This was... A weird one?? Finally not in movie-adaptation territory for me so I didn't fully know what to expect. Surprisingly Dickensian (orphans + child labor??) and Orwellian (hypnosis + paying employees in coupons??). It was also kinda violent, like... Industrial workplace accident violent?? Let's get OSHA up in this Miserable Mill. Like damn this one's kinda heavy for a kid's book. I did appreciate this one for slightly departing from the previous books' structure - I definitely guessed wrong on who Count Olaf would be disguised as this time, and I frankly appreciated less page time being dedicated to Mr. Poe's uselessness. Kudos to Phil and Charles being incredibly pleasant side characters.