These books take me back to my childhood, we read them as a family as they came out, but I’m not sure now that I ever actually reached the end of the series. As the Netflix series has just been released (which is great by the way), I thought I’d take the chance to read them all again.

The Baudelaire children might be the unluckiest children in the world, and we are introduced to them in this first book of the thirteen. We’re also introduced to scheming Count Olaf and his cronies, and of course the hapless Mr Poe.

A lot of the reviews of this book on Goodreads seem to be quite negative about the way that this book is written and that it’s quite patronising (that means that it talks down to you), with the use of describing the meanings of words mid-sentence.

But I think it’s done quite naturally through the book and I think these people may have forgotten that these are children’s books, and this way of writing means that the author can introduce younger readers to bigger words. I used to have to write down all the words I didn’t know so that I could ask my mum what they meant later, so this would have been a relief for her!

Saying that they are children’s books, the actual plot is quite adult – for example in this book Count Olaf tries to take control of the Baudelaire fortune by marrying Violet, the oldest child (but still only 14 years old). But it’s done in quite a light-hearted way so that although as a child you would feel the peril, it’s not horrifying!

I’m so looking forward to re-reading all these books!