what in the actual heck

A Series of Unfortunate Events is masterful.

It pulls from all worlds of knowledge, all variations of literature, religions, philosophies, cultures, even cuisine. It’s not just a fictional story of a secret organization and some orphans, it’s a metaphor for censorship, for the corruption of the justice system, the neglect of the foster system, the questionable nature of public education, but the equally complex nature of sheltering yourself from harsh truths, even if those truths could also help you.

The morality of the neutrality of librarians (a phrase which here means, “whether or not a librarian should give a patron whatever they ask for, even if what they want is misinformation”). The endless search for answers in a confusing world. The rather bleak understanding that every generation basically acts the same way as the previous ones, unaware of the neverending cycle. If there are really such things as “good” and “bad” people. And the eventuality and unavoidability of death.

And Snicket, as the reader’s guide, never tells you what to think, only what certain terms mean, and leaves the reader to come to their own conclusions. He trusts our own intelligence.

I cannot properly convey how much I appreciate Daniel Handler for putting this series into the world.

BIG NEWS: we now have a fourth PC at the table.

The Patreon-exclusive fireside chat for Ep. 1 of Solari is out NOW!

a lot of good quotes from Brennan in this video, as always, but this one really got me.