The Vile Village by Daniel Handler - Book Review

If you’ve managed to read up to The Vile Village, then congratulations! You have reached the culmination of the Baudelaires’ lives as they jump from one guardian to another looking for a caretaker who can protect them from the vile villain who’s constantly making their lives more miserable each time he runs into them.

In this book, you’ll see the massive character development of the Baudelaire siblings, as they decide that they no longer want Mr. Poe to find them a guardian. At the end of this book, they know one fact and that is that they’re alone in this world.

Mr. Poe drives the Baudelaires to their new guardian, whom they chose to investigate the VFD, an entire village that is called Village of Fowl Devotees and made up of overzealous elderlies who love crows too much.

They are extremely strict and treat the orphans as if they were their slaves, giving them difficult tasks to do around the village in exchange for protection from Count Olaf who’s plaguing both their days and dreams.

It turns out that these people enact ridiculous rules and are hungry for power, which doesn’t seem like the VFD people they’re looking for, but their coming to the village bears its fruits, as they start finding clues in the form of message-coded poetry that reveals the location of their friends.

This book is a critical point both for the story and for the children’s lives, for they will no longer be assigned guardians by Mr. Poe, at least not in legal terms. They will be widely recognized as criminals, so they will eventually have to rely on their own to find answers and safety.

The ending is bittersweet and does not answer questions as much as it poses them. The mysterious atmosphere does not dissipate with this installment.

If anything, it only thickens and that is probably one of the best things about this series; it keeps readers both confused and gives them revelations bit by bit.