After being disappointed with Lauren Oliver's Pandemonium, Liesl and Po reminded me just how good of a writer Oliver can be or is really. I don't know what happened with Pandemonium, but I assure you that this (L&P), Before I Fall & Delirium are three very well written books. 
 Liesl and Po reminded me greatly of The Series of Unfortunate Events, but of course, L&P is a much happier, brighter and hopeful story than TSoUE ever was. The illustrations were incredible and added a magical and special element to the narrative; the storytelling was superb and was such a joy to read. And oh the characters! Po and Bundle were such darlings! The villains were cliche and stereotyped, but it's a children's book, I expect it to be such and I enjoyed them nonetheless. 
 One thing that I'm still trying to understand is how Po and Bundle went beyond. I recalled that the reason why a ghost lingers on the Other Side was because it was still attached to the Living Side. By this logic, what where Po and Bundle still attached to? And how were they suddenly freed? Maybe it was answered in the book, and I just didn't get it. 
 Anyhow, the image of a golden Po (tan and curly-yellow hair!) and a golden Bundle (in their actual respective shapes!) was the highlight of my day. My love for them two is ... what's the word ... oh yeah ... ineffable.