I had this book in my library for a long time and finally got round to it. It's okay. The main character is a bratty teenager who is just super unlikeable, I'm not sure if this was intentional, though. It had potential, but it felt rushed, which is a shame.

Eh. This is a tough review to write in 2026. I'm in two minds as the story was very interesting, and I enjoyed the way the story flowed in spite of us getting definitions of words every few paragraphs, but the way it shows disabled people and those who don't fit the beauty standard as evil rubs me up the wrong way.

I know that the character of Count Olaf would never have good people as friends, that is obvious. I just feel like the use of disabled characters was to insight more fear into young readers rather than allowing the characters themselves to be scary and dangerous with their actions.

Of course, this series was written in a bit of a different time when people weren't so aware of how dehumanising these stereotypes are, but that doesn't excuse it at the same time.

A lot of conflicting feelings about this one... I'm glad I finally read it though. Just debating whether to continue with the series or not.