Book Review: “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children”

“Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #1)” by Ransom Riggs

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal

Source: Library

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

One of the biggest problems of really wanting a book is you build it up in your head. You see the book in all the stores. You read reviews by others who loved the book and the excitement continues to grow. When you finally get the book from the library, you just about pop from giddiness. What happens next typically goes in one of three ways: 1- the book is everything you dreamed it would be and you’re on cloud nine; 2-the book is terrible and you’re severely disappointed; and 3-the book is good but not like you were hoping. Well for me Miss Peregrine’s fell into the last category.

This book is solidly good. The story kept me hooked and wanting to read more. I finished it in about 36 hours because I didn’t want to put it down. The story itself was pretty original. I enjoyed the mythology of this world though some elements I still couldn’t understand by the end. Time travel is something I can never properly wrap my head around especially when everyone has a different take on it. I enjoyed Riggs’ writing style. I would definitely read more of his books in the future. I enjoyed the characters well enough. I never really loved anyone partly because I felt like I didn’t have a really good chance to get to know them. I guess that’s the problem with having as large of a ‘cast’ as this book has.

The book was good but there were some areas it fell a bit flat. Is it just me or were/are you under the impression this was supposed to be a ‘scary’ book? Well, it’s not scary….at all. Things were odd or a bit bizarre but never scary. Though I enjoyed the pictures quite a bit (and knowing that they were real pictures with very little manipulation made them cooler), I thought they felt a bit odd within the story. Did you ever do those projects in school where your teacher would give you a picture and you would have to write a short story about the picture? That’s kind of what the book felt like. The author came across some cool pictures and really wanted them in his story so he quickly wrote them into the story.

I’m not crazy about the ending but it’s set up for another book (maybe this is a part of a series?) so I will eventually get closure.

Rating 3.5/5

Not jaw droppingly fantastic but still a fun read.