Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Stars. Keeps you on the edge of your seat…, 14 Nov 2005
The twelfth and Penultimate book in the series is another corker. It offers more tantalising morsels of what final acts of Peril await our 3 intrepid explorers but again leaves us with a feeling that the end maybe something quite unexpected. This book is the first one in the series where you really get the feeling that all may not end in a happy way. Throughout the terrifying ordeals that the Baudelaire’s have gone through you have been left with a sense that something will make everything better. I am really not so sure anymore…The story picks up where the Grim Grotto leaves off with Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire still hunting down the Hotel Denouncement and the final safe place for VFD, they are currently assisted by mysterious Kit Snickett – will she be another guardian for the Baudelaire’s to fear? Or will she be noble of mind, brave of spirit and frankly useless as a guide? Or will she finally be the allusive guardian the Baudelaire’s have been searching for? Someone who will bring them up in a protective, caring environment? One thing I should mention at this point is that this is the twelfth book in the series and as such if you chose to start it here you are going to miss out on a lot of back story. As with all of the Series of Unfortunate Events books they have been easy to read stand alone, I do feel you lose something from not reading them in the order that they were intended to be written. However, back to the dastardly plot… The books have been plunging head first towards a crescendo of an ending for sometime now. We can see this more clearly than ever in this book as so many of the central characters from the past 11 books (including Charles and Sir from the Lucky Smells Lumber Yard, Hugo, Collette and Kevin from The Carnivorous Carnival, Justice Strauss from the Bad Beginning, as well as sundry other appearances, and a whole host of others). This gathering is not coincidental but the point of them being there doesn't come apparent until near the end with emergence of the man with a beard and no hair and the women with hair and no beard, however can even they match the wickedness that pours through the veins of non-other than Count Olaf himself… Once again Lemony Snickett has written a book that both adults and children can really enjoy, there is energy, a plot, a good storyline and most importantly of all good writing. These books are such great fun that I would recommend them to anyone.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hotel horror!, 13 Jan 2008
Probably the next-to-last things you would like to read about are a harpoon gun, a rooftop sunbathing salon, two mysterious initials, three unidentified triplets, a notorious villain, and an unsavoury curry and the last thing you would want to do is experience these things. Since you do not want to know how it feels, you can feel sorry for the three children, the Baudelaire orphans, in the book which I am reviewing, who do know how it feels. This book is rather frightening but still is rather fantastic though very upsetting. The rating I would give this book is a disturbing 7/ 10.
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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The plot thickens ..., 20 Oct 2005
The 12th book in 'Series of Unfortunate Events', actually entitled 'The Penultimate Peril', is the strangest one so far. Far from being conventional childrens' novels, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) has written very intelligent books, name-dropping authors or novels who make a point he can use to comic effect. Also, the plot is very convoluted, and while this book does answer one or two questions, it poses about a hundred other left unanswered. But in a year, we'll get the final book, and I have every confidnece it will be worth the wait.
This book finds the Baudelaires reaching the Hotel Denouement, and the mysteries that lie therein. The plot whizzes along at a cracking pace, with the reader being just as confused as the siblings at several points. One neat part allows you to choose the order in which you will read the chapters, as each centres on either Violet, Klaus or Sunny. Also, many of the characters from previous books return, as the loose ends from the past begin to come together. As Snicket himself says at one point, a denouement refers to the tying-together of loose ends, but not necessarily the end.
This is the case here - once again, the novel ends on a cliffhanger, but the final book is set up marvelously, with much at stake for our heroes. The full mystery of VFD has yet to be resolved, as does the mystery of Beatrice, the Snickets, and why a fire department would want animals ... Overall, this book works reasonably well on its own, but essentially whets the reader's appetite for what should be an excellent ending.
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