Book Review of
The Bad Beginning: Or, Orphans! A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1
Are you made fainthearted by death? Does fire unnerve you? Is a villain something that might crop up in future nightmares of yours? Are you thrilled by nefarious plots? Is cold porridge upsetting to you? Vicious threats? Hooks? Uncomfortable clothing?
It is likely that your answers will reveal A Series of Unfortunate Events to be ill-suited for your personal use. A librarian, bookseller, or acquaintance should be able to suggest books more appropriate for your fragile temperament. But to the rarest of readers we say, “Proceed, but cautiously.”
Grace's Review
The beginning of the book warns readers not to read if they do not like books with unhappy endings. I didn’t think this book was as scary as it foretold, but I did find it a bit odd. The Baudelaire children always have the worse misfortunes in this book and the people around them seem to either be entirely oblivious or extremely evil. I would not recommend this book to younger kids, but older kids might like the odd characters and strange events that are told throughout this story.