Book Review: The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events #9)

Release Date: October 17, 2002
Author: Lemony Snicket
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 286 pages
Source: Purchased Book/Library Audiobook

Dear Reader,

The word "carnivorous," which appears in the title of this book, means "meat-eating," and once you have read such a bloodthirsty word, there is no reason to read any further. This carnivorous volume contains such a distressing story that consuming any of its contents would be far more stomach-turning than even the most imbalanced meal.
To avoid causing discomfort, it would be best if I didn't mention any of the unnerving ingredients of this story, particularly a confusing map, an ambidextrous person, an unruly crowd, a wooden plank, and Chabo the Wolf Baby.
Sadly for me, my time is filled with researching and recording the displeasing and disenchanting lives of the Baudelaire orphans. But your time might be better filled with something more palatable, such as eating your vegetables, or feeding them to someone else.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket.

    

Review:

Protagonists: So, for a while there I was really doubting if I actually read any character development with the three Baudelaire children later in the series. I mean, I know that Sunny has a bit of development in the later books, first foreshadowed in this one actually, but I wasn't sure if as I child I had just filled in the blanks in my head or not. Luckily, when I reread the previous installment, I was happy to finally find some internal conflict with these characters, though part of me doubted if it would continue, and luckily again, it does. In this story, the Baudelaires face a lot of internal conflict as they've sort of turned the tables on Count Olaf, and are now the ones following him and dressing up in disguises. However, the parallels are not lost on them and they are forced to make many difficult decisions, which, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for me, forces them to look at their own morality and wonder if they've crossed a line. I was happy to get more internal conflict with these characters, and while I do wish there was more individuality among them, other than their personal talents, I did enjoy seeing some real character development with them.

World Building: So, while I gave the series a lot of flack for its underdeveloped world in previous reviews, and that is sort of true here, I did feel we got a bit more world-building in this story, a lot more actually, now that I think about it. In the past things would just sort of feel vague and hand waved and just a bit too simplistic, however in this book we do learn more about the world, or I guess we learn more about VFD and a lot of the mysteries that have been building up for some time, we learn answers to questions that I'm sure many a reader has had since as early as The Wide Window or  The Miserable Mill. That all being said, I wish I understood better how this world worked, I wish we knew where this story takes place, if it even takes place in our world, or just one like it lost to time. I just feel like the world itself could have been handled a bit better.

Foreshadowing: So, I didn't really notice that much foreshadowing for future books in this installment. I mean sure there are questions brought up that I know will be answered later, but I couldn't pick up on any Easter Eggs for future books like I could with The Hostile Hospital. As for foreshadowing for this specific book, well Lemony Snicket does a fantastic job once again of telling just enough of the story ahead of time to give you fair warning, but at the same time keep enough suspense to drive you further along in the series.

Ending: Once again things are shaken up a bit here at the end. With a rather riotous finale that I was excited to see had callbacks to previous events in the series, followed by more and more unfortunate events, the climax really ended with a bang. There is a small cooldown period where things look a bit dicey but mostly safe, only to find the Baudelaires in their most unfortunate ending yet. This ends the arc that Season 2 of the Netflix series will cover, and with it, and based on the end of the first season, I have an idea about how it will end using my knowledge of the rest of the series, and if it ends how I think it will, it'll have those not in the know freaking out!

Rating:

I thought about giving this story 5, or even 4.5 stars, and while I really enjoyed this installment upon a reread, I just can't help but feel like we aren't getting enough. I mean, we finally get more character development and more world-building, but after looking it over we don't get that much, it only felt like a lot at the time because there wasn't that much in the beginning of the series, and it didn't feel right giving this book a higher star rating, on par with a lot better books, just because it's incrementally getting better.

Book Review: Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)

Release Date: September 12, 2017
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Length: 496 pages
Source: Edelweiss Review Copy

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.

    

Review:

Protagonist: For all of Mira's life she's been the Hopebringer. She's always stood for the treaty that united the Fallen Isles that was signed on the day of her birth and named after her. Then one day, she learns a secret that gets her sent to the Pit, a secret that she would take to her grave. The Pit is a dark and hopeless prison, there a cruel and sadistic guard will do anything to uncover the reason Mira was sent there. One of the things I loved about Mira is that she's flawed. At the beginning she believes everything told to her, she never questions it and while she never comes across as stuck up, she never realizes the priveledges she has, not only being the Hopebearer but also being the daughter of a rich politician. However, over the course of the book she slowly begins to develop, learning important lessons from her new comrades in prison, and going through things no one should have to endure, she'll come out stronger, and while she's still flawed, her development is remarkable and exciting.

World Building: This world revolves around the Fallen Isles and the mythology associated with the islands. I'm a huge mythology buff and even though this isn't based on classic mythologies, at least as far as I can tell, the mythology t the author created for this world is still as captivating and rich as if she had. I loved learning about how this world works, or at the very least how the denizens of this world believe it to work, and of the various gifts given by the gods of this world. I was kind of saddened that even though dragons are a key plot element, they didn't show up as much as I was expecting. This entire world was, more or less, perfectly crafted for this first installment, however, there are still a great many things I hope to learn more about in the future, particularly one island's people that were rarely if ever, mentioned past the prologue.

Predictability: The writing and plot structure for this book were also well crafted. There's a certain formula to YA books where if you know what to look for you can pretty much guess how at least sixty-five percent of the book is going to go. However, in this story, I couldn't detect traces of the YA formula. I mean, sure there are things that with most books are a given, but I had next to no idea where this story was going to go. I mean, I felt like I was flying completely blind with this book and I was so excited to see where this book would take me next.

Ending: The ending, well, the ending I sort of guessed. I mean, it doesn't take a formula to figure out roughly what will happen toward the end of this book. Still, it was an exciting and exhilarating ride the whole way through. This story ends much the same way most first books in series do. There wasn't a huge cliffhanger or anything. However, it didn't quite plateau out as much as I hoped it would. I'm clamoring for the next book in this series, there are so many questions brought up at the end of this book that I need to be answered ASAP and unfortunately with this book not even released yet, the wait for book 2 is going to be killer.

Rating:

I wasn't quite sure what rating to give this book, but after writing this review I know it deserves five glorious and brightly burning stars. The pacing can be a bit slow in parts, but that doesn't last long and the book as a whole is a fantastic story in a brilliantly crafted world.