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A review by mrsdragon
The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket
4.0
This book has lots of the greatest parts of the second half of the series...the coming of age story of the children, increasingly sophisticated word play, even some literary analysis. The conceit of this entry in the saga is a love letter to libraries, to information, research, and reading, and the author makes explicit that the children's prior successes have been the result of libraries.
Old characters return and the children grapple with the ambiguity of morality, the messiness of real life, and the realization that everyone is the main character of their own story...you never know everything. I felt some of the ambiguity was a little forced (
The "lesson" of this story is less clear cut than some of the others...more of a musing than a direct moral. People may not be what they seem. Be careful who you trust. But you must trust. And you can only do the best you can with the information you have.
Old characters return and the children grapple with the ambiguity of morality, the messiness of real life, and the realization that everyone is the main character of their own story...you never know everything. I felt some of the ambiguity was a little forced (
Spoiler
accidentally shooting someone is definitely less bad than shooting them on purpose, even if the end result is the same. And you can accept responsibility for your actions without deeming yourself 'a villain'.The "lesson" of this story is less clear cut than some of the others...more of a musing than a direct moral. People may not be what they seem. Be careful who you trust. But you must trust. And you can only do the best you can with the information you have.