Continuing in my Series of Unfortunate Events re-read, I read The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, and The Ersatz Elevator. These three start to move away from the more formulaic first three books, where they get a new guardian at the beginning and leave at the end after Olaf has killed him or her.
The Miserable Mill is one of my favorite books in the series because it’s so unexpected. There have been a long list of guardians, and then to suddenly see the Baudelaires in a new setting is refreshing. Sir is fantastic as the evil guardian, with his smoke covered face, gum lunches, and coupon paychecks. In some ways, this book is more sinister than the previous three, with a guardian whose face is never seen, Klaus being hypnotized, and not seeing Olaf until late in the book.
The Austere Academy sees the introduction of the Quagmire triplets, in whom the Baudelaires finally find some friends. This book also contains my personal favorite insult ever: “cake sniffer.” This book is a bit less tense than the previous books, the Baudelaire’s circumstances don’t seem so dire in this installment with the introduction of friends and the school being boring but not deadly. The ending is also refreshing, with new stakes and the first real cliffhanger.
In the third installment of this chunk, The Ersatz Elevator has more world building, with the “In” crowd, Cafe Salmonella, and other details about the city. This series is really interesting because it doesn’t explicitly say where it takes place or when, and it has many similarities to our world but also vast differences. I love the little details giving us more clues to this world the Baudelaire’s live in. Jerome’s ending is heartbreaking, but not at all surprising in the context of the adults in this series.
I’m excited to see the books becoming more complex and rapidly moving toward plot points I have only vague memories of. I’m looking forward to the next seven, which I’ll be posting later this month or next.
ErinKwed 