Rapid Reviews - A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 7: The Vile Village

The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 7) by Lemony Snicket: These books establish a formula fairly quickly into the series, then the author plays with the formula throughout the rest of the books. So far we've had multiple variations on a theme. This book breaks out of the mold quite a bit, and might even be establishing a new pattern. Again, just when you think life can't get any worse for the children, something happens to make it worse. Or does it? I think Lemony Snicket doth protest too much when he spends paragraphs decrying the sadness of the story. There are certainly bad bits, but there's also hope. And then there's the link with the author, which was hinted at in a previous book, but is stated a little more clearly here. After I read book 8, I plan on reading the "unauthorized autobiography", which might give a better idea on what the connection is between Snicket and the children.