The End (novel)

Plot

The book opens with the Baudelaire orphans and Count Olaf on a boat heading away from the Hotel Denouement. After a storm, the Baudelaires are welcomed on an island by a girl named Friday, while Count Olaf is shunned. The island facilitator, Ishmael, introduces the Baudelaires to the islanders and their customs.

After the storm, Kit Snicket and a friendly snake known as the "Incredibly Deadly Viper" (which first appeared in The Reptile Room) are shipwrecked on the island. Count Olaf disguises himself as Kit Snicket. However, the islanders immediately see through Olaf's disguise and capture him. They then debate whether the orphans should be expelled from the colony when they discover that the Baudelaires are carrying items which go against the island's customs. The children, along with Olaf, end up abandoned on the coastal shelf.

The Baudelaires notice an object that fell out of Ishmael's robe, which is an apple core. Olaf explains that Ishmael has been lying to the islanders and breaking their customs in secret. That night, two of the islanders, Erewhon and Finn, sneak out to feed the children and ask them to join a mutiny against Ishmael in the morning. They ask the Baudelaires to go over to the arboretum where all the contraband items are collected, and find or make some weapons to use in the rebellion. The children set off for the arboretum and find a hidden room within a tree at the center of the arboretum. They find a book with writing in the handwriting of their mother, but Ishmael arrives and interrupts them. They learn that their parents were once the island's leaders and were responsible for many improvements meant to make island-life easier and more pleasant, but they were eventually overthrown by Ishmael. The Baudelaires find an enormous history of the island, titled A Series of Unfortunate Events, written by the many different people who had served as island leaders.

The Baudelaires and Ishmael go back to the other side of the island, where the mutiny is already underway. Count Olaf returns, still in disguise. Ishmael harpoons Olaf in the stomach, inadvertently shattering the helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium, which infects the island's entire population. While Count Olaf bleeds to his death, the Baudelaires run back to the arboretum to try to find some horseradish to cure everyone. They gather hybridized apples for the other islanders, only to discover that the island people have abandoned the mutiny and boarded their outrigger canoe, ready to set sail. Ishmael refuses to allow the apples on board. Ishmael promises that he will save the islanders by sailing to a horseradish factory, which is close to impossible because of the amount of time needed to travel, although the Incredibly Deadly Viper is hinted to have smuggled an apple on board.

At this point, Kit is about to go into labor. She seems to be dying of the fungus, but cannot eat the bitter apple due to the hybrid's unhealthy effects on unborn babies. When the critically injured and fungus-choked Olaf hears that she is still alive, he takes a bite of an apple and manages to get her safely down onto the beach. He kisses Kit and dies soon after. The Baudelaires help Kit give birth to a baby girl. Kit then dies due to the Medusoid Mycelium, after requesting that the orphans name the baby after their mother Beatrice. The Baudelaires spend the next year taking care of Kit's daughter, occasionally visiting the graves of Kit and Olaf.

The book ends with a short epilogue titled "Chapter 14" that is set about one year after the previous events. After reading an entry from their parents, the Baudelaires decide to leave the island with Beatrice in order to honor their parents' wishes. A three-year-old Sunny has gained the ability to speak in complete sentences. Despite their fears about the outside world, the children prepare a boat and supplies for their journey back to the mainland. Lemony Snicket admits that he is unsure about the fate of the children; speculating that the Baudelaires may have rejoined the VFD or perished at sea.

Critical reception

Henry Alford of The New York Times said, "Handler serves up his trademark blend of goofball humor and suspense... The End may not reach the comic highs of, say, The Austere Academy ...But it’s more suspenseful than the other books." The novel did get some criticism, however, particularly regarding the unsolved mysteries the novel had introduced throughout the years, including the fates of several characters.

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