"The Slippery Slope" By Lemony Snicket -- A Popsurfing Review of *** (Three Stars)

Just finished Book Ten in An Unfortunate Series of Events, namely "The Slippery Slope." Quite a step up from the last few. The series had -- perhaps unavoidably -- fallen into a bit of a rut. Plucky, resourceful orphans go to new location or are assigned to new guardians, Count Olaf shows up in disguise, no one believes them at all, and they escape in the nick of time.

Now, with the end in sight (Snicket has promised or threatened to deliver 13 volumes) he throws formula to the wind. All bets are off and the freeing sense of events (however unfortunate) coming to a climax powers the tale considerably.

The books must be treasured by schoolteachers, celebrating reading, words and definitions with clever wit as they do. I've rarely been more jealous of another writer (what a devastatingly simple idea -- the story of kids to whom everything awful is sure to befall told by an author who begs you not to read their tales of woe). Happily, my envy can increase since Snicket seems to be gathering strength for the grand finale. 3 out of 4 stars.