Book Review – The Vile Village

By Jazmin-Jade

Title: The Vile Village [A Series of Unfortunate Events 7]

Author: Lemony Snicket

Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery

Length: 228

Rating: 5 Star

Series Review: 12, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Description/Synopsis:

Dear Reader,

You have undoubtedly picked up this book by mistake, so please put it down. Nobody in their right mind would read this particular book about the lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire on purpose, because each dismal moment of their stay in the village of V.F.D. has been faithfully and dreadfully recorded in these pages. I can think of no single reason why anyone would want to open a book containing such unpleasant matters as migrating crows, an angry mob, a newspaper headline, the arrest of innocent people, the Deluxe Cell, and some very strange hats. It is my solemn and sacred occupation to research each detail of the Baudelaire children’s lives and write them all down, but you may prefer to do some other solemn and sacred thing, such as reading another book instead.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

The story is much more interesting to me now that we are getting bigger picture stuff.

The children head off to a town called V.F.D and the children hope by making this town their new caretaker they can finally find out the mystery the Quagmires tried telling them about when they were captured at the end of the fifth book. They arrive and find that this is not the case however.

The general town seems to be just as bad as all the other people that are supposed of take care of them, but luckily for the children they catch a small break by being placed in the care of Hector, someone who listens to them and is actually willing to help as long as they do their townly duties first. I loved Hector, he is one of the few adult characters in this series who actually seems to have a brain, a soul, and bravery at the same time. While he starts off not being able to speak or really even look at people who frighten him he actually develops as the story goes and by the end he is willing to stand up for himself and the children and tries to save their lives.

This book finally seems to just focus on the bigger picture of the story rather than just the same random bad stuff that happens to the kids. No answers are given within the pages of this book however. The only that remotely gets solved, and this is a SPOILER is the Quagmire triplets. The children find them and rescue them in the final moments. The Baudelaires were suppose to escape with them and Hector in a giant air balloon that can never land and live in peace in the sky, but as the Baudelaires are climbing the rope they get attacked and must stop climbing and let their friends and closest thing to family fly off without them. I was so devastated for them. I don’t think living in the air for the rest of your life would be great, but they could have worked out a way to get down later and then started new perfect lives with their new wonderful family. But of course they don’t get that. END SPOILER

We just get more and more questions. Who the hell is Jacques Snicket, what dies our author and Beatrice have to do with all of these things that are happening. What the hell does V.F.D stand for! At one point we think we are going to get some answers, but they just all float away. The book ends in the worst position the children have ever been in before.

I would say read this book for sure. Knowing what I know about the others I might even say skip numbers 3 and 4 cause I hated them and they were pointless. But I would suggest reading the rest like me because how on earth else are we going to get answers?!

Till Next Time…