TAA

[jrcarlito3]

to me TAA was alright but The Village was better it had more suspence in to it. Although in the TAA is were first V.F.D was mentioned.

[Lunatic Fire Eyes]

To me, I thought TAA was one of the best books in the series. I found Nero to be very amusing [and funny], the schools weird classes and weird rules were pretty good too. Everything was just really ridiculous in this book, but not to so much as to put you off. Thats just the way I like it.

[Mijahu]

I quite enjoyed TAA, although I didn't enjoy TMM.

TAA, as you said, was funny. It has one of my favorite lines in the series, which is the "donut of despair" while "Genghis" makes them run S.O.R.E. The introduction of the Quagmires was great, and gave a lot of hope for the Baudelaires, and also reminded me of my own friendships. And while I know they were mentioned in all books following TAA, I wish the Quagmires had been more prominent as characters, rather than lost friends.

[Dante]

If the early books were all as long as the later books, I dare say the Quagmires would've gotten more screentime and character development. They did rather get the short end of the stick after TAA.

[Mijahu]

Yes, Dante, that probably would have been the case. Why do books always get longer as a series progresses? aSoUE, Harry Potter, The Space Trilogy, Twilight, etc..

[Dante]

Well, there are more plot threads and loose ends to tie up, more characters who have appeared... but it's also because the author has evolved as a writer. I think by the end of the series Handler was taking aSoUE more seriously than he did when he started it (when he didn't even think it'd be a success), so he was putting more of his heart into it. Incidentally, it's only an average trend that aSoUE gets longer as it goes on; there are a couple of books which are shorter than their predecessors. TMM, TVV and THH, TGG, and The End, if I recall correctly. But the length increases are much greater than the decreases.

On another level, people might be intimidated if the first book in a series is a massive brick. Save that for when they've already been suckered in and can't stop buying. This doesn't apply to epic fantasy, though. They're obliged to have several hundred pages more than you'd normally read.

[Mijahu]

Haha, yes obliged indeed. I did notice the decrease in page amounts in those books, but from what I remember TE was the longest book. Maybe I think that just because it's the fattest unfortunate event on my shelf

[Dante]

That's probably because you haven't read it so much, so it still looks plump and new. In actual fact, The End is about as long as TSS. I might make a topic about book length and how each book might be improved if they had a hundred or so extra pages...

[Lunatic Fire Eyes]

I think that it is the case for me, also. I have only read the end one time, so it still looks fairly new compared to the other books.

So, was The Penultimate Peril the largest book?

[Dante]

Easily so; I've completed my analysis here, which considers the length of every book.

[Mijahu]

I hadn't realized the huge variation in rising and lowering page-lengths as the series grew. Great analysis, Dante.