Honestly, I was a little nervous when I heard Netflix was producing a TV show based on the popular children’s books, “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” To say that I love this series of 13 novels is a huge understatement — it was the first fictional series I ever read and a staple of my childhood.

So at midnight on Jan. 13, I hovered my finger above the Netflix icon for the show and hoped that it would do justice to author David Handler’s (pseudonym Lemony Snicket) fantastic and terrifying tale of the Baudelaire children.

“A Series of Unfortunate Events,” a steampunk and gothic fictional series, follows the adventure of the three Baudelaire orphans whose parents died in a fire. They are the victims of the scheming, terrible stage actor Count Olaf, who is after the enormous fortune that the Baudelaire children have inherited. Over the course of 13 books, the Baudelaire children face every possible misfortune after their parents’ death and can rely only on the hope that they will one day escape the clutches of Count Olaf.

Everything from the narration to the set design exceeded my expectations for this Netflix original. Patrick Warburton, who plays the narrator Snicket, captures the morose and intellectual tone of the book’s narration, often telling the audience to stop watching and providing vocabulary definitions when he enters a scene. On top of this, the steampunk set designs perfectly match the descriptions in the novels with its anachronistic technological inventions and the vintage outfits of the characters, adding  a bit of the absurdity that accompanies the series.

Unlike the disappointing 2004 film adaptation of the series, which merged the first three books in 1.5 hours, the TV series is much more comprehensive. With each 45-minute episode covering only half of one book, there is plenty of time for the screenwriters to include almost every detail — and they did.

The only disappointing aspect of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is the too brief coverage of the background plotline about the secret society, V.F.D. To me, this background plot either should have been included in full-depth or not included at all because it disrupted the flow of the main plotline, the Baudelaire children.

What amazed me most about the series, though, was the top-notch acting. In the books, the Baudelaire children, despite the horrific events thrown at them, turn to hope and intelligence to face the adults corrupted by society. The actors Malina Weissman, who plays the eldest sibling Violet Baudelaire, and Louis Hynes, who plays the middle sibling Klaus Baudelaire, encapsulate this mellow and intelligent attitude depicted in the novels.

Nonetheless, my eyes turned to the jaw-dropping acting of Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Olaf. His ability to completely change personas every two episodes, including accents and facial expressions, is simply stunning and fulfills what my imagination always thought Olaf would be like in real life.

Even for diehard fans who have read the books over and over again, the show still seizes their attention through its blend of pessimism and dark humor and becomes addictive. Although I am a second-semester senior, I established a committed relationship with Netflix and finished the series in three days, I suggest everyone take some time off to watch Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”