A Series of Unfortunate Events

WARNING: I discuss the ending in the series, "A Series of Unfortunate Events." If you are reading this book or ever plan on reading this series, I would just not read this post!

"Really?"

Those were the first words that came out of my mouth as I finished reading the thirteenth book of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

I don't think movies/books should make you think too much. I like fun and entertaining books. I don't like foreign films most of the time because they don't end happy. The movie, "Prestige" made me wonder and think for days after watching it. I didn't like it. I like Disney movies and happy romantic comedies. I liked Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl. I liked You've got Mail and Pride and Prejudice. It may make me simple minded, but that's what I like.

So when I started out on this book series, I was surprised to find that the first book ended so badly. Who could be so cruel to children? But these are children's books so they have to end happily ever after, right? So I read the second one, and the third one, and the fourth one, and they all ended completely wrong... with the poor orphan children in the clutches of a bad guy. But I kept reading cause I knew that by the time the last word in the last book was said, that the orphans would find a good guardian and they would at last be happy and safe. So I was rather surprised when I closed the last book and it ended so badly! Granted the kids were no longer in the clutches of evil men, but they were just kind of left to themselves on a deserted island. They weren't really miserable or happy. The book just kind of stopped. There wasn't the happily ever after that I had anticipated for so long. Now I will have to say that the author did give fair warning that the series was nothing but injustices and misery, but of course as an optimist, I figured he was lying and the end would be smiles and hugs. I won't be buying these books for my kids. If they want to read sadness and misery, they can go check them out themselves.

I will say, that aside from the very unfortunate ending, the books are pretty good for the preteen crowd. When the author uses bigger vocabulary, he does define the word right afterwards. He explores the every possible meaning of words and tries to explain why things happen. It's kind of annoying to read as an educated adult so that you find yourself skimming through pages of the author's ramblings, but for the preteen crowd, it's probably pretty educational.

Now I'm off to read the Twilight series, which I heard from a very reliable source (with similar tastes in books and movies as I have) is a very good series.