The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy are books 4 & 5 in the series. Both involve the same plotline as books 2 & 3... No one ever recognizes Count Olaf in his ridiculous costumes except the Baudelaires, and no one ever believes them. And in the end, when Count Olaf is finally discovered, he escapes. In the Miserable Mill, the children are forced to work in a lumber mill, and the Austere Academy takes place in a boarding school. At the school, the Baudelaires finally meet some friends their own age who believe them.

In the Ersatz Elevator, the formula finally changes. The Baudelaires are adopted by a wealthy family near where their home burned down. As the back of the book says,

"Even though their new home in the city is fancy, and the children are clever and charming, I'm sorry to say that still, the unlucky orphans will encounter more disaster and woe. In fact, in this sixth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, the children will experience a darkened staircase, a red herring, an auction, parsley soda, some friends in a dire situation, a secret passageway, and pinstripe suits."

 

I was thrilled at a change and having someone else to root for and someone else to hate. The characters are quirky and outlandish, but fun to read about.

The mystery deepens...

Chapter 1

 Books Read: 6

The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital: I'm continuing A Series of Unfortunate Events, hoping to finish by the end of this month. Sunny, Klaus, and Violet begin to investigate the VFD after the loss of the Quagmire triplets. At the end of The Vile Village the series breaks off from it's usual search for a guardian for the siblings and leaves them to fend for themselves completely. 4 1/2 stars.

Champagne For One, Black Orchids, The Silent Speaker: I stated last week in my round-up that going back and re-reading the Nero Wolfe books I enjoyed them even more than the first time, this continues to be accurate. Champagne For One is my favorite of the three I've finished this week (5 stars), Black Orchids comes in second (4 1/2 stars), and The Silent Speaker comes last (3 1/2 stars).

Ongoing Reads: 1

The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Reveled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime: I'm still working my way through this. Reading this, I have to say, not much has changed in regards to how people behave during and after a murder investigation.

3.5 stars!! The story is finally picking up the pace! At last we have a glimpse of something other than the now typical cycle:
1.- The Baudelaires have a new home
2.- Count Olaf appear in disguise with an evil plot
3.- Nobody believes the children, even though Olaf's disguise is ridiculous.
4.- Olaf's plan is discovered and he runs away.
5.- The end.

With this book we are finally encountering new elements to what has to be a bigger story behind the Baudelaire fire, their parents, Beatrice, and Lemony Snicket himself :)

❝ Violet, Klaus and Sunny were standing with Mr. Poe in front of an enormous apartment building on Dark Avenue, a street in one of the fanciest districts in the city.❞

Book 6 of the Baudelaire's misfortune takes them back to the city and under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Squalor: Esmé and Jerome. This is an extremely rich couple: Esme is constantly in the look out of what is 'in', whereas Jerome, is very generous and kind to the Baudelaires, but man was he a pushover!  His wife had the last word on everything, which was very frustrating. Count Olaf this time, I'm sorry to say, outsmarts the clever orphans and he manages yet again to escape.

P.S. : Ersatz is a word that describes a situation in which one thing is pretending to be another (I didn't know that word, so I thought it would be useful to have the definition written down- after I'm done with the series I will go over all the lovely phrases and fancy words I learned from them).