Amazon.com: Austere Academy (9781405249577): Books

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Lemony Snicket claims he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. He is the author of several other unpleasant stories, including those in the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lump of Coal.

Customer Reviews

254 Reviews

5 star:		(170)
4 star:		(66)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (254 customer reviews)

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best So Far In Series, July 11, 2001

By

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5) (Hardcover)

I have to admit as much as I've enjoyed these books, by the fourth I was getting a little bored. The structure would stay the same, the victims names would just change. I was so glad then to find the fifth book expanding and bringing in new characters who look like they could be around in future books. Mr Poe packs Violet, Klaus , and Sunny off to a horrible boarding school that has ridiculous rules. Of course you wait to see when the evil Count Olaf will rear his head, but the distraction in the book comes from the addition of two children the same age as Violet and Klaus who become their friends. It gives the series new places to go and breaks the normal story outlines. It's also the longest so far but for me it read the fastest. If you've liked the other books in the series you can be sure you'll like this one as well.

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightfully miserable continuation!, July 1, 2000

By

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5) (Hardcover)

The lives of the three Baudelaire orphans - fourteen-year-old Violent, twelve-year-old Klause, and baby Sunny - continue along their miserable path in The Austere Academy, the fifth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Their latest home is at Prufrock Preparatory School, headed by the nasty Vice Principal Nero, who gives dreaful six-hour violin recitals nightly. Forced to live in a miserable shack, the children only encounter one bright spot - they make friends with two other orphans. But nothing good lasts long if you are the Baudelaires - Count Olaf is in disguise at the school, planning to steal their fortune. I highly reccomend this addition to the series. It is one of the most delightful - eh, miserable - so far.

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bleak, depressing, and wonderful..., August 5, 2000

By

Mara (Champaign, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5) (Hardcover)

The Austere Academy, fifth in A Series of Unfortunate Events, will not disappoint fans of the books. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are stuck at a nightmarish boarding school, where they are made to live in a shack that includes territorial crabs, a strange tan fungus, and truly hideous wallpaper. Added to this are incredibly dull classes and a headmaster who cannot play the violin but insists on doing so anyway...for six hours a night at an all-school concert. If only these were the worst of the Baudelaires' problems, they could finally consider themselves lucky. But, alas, the fiendish Count Olaf has tracked them down yet again. Once again the Baudelaires must try to discover his evil plan in time to save themselves and their fortune. Along the way there are more clues about Lemony Snicket's mysterious lady love, the charming and beautiful but unfortunately deceased Beatrice...A great read, but be warned that the ending is a cliffhanger that will leave you feeling very impatient to get your hands on the next volume!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this first!!!
The Austere Academy is the 5th book. If you haven't read this book and you are not sure if you should read this book, you should read it because it has alot of more protagonist... Read more

Published 17 days ago by JollyRanch

5.0 out of 5 stars series of unfortunate events
#5 the Austere Academy
One of the best books i`ve ever read. Sometime they start boring. But keep reading they keep getting better and better. Thank you Lemony Snicket!

Published 24 days ago by A. Colorito

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
A Series of Unfortunate Events 5: The Austere Academy / 9780061757174

I first came to this series after watching the tie-in movie "Lemony Snicket's a Series of... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Ana Mardoll

5.0 out of 5 stars Book In excellent condition
I recieved the book quickly and was pleased to see it was in excellent condition. I would buy from this seller again.

Published 12 months ago by hea_2-sta

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book
I really loved this book. It was the best book in the entire series, I don't know why, maybe it's because the Quagmire Triplets were mostly in this book. Read more

Published 17 months ago

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed.
After having read the first five books of this series one after the other, I find I'm rather depressed. It was nice for the orphans to have made some friends, however. Read more

Published 17 months ago by E. S. Charpentier

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastincly Awesome
I got this book for Christmas, and it was very good. It came in perfect condition, and very fast shipping. Read more

Published 22 months ago

5.0 out of 5 stars The Austere Academy: A review
This book by Lemony Snicket, is an amazing book about three orphans whose parents die in a horrible fire. Read more

Published on January 12, 2010

5.0 out of 5 stars Memento Mori
This is the fifth book in the series. If you just picked it up you should start from the first book as the story builds on each previous book. Read more

Published on December 17, 2009 by bernie

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Much Learning Going On
THE SETUP

The series setup is that the parents of Violet, Kraus, and infant Sunny were killed in a fire, which destroyed their home and made them orphans. Read more

Published on November 1, 2009 by Stoney

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
If you were going to give a gold medal to the least delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn't give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
noisy shoes, brown lawn, luminous circle, advanced computer system, running laps, hee hee hee, comprehensive exams

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Coach Genghis, Count Olaf, Vice Principal Nero, Carmelita Spats, Orphans Shack, Prufrock Prep, Room Two, Special Messenger, Memento Mori, Special Orphan Running Exercises

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