Get our Best Book Club Books of 2025 eBook!

What readers think of The Austere Academy, plus links to write your own review.

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

The Austere Academy

Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 5

by Lemony Snicket
  • Readers' Rating (60):
  • First Published:
  • Aug 1, 2000, 208 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Apr 2008, 240 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews

Page 8 of 8
There are currently 61 reader reviews for The Austere Academy
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

kennedy

i think it is cool because i like the part when Sunny hit the crows eye and it was a switch and the beak of the crow opened. Duncan and esedora came out of the beak because the were captured by Count olaf.
Power Reviewer
Cloggie Downunder

often hilarious
The Austere Academy is the fifth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author, Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler). As we once again join the unlucky Baudelaire orphans, Mr Poe deposits the siblings at a boarding school, the Prufrock Preparatory School, with an advanced computer that will protect them from Count Olaf. Or will it? Having already suffered the loss of their parents, the threat of marriage, slave labour, hypnosis, and the murder of their Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine at the hands of the evil Count Olaf and his nefarious assistants, the siblings are ever-vigilant of his reappearance. Luckily these well-mannered and uncomplaining children are also very resourceful: Violet invents, Klaus reads and Sunny bites. Snicket’s tone throughout is apologetic, sincere and matter-of-fact as he relates the unfortunate events in the children’s lives; his imaginative and even surreptitiously educational style will hold much appeal for younger readers. Snicket’s word and phrase definitions are often hilarious. This installment, the orphans manage to make friends with two triplets who are in a similar situation. But it isn’t enough to save them from horrible living conditions, enduring boring lessons and nasty teasing classmates, or in Sunny’s case, secretarial duties, as well as cruel punishments like torture by violin recital, toe-nipping crabs and nightly running exercises. Violet turns her inventing skills to staple manufacture, Klaus manages to read important notes without his glasses and Sunny’s vocabulary seems to be improving. The alliterative titles are a delight and Brett Helquist provides his usual wonderfully evocative illustrations. What will happen to the orphans now that they have been expelled? No doubt the sixth installment, The Ersatz Elevator, will reveal all.
freakshow23

i am disgraced by this book!its the most horrible book ive ever read its soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo horrible i can't believe something so horrible had been ever written if you love it this is what i say to you, READ SOMETHING ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SOMEONE

I REALLY HATED THIS BOOK WORST ONE YET!!!
Kelly

Lemony snicket or should i say Daniel Handler Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Real Americans
    by Rachel Khong
    From the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, a novel exploring family, identity, and the shaping of destiny.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Fairbanks Four
    by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue

    One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.

  • Book Jacket

    The Seven O'Clock Club
    by Amelia Ireland

    Four strangers join an experimental treatment to heal broken hearts in Amelia Ireland's heartfelt debut novel.

  • Book Jacket

    One Death at a Time
    by Abbi Waxman

    A cranky ex-actress and her Gen Z sobriety sponsor team up to solve a murder that could send her back to prison in this dazzling mystery.

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

Who Said...

In war there are no unwounded soldiers

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

A C on H S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.