The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events #9), Lemony SnicketUnfortunate Events series follows the tragic tale of three orphans - Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire - who are investigating their parents' mysterious death. The siblings are saddled with an evil guardian named Count Olaf (portrayed by Emmy-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris), who will do whatever it takes to get his hands on the Baudelaires' inheritance. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny must outsmart Olaf at every turn, foil...

3.75* Similarly to book eight, this wasn't the most memorable in the series but I absolutely loved the intensity of the ending! I thought the kids starting to question and doubt themselves and their actions was really interesting too! This was a slightly drearier book in tone than the others, but it worked in connection to the Baudelaire's reclining and undoubtably exhausting situation! I can feel the ending getting closer and I'm looking forward to finally (hopefully) getting some answers soon!...

Once again I get the chance to say (write?) the most glorious words in the English language: This is a particularly fantastic installment in the GREATEST SERIES OF ALL TIME.In case you're new here or somehow able to ignore me doing the internet equivalent of nonstop screaming about this series: I LOVE THESE BOOKS SO MUCH.This one is, as mentioned, particularly next-level at putting all other excuses for literature to shame. It breaks from the typical format. Our lil gang grows up. There's an exp...

In this installment, the Baudelaires arrive at Caligari Carnival after hitching a ride in Count Olaf’s trunk. Their plan, as usual, is to seek safety from Count Olaf, but they soon discover that there’s nowhere to go, and Count Olaf will be in the vicinity for some time to come. They take a huge chance by disguising themselves as freaks in order to participate in Caligari Carnival’s freak show (Violet and Clause as a two-headed freak, and Sunny as Chabo the Wolf Baby), which lands them working r...

“...The answer to nearly every question is written down someplace. It just might take a while to find.” In their ninth misadventure, for once, the Baudelaire orphans and not the horrible count Olaf are the in incognito ones, disguising themselves among the "freaks" of a Carnival. And, for once, it's count Olaf who's going to be the victim of their clever plan... or maybe not? I can't believe I am already almost done with this series! It really is been quite a ride! This book was different than t...

A brilliant little book from the series. Quite different than the previous books, as the kids go on their own adventure other than following a guardian.

The children arrive hidden in the trunk of Count Olaf's car. A new turn of events - they know where Olaf is and it's them who are in disguise.The good-evil, noble-villain theme expands. The children are the spies. In addition they meet and join the circus 'freaks' who they see put to the test - decent people in a hard place offered difficult choices - will they act like noble people or villains? The circus freaks are a test case, an example, perhaps an illustration of how Olaf's hench-people & p...

I loved the carnival theme this book had going, I was excited that Klaus, Violet, and Sunny dressed up in disguises to fuck up Count Olaf's shit, the mystery of V.F.D is still unsolved, one of their parents might be alive and those poor lions oh my gahhhh...But...HOLY MADAME LULU!THAT ENDING.THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT ENDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!I WAS JUMPING ALL OVER MY BED AND SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ONE OF MY DOGS!This was me after reading that ending:I'M READY FOR BOOK 10! - Richard

Such an intriguing addition to the story, the carnival vibes were cool!

4.75 Golden Starsone of my favourites in the seriesRTCthe wheel turns, this time, if the Baudelaires wants to find some information & get away, they have to hide in front of the villains' eyes.I do like stories about circus & carnivals, but this one is dangerous.

I think this might be my favourite A Series of Unfortunate Events book yet!

Snicket engages in some serious moral wrangling in this volume, and forces the reader to do the same. At a crucial moment, the Baudelaire orphans meet a woman who wants to be a good, strong person -- but because her motto is "give people what they want," she can always be manipulated by villains, and always tells herself that she must be a good person, because isn't giving people what they want a good thing to do? The simple answer, "Not if they want bad things!" never seems to occur to her.It o...

3 Stars.My binge read of this series continues. If you've been following my reviews, you may notice that the ratings have been dropping, mainly because I feel that the story is becoming a little too repetitive and that there would be some really simple solutions to the children's problems. I don't want to spoil anything, but at the start, Violet, Klaus and Sunny are near Olaf's unattended car and instead of thinking "Let's use Violet's mechanical skills to hot-wire this car and Klaus' knowledge

This book was significantly better than the last! It didn’t feel repetitive and while more questions were being asked, I felt we finally received some answers. In regards to the audiobook, there was a new Lemony Snicket (Tim Curry still read the actual story part). Curry’s voices were SO good! He’s well and truly differentiating the different characters now.

😱😱😱 Oh no! A literal cliffhanger! Don't worry, Sunny! I'll rescue you!Onward Swifty, to Book the Tenth!

My daughter and I adored the entire series, but this episode is my favorite. It contains perhaps the funniest of Lemony Snicket's etymological digressions. It marks the point where the larger story begins to evolve, where the traumatized young Baudelaire orphans first turn the tables on their arch-nemesis, Count Olaf. And it's also a point where both the orphans and the story mature, evolving from a good-vs-evil fairy tale of morbid victimhood into a subtle study of moral complexity.It's a pity

I liked this book a lot more that I thought although everytime I am close to finding out everything it just slips form my fingertips and I have to wait for the next book.

JANUARY 2017 RE-READBumping this up from 4 stars to 5. I last read this when it first came out in 2002! So that was FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. God I feel old. For some reason I had it in my head that I didn't enjoy this one as much as others in the series, but I was clearly mistaken because this is a great instalment. I like how books 2-7 involve Count Olaf in disguises trying to fool the Baudelaires, and books 8 and 9 involve the Baudelaires in disguises trying to fool Count Olaf. Madame Lulu is a cool...

Just dipping into this series to find out what it is all about. Maybe I should have tried book 1 first but I happened on this one by accident. I think if I had read this when I was a child I would have loved it. Despite all the terrible things that happen to the Baudelaires there is always a feeling that they will find a way out and since I hated suspense back then this would have suited me down to the ground. As an adult I enjoyed the dryness of the narrative, the slightly snarky comments and e...

“I don't care who falls in!” announced the pimpled man. "To me, a woman in a turban is just as freaky as a two headed person. I'm not prejudiced!”