Ted Thompson

It is a very difficult thing to review a collection of short stories such as this, where some shine brilliantly and others can barely sustain a dull glow. It felt as if reading every short story was a wildcard of quality. Each story was trying to attempt the dry humor Snicket uses in all of his works, to varying success. Some were quite funny. Some, though, flew far too close to the sun and quickly turned into pages upon pages of aimless dialogue, quirky characters, and silly settings - as if being random and sporadic was the key to being clever.

This collection also had bit of a problem with deciding who it was for. I was under the (apparently correct) assumption that this was for children. But there are stories in here that seem rather "adult". In one, a character is decapitated grotesquely. I'm not one for sheltering kids, of course, but this seemed to be a little over the top. One is a story where the characters speak solely in marketing catchprases, sometimes making little sense, which just reads like an experimental art story gone wrong. And another is a really boring account of some affuelent dinner club - what kid cares about something like that? Something felt very off in the way that these authors wrote for kids, which I guess makes sense, seeing as a lot of these authors usually wouldn't.

If there's one overwhelming positive, however, it's the art. The cover of this book underneath the silly removeable one is wonderfully printed, and the images that accompany the stories are pretty cool. I stared at the pullout map for a few minutes - gorgeous.

I feel very mixed about this book, considering how much I loved some of the stories and disliked others. Overall, it was okay.… (mer)