The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book 12) (original 2005; edition 2005)

I've decided that this series is too repetitive, and the tone of the books too annoying -- pedantic and condescending -- so I'm not going to finish reading it. Just reading the first book was fine, but more than that was a trial.

(You can see this same review on the other books in this series I have shelved. Sorry. I don't like shelving just part of a series, and my review might help someone... I have more detailed reviews of the first three books here, here and here.) ( )

As the title says, the 2nd to last book. This book does a good job of bringing in characters and events from the past 11 books, and the poor Baudelaire orphans are forced to do some things they dislike in their attempt to foil Count Olaf and survive. ( )

Cannot believe that we have finished the saga. Z and I are thoroughly transfixed, enamored and otherwise enthralled by Mr. Snicket and his marvelous way with words and culture and life. ( )

It is getting hard for me to separate my feelings about the entire series from the individual books. I've found the series, which started out strong and fun, to be overlong and formulaic.

"The Penultimate Peril" the 12th book, is at least original so it gains points for straying away from the formula. However, it kind of felt like a place filler. Other than gathering everyone together for a little nod at the characters and situations the Baudelaire children have encountered along the way, it didn't really feel like it moved the plot along. The good/bad angle really was overdone. ( )

As book #12 in this remarkable series, The Penultimate Peril is amusing and at times outrageous. It certainly has its moments, although at times author Lemony Snickett tries too hard. Nonetheless, through experiences of the Baudelaire orphans in the Hotel Denouement, readers get to revisit every character (be they villain or ally) that they have met along the way. Among my favorites is the odious young Carmelita Spats, who here appears as a tomboyish "ballplaying cowboy superhero soldier pirate," complete with a dangerous harpoon gun. Then there's Esme Squalor with her stylish sunoculars, a sunglasses/ binoculars combination. And of course there's the evil Count Olaf, in whose clutches the three orphans wind up at the end of the book. The series clearly is building to a climax in the final (13th) volume, and I am eager to see how it all turns out. ( )

So confusing and fun. This entire book like was like a carnival funhouse where things keep going topsy-turvy and throwing you off. ( )

This book is probably my favourite of the series; it is dark and very eerie. It would make a fantastic Tim Burton film. The ending is a bit disappointing and the good/bad moral question is rammed home a bit too vehemently, but on the whole, it is a very good book. ( )

It has been a quite a while since I read the other eleven books in the series that I don't remember much about it other than the basic plot. Why not reread it? So many books, so little time
Despite having all the other books in the series in my collection, I was missing this book. Recently I had a brainstorm, Why not buy it online? (yes, that does sound stupid).

About eight hours ago I sat down with this book and as in the case of the other books by Lemony Snicket I liked it. Many of the sentences tend to follow a comment but it does not seem monotonous.

You'll most likely never find another books quite like this! ( )

This book was absolutely amazing! How amazing is it? There are so many twist and turns, unexpected information, and tragedy that end up making the book simply unbelievable. ( )

** There are no spoilers of Book 12, but this review assumes you’ve read the first 11 books in the series.

The word Penultimate is defined as “The second to last in a series or sequence.” What a fantastic word to use in the title of this, the second to last book in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Kit Snicket (fictional author, Lemony’s sister) takes the Baudelaire orphans, Sunny, Violet and Klaus, to the Hotel Denouement, where the mysterious VFD will be meeting in a few days. The siblings must disguise themselves as concierges to find out more information about the society. Along the way they run into almost every villain or friend they have met along the way in the first 11 books, though the Quagmire triplets were no where to be seen. The hotel is cleverly organized by using the Dewey Decimal system, which I loved.

The series is finally coming together and we are able to see what role the characters have played in the wider saga. Everyone has to pick their final side, good or evil, and a few decisions are surprising.

I am desperately hoping that Snicket can pull off an ending that makes the whole series worth while. I’m sure my expectations are pretty high at this point, but when you leave so many questions unanswered for 12 books, your readers are going to expect you to explain everything I the final book. I know that I’ll be really disappointed if things are left open-ended.

Fingers crossed. ( )

Baudelairet päätyvät hotelli Ratkaisuun, mutta epäonnistuvat tehtävässään tarkkailla hotellivieraita ja löytää hotelliin soluttautunut henkilö. He pettävät Kit Snicketin ja Rehti Ratkaisun luottamuksen, mutta saavat samalla huomata, että monet hyvätkin ihmiset ovat pettäneet heidän luottamuksensa.

Lopussa Baudelairet pakenevat palavasta hotelli Ratkaisusta yhdessä Kreivi Olafin kanssa. ( )

I'm going to review all four of the last books in this series in one review, since I read them all at one go due to the quick plot pacing, and now they've mushed together in my brain. These are wonderful! When I first started, this series, I was underwhelmed, but Snickett grows up his books like he grows up the Baudelaires. Unlike many coming-of-age stories, this one manages to avoid the trite and the untrue. Despite Snickett's fantastical style and plot twists, there is deep reality at the core of these books, which manage to show the world in all its nastiness and how difficult it is to be a "volunteer instead of a villain," and yet it conveys the desperate need for each of us to try. It also teaches voculary, is subtley hilarious if you already have a big one, and imparts a love of science, literature, poetry, and even good cooking. Highly recommended for all the young, and old, people in your life! ( )

In this, the next to last book in Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events" books, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are taken by Kit Snicket to the Hotel Denouement where they are to work as concierges and spy on the guests to find out who is a volunteer for the mysterious VFD and who is a villain. While there, they run into many friends and enemies they have encountered in the previous 11 books in the series. They are all there in anticipation of a meeting of all VFD volunteers which is to take place in the next few days. But, as always, things do not go smoothly for the Baudelaire orphans and they end up accidentally murdering someone, purposely setting the hotel on fire, and in the crutches of the evil Count Olaf.

Lemony Snicket fills this book with his trademark sense of humor, there are always 13 chapters, plenty of alliterative names, explanations of meanings of words, warnings that the reader shouldn't finish the book, and absurd situations (the roof top tanning scene is hilarious). The young Baudelaires are still far more intelligent than the adults are who never seem to recognize the children in their various disguises. Snicket gives a sly nod to critics who hated Olaf's laugh in "The Grim Grotto". While it's inevitable that the children grow up during the course of the books, the fact that Sunny speaks coherent sentences is a bit disappointing and takes away the fun of trying to decipher what she is saying.

I appreciate the humor of having 13 books in the series, but I can't help wonder if that was ultimately too ambitious for Snicket. "The Penultimate Peril" feels like filler at times, with two many questions left unanswered. Why is the sugar bowl so important? Where are the Quagmire triplets? What do the initials "VFD" stand for? Are the Baudelaire's truly orphans or is one of their parents still alive? Where the Baudelaire parents involved in wrongdoing? Can Snicket answer all these questions in the last book?

Finally, parents should be aware that there is a rather violent death toward the end of the book that is accidentally caused by the Baudelaire children. While this may open up an interesting discussion of what makes a person good or evil and can a person be both, the death may frighten young children. ( )

The Penultimate Peril lireP etamitluneP ehT
This is the next to last book chronicling the misadventures of the Baudelaire children. This time they spend their time hiding out in the tnemecnuoneD letoH as concierge. They are given the opportunity to spy on all manor of guests to try to piece together the clues to many mysteries.

This book I found to be a little irritating in really slamming the reader over the head with "No one is all good, nor is anyone all bad". It was pushing, pushing, pushing and I started to find it getting in the way of the rest of the story. For all that in wasn't bad and I still enjoyed the book and I can't wait to read the last installment, to see if any of the troubling questions are finally answered, such as "Why are Sunny's teeth so sharp?" or "Do the Quagmire Triplets ever eat peppermints?" and ?derorrim txet siht fo emos si yhW. ( )

If you're anything like me, you're terrified of elevators. You never know if somebody may have snipped the line, or replaced the counterweight with a large block of ice, or forgot to renew the certificate. A world of things could go wrong once you enter an elevator.

In case of fire, most elevators say, use stairs. Well, elevator's don't actually say this, as I would imagine it would require the elevator to open and closes its doors as if it were talking. Instead, such a sign is placed by the elevator call button, and below that text is a series of bumps, both used to communicate to the blind, and also to pass messages to other members of certain organizations.

There was an elevator, once, in the Hotel Denouement. I never used it. But the poor Baudelaire orphans did, as at one time, they were disguised as concierges for this hotel, and had to travel up and down in the elevator to meet the beck and calls of the hotel patrons.

The hotel was run by the Denouement brothers, Frank and Ernest, and if I may be frank and earnest, there was na noitidda erugif dedulla ot in the text. The hotel itself was designed to mimic a very large library, and, as such, used the Dewey Decimal system.

For example, if a guest were to know about secret MI-6 technology, he would be put in room 007. If he was a famous person with triscadecaphobia, he would go to 013. If he were Jean-Paul Satre, he may be put into room 104. For guests having statistics on Pangea, they'd be put in room 311. A guest being a performer of post-modern music would be put in room 789.

Something like that, in which it helps to know the Dewey Decimal system, and at times, it might even save your life, or at least give you a quick laugh

Things were not all fine and dandy in the hotel, however, as the Baudelaires encountered two thirds of their least favorite tribe. Namely, Esme and Carmelita. This lead them to realize that the hotel itself was filled with both volunteers and villains, and it would be hard to distinguish the two (as some villains would be posing as volunteers, and quite possibly vice versa), unless you paid good enough attention (villains tend not to use coasters, something I've discovered in my own travels as well).

The Baudelaires also discovered, at long last, who J.S. was, and J.S. intended fully well to help them escape the injustice of Olaf.

But it's a series of unfortunate events, and it's the penultimate book, so I leave the rest to your imagination, or, if your imagination isn't what it used to be, there's always the book, but it doesn't end well.

But what does, these days? ( )

Delightfully dark. Some of the questions raised in the series are answered and new questions posed. Something terrible happens and the Baudelaires end the story in the company of Count Olaf. ( )

I don't think I've properly expressed how great I think these books are. They are books meant for 9 year old and up, and they use words like penultimate! Correctly! They are interesting, exciting, deliciously dark, and so so so intelligent. I'm a bit sad that there's only one book left in the series, but I'm enjoying how everything is starting to wrap up. ( )

I enjoyed this, maybe even more than the final book. I live for big reveals, and The End really let me down in that regard, but here I was still hoping all these pieces of the puzzle come together and give us the whole picture. ( )

Again, I enjoyed this book, the twelfth in the thirteen book series. I rated it half a star higher than all the rest except the first in the series, as I think it was enjoyable to see the author continuing to pull together all the loose story lines. I actually am very excited to see what happens in the twelfth book. Of course I have some of my own excpectations having read this far. I hope I am right in part and yet I also hope the author continues to surprise! ( )

More mysteries are solved and the most unfortunate of all the events so far occurs. The nobility of the Beaudelaires is called into question. I know this story won’t have a happy ending…but it’s very well told. ( )

"Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to clime a tree, because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch, or you might simply get covered in sap, and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors, where it is harder to get a splinter." p. 15

"The burning of a book is a sad, sad sight, for even though a book is nothing by ink and paper, it feels as if the ideas contained in the book are disappearing as the pages turn to ashes and cover and binding … blacken and curl as the flames do their wicked work." p. 324 ( )

not in the mood

Strange memories... ( )

Very good like most of the books in this series. It had some interesting morals and some very interesting new characters. Loved it. ( )