Rating: Summary: Cleaver Idea Review: While this book would be great for a younger audience, to read it as an adult it wasn't nearly as entertaining. I do like some young adult/children's literature (such as the Harry Potter books and Phillip Pulman's books) but this one was a disappointment to me.
Rating: Summary: An Exciting Book Review: I rated this book 5 stars because it was interesting the entire way though. Once you pick it up, you don't wanna put it down! This was my 2nd book in the series I read, and I loved it. It's interesting that the author puts his own thought to express events in the book. I recommmend this book to anyone!
Rating: Summary: Famous to be? Review: I dont know about you, but i am intregued by Daniel Handlers books (lemony Snicket) His writing style is so unique and i love how he randomly inserts his own thoughts into the book. it makes me wonder why on earth he hasnt become so widely known as J.K. Rowling! I have read the Harry Potter series 14 times, and i had refeused to read anything else, because i never thought there was any comparison to them, then, i couldnt find anything to intrest me, and i really didnt want to read the Harry Potter series again. since i practicly had it memorized, so i thought, why not? and i decided to buy the first book in the series of unfortunate events... after reading it, i went directly to the book store and bought the 2nd book, and i dont want to offend the Harry Potter books, i mean, i still really like them, but i am actually starting to like this series more! I really think you should read this series, i am on book 8 right now, and still truckin'... this book is PERFECT if you have finished the harry potter books and dont know what to read next. and even if you havent read the harry potter books, i think this book is excellent for ALL readers!
Rating: Summary: Another set of delightful unfortunate events Review: " 'We're not leaving anyone behind,' Klaus said firmly,'That's what makes us different from Olaf.' " Once again fans are treated to an odd sort of family values authored by the mysterious Lemony Snicket. The three siblings are accused of murder and on the run from the foul and impolite Count Olaf and Olaf's girlfriend, Esme Squalor, among other evil henchfolks. In this volume the children make their way to the Heimlich Hospital, where they land a "volunteer" job in the Library of Records. What clues will they find? And what sinister plans exist in the filthy minds of Count Olaf, Esme, and reporters from The Daily Punctilio? This book gives us a few tantalizing clues, and the narrator, Snicket, continues to reveal himself in his usual manner. Fans of the series will applaud, and those who hate the series will continue to hate it, but I cannot wait to start on the next volume!
Rating: Summary: oh please... Review: Hmm... maybe I'm not supposed to talk, as this is the only book I've read in this series. Before reading this book I heard a lot of hype about how it was "better than Harry Potter". At first I was intrigued by the "Put down this dreadful book" business at the beginning and back of the book. When I got down to reading, though, I was really disappointed. The book is based in the real world, instead of in a magical world, so forgive me if I find the authors little side story about his friend swallowing loyal butterflies to keep them out of 'insect prison with evil bugs who torture criminal bugs' and eating light food to avoid injuring his butterflies, before burping them out several years later a tad out of place. The author also spends too much time giving you definitions to words you already know the meaning to, and translating what Sunny is trying to say than coming up with a stronger storyline. I also find he gives too many unnecessary examples. An average sentence goes something like this "You must have felt frightened in one way or another, like when you were outside your headmaster's office, or if you are about to be pushed of a cliff, or when bla bla bla... that's how the Baudelaire children felt." Half the page is full with all these and the plot is as thin as a piece of paper. Well, after all I've heard about the book, and after reading the description at the back of the book, I prepared myself for the goriness and dark stuff the book would undoubtedly have. So I read, and read and read... but they never came. The whole thing was downright boring! I won't be too harsh on it, as it's a children's book, but compared to other children's books it loses out miserably. Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl can make you laugh and cry, but I read through this book with little more than boredom. I know many fans would be screaming for my head now, but this is my opinion. Maybe the series does have a decent plot if they're all put together, and maybe the author meant for the plot to only come out over a longer period of time, but that doesn't mean that he can get away with giving out books with little substance on their own. To me it seems like a poorly planned book.
Rating: Summary: Hair-Raising Hospital Horror Review: In the eighth book in the series "A Series of Unfortunate Events", we not only get to be miserable with the Baudelaire orphans, we also get to be afraid. "The Hostile Hospital" picks up where "The Vile Village" left off. The children are walking away from the village of V.F.D., trying to figure out what to do now that they are on the run from the law. The children come to a general store in the middle of nowhere, which fortunately contains a telegraph. They try to contact Mr. Poe to tell him they did not commit the crime of which they are accused. Unfortunately, the children do not hear back from Mr. Poe before the person that delivers the newspaper arrives and shows the store owner a picture of the children in the newspaper. After a chase throughout the store the children escape from the store into a van containing the most bizarre collection of hospital volunteers that you have ever seen. The children realize they need to do some research to see if they can find more information about their family, and a man who was murdered in the village of V.F.D. By a strange coincidence, the hospital has a huge records department in the basement containing hundreds of file cabinets of information from all over the county. By another strange coincidence the children are able to volunteer to work in this facility. As you can imagine, the children have to live somewhere, and they would rather not have to drive back in forth in the van lest someone recognize them. Further, where would they go anyway? So the children live in the unfinished half of Heimlich Hospital, using a canvas cover for a blanket and to keep warm. The children's search through the records is disturbed by the arrival of, yes, you guessed it, Count Olaf. This time we see very little of Count Olaf, and instead see another character the reader will know from a previous story (I'm not telling!). During a chase through the records room one of the Baudelaire orphans is captured, and Count Olaf and his gang of criminals plan to do an operation on the captured orphan that is planned to turn fatal. As we reach the end of the story the Baudelaire orphans escape Count Olaf once again, as much as they ever escape. However, this time their escape is more precarious than any previous escape, and we are left to wait for "The Carnivorous Carnival" to see how it all turns out. There is another strong educational message in this book, presented with only a little subtlety. In order to learn more about their parents the Baudelaire family the children must try to find the information in the records room. Their search is detailed as they fruitlessly search through file after file. As always there are the words that are explained by the author. This book has managed to top the previous books in this series. The excitement is much greater and the story is faster paced. While the ending of the story can be truly frightening for younger audiences, the children do escape. I recommend this book for at least a 9-year-old child, however, as always, you need to judge the ability of your child to read these books. I am in the process of reading "The Carnivorous Carnival", and can hardly wait to see how this series of books will end. Five stars for another excellent entry in this series.
Rating: Summary: Now we're talking! Review: This is the book that has really made it worth wading through some of the earlier, poorer installment in the Series of Unfortunate Events. The backstory is developing, large parts of the formula have been dropped and, for the first time, we're seeing the evidence of behind-the-scenes planning that stretches back to the first book, making the intervening installments worthwhile. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are on the run. (First break from the formula -- they aren't handed over to a new guardian by the ineffective Mr. Poe in this one.) They are wanted for murder and the man they stand accused of killing, Count Olaf, is hot on their tails. They take refuge in the Heimlich Hospital, hoping to use its Library of Records to learn the truth about the fire that destroyed their family, the poor, mysterious Jacques Snicket and the plaguing initials V.F.D. They don't find any answers in this book, I'll spare your senses that much, but they find some of the most intriguing questions yet put to the page and the ending takes you totally off-guard for once. Now I'm upset that there's only one book left in this series that's been published so far. I've got to find out where this is going!
Rating: Summary: An Unfotunate Review Review: I HAVE READ ALL OF THE "A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS" BOOKS AND I LOVE EACH ONE. THE HOSTILE HOSPITAL IS NO DIFFERENT IT IS YET ANOTHER MASTERPIECE BY THE ALUSIVE LEMONY SNICKET I LOVE ALL THE BOOKS AND I AM EAGERLEY AWAITING THE SLIPPERY SLOPE WHICH IS SURE TO BE JUST AS WONDERFUL. I AM ALSO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS MOVIES I LOVE SUNNY KLAUS AND VIOLET. ...
Rating: Summary: Hostile Hospital Review: My book is the Hostile Hospital, by Lemony Snicket. I thought this book was an adventure. This book takes place in a hospital. The way the author lets you know about the characters is by going back to other books, and telling the roles they had. What happens is that after the kids' get away from Village of Fowl Devottes, {where the kids' were framed for murder} they go to the Las Chance General Store. When they get there someone eventually thinks they're murderers. Then the person chases them out of the store, and then the kids end up at the hospital. While they're there, they go to the library of Records. While they're there, one of the kids get kidnapped! Then the other kids have to find their sister. The major conflict is the same thing as what happened in the library of Records. What's interesting about the author's writing style is that whenever there's a big word, he includes what the word means. I would recommend this book to a person that likes adventure, and hospitals. I liked it because one of the characters had another crazy identity. I would recommend this book. I would rate it with five stars, out of five!
Rating: Summary: Back with the Baudelaires Review: When the Baudelaires are framed for murder, they think that a group of Volunteers Fighting Disease, a cheerful band of singing people who believe no news is good news and don't read the newspaper is a perfect place to find shelter. This might work for a normal person that is innocent of a horrible crime, but the Baudelaires are anything but ordinary. Count Olaf, or Mattathias, is after them again. Find out in book 8 about heart-shaped balloons, alphabet soup, an unnecessary surgery that puts Violet's life in danger, and page 13 of the Snicket File. LEMONY SNICKET IS AT IT AGAIN!
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