probably contain a story full of sweaty boys who win some sort of trophy. And if you like mischief, a grand old time, or trophies, you would know which book to read, and you could throw the rest of them away.

But this book begins with the sentence 'The Baudelaire orphans looked out the grimy window of the train and gazed at the gloomy blackness of the Finite Forest, wondering if their lives would ever get any better,' and you should be able to tell that the story that follows will be very different from the story of Gary or Emily or the family of cunning little chipmunks, and this is for the simple reason that the lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are very different from most people's lives, with the main difference being the amount of unhappiness, horror, and despair. The three children have no time to get into all sorts of mischief, because misery follows them wherever they go. They had not had a grand old time since their parents died in a terrible fire. And the only trophy they would win would be some sort of First Prize for Wretchedness. It is atrociously unfair, of course, that the Baudelaires have so many troubles, but that is the way the story goes. So now that I've told you that the first sentence will be 'The Baudelaire orphans looked out the grimy window of the train and gazed at the gloomy blackness of the Finite Forest, wondering if their lives would ever get any better,' if you wish to avoid an unpleasant story, you had best put this book down."

But we read it anyway.

No lovely Justice Strauss here. No quirky, but affectionate Uncle Monty. No pathetic, but kind Aunt Josephine. The closest thing we get to hope is Phil, the eternal optimist who is willing to work for coupons, and Charles, a spineless wimp who irons his business partner's shirts and does whatever he says.

Instead of a kind-but-clueless guardian, the Baudelaire orphans are foisted off -- a phrase which here means "dropped off at the train station by Mr. Poe who is too busy with work to actually lay eyes on his charges new guardian" -- on a mysterious, gruff lumber mill owner who immediately puts all three to work.

If you've read the first three books, you know the drill by now: Count Olaf shows up in disguise, along with an evil henchperson, the children figure out Olaf's diabolical plan just in time, Mr. Poe and other adults don't believe them, and when they finally do figure it out, Count Olaf & comrade still escape, vowing to get the children next time. Formulaic, yes, but entertaining nonetheless, especially for the target audience.

This book is also short on quirky little bits of wisdom. This is the only one that really stood out:

“The expression 'quiet as mice' is a puzzling one, because mice can often be very noisy, so people who are being quiet as mice may in fact be squeaking and scrambling around. The expression 'quiet as mimes' is more appropriate, because mimes are people who perform theatrical routines without making a sound. Mimes are annoying and embarrassing, but they are much quieter than mice, so 'quiet as mimes' is a more proper way to describe how Violet and Sunny got up from their bunk, tiptoed across the dormitory, and walked out into the night.”

This fourth installment in A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS felt like it zoomed by and seemed like a set-up for the next few books. This is an action-packed episode with the Baudelaires reversing roles to expose Count Olaf (Klaus inventing and Violet researching, for example) and a few more enemies in their corner this time around. But there are also bursts of goodness with the optimistic Phil and the kind Charles. These bursts are new to the series and give the orphans hope that there are good people out there in this unfortunate world they're encountering. With the prospect of new friends at boarding school in Book #5, it seems like the Baudelaires may be getting some positive reinforcements to balance out the evil lurking around every corner.