Book Review- A Series of Unfortunate Events #2-- The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket

One could argue that this episode in A Series of Unfortunate Events is the most tragic. 

The Baudelaires get sent to live with Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a herpetologist who lives in a beautiful home with a room full of strange reptiles. He calls the children "bambini" and asks them to call him Uncle Monty. Uncle Monty clearly loves the children. He studies with them, takes them to the movies, and makes coconut cream cake for them. It appears that he knew the Baudelaire children's parents very well before they died, and he might know some secrets about them and the tragic fire that took their lives. Unfortunately, Monty is murdered before he has the chance to reveal any of these secrets to the children. The Baudelaires suspect that Monty's new assistant, Stephano, is really Count Olaf in disguise, and that he murdered their uncle. This book (and the entire series, really) makes enthusiastic use of the "Adults Are Useless" trope-- Nobody believes the Baudelaires, and it's up to the children to prove that Stephano/Count Olaf murdered Uncle Monty. They are able to prove it, of course, but Count Olaf escapes anyway (again, because Adults Are Useless). 

This book reads a lot like a cozy mystery (could there be a weirder name for a genre?) and even contains subtle references to Agatha Christie's work. It also contains many of the postmodern and anachronistic elements that are present in the other books in the series. Even though it's technically a children's book, I think I enjoy it more now than I did ten years ago because I can understand all of the literary references. I hope this series becomes a YA classic someday. It might not be quite on par with Harry Potter, but it's definitely a million times better than those darn Goosebumps books. 

4.5/5 stars