Series of Unfortunate Events #11: The Grim Grotto

A Series of Unfortunate Events #11

by Lemony Snicket, Tim Curry (Narrator)

Dear Listener, Unless you are a slug, a sea anemone, or mildew, you probably prefer not to be damp. You might also prefer not to listen to this audiobook, in which the Baudelaire siblings descend into the depths of despair, underwater. The horrors they encounter are too numerous to list, and include mushrooms, a mechanical monster, a distressing message from a lost friend, and tap dancing. I also shouldn't mention the features of the interactive CD, which l Perplexing word games l Photos from The Lemony Snicket Archives l
l Art from The Brett Helquist gallery l As a dedicated author who has pledged to keep recording the depressing story of the Baudelaires, I must continue to delve deep into the cavernous depths of the orphans' lives. You, on the other hand, may delve into some happier audiobook in order to keep your ears and your spirits from being dampened. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure

Audio Cassette

First published September 21, 2004

About the author

Lemony Snicket had an unusual education and a perplexing youth and now endures a despondent adulthood. His previous published works include the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Composer is Dead, and 13 Words. His new series is All The Wrong Questions.

For A Series of Unfortunate Events:
www.lemonysnicket.com

For All The Wrong Questions:
www.lemonysnicketlibrary.com

Reviews

[Federico DN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hesitating SADNESS.

After leaving Mortmain Mountain and Quigley the cartographer behind, the self-sustaining Baudelaire travel to the Gorgonian Grotto; an underwater cave and possible location of the missing sugar bowl; during their travel they meet Captain “Aye!” Widdershins, commander of the Queequeg submarine. The orphans then start a perilous descent to find the freaking sugar bowl, and they befriend Fiona, a brilliant mycologist and stepdaughter of Widdershins. A brief respite of hesitation takes place; until they find Olaf in the cave and, I never saw this coming but, calamity strikes again.

Allright! For once in my life I wasn’t duped! VFD really does mean Volunteers Fire Department; but it also means Volunteer Factual Dispatches, and Verse Fluctuation Declaration! Just WOW! I’m hardly confused at all! LOVED Fiona, a voracious reader, repairwoman and brilliant mycologist, at least in the beginning. Also LIKED Widdershins, a never hesitating captain that loves to repeat his personal motto. I have MIXED feelings regarding Fernald, the deceitful Hook-Handed man. Totally HATED Countie Olaf, a laughing maniac who likes to throw orphans into brigs and poison prisoners with lethal fungi. Also HATED her Royal Esmeness, a treacherous girlfriend who likes to wear ridiculous dresses and whip people around with her tagliatelle grande. And HATED Carmelita Spats, an abhorrent ballerina that loves to torture enslaved rowing children with endless tap dancing and horrible singing recitals. The Baudelaire fugitives still unconditionally caring for each other, working together to uncover all the secrets of VFD, and desperately trying to reach the last meeting place of the secretive organization.

A very interesting sequel. The self-sustaining Baudelaire still a strong team as ever; Violet, Klaus and Sunny equally resourceful and sharing the spotlight. Sunny almost buying it; Fiona a lovely addition to the series and a total wildcard; and Olaf, ever more malicious and cunning, and now even in possession of a lethal biological weapon. The plot keeps unfolding, and with just two more books ahead, not a clue on how this will end.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[2003] [323p] [Children’s] [Recommendable] [Baudelaire fugitives] [“He who hesitates is lost!”] [“Or she!”] [Fiona the mycologist <3] [Fiona & Klaus <3 ] [Fiona and Fernald change of heart <3 3 ] [Die Olaf DIE!] [Die Esme DIE!] [Tap dancing singing princess Carmelita, the nightmare!] [Phil the optimist is back <3]
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★★★★☆ 1. The Bad Beginning [3.5]
★★★★☆ 2. The Reptile Room [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 3. The Wide Window
★★☆☆☆ 4. The Miserable Mill [2,5]
★★★★★ 5. The Austere Academy [4.5]
★★★☆☆ 6. The Ersatz Elevator
★★★★★ 7. The Vile Village
★☆☆☆☆ 8. The Hostile Hospital
★★★☆☆ 9. The Carnivorous Carnival [3.5]
★★★☆☆ 10. The Slippery Slope [3.5]
★★★★☆ 11. The Grim Grotto
★★★☆☆ 12. The Penultimate Peril [3.5]
★★★★☆ 13. The End
★★★★☆ 14. The Complete Wreck

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TRISTEZA dubitativa.

Después de dejar la Montaña Mortmain y a Quigley el cartógrafo atrás, los autosuficientes Baudelaire viajan a la Gruta Gorgonian; una cueva bajo el agua y posible lugar del perdido cuenco de azúcar; durante el viaje conocen al Capitán “Oi” Widdershins, comandante del submarino Queequeg. Los huérfanos luego empiezan un peligroso descenso para encontrar el bendito cuenco de azúcar, y traban amistad con Fiona, una brillante micologista e hijastra de Widdershins. Un breve respiro de dubitación tiene lugar; hasta que hallan a Olaf en la cueva y, esto nunca lo vi venir pero, la calamidad golpea otra vez.

Ahora sí! Por una vez en mi vida no me engañaron! VFD realmente significa Voluntarios Departamento contra Fuegos; pero también significa otras cosas ¡Sólo WOW! ¡No estoy en absoluto confundido! AME a Fiona, una lectora voraz, reparadora y brillante micologista, al menos en el comienzo. También me GUSTO Widdershins, un capitán nunca dubitativo que ama repetir su lema personal. Tengo sentimientos cruzados respecto a Fernald, el engañoso hombre de las manos de garfios. Totalmente ODIE Olaf, un maníaco reidor que disfruta arrojar huérfanos en cárceles y envenenar prisioneros con hongos letales. También ODIE a Esme, una novia traicionera que disfruta usar ridículos vestidos y azotar personas a diestra y siniestra con su tagliatelle gigante. Y ODIE a Carmelita Spats, una aborrecible bailarina que disfruta torturar esclavos niños remadores con bailes de tap sin fin y horribles recitales de canto. Los fugitivos Baudelaire todavía incondicionalmente cuidado uno del otro, trabajando juntos para descubrir todos los secretos de VFD, y desesperadamente tratando de alcanzar el lugar del último encuentro de la tan secreta organización.

Una muy interesante secuela. Los autosuficientes Baudelaire todavía un fuerte equipo como siempre; Violet, Klaus y Sunny igualmente habilidosos y compartiendo el protagonismo. Sunny casi se la lleva; Fiona una hermosa adición a la serie y un completo comodín; y Olaf cada vez más malicioso y astuto, y ahora incluso en posesión de un arma biológica letal. La trama se sigue desenvolviendo, y con sólo dos libros adelante, ni una pista de cómo va a terminar esto.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[2003] [323p] [Libro para Niños] [Recomendable] [Fugitivos Baudelaire] [“Aquel que duda está perdido!”] [O aquella!”] [Fiona la micologista <3] [Fiona y Klaus <3 ] [Cambio de corazón de Fiona y Fernald <3 3 ] [Muere Olaf MUERE!] [Muere Esme MUERE!] [Bailarina de tap princesa cantante Carmelita, la pesadilla!] [Phil el optimista está de vuelta <3]
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[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s time to resign myself to the fact that I will never love anything like I love this series.

These books made me INTO WHO I AM. (Which explains why I am such a negative and unpleasant person.)

Other series may contain things I love, but those series will never be why I love those things.

A Series of Unfortunate Events can be thanked for my love of: secrecy, darkness, snarky humor, silliness, puns, literary humor, orphans, illustrations, crime, libraries, mnemonic devices, chewing gum, mystery, secret societies, battles between good and evil, grammar, journeys, riddles, villainy, moral enigmas, problem-solving, disguise, and murder.

This installment in particular contains most of the above list, as well as submarines, creative cooking, deathly mushrooms, large pasta used as a weapon, betrayal, hidden identities revealed, and underwater monsters shaped like question marks.

Maybe it is not a perfect book, but would an imperfect book contain words as perfect as these?:
“People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”

I think not.

Bottom line: I would never want to live inside this book, but at the same time, I would very much like to live inside this book.

---------

the time i took before picking up this book was a Very Foolish Delay.

at the same time...I NEVER WANT TO FINISH THIS REREAD.

review to come / 5 stars

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suddenly unable to remember why i ever read anything other than this series

[Deborah Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m listening to this as read by Tim Curry, which is all things awesome. However: if you’re doing the same, you might want to grab a physical copy long enough to look at the last several pages. Snicket includes six “To My Kind Editor” letters, and Curry doesn’t read them. Which is not his fault, because nothing is his fault, because Tim Curry is a rock god and if you don’t understand that you need to leave my house right now.

The reason Curry doesn’t read these letters is because he can’t. No, he didn’t contract illiteracy after finishing the main text. He can’t read these letters aloud because he can’t do them justice in an audible-book format. The letters aren’t complete. They’re typed on “Hotel Denouement” letterhead, and they’re torn from top to bottom, with only the left halves surviving. And “half” is too generous a term for the last one. But they’re fun to puzzle over. So be sure to check these fragments out.

Let me again express my surprise at how the “Unfortunate Events” books not only defy the general fate of sequels (hint: suckage), but actually improve as the series goes on. The characters deepen. The children grapple with moral as well as physical perils. And the literary references become more subtle and complex.

I won’t say much about the plot because first, it’s been expertly summarized in other reviews; second, if you’re familiar with the series you don’t need me to, and if you’re not, you should start with the first book, not the 11th; and third, I still have a bad headache from this lousy month-long cold, and summarizing sounds suspiciously like work. Work that involves my brain, which is in my head, which hurts.

Instead, I’d like to mention something I was grateful to find in this book.

My niece died when I was a teenager. She was only a few months old. I haven't come to terms with that. I’ve gotten on with my life, of course, but it’s always a shock that someone so small could cast so big a shadow.

One thing I’ve often thought about is that a too-early death robs its victim of two lives. The first is the nebulous, hypothetical, artificially bright life they would have had: the future they’ve been deprived of, the work and love they might have engaged in.

The second, though, is the life they already had. A chunk of their identity drops away. That piece of their self is every bit as true and important as every other aspect of their personality, but it’s buried first and deepest.

I’m talking about their flaws. We are so reluctant to allow our dead to be their own imperfect selves. It’s too painful – and to be fair, it feels too cruel – to acknowledge that the lost loved one was, say, sometimes irritable and occasionally unkind, or had a habit of grabbing the first and the best for themselves.

My niece didn’t have time to be anything but an infant, of course. But I’ve found myself trying to acknowledge her humanity by wondering if she would have been a bratty, fashion-conscious teenager who rolled her eyes at my lame apparel. Or maybe she would have been polite enough not to say that the things I enjoy – writing, reading, baking all day – might have been boring to her. We might have gone through some thorny patches, as her mother and I certainly have.

She should have had the chance to be an ordinary human being, is what I’m saying. She should have had a life. And in the course of that life, it’s pretty much guaranteed that she would have been bitchy sometimes. Or rude. Mean to people now and then. Maybe stupid enough to text and drive. Also beautiful (her parents are gorgeous) and intelligent (her mother’s brilliant) and probably artistic (I’m the only one she’s related to who fails in that department).

She doesn’t get to be a whole person any more. She lost out on the years she should have had; and because she died far too young, she’s been elected to sainthood. Many people have. And that isn’t fair to anyone.

This kind of thought is why this passage from The Grim Grotto means a lot to me:

Everyone yells, of course, from time to time, but the Baudelaire children did not like to think about their parents yelling, particularly now that they were no longer around to apologize or explain themselves. It is often difficult to admit that someone you love is not perfect, or to consider aspects of a person that are less than admirable. To the Baudelaires it felt almost as if they had drawn a line after their parents died – a secret line in their memories, separating all the wonderful things about the Baudelaire parents from the things that perhaps were not quite so wonderful. Since the fire, whenever they thought of their parents, the Baudelaires never stepped over this secret line, preferring to ponder the best moments the family had together rather than any of the times when they had fought, or been unfair or selfish. But now, suddenly, in the gloom of the Gorgonian Grotto, the siblings had stumbled across that line and found themselves thinking of that angry afternoon in the library, and in moments other angry afternoons and evenings had occurred to them until their brains were lousy with memories of all stripes, a phrase which here means "both good and bad." It gave the siblings a queasy feeling to cross this line in their memories, and admit that their parents were sometimes difficult, and it made them feel all the queasier to realize they could not step back, and pretend they had never remembered these less-than-perfect moments, any more than they could step back in time, and once again find themselves safe in the Baudelaire home, before fire and count Olaf had appeared in their lives.

The Grim Grotto, quite aside from being an action-packed story, also gives a lot of troubling thought to the idea that those we love are not always perfect, anymore than we ourselves are. And it ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book at hand before you finish this one. You’ll want to jump right to it.

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue my relentless 3*ing of the series, though this volume was significantly better than the previous one (The Slippery Slope).

Much of the action takes place on submarines. These submarines appear to contain cavernous, often rectangular rooms, although the first of them is encountered in a mountain stream... Later a submarine's window (yup, window) is repaired with chewing gum.

My science is further hurt by the claim that sonar of the type that puts a tracking dot on the screen works by listening for noise made on the remote vessels being tracked.

Let us put this aside and strive for the perspective of the child who is being read to (my daughter Celyn) ... although I do feel a book should offer some consistent vision that can actually be processed in the readers' heads.

Anyhoo - the primary additional characters offered this time (Captain Widdershins and his daughter Fiona, plus Olaf, Esme and Carmalita Spats) are enjoyable / funny.

We see the good vs evil blurring continue, with good people turning bad, or at least less good and bad people turning good or at least less bad. We see new peril in the form of a weapon of mass destruction - a fungus that kills people, and the children's respective special skills of invention, research, and cookery are employed to good effect.

Inevitably Olaf captures the children on / in his even huger submarine, and inevitably they escape. The pursuit of the mysterious sugar-bowl drives much of the action. We learn incrementally more about VFD and end up pointed fair and square at the Hotel Denouement where all will at last be revealed in book 12 ... or will it?



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[Mischenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Grim Grotto picks up right after the previous installment as the Baudelaires have now been separated from Quigley Quagmire. They discover a submarine called the "Queequeg" which is controlled by a man named Captain Widdershins...

“Let’s see! I’ll put you to work right away! Aye! No—first I’ll give you a tour! No—I’ll introduce you to my crew! No—I’ll let you rest! No—I’d better get you into uniforms! Aye! It’s important that everyone aboard wear a waterproof uniform in case the submarine collapses and we find ourselves underwater! Of course, in that case we’ll need diving helmets! Except Sunny because she can’t wear one! I guess she’ll drown! No—she can curl up inside a diving helmet! Aye! The helmets have a tiny door on the neck just for such purpose! Aye! I’ve seen it done! I’ve seen so many things in my time!”
“Excuse me,” Violet said, “but could you tell us who you are?”

Also aboard the Queequeg are Fiona (Captain Whittershin's daughter), and a cook named Phil, who is actually a returning character from The Miserable Mill. Once again, it seems as though the Baudelaire children may have caught a break after meeting up with this presumably helpful group of people in the Queequeg, but their surroundings are certainly grimm--and they're faced with one of their hardest challenges ever.

“And their lives were lousy with lousiness, from terrible people to horrible meals, from terrifying locations to horrifying circumstances, and from dreadful inconveniences to inconvenient dreads, so that it seemed that their lives would always be lousy, lousy with lousy days and lousy with lousy nights, even if all of the lousy things with which their lives were lousy became less lousy, and less lousy with lousiness, over the lousy course of each lousy-with-lousiness moment, and with each new lousy mushroom, making the cave lousier and lousier with lousiness, it was almost too much for the Baudelaire orphans to bear.”

For me, this was the most frightening book of all this far. Sunny is very close to dying from this strange mushroom fungus called "Medusoid Mycelium" as they all scramble to find a cure for it. The fungus makes her cough and she can't breathe well under her helmet. This just made me extremely uncomfortable. The fact that they're underwater and not safe for the majority of the book didn't help. The story--even with all the mysteries and suspense--just didn't keep my attention this time around. This book also didn't have as many comical parts, but Olaf's new and unusual laughs were pretty funny though.

I did enjoy the character connection and loved the ending. Even though this wasn't a favorite, my two younger readers still enjoyed this installment. We read the physical book and also used the audio which I highly recommend. We were feeling pretty satisfied about it by the end of the book and anxious to start the next.

3***

[b. ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

don’t mind me, just thinking about the MASSIVE crush i had on violet baudelaire when i was 10 and you know what? maybe i did have taste

[Emily B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my favourite book is the series.
I found it the most memorable and Captain Widdershins was very entertaining

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a step up from the previous book, The Slippery Slope, in that there was more action and exciting stuff, however, I definitely stopped caring about A Series of Unfortunate Events a few books ago, so let's get the final 2 books done.

Tim Curry narrating the audiobook was a highlight though, even if I can only hear him as Nigel Thornberry.

[Leah Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

"People aren't either wicked or noble," the hook-handed man said. "They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict."

[✦BookishlyRichie✦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this one on audio read by the amazing Tim Curry in a few hours and it made it a whole lot better. I feel like this was a bit of a filler book but I still enjoyed it. I don’t like Fiona (the tiny bit of romance in here was completely unnecessary and icky to me lol I'm not one for romance in MG.). That twist with the hook-handed man was pretty cool and Count Olaf was just as fucked up as he always is. I think I might check out more audio books in the future. I thought they weren’t for me because I’ve tried so many and my attention span is shit but this one worked pretty damn well. Tomorrow I plan on listening to book 12!

- Richard :)

[lauren ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

UPDATE: 19/Jan/2017
I am getting sick of updating my reviews for all these books but for the last time I liked this book more that I did when I first read it.


1/Jan/2017
As my first book of 2017, I can't say I'm disappointed as I wasn't expecting much. I am so ready for this series to end because it has been going on for too long. I wasn't that interested in this book because I've lost a lot of my interest in this series. Also last year I only read these books to catch up on my reading challenge. Although I am still SO excited for the tv show!!

[Swaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book was mostly filler. Far too many "Aye!"s and way too much annoying villainous laughter. Great ending though.

Only two books to go. Don't you hurt my Baudelaires, Mr Snicket!

[Iben Frederiksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too crazy about this one compared to the last couple of additions. I think it's the setting? And then I also just wasn't too into the new characters we were introduced to aboard the submarine, the Queequeg. Nice, however to be getting some more questions answered, although this unfortunately also just gave way to many more unanswered ones.

[Ryan Buckby · Rating 4 out of 5]

People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.

It's almost coming to an end and i can feel it more now i really do hope these kids have a good ending even with everything that has happened along the way for these kids.

These kids are growing up and it's so weird to see because Sunny for a fact is starting to speak actual words that us as a reader can understand. Violet and Klaus are becoming more mature as they now heading into late teenhood and i am loving how they are now to what they were like in the beginning of the series it has been a massive growth to read.

The kids finally leave Mr Poe at the beach where they first met him and get into the taxi without him and a part of me enjoyed that last scene in the book because he has done these kids so dirty during the entire book i feel like he got what was coming to him in the end. I have no idea if i will see him in the last two books because of what he's done i hope we don't because he really didn't do these kids the justice they deserved.

So many old characters have popped up from the previous books in the series and it's so weird how all these characters have all come together and taken sides. I really did enjoy seeing some of the old characters even though i didn't really enjoy them when they appeared but it was good to see what they got up to since we last saw them.

How can someone so wonderful do something so terrible?

I am eager to read the final two books of the series because i really want to know how this ends but on the other hand i am also sad because my journey with the Baudelaire is almost over.

[Nai | Libros con(té) · Rating 5 out of 5]

book #4 for The Reading Rush - read a book that starts with the word "The"

  
 The Bad Beginning: 4🌟
 The Reptile Room: 4,5🌟
 The Wide Window: 3,5🌟
 The Miserable Mill: 4🌟
 The Austere Academy: 4🌟
 The Ersatz Elevator: 4🌟
 The Vile Village: 4,5🌟
 The Hostile Hospital: 4🌟
 The Carnivorous Carnival: 4,5🌟
 The Slippery Slope: 4,5🌟
 The Grim Grotto: 4,5🌟

este libro tiene todo lo que me gustaaa: BICHOS, una Micóloga/Micologista, mar, criaturas marinas bien creepies, Y ALGUNAS RESPUESTAS, FINALLY!
omg, estos últimos vienen siendo una joyita🤩

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, didn’t love this one but still enjoyable.

[Carlos Peguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno de los mejores de la saga, o al menos uno de los que más me ha enganchado. Es increíble como después de once libros este señor sigue sorprendiéndome y dejándome con ganas de más.

(y ya solo faltan dos libros para terminar)

[Kon R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This late into the series and we're still meeting new characters. This definitely helps keep things interesting. We even had an old character resurface to a much more important role than they originally played.

It was just as grim as the title suggests. Maybe a bit too grim for a children's book. Death is coming for our beloved children protagonists. Surviving and stopping the latest Count Olaaf scheme can't be that easy.

The theme of this book is that good and evil are not as black and white as originally presented. Could that even include Olaaf as well? Is there good in him? Maybe the next installment will shed some more time on this topic. I wish this book answered at least one of the the various mounting mysteries. Even our tried and true VFD didn't have anything additional revealed about it.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely where the story starts to get really interesting. We're introduced to so many new characters and so many new mysteries and secrets are revealed! I think it's one of my favourite settings in the series as well, something about the submarines just really tickled my fancy! This is also one of the books in the series that I've read the fewest times so the details were extremely fuzzy and it was almost like reading it for the first time again. I really love this series to pieces and I'm quite sad that I'm coming to the end of my reread of them!

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are definitely starting to get more and more interesting :) I loved that we got some new characters in this one! Some of them got on my nerves a little bit--like Captain Widdershins--the way he talked just aggravated me after a little while :/ (Others who have read this probably know what I'm talking about XD lol) But other than that, I liked this one a lot! :) The way this book ended made me really want to pick up book #12 soon! Hoping my library will have it in stock :D Kind of sad I only have two books left in the series :P

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.8 stars.
We get a little history lesson on the secret organisation but if only Captain Widdershins weren’t so dang stubborn in not telling young people ‘terrible secrets’.
How much more we could’ve learnt!

What’s so frustrating about *spoilers* Fiona’s betrayal is that she knew Count Olaf was a villain AND she knew she could’ve convinced her brother to escape with her and the Baudelaire’s.
But it was like as soon as the children were separated, a total 180 happened and Fiona lost her own moral code!
At least in the show, it was more obvious that she was only willing to go with Olaf to be with her brother….even though she does still give Olaf the mushrooms.
But ONLY to save her brother’s life!

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75* ooh, that ending! I feel as though (or am at least hoping) we're going to be getting some answers soon...

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better adventures they had been on.
I liked the underwater theme.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the eleventh instalment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series.

Underwater and the depths of despair are both plunged into, as the Beaudelaire's continue to fight for their freedom and to escape the clutches of their many foes. This seems impossible in moments, especially when they become separated and are vying for a way to return to each other before they can guarantee their safety.

I've really loved my time with this series but as it has continued, the most exciting element for me has been piecing together subtly dropped clues and finding new mysteries to reveal themselves when I had long thought the path to this conclusion a transparent one. Facts are revealed as lies and what is real is never guaranteed to be so, leading this to be a more complex and thrilling story than the one I had anticipated reading when I first begun this lengthy series. I'm very eager for the siblings to find some happiness and to see where the final legs of this adventure will lead them to.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

ساعت ۲:۴۴ بامداد
دوست دارم از هیجان داد بزنم. کتاب یازدهم مجموعه سیر عجیبی داره. یه چیزی رو بیش از همه کتاب‌ها به چشمم آورد و این‌که چه‌قدر بچه‌ها بالغ‌تر شدن و بیش‌تر از همه سانی عزیزم.
از طرفی کتاب با پیدا شدن بچه‌ها توسط یه زیردریایی شروع می‌شه که از همه عجیب‌تر این‌که برای اولین بار بخش زیادی از داستان رو بودلرا تو مکان امن به سر می‌برن. با مفهوم انشعاب VFD بهتر و بیش‌تر آشنا می‌شیم و این‌که یه سر انشعاب آتیش‌سوزی راه میندازه و سر دیگه‌ش خاموش می‌کنه. فرق اساسی این‌ها دقیقا همین‌قدر پیچیده‌ست. خوب و بد مطلقی که وجود نداره. جهت‌گیری آدما تو این انشعاب و تصمیم‌ها و خیانت‌هاشون. از طرفی همه‌چیز داره به پایان ماجرا نزدیک‌تر می‌شه و تصویر نهایی کتاب و تاکسی! من چه‌قدر منتظر این اتفاق بودم!
پ.ن: جسته گریخته بودن این خلاصه به خوبی بیان‌گر هیجان‌زده بودنم هست.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best.beginning

"A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called 'The Road Less Traveled' describing a journey he took along a path most travelers never used....and he was probably a bit nervous as he went along, because if anything happened on the road less traveled, the other travelers...couldn't hear him as he cried for help. Sure enough, that poet is now dead."

[Hannah (hngisreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would defend Sunny Baudelaire with my life 🫡

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one gets 4.5 stars for many reasons. I decided to count the many terms and phrases that are defined for the reader and there were 75 of them. Some like "water cycle", "passive", "Hobson's choice" and "tables have turned" are used several more times in the story. Others like "Byzantine" and "affinity for arson" are only used once. I also find myself hearing Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket due to my viewing of the new Netflix series.

Definitely my favorite so far. The Baudelaire's have some perilous experiences, but they continue their quest to reach the Hotel Denouement. Count Olaf is still a threat, but there are some humorous accounts of his new evil laugh including "Tee hee temper tantrum". Even Esme and Carmelita Spats add their own interpretations for some humorous lines.

Looking forward to Chapter 12!

[Bruna Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Com certeza a série melhorou muuuuito nos último livros. Esse foi com bastante ação e informações importantes e NÃO ACREDITO QUE AQUELE PERSONAGEM APARECEU <3 <3 <3

Ansiosa para terminar logo :D

[Sara Kamjou · Rating 2 out of 5]

کمتر پیش میاد من از خوندن یه داستان مجموعه‌ای اینقدر خسته بشم. به نظرم نویسنده با این حجم تکرار هم داشته خواننده رو اذیت می‌کرده :)) حس سادیستی می‌گیرم ازش!