The Reptile Room
Ratings229
Average rating3.9
Full review of the first three books at http://www.mrshields.com/?p=929
Short review. Good young adult books. Tries to take the kids seriously as readers. Love the use of vocabulary. Got a little bored by the end of the third. Not sure if I will read more. Think they would be good for a lot of kids.
I find these books really funny!
What strikes me most about these books is how clueless the adults are and how they don't take children seriously. They trust adults just because they are adults, even if they say stupid and nonsensical things.
And this book makes me question a lot. Could it be that when we become adults we ignore children's common sense so much? We think that just because we are adults we are right. It's an interesting concept and one that is very well represented in this book.
Basically, if adults would stop and listen to children, none of what happens in the book would happen.
In the reptile room... 🎶
Same review for The Bad Beginning also applies. After starting the show on Netflix, we were enticed to start the series. My oldest (9) is reading the books either through the library or Libby and we are all listening to the audiobook on our adventures here and there. While I doubt I would enjoy the series for myself, sharing it with the children has been entertaining. We are about to now start The Miserable Mill after finishing up The Wide Window.
Library audiobook. Library book. Libby to Kindle.
De Baudelaires komen terecht bij Monty, een vriendelijke herpetoloog. Zijn oude assistent was overleden en er komt een nieuwe, Stephano. Stephano is Olaf. De Baudelaires zien dat meteen, maar niemand gelooft ze. Monty wordt vermoord. Stephano probeert de kinderen naar Peru te ontvoeren, maar wordt uiteindelijk ontmaskerd.
Yup, het is formulaïsch, en ik zou dit nog veel liever gelezen hebben als ik klein was, maar het blijft goed.
An exiting sequel to this series of unfortunate events. I felt it better paced than the first and much more enjoyable as an adult reader. Not much else can be said without spoiling the plot as this is a fairly short book. I am looking forward to the next installment in the series.
I do not know why I'm still reading this but I am, so just bear with me.
I know this will lead me nowhere near happy endings, but I still think it's good.
Okay, so the hedges and the house look crazy. Since this book is all about misfortunes and bad luck, I assumed that Dr. Montgomery will be worst than Count Olaf but I was wrong. He was really cool and interesting. Dr. Montgomery or as the Boudelaire children calls him, Uncle Monty's physical description reminds me of Peter Pettigrew or Padfoot of the Harry Potter series.
Anyway, the Reptile Room was really interesting, I would love to visit one. But before I enter, I have to make sure the cages are safely locked. Being friends with a friendly Viper like The Incredibly Deadly Viper sounds fun and I was really relieved that his name isn't literal.
It was really clever of Count Olaf to disguise himself as Stephano; I admire his persistence, really.
If the children didn't told Count Olaf about the ticket being torn by Uncle Monty, he wouldn't kill the latter.
I couldn't believe Mr. Poe didn't believe them again. Seriously, safety is way above politeness when it comes to this. I am really frustrated with him!
Though it wasn't a happy ending, I still could say that they're still fortunate enough to be safe at the end of everything. Count Olaf may still be out there, plotting another evil plan to get his hands on the children's fortune but for the time being, they're still together and safe.
4.3
An improvement compared to the first book, although it was basically the same life lessons. This was another quick read and I really loved the storyline of this one. Violet once again shows her cunning knowledge in tools and devices, Klaus's bookish personality saved their lives, and the adorable Sunny is still that too-mature-to-be-an-infant baby. Count Olaf's Stephano disguise was really funny and ridiculous as well! Mr. Monty, on the other hand, is supposed to be this great and perfect guardian for the Baudelaire orphans, too bad we have to see him perish in such a short time. Hope these kids find their perfect guardians soon and get out of all of their misfortunes. Off to the third book, which is “The Wide Window”!
I switched to the audiobook (narrated by Tim Curry) for The Reptile Room after not enjoying The Bad Beginning. This immensely helped with the repetitive writing, and I stomached the definitions and other such writing quirks a lot more. Tim Curry did a fantastic job narrating. I also love herpetology, so I was bound to like the setting a bit more. I liked that this book seemed a bit more dangerous (to me) and the orphans seemed quickly to understand they needed take matters into their own hands. I liked it!
~Full series overview here on The Bent Bookworm!~The Reptile Room starts off (after the necessary doom-and-gloom letter from the narrator, of course) on a much better note for the Baudelaires. At last it seems they may be going to live with someone who genuinely cares for them and has their best interests at heart. BUT WAIT. Let's not get too carried away. This is, after all, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and indeed they do seem to be the MOST unfortunate of children.Soon after they arrive at their new home – another relative, this one a eccentric but lovable scientist, disaster strikes and they find themselves being hunted by the horrible Count Olaf once more. Only of course, since they are children and have been greatly traumatized, no one believes them. Because why would you? Naturally, things go from bad to worse and the children find themselves in a desperate fight to avoid being kidnapped right under the nose of the law. Sunny, the little rascal, plays a very important part in this one – eliciting a few eyerolls as somehow she manages to have the mental compact of about a 7-year-old in the body of a 15-month-old, but you know. Realism isn't the point here. In the end, they narrowly avoid Count Olaf once more.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+
4.5:
INCREDIBLY DEADLY VIPER, NOOO :(
Gee, is there not a single adult in the Baudelaire children's life who isn't either a repugnant jerk, abysmally incompetent and full of themselves, or dead? Why is Mr. Poe in charge, what an irritating little man. But he did deliver the absolute best quote in the whole book:
“Good God! Blessed Allah! Zeus and Hera! Mary and Joseph! Nathaniel Hawthorne!”
This was good! Olaf was nasty Monty was pretty decent! And there was that Herpetological Society dickwad who was rude and dismissive for no reason. Bad, bad, bad. Fuck you, Bruce.
I'm extremely upset at the ambiguous fate given to all the animals, I just can't get over it. WHAT do you mean they might just be put down? I'm heartbroken.
Once again I'm choosing to ignore Lemony Snicket's warnings about this story not going anywhere nice because I'm having so much fun with it. A literal murder takes place in this book, but somehow it's way more hilarious than the first one? Hang in there, Baudelaires!