Since I liked the Harry Potter books (I’ve never been much of a children’s book reader), several people recommended the Lemony Snicket books. I’ve read the first two but just couldn’t get into them or see all the dark humor that was mentioned. OTOH, there are 9 in the series and it sometimes takes a few to find its rhythm.
Do the books get any better after the 2nd or do they stay pretty much the same? (I recognize this is totally a call for opinion, of course, but no problem.)
No.
I have discussed this with my local sci fi/ fantasy bookseller and she is also mystified by the success of this series. I mean, There’s Diane Duane and a host of other writers who make much better stuff for kids.
Hmmm. Well, I like them, but I would also say they stay pretty much the same. If you didn’t like the first two, I would be surprised if you liked the rest any better.
This is not a series I would recommend to someone who generally doesn’t like children’s books, whether or not they liked Harry Potter. Both Lemony Snicket and Harry Potter are successful, popular kid lit, but that’s about where the similarities end.
I didn’t like the first one very much, the first time I read it.
Then, I was somewhere else, different frame of mind, different mood, whatever. And I liked it - a lot. The book wasn’t any better or worse, it just fit right then. I re-read the first, and this this time, I liked it.
The style doesn’t change, the rhythm doesn’t change, there’s nothing in the later books that wasn’t in the former books.
Yeah, I like them both as well, but I wouldn’t argue their similar at all. For kid’s fantasy, try Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series, which is darker than Potter but great. A good set designed for older kids is Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials triology.
Well, actually there is. Once you get into the fourth or fifth book, a much larger scale begins to reval itself and it’s almost become a puzzle trying to figure out exactly how everybody fits together and the circumstances that actually caused the fire in the first place. And the bigger puzzle being how Snicket himself fits into the whole scheme of things. And Beatrice.
Great books! Worth the time to read, something that can’t ever be said of anything written by Diane Duane.
NOT, however, comparable in any way to the Harry Potter books, not even the same level of reading.
Yeah, Eutychus, Beatrice and Snicket…what is going on there? I think we need a wild speculation about A Series of Unfortunate Events thread. Though there would only be about six of us posting in it.
Oh ok, Euty, I agree with that, the puzzle aspects of the plot do come out more. But I don’t think the style of writing has changed very much, and I still suspect that someone who wasn’t grabbed by the first two would be interested enough to make it to the Beatrice parts.
bristlesage, I liked His Dark Materials, but I was wondering, did you ever find it somewhat creepy? It’s good fantasy, but I was a little ooged out at how … I don’t know … “sexy” the author seems to find his young characters. Not in a blatant way, just after reading for a while, he seemed a little too into the whole puberty thing.
Wanna hear my own wild speculation? Beatrice is the Baudelaire kids mother. She died in the fire but the father is still alive somewhere. V.F.D. is obviously Volunteer Fire Department, but I haven’t worked out how Lemony and Jacques fit in yet or why there’s the secret tunnel between the Baudelaire’s and the Squalor’s houses.
Why would the Volunteer Fire Department wear disguises?
Have you read the unauthorized autobiography?
WHY didn’t he bring a flashlight?
But I agree that Beatrice is the mother but she is alive so Lemony can marry her and adopt the kids later. (but I’d rather that both parents were dead. If they turn out to be alive then it kind of makes the books like The Pony Party IMHO)
Count me in as another fan. Aside from enjoying the story, and trying to puzzle stuff out, I enjoy the use of language, introducing interesting words to kids (which so much kidlit fails to do). And I love the physical quality of the books - hardback, brilliant illustrations, good quality paper etc, which makes the experience a little more thrilling.
I’m also a Dark Materials fan. Over the last three years I’ve read more kids books than adults.
Uh oh…people are only recommending His Dark Materials because they’re also Childrens/YA books, not because they’re similar to the Lemony Snicket ones, right? I asked for the first Series of Unfortunate Events book for Christmas, and I really hope it is nothing like His Dark Materials. Those were some of the worst books I’ve read in a while, and I only got half way through The Subtle Knife before giving up on the hope that they’d get better. I have no idea why people would recommend them to people who liked Harry Potter, which is how I ended up with them, since they aren’t alike at all.
I think the claims that the Lemony Snicket books are like the Harry Potter books arise from the idea that all children’s fantasy is alike and there’s not much of it. There’s a lot of children’s fantasy out there. I have no idea why the Harry Potter books got so popular, but in my opinion they aren’t even in the top ten of the children’s fantasy series that I’ve read. A friend of mine who’s read an enormous amount of children’s fantasy says that it’s not in his top thirty children’s fantasy series. I would ignore the recommendations of anyone who says, “You liked this series, so you must like this other one, since it’s also children’s fantasy.” That’s like saying that if you liked one mystery novel, you’ll like all mystery novels.
delphica, it was a bit oogy, come to think of it. I didn’t really notice at the time, but he was a little involved in it. I wouldn’t necessarily say he found them sexy (though I do realize you used the word in quotes, hence you’re not using the traditional meaning), but he did find them sexual. Which is not exactly how I like to think of, what, 13 year old kids? Younger, even, maybe.
Eutychus, that’s not a bad bit of wild speculation. What if Lemony actually is their father, hence the interest in their story? But really, I have no idea. Especially on that tunnel. Maybe I should read them all one after another this coming weekend, make little note cards of pertinent information.
Yes, I am just lame enought to do that.
I think the closest you can come in describing Lemony is Gorey. It’s the small, victorian pleasure of pain and suffering.
Foe more scifi, less dark (but still creepy and yucky at times)… Animorphs.
My kids skipped around and gave up, but I read them all in order. the last two made it worth it.