I can’t say this is exactly what I would have wanted from the second-to-last book in such a long series, but on the other hand, it’s pretty much what I should have expected from this particular series. The hotel is laid out in a way that is probably supposed to be clever, but I only found it silly. I did appreciate that Sunny kept being the one who figured things out and that it so often went unnoticed by others, or at least unmentioned. It added humor to what otherwise, for me, comes across as the author trying too hard to be funny.

I started listening to this series for only one reason: Tim Curry. Though I had to live with a different narration for 3 books earlier in the series, Tim Curry has been wonderful, even given some of the crazy things he’s had to say or do for the sake of the narration. I’m not particularly excited about the conclusion of the series and, Tim Curry or not, I know I’ll never re-read it. ( )

Not as good as the #11 but ok. I love the moral dilemma of this series ( )

Book 12 of 13 of the phenomenal series: Series of Unfortunate Events!

Please Read my review of the series here, as my review applies to every book in the series. https://www.librarything.com/work/1748/reviews/227861550 ( )

i really liked this one at first, mostly because it seemed to be slowly building to something that i assumed would build throughout the last book, too, but halfway through it just went back to the same sort of thing. there are still some good things, but now i just want to finish the damn things. ( )

The penultimate peril is the beginning of the end, which here means the second to last trouble and account related to the Baudelaire orphans. This book follows on with there being no such thing as pure good and pure bad, the characters are so heart-wrenchingly real. We still have mysteries that we will never know the answer to, we never find out if anyone survives the fire, we will never know.
The setting was great and I love how the Baudelaires are falling into more and more questionable things, they aren't good, they aren't bad, they are falling more and more into the morally grey category.
Snicket has written these accounts so well. ( )