In The Vile Village, the Baudelaires are now being cared for by an entire village... but not really. They get to do all the chores of the entire village, while living with the village handyman, Hector. We can almost get our hopes up about Hector - he's a secret rebel against the ridiculous rules of the Village of Fowl Devotees - unfortunately he's also another adult in the Baudelaire's lives with not much of a backbone. We know better by now anyway - even though Hector finds a way to escape the vile village, and even save a couple deserving souls along with him, it's just not meant to be for the Baudelaires.

As we're halfway through the series, the children have learned enough from the miserable world they're trapped in that they can only count on themselves, and choose to stick together even if it's on their own. Between the mystery of VFD, the precarious well-being of the Baudelaires and the Quagmires, and knowing Count Olaf isn't the only person out there with the Eye tattoo, I think I'm fully invested in the storyline. If I read this far the first time I was reading the series as a kid, this must have been the last book I did read, and I'm very excited to pick up the clues and details in the remainder of the series.