#re3 - The Miserable Mill

As you guys are probably aware, I am not the biggest fan of this book. To me, it's repeats what the first three books in the series. And for me to maybe reread/read this series, I have to power through this - which is what I did last Sunday. That's right, I read this throughout the course of one day.

The Baudelaire orphans have been moved to yet another guardian. This time, they are moved to Paltryville to live with Sir, a man who smokes so much, no one ever sees his face. They expected to be safe. Shame that's going to be the case. Soon, Violet, Klaus and Sunny are forced to work at the lumber mill Sir owns, only have chewing gum for lunch and the fear. The fear that Count Olaf, a man who is determined to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. But Count Olaf is nowhere to be seen...

I already admitted that out of the books I have read within this series (the first 4, the tenth and the final), this is my least. But rereading The Miserable Mill was interesting because, while I am still not a fan of this book, there were things in the book that caught my eye.

Through the series (well... the books I've read), the children fit certain roles. Violet is the inventor, Klaus the reader and Sunny is the baby so is often put in helpless situations. But in this book, the roles are switched. Violet has to be the reader, Klaus has to be the inventor and Sunny become a fighter.

Another interesting is Count Olaf. In the previous novels, Count Olaf appears very early in the story. Within the first 3 or four chapters. But in The Miserable Mill, Count Olaf came very late in the game. It was more his shadow being casted over this story and heightened the fear of him.

This book repeats the format of the previous novels, but it's trying to flip the pattern on its head.

Am still not a huge fan of this book, but it's nice not to dislike it as much as I did before. And now, into the books that I haven't read, starting with The Austere Academy...

GoodRead - The Miserable Mill

I have an odd relationship with Lemony Snicket. I like him and his writing, but I don't dip into his Series of Unfortuate Events often as… well… I kinda grew out of it. Plus, I dipped into the series in no real order, reading books 1, 2, 3, 10 & 13. But, after reading Pirates! In An Adventure With Moby Dick, I wanted to read something fast while I waited for a copy of The Last Echo (the third book in Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder series). And, somehow, my brain went "Let's read The Grim Grotto." This is the 11th book in the series (and probably the one I most want to read as I like the title the most!).

So, how did I read The Miserable Mill (the fourth book in the series) instead of The Grim Grotto? Well, there was one real reason: length. The Miserable Mill is under 200 pages while Grim Grotto is over 300 and as I knew The Last Echo would be coming in mere days (it came on the day I finished Miserable Mill), I wanted something extremely fast. That's why Miserable Mill won.

In this, the fourth book in the 13 book saga, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to their new guardian at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill, expecting a safe future from Count Olaf. Expect they didn't expect to work at the lumbermill. They didn't expect to have a guardian that cares more about profit than any health and safety. They didn't expect their guardian to want to be called Sir nor did they expect that their new guardian would smoke so many cigars that they will never see his face because of the thick cigar cloud. They expect to be live with the workers in tiny bunk beds, have chewing gum for lunch or to be paid in coupons. But they do expect that, sooner or later, Count Olaf to turn up in another disguise, with a plot to steal their family fortune…

Now, I wanted something fast and I read this within two days. TWO DAYS! So this could be seen as a good thing, but while reading this, I remembered that basics of the story had been repeated in the previous books and a few more times in the next few books.

I'm having a tiny problem with writing this review. Because the book was ok. Not great, not rubbish, but ok. I remember why I didn't read the series back to back and I dip in and out of the series.

Because I have no idea what to write, I will end the review here with my music choices. I think this book is good if you're a fan of the series. If you're starting the series, start with The Bad Beginning and work onwards.