I have very, very mixed feelings on this. At first, it was great, because I thought I'd be getting a more inside look on VFD, but instead, I got a very wired mystery that I didn't care for at all, with annoying characters. I kept reading because I loved the small references to A Series of Unfortunate Events. In the end, it went back to talking about VFD., but it was irritatingly vaguer than in the original series.

You should definitely read ASOUE before this because many things will go over your head if you don't, but be prepared for mysteries and not a lot of VFD.