Book review
5 Stars.
So, I’m reading this series before I dive into the Netflix show which releases on January 13th. Just a little background – when I was younger, I only got around to reading the first four, because the library waiting times for each book were intense, even then, so I sort of moved on with other books, but I loved the four I read. Now that the series is finished and Netflix seems to being doing it justice, and I’m older (so I can power through the books!), I’m binge reading the entire series.
The Bad Beginning is just as evilly delightful as I recall, and I have to say to those concerned about the level of humour in the Netflix trailer – seems about right to me. The books combine horror and menace with light comedy. The writing style is great and unique (okay, just a quick segue, I know that some readers have issues with the definitions of certain words throughout the text really tedious and super condescending, and whilst I knew what those words meant anyway and didn’t need the definitions, as this series is aimed at children, I actually thought it was cute and a great way to teach them, but I get that is just my opinion on the matter, so that is that), which drops into humour all the time, so I feel that Netflix has hit the nail on the head by blending the two just as the books do. I’m very excited to watch what Netflix has done, and it looks really true to the books so far. Also, I believe the ‘author’ worked on the scripts, so it should be amazing, even if it does divulge from the original source a little bit.
The plot for The Bad Beginning is fast paced, but I never felt like I didn’t get to know the characters. They all seem fleshed out even in that short amount of time (only 162 pages in my version, and I read it in one sitting). Also, I enjoyed this even though I’m older now, so this series is certainly for readers of any age group who just want a great read 🙂 Looking forward to diving into the next book.
- Goodreads rating – 3.99
- REVIEW – Marguerite