Rating: 
Summary: Some disappointment
Review: Someone introduced me to this series because I was happily engrossed with Harry Potter... their words were "Even better than Harry Potter." At 18, I can say I'm pretty disappointed for having bought the box of 3. I know it sounds childish to be enjoying children's books at my age, but I love the innocence of them. (Mathilda, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A Little Princess, etc) However, after two books, it still doesn't feel like A Series of Unfortunate Events capture that special "magic" for me. The author takes times to introduce ten dollar words, rather than incorporating the meaning into the context. To me, that broke a lot of the rhythm. I was also open to the idea of misfortune happening to the characters - it's something difference - but the endings were predictable and uncolorful in some ways.
If you're an older reader like me, I don't really suggest reading it with the high hopes that it will parallel Harry Potter's level of entertainment... however, reading it to little kids that are 10 and under is a good idea. Nice start on the SATs - lol.
Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to like these books...
Review: I saw the covers. I read the backs of the books. I was sold on them in a minute. I instantly thought of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams and I become excited at the prospect of being swept away into a morbid childhood fantasy.And, quite honestly, the books deliver exactly that, but nothing more. I enjoyed the first book but became increasingly frustrated with the second and third. The children in these books are powerless. They recognize the bad guy but they can't DO anything. Snicket tells us that the children are smart, brave, and resourceful, but they seem to spend most of their time waiting in helpless terror. Not a very brave, smart, or resourceful thing to do. This really bothered me. Also, the books follow a strict formula - which I know is popular in books for younger readers. But he clings to the formula with a despairing lack of imagination. I'm probably being too hard on the books, but that's just because the premise and the style have so much potential.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunate Events & Lots of Trouble!
Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events is a sad story but good reading.
Violet, Klaus and baby Sunny are in for a terrible time. Their parents die in a fire and they lose all their possessions as well. Nothing seems to go right for them and it is so sad. I'd also recommend the works of Robert Stanek, the Kingdoms and the Elves, the Elf Queen and the King, and others.
Rating:
Summary: The Bad Beginning
Review: I really enjoyed reading The Bad Beginning and I want to read the others. At first I didn't like the idea of terrible things happening to children but after about two chapters I got into the rhythm and saw how funny it all was. My mind was engaged in the dilemas the children face, and wheeles were turning in my brain trying to find a solution to their complicated miseries.
The end had so mutch suspense I couldn't stop reading: I had to find out what happened to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny the three main characters. This is the first book I can remember that I felt so much connection with the characters. I would definetly recomend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Not the "same old, same old"
Review: Usually fantasy books are about princesses and knights, but not this series. These books are not predictable except that whatever happens next to the three main characters will not be good. One of the grown-ups in my house really enjoyed the names of such characters as Esme and Jerome Squalor and Isadora and Duncan, and explained to me why she thought they were clever. I often laughed out loud at the many random obstacles the children faced. I would recommend this series to anyone who is tired of the same old happy stories and who has a good sense of humor.
Rating:
Summary: A malevolent intelligence is at work here
Review: What grabs you first is the prose style. The elaborate introductory letters on the backs of the books, for instance, signed with the somewhat ambiguous closing, "With all due respect --- Lemony Snicket." The drily witty text of the stories reads rather like Miss Manners has been up all night and drinking entirely too much coffee. The authorial voice intrudes, commenting on events, and providing definitions of words. These are sometimes congruous to those usually found in dictionaries. They are occasionally not --- in which that incongruity is usually both a plot element, and the subject of further comment by the authorial voice. The introduction to the concept of "dramatic irony" in the second book of the package is memorably amusing as well as educational. I suspect that, as children's books, these will be appreciated mostly by highly verbal and sensitive children, those who have the ability to see behind the text and grasp exactly how their leg is being pulled. For these children, these books will not only be amusing, but valuable: they are written in a literate style, ironically formal, and the author's intrusions introduce a fair number of interesting words. Appropriate adults will find entertainment here too: the literary allusions, the Baudelaires and Poes, add depth to the stories, and clues to the clued-in as to what is really happening here. Children --- or adults --- who can't or won't follow the ironic premise of the series are less likely to enjoy these.
Rating:
Summary: the bad begining
Review: I would recommend this book to children under the age of 11.
There is so much tension that I nearly stayed up all night.
I would never know what would happen next (neither do Violet,Klaus or Sunny). The story begins with three happy children!but don't be fooled by the warm hearted begining! The book is jam packed with UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.!!!!
Rating:
Summary: If you are trying to raise a literate 9 year-old child...
Review: ...don't let them use the phrase, "there's nothing good EVER happens." See another review below for further details. These books should be treated as a type of literary dessert for children (and adults) who normally read more challenging, morally responsible writings. One cannot live on cake alone, no matter how good that cake may be.
Rating:
Summary: This is not for the touchy feely
Review: I read this book and at first was a bit put off. However, as I read more, I found the book to be very interesting and did not want to put it down. The book offers encouragement to readers, by generally stating to make the best of an awful situation. The book also gives definitions to words which a reader may not recognize. The reader of this book should grasp the underlying meaning that "bad things happen to good people" and not to give up hope. The circumstances these children face are terrible, but they never seemed discouraged. They keep moving forward. These series may also be helpful for young person going through a rough time, because he/she can identify with the children.
Rating:
Summary: If you're trying to raise literate children - eschew this!
Review: (Which, in this instance, means "pick another writer.") Snicket is clever -- these books are black humor, juvenile-style and, as an adult, I found them amusing. Good literature, however, needs to have some redeeming quality beyond cleverness. Some tension to make the drama "work." I agree with my 9-year-old grandson (an avid reader) who complained, "There's nothing good EVER happens!" The stupidity of the adults is doubtless endearing to at least some children -- but it is not enough on which to construct a world. I confess I do not see why these books are so popular when there is so much excellent children's fiction on the market today.
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