In this instalment, the Baudelaire children escape the clutches of Count Olaf after his sinister plans are revealed at the end of the first instalment, and are sent to live with another relative, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, herpetologist. ‘Uncle Monty’ feeds the children coconut cream cake and takes them to the movies every night, only for it all to be snatched away before they can enjoy the comforts of a happy childhood for too long.

I really enjoyed the herpetological aspect in particular: the different species of snakes and other reptiles are all fictional, but the bitchiness and cut-throatiness of the academic scene is all too real, from my (non-herpetological) experience. The amusing irony of the ‘Incredibly Deadly Viper’ misnomer does seem like something an eccentric naturalist would do, as does taking a toddler to the Peruvian rainforest. The academic focus is in keeping with the bookish theme that encompasses the whole series, and get more of the children’s problems solved through the Power of Reading™.

The orphans, particularly Klaus, show greater emotionality in this instalment, as we see their direct reaction to

Spoiler

the untimely death of Uncle Monty, which is somehow surprisingly shocking in the reveal despite it being prefigured by the narrator in Chapter 3, so I am putting it under a spoiler warning to be safe

. As a side note, I also really enjoyed the takedown of the boy who cried wolf story, in which the moral is supposedly not to lie, but (the author argues) “is an absurd moral, for you and I both know that sometimes not only is it good to lie, it is necessary to lie” — some of the moral relativism that was introduced in the first book is thus included here, and is a recurring theme later on in the series as well. (As another aside, the music in the audiobook is ridiculously catchy for some reason.) I know the formula of these first instalments (children get new caretaker; Count Olaf shows up in disguise; caretaker is removed under mysterious circumstances; children must see off the evil Count once more) will start to get repetitive, but somehow, having read the first few now, I’m not yet bored of it.