Loading...
98th out of 3,121 books
—
13,868 voters
My rating:
add to my books
The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12)
Lemony Snicket returns with the last book before the last book of his bestselling Series of Unfortunate Events. Scream and run away before the secrets of the series are revealed!
Very little is known about Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events. What we do know is contained in the following brief list:
-The books have inexplicably sold mill...more
Very little is known about Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events. What we do know is contained in the following brief list:
-The books have inexplicably sold mill...more
Hardcover, 353 pages
Published
October 18th 2005
by HarperCollinsPublishers
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
26,881)
same formula as all the others, but the plot thickens! favorite snicketism from this volume? “the three adults smiled at the children, and the children smiled back, but of course the baudelaires were not born yesterday, an expression which means “young or innocent enough to believe things certain people say about the world.” …violet was born more than fifteen years before this particular wednesday, and klaus was born approximately two years after that, and even sunny, who had just passed out of ...more
When we last left the Baudelaire Orphans, they were fleeing from Count Olaf and entering a car with a woman in the back seat who they had never seen before. That woman was Kit Snicket. Kit Snicket, one of the many on the right side of the schism, takes them to The Hotel Dénouement. There, they hope to learn the answers to some of the questions that plague them.
There, treachery is a foot. No one is who they seem to be and lies are a plenty. Kit informs the Orphans that they must rescu...more
There, treachery is a foot. No one is who they seem to be and lies are a plenty. Kit informs the Orphans that they must rescu...more
"... One can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." page 180
"I'm not sure we ARE noble," Klaus said quietly, flipping the pages of his commonplace book. "We caused those accidents at the lumbermill. We're responsible for the destruction of the hospital. We helped start the fire that destroyed Madame Lulu's archival lib...more
"I'm not sure we ARE noble," Klaus said quietly, flipping the pages of his commonplace book. "We caused those accidents at the lumbermill. We're responsible for the destruction of the hospital. We helped start the fire that destroyed Madame Lulu's archival lib...more
Here's the point: The Penultimate Peril continues to tie it all together, and the return on your investment is shockingly huge. Lemony Snicket manages to tease out a few underlying themes, like what to think when good people let you down, and whether doing evil things makes you an evil person. There are incredible images here of reflections, fire and justice. The illustrations are also picture perfect. And even though the series grows dimmer and darker, it still manages to be one of the fu...more
My generic review for A Series of Unfortunate Events.
I really love this series. I love the wit and humor. I love the way the author 'explains' and 'defines' things to the reader. I was constantly laughing out loud while reading these.
The series does get progressively darker or more confusing as to who is good and who is bad. But it never reaches Harry Potter level. I would feel comfortable with my tweens reading these.
Very good twists and turns and outr...more
I really love this series. I love the wit and humor. I love the way the author 'explains' and 'defines' things to the reader. I was constantly laughing out loud while reading these.
The series does get progressively darker or more confusing as to who is good and who is bad. But it never reaches Harry Potter level. I would feel comfortable with my tweens reading these.
Very good twists and turns and outr...more
Chris
added it
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril
By Lemony Snicket
353pp. New York, New York
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0 06 441015 3
Often, as a writer continues a series, the quality of his writing begins to diminish...that is not the case with Lemony Snicket. Actually, the books keep getting better and better, and better. The twelfth book in the unfortunate series is the "next to last" danger the Baudelaire children will face. The Baudelaires ...more
By Lemony Snicket
353pp. New York, New York
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0 06 441015 3
Often, as a writer continues a series, the quality of his writing begins to diminish...that is not the case with Lemony Snicket. Actually, the books keep getting better and better, and better. The twelfth book in the unfortunate series is the "next to last" danger the Baudelaire children will face. The Baudelaires ...more
I think this book would have genuinely upset me as a child. As a kid who found the Berenstein Bear book stranger danger disturbing, a book that suggests that it's always difficult to truly know whether someone is good or evil, or whether that even helps at times, would have put dark thoughts in my little head for weeks.
The formula is all but in ruins this time around, and most of the book is a kafkaesque trip through a strange hotel structured around the Dewey Decimal system. And yes...more
The formula is all but in ruins this time around, and most of the book is a kafkaesque trip through a strange hotel structured around the Dewey Decimal system. And yes...more
The Penultimate Peril, the 12th of 13-book series titled “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is one of Lemony Snicket’s best books yet! In this second to last book you get excited because you know your almost done the series but you don’t want the book to be over just yet because its such a great read. Following the lives of three orphans Violet, Sunny, and Klause; Lemony Sniket gives you a taste of horror, sorrow, and mystery as the three Orphans fight for there innocence, freedom, and what they’v...more
view 1 comment
As a series these books are incredible. The formulaic plot that is repeated in every book satisfies the child who is being read to's expectation of what's going on, right and wrong and the band of simple characters.
Where the books become really clever is the additional bits of plot woven into the anecdotes, dedications and acknowledgments, written for the older reader, whether parents reading aloud or older children.
The humour is clever, beautifully insightful and infinitel...more
Where the books become really clever is the additional bits of plot woven into the anecdotes, dedications and acknowledgments, written for the older reader, whether parents reading aloud or older children.
The humour is clever, beautifully insightful and infinitel...more
These stories are interesting, and with the ever present, impending doom, they are extremely difficult to put down. The stories are very unique, bleak, yet silly,or a delightful blend of them both. In the later books, I came to embrace, and enjoy the silliness, and the over explanation of words, as Daniel's own unique sense of humor. I can not believe that he actually believed his readers to be that ignorant. I believe that it was more of a tease_ dark, spiteful, humor, which I thoroughly enjoye...more
Christy
is currently reading it
Books categorized under mystery are often about detectives investigating mysteries or horror stories, but the Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket is different. Though out The Series of Unfortunate Events characters have been murdered, but that has rarely been the focus of any books in the series. The story is about three orphans who have been struck with tragedy wherever they go after their death of their parents in a fire. The children have been running from a man called Count Olaf for years no...more
This "woe-filled" collection of thirteen books about the tribulations of three unusually talented orphans will keep adults entertained as well as children. When I first saw the series I thought, "That looks too depressing," but soon I discovered the hilarity in overabundant alliteration, contemptible villains, and idiotic bystanders.
As the series progresses and the mysteries deepen, the children's characters grow and develop in surprising ways as togehter they fa...more
As the series progresses and the mysteries deepen, the children's characters grow and develop in surprising ways as togehter they fa...more
This is the second last installment in the hugely enjoyable Series of Unfortunate Events, which is very much more unfortunate and tragic than all that came before. Violet, Klaus and Sunny arrive at the Hotel Denouement and pose as concierges in order to try and figure out which among the guests and employees are friends and which are foes. An approaching VFD convention promises to explain all, if they can only help prevent it becoming a victory party for the villains instead.
The Bau...more
The Bau...more
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 volunteer...more
Disguises reveal one's conspiracies, or should one say concealment? The V.F.D. organizations were the most mysterious parts of this series. Once again beneath disguises for survival, the tension grows as the meet old enemies. Reading this can stun one's nerves!- not. Still, it is very tense and frightening at times.
Recognizing foes as they work stealthily in the hotel, the trio overhear- or perhaps eavesdrop and hear the secrets of their nemesis'. Not realizing they were there, these...more
Recognizing foes as they work stealthily in the hotel, the trio overhear- or perhaps eavesdrop and hear the secrets of their nemesis'. Not realizing they were there, these...more
Finally! I finally got to read The Pentulimate Peril! I've read all of the Series of Unfortunate Events books... except the last two. All of the Series of Unfortunate Events books were unbelievable, and I've wanted to read the last two - this one, and The End. Now, I've read The Pentulimate Peril, and it does a great job keeping up with the exceptionally high standards set by the other Series of Unfortunate Events books.
A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the Baudelaire family - V...more
A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the Baudelaire family - V...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Penultimate Peril, is another sad unfortunate story of the Baudelaire orphans life’s. It also feels a little like a mystery book because even though it answers a few questions it still leaves many more to think about. Another thing that’s good about the book is it has a high level vocabulary that the writer helps the reader understand within the story.
I would recommend this book because it was fun to read.
In this story Violet, Klaus and Sunny we...more
I would recommend this book because it was fun to read.
In this story Violet, Klaus and Sunny we...more
And here we are at Book the Twelfth. After being picked up at Briny Beach by mysterious volunteer Kit Snicket, the Baudelaires find themselves being flaneurs and concierges at the famous, glamorous and bizarre Hotel Denouement. The hotel is filled with guests, some volunteers, some villains, and it's up to the new concierges to figure out who is who and let V.F.D. know if their last safe place is just that. A lot of familiar faces appear in this penultimate volume, and the Baudelaires have fu...more
Yeah. I read a lot of YA books. I've been picking up "A Series of Unfortunate Events" off and on for years. They're short, cute, and have the best little sharp sense of humor and the "hidden" story of Mr. Snicket, our humble narrator, himself [Aside: I always imagined a Lemony Snicket as a sort of lemon drop/black licorice candy or a licorice schnapps/lemonade drink]. I feel like a voyeur or detective reading the books and looking to piece together the Snicket story.
...more
...more
For Beatrice-
No one could extinguish my love,
or your house.
I remember on the 17th when I read this, I thought it was very powerful. In a sense where there was so much love written and yet, there was this touch of morbidness, too.
Even though, The Penultimate Peril is the penultimate book of this series, there are still SO MANY questions waiting to be answered. From the top of my head, a few are:
01.) What's in the sugar bowl and why does everyone want it?
...more
No one could extinguish my love,
or your house.
I remember on the 17th when I read this, I thought it was very powerful. In a sense where there was so much love written and yet, there was this touch of morbidness, too.
Even though, The Penultimate Peril is the penultimate book of this series, there are still SO MANY questions waiting to be answered. From the top of my head, a few are:
01.) What's in the sugar bowl and why does everyone want it?
...more
What with coming to Book the Twelfth, we are only one book away from the end of the Series of Unfortunate Events. I think this is my favorite book in the series. In this book, the Baudelaire orphans end up at the Hotel Denouement. Many things are revealed to them, although these revelations merely lead to more questions. Many of the characters from the previous books in the series are brought back, which does get a bit confusing initially as you try to remember who they were and what they did. B...more
Mr.Lemony SNicket continue to amaze me yet again.
His creation of the characters in the eleventh volume of this series were the weirdest and the wittiest of all. The orphans were brought to Hotel Denouement by a volunteer named Kit Snickets.
The orphans then had to conduct their own investigations as concierges at the hotel.Thursday was their deadline to find the sugar bowl and to be honest, I`m very confused. LOL.Was it Frank or Ernest? well, it was Dewey.
I laughed whenever this n...more
His creation of the characters in the eleventh volume of this series were the weirdest and the wittiest of all. The orphans were brought to Hotel Denouement by a volunteer named Kit Snickets.
The orphans then had to conduct their own investigations as concierges at the hotel.Thursday was their deadline to find the sugar bowl and to be honest, I`m very confused. LOL.Was it Frank or Ernest? well, it was Dewey.
I laughed whenever this n...more
Looking through my bookshelf you will see I rated the entire Series of Unfortunate Events series at five stars. I seriously loved them all that much. However, out of the whole series, The Penultimate Peril is my favorite. I became the biggest grouch while reading this. That, in my opinion, is a sign of a truly great story. I was so entranced in the emotion of what was happening in the book, it showed in my interactions outside of the book. I'm going to stick with not thinking I'm crazy for letti...more
When the three Baudelaire siblings learn that their parents have been killed in a fire, it's only the start of a seemingly neverending chain of unfortunate events...
If you are in the age of 10-14 years old, you might love these books. If you're not I suggest you give it a try, too, because - like me - you might love them anyway. These melodramatic books are full of sardonic, witty humor, satirical references, obscure words, ludicrous lessons and unusual plot twists. If you like reading...more
If you are in the age of 10-14 years old, you might love these books. If you're not I suggest you give it a try, too, because - like me - you might love them anyway. These melodramatic books are full of sardonic, witty humor, satirical references, obscure words, ludicrous lessons and unusual plot twists. If you like reading...more
Only one more to go :-(! One of my favorite quotes from this book: "One can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways." And one of Trevor's favorite laugh-out-loud quotes: "But the three siblings were not born yesterday. Violet was born more than fifteen years before this particular Wednesday, and Klaus was born approximately two years after that, and...more
La gente malvagia non ha mai tempo per leggere. E' una delle ragioni della sua malvagità.
Siamo in dirittura d'arrivo, la fine è vicina.
I fratelli Baudelaire giungono all'Hotel Climax, dove molte persone degne sono attese per un processo al Conte Olaf. E' difficile però distinguere le persone degne dalle persone cattive e, man mano che vengono coinvolti in avventure sempre più ambigue, i tre fratelli trovano sempre più difficile giudicare anche le proprie azioni.
Il penultimo ...more
Siamo in dirittura d'arrivo, la fine è vicina.
I fratelli Baudelaire giungono all'Hotel Climax, dove molte persone degne sono attese per un processo al Conte Olaf. E' difficile però distinguere le persone degne dalle persone cattive e, man mano che vengono coinvolti in avventure sempre più ambigue, i tre fratelli trovano sempre più difficile giudicare anche le proprie azioni.
Il penultimo ...more
I thought that this book was GREAT! In this book Violet, Klaus and Sunny have to go to a Hotel where V.F.D. is. But they can't show themselfs because every one still thinks that they are murderers. While they are there, they have to do what every one tells them to do so they don't make enemys. Once Violet had to give Carmalita ( one of there enemys.) a hairpoon gun. Once Klaus had to rap bird paper around a window. Once Sunny had to put a GIANT lock on a door.
What is Carmal...more
What is Carmal...more
After many years of waiting the release of The Penultimate Peril sent shivers down my spine, even the title was apt, penultimate signalling that indeed the brilliant series writen by Lemony Snicket was indeed unfortunatley almost at it's end. I was not disapointed, easily one of my favorites of the series so far it held me glued to its pages right from the begining to the very end, a feat that only few books have achieved in my time as an avid reader. If you enjoyed the other books in the series...more
I came really close to giving this one 5 stars (it’s definitely one of my favorites in the series), but there were a few little points that vex me (more on that later). In the Ersatz Elevator, M. Snicket hinted at how other stories are going on around the Baudelaires all the time and in this book he really fleshes out that idea. As much as you might think the Baudelaire story is the only (and most) tragic tale in the world, he emphasizes that their story is simply one of many and unfortunate e...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyone fails you | 3 | 20 | Oct 14, 2011 11:40am | |
| Native Son's reference | 1 | 6 | Oct 14, 2011 08:50am | |
| Because of broken homes... | 7 | 27 | Jul 16, 2011 10:57pm |
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler. Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best-known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional character and a real person. This article deals primarily with the character.
...more
More about Lemony Snicket...
...more
Share This Book
4 trivia questions
3 quizzes
More quizzes & trivia...
3 quizzes
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
—
2,031 people liked it
“As I am sure you know, when people say "It's my pleasure", they usually mean something along the lines of, "There's nothing on Earth I would rather do less."[...]”
—
355 people liked it
More quotes…
