Book Review - The Austere Academy

I'm still not sure why I am still not saying that reading/rereading this series is my year long challenge.  It seems to be turning into something I want to read by the end of this year and, let's face it, am doing a pretty good job of staying on track with this series. 

And as you might know if you have read my #re3 of The Miserable Mill, this is the first book in this year long unofficial challenge that I haven't read, so was going into this quite blind. I didn't even google what the word "Austere" meant (See? We book bloggers aren't as smart as we fake ourselves to be!) till I was quite close to the end of the book. 

In this, the fifth book of the series, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to the boarding school which was mentioned in pasting in The Wide Window, Prufrock Preparatory. And, while the three make new friends within Duncan and Isobel Quagmire, this don't mean their lives turn for the better. They are forced to sleep in a shed, with crabs, weird fungus and hideous wallpaper. There's a bully of a vice-principal and a bully for a class mate. And, of course, Count Olaf in disguise, after the Baudelaire fortune... 

This is a weird one for me. I have faults with it - it's repeating the same pattern as the previous books in the series (and while that's ok, I wish there was more) and the story feels a bit flat with some characters. 

However, this seems to be the book that really starts the series off. We met characters - Isobel and Duncan Quagmire - who seem to be in the same situation as Violet, Klaus and Sunny - and I liked reading them. Plus, it's these two characters who give an important piece of information that will now be the driving force to the series, I hope. 

This was a fast read (I read this over two days - Good Friday and Easter Saturday. Well, I had to read something to get over the shock/despair my heart was feeling after reading Half Lost!) and I think because I am much older than this series's target audience, if that's why I am reacting the way I am to it. I sped through and then find things that bother me when, I know, that if I discovered this when I was eight or ten years old, I would have devoured it! 

But am going to keep going with this series. Why not? I'm in this far! Ok, onto book six, The Ersatz Elevator!

#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...

A Series of Unfortunate Illustrations - Part 1

While I was reading they first three novels in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room and The Wide Window), I couldn't help looking at the illustrations by Brett Hellquist. They always caught my attention when reading the books and I wanted to show some of them to you for two reasons. First, the illustrations shown in the UK editions might not be the same as what's shown in the US/international editions. And second, as illustrators aren't always shown the praise they deserved, I wanted to go "Look at these! Aren't they great?!"

So, in order of each book (The Bad Beginning to start and The Wide Window to end), let's get cracking!

I can't help but love the first and last images I used in this post. They always caught my eye and I just love the detail in them. They could inspire stories (don't get me started! I could think of ideas for short stories based on some of these illustrations!)

If I continue with my reading/rereading of the Series of Unfortunate Events, I would love to show off more of Brett's illustrations and any other illustrations I find in any novels I read. Would that be ok with you guys? With Series of Unfortunate Events, it will be each 3 books per post with book 13 in series ether being put on its own or clubbed up with books 10, 11 and 12. 

I hope to do another of these post soon. But if you like what you have seen, you can check out Brett Helquist's work at http://www.bretthelquist.com

#re3 - The Wide Window

This should be the last Lemony Snicket book to talk about in the coming weeks. Sorry, but had a really bad time with last month's reading slump, and I just seem to go towards the first three books of Series of Unfortunate Events (not sure why, but hey-ho!)

The Baudelaire orphans travel to Lake Lachrymose to stay with their relative, Aunt Josephine, who seems to be afraid of everything. The front door mat, the stove, door handles, the lake itself (but the lake, she has good reason to fear it). And her love for grammar is... well...

But the Baudelaires are trying to make the best of it. Expect... expect that Count Olaf is after them and their fortune, and will stop at nothing for it. And they see him with his fake disguise that seems to fool all the adults, and with Hurricane Herman on the way (a hurricane? On a lake?!), will they escape him again?

This has the same feel as the first two books, which is very nice in a weird way. It's nice that, this early in the series, we know the rhyme of the series (though this is beginning to wear a bit thin). And it's interesting to meet the guardians as,over the course of these three books, each has been different and quite unique. Count Olaf being the villain so we have to meet him from the off. Uncle Monty from The Reptile Room, who cared for the Baudelaires deeply (and they to him) and wanted them to see the world and love life. And now, Aunt Josephine, who loved grammar and her safety more than the children's care, but is still an adult who, in the series, is quite an interesting character. She is quirky, which fits pretty well in this quirky yet gothic read.

But still, tiny things bugged me. Like I said earlier on, this is beginning to fit into a pattern (Baudelaire's go to guardian, Count Olaf appears in bad disguise, the children see through disguise but no adult does [how stupid are these adults?!], guardian goes missing/dies, children prove Count Olaf is Count Olaf, Count Olaf escapes and Baudelaire go to next guardian, thus the cycle continues!) and while this is ok for the start of this 13 book series, this can't be the pattern for all 13 books! It just can't! Even for a middle grade series, this can't be the pattern to each book as readers will bore quickly!

But there was something I saw in this reread that I missed the first time. There are two tiny details in the final chapter that hint to series as a whole. On page 211, Lemony Snicket mentions the following sentence (I put in bold the bit that needs to be taken notice of): "And we can never know exactly what was happening to Aunt Josephine as the children sat on the dock, unable to help her, but I will say that eventually - about the time when the Baudelaire orphans were forced to attend a miserable boarding school...", Snicket is revealing what is going to happen in two book times, in a book titled "The Austere Academy". 

Also, four pages earlier, Count Olaf pipes up something, hinting to everyone who is paying close attention that he was involved in the fire that made the Baudelaires orphaned and killing both their parents. He says, after Mr Poe tells Count Olaf will be arrested and charged for fraud, murder and endangerment of children, "And arson". This is the earliest hint, to my knowledge, that Count Olaf gives to show he was involved in the fire and yet, no one seems to have heard him.

Am oddly enjoying (up to a point) rereading these books, I might continue rereading and discovering (Remember, I didn't read the whole series and I didn't read the books I have read in order [1, 2, 3, 10, 13 then 4]) for rest of the year. Maybe. Till Netflix air their version of the series...

#re3 - The Reptile Room

I know I said I'm not allowed to read the same author in a row this year. But am reading and writing this in 2015 so am ok! Not breaking my own rule! Plus, at the time of writing this, am reading the third book in the Series of the Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window as I'm trying to get out of my reading slump!

In this second novel, the Baudelaire children is moved into the care of their Uncle Monty and his collection of reptiles. But Count Olaf is coming for them and their fortune... And nothing is going to stand in his way. Not an giddy man, his collection of reptiles or three smart children...

Out of Bad Beginning and Reptile Room, I prefer Reptile Room. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because this is the start of the pattern where the Baudelaire go to a relative and think they are safe, but Count Olaf appear (in an awfully bad disguise) and the children tell the adults who Count Olaf is (and they don't believe them), they prove Olaf is Olaf and he gets away, meaning the Baudelaires have to go to another relative.

It still has that 2D feel to this where characters are slightly cardboard - Olaf especially. It fits the start of this series, but this is a 13 book long series and each book is slowly getting thicker so I hope this doesn't continue.

I am intrigued to see where this series goes, but I'm fearing that this will do a rinse and repeat.

However, I like the little nods to the readers as they are on the same page as the Baudelaire and I like how Snicket interacts with the reader. For example, there is one page just covered in one word repeated over and over again - ever. Plus, Brett Helquist's illustrations are wonderful - I love looking at them and I am planning to do a blog post on his art within the first three novels within this series.

But yes, I liked this book more than The Bad Beginning but it still isn't as good as I would like. I think this is because I have read so much and I'm not the book series's target audience. But this is a fun read that getting me out of a reading slump!

#re3 - The Bad Beginning

Let's start the year of book reviews and rereads as we mean to go on, shall we?

The Bad Beginning is the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events series - a series I have been thinking on and off to reading (or rereading) throughout the course of this year (it's only an idea and I'm still not sure if I am going to do this due to time and the amount of books in this series!).

The main thing I took away from this reread was that, yes, this is middle grade and the style reflects that. It's very interesting to return to middle grade books after reading a lot of YA and adult and the main reason I picked up Bad Beginning was because I hit a reading slump and I thought this would be fast and easy read. Which is was as I made it stretch over four/five days (real life and reading slumps suck sometime).

But because this is a middle grade read, I felt quite nit-picky over some the things. It felt like an old fashioned book for children where the adults are useless (Mr Poe - oh, let's not start my fury on him!) or just clueless to what's happening while the kids know what's going on and figure out what to do. This is ok, but having this stark black and white between adults and children bother me. I like my characters to be flawed and rounded, but having one age group painted as one thing and the others painted another bothers me.

Another thing I noticed was Count Olaf. He's a bit of a panto villain, isn't he? You know he's the bad guy, you know he's going to do bad things but you know he will be found out. You can boo and hiss at him. I know, as the series goes on, he becomes less of a panto villain and will be more rounded a character, but in these early books, he's going to be a 2-dimension baddie.

The only other thing I want to mention. I had trouble trying to figure out when this series is set. No information is given but am curious. The world has a gothic feel so I first thought 1920s/1930s but with cars and walkie-talkies, it must be later - 1940s/1950s? But if that's the case, the gothic feel would be gone.

But saying that though, if this series was out when I was 8 or 10, I would have devoured this series. I would be obsessed with these characters and Snicket's writing style. I loved the first few lines in chapter 2 that tackles about death and grief because it's so true. Plus, there are moments where Snicker did tricks with his writing that I've not seen before: when Klaus was reading a book very late at night and was reading the same line over and over again, Snicket just repeated the same sentence two or three times to give the reader the same feeling Klaus had. And I know in later books, Snicket continues with these little tricks and I am intrigued to find them.

Also, tiny sidenote before I leave you is how much I liked the illustrations used, drawn by Brett Helquist. They are fun and I really like the style - and feel they don't get as much attention as they should as we bracket his art with Lemony Snicket. But, as I move forward with me maybe rereading/reading this series, I hope I continue to enjoy Brett's work.