Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
358 pages
Hard copy edition
From the Publisher:
A mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very curious photographs.
It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
Review:
Generally, I am not a ghost story or suspense kinda person. I don’t even read a lot of mystery books. I tend to keep it kinda light in that department, but every fall I do enjoy reading at least one good (what I consider) Halloween book. This year, with the movie coming out, I thought it was finally time I decided to see what Miss Peregrine’s book was all about.
To be honest, I have downloaded the sample a few times in the past and had a hard time getting into the story. But I watched the trailer and after seeing that I was finally interested in reading the book and could get into the story. I don’t often say that – I watched the movie trailer first and then decided to read the book – I can only remember one other book that I’ve done that with, but in some cases, it totally works and I end up really liking the book.
This book was okay to me. It wasn’t as creepy as I thought it would be. Even the pictures in the book really didn’t bother me Maybe I didn’t let it get to me as much, but I didn’t have a problem reading it late at night and I didn’t get any strange dreams. My husband, however, read it too, and he said it seemed super creepy! He kept saying “Did you see those pictures?!” haha!
The characters were fun and interesting. I felt like Jacob was a good main character, but reminded me a little bit like Seth in Fablehaven, in that he will do what he wants no matter what. He was pretty head strong. And the ending of the book was full of action. I almost felt like every bit of action was saved for the last 30 pages.
One thing that I didn’t love about this book was I felt there was a good deal of language for a young adult book. I’m not a huge fan of a young adult book that has a lot of language and a lot of sex. I feel like I should be able to hand it to my kids and not worry about them feeling uncomfortable. This book was border line for me. I think my 12 year old would really love this book, but I have warned him that it does have some language – and he would just need to skip or skim through it. It isn’t horrible and it really didn’t bother me, but I really wish it wouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Overall it was a fun book and a pretty good read. It does end with a cliffhanger, which isn’t really a horrible spoiler, since this is the first book in a trilogy. I might read the next couple books. But I didn’t out and get them to read right away. I do think I’ll watch the movie, but mostly because I think my kids would enjoy it too.
Final Score:
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