Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Published: June 7th, 2011

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

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.

I love love love LOVED the concept of this book. I thought it was a great idea and wonderful story line but I just do’t think it was executed quite the right way. It took me a couple tries to get into this book. I think I was a bit let down with the fact that the beginning and into the middle of the book were all just setting the story up and the there wasn’t much action happening anywhere except for when Jacob’s grandfather gets attacked. I found the rest to just be Jacob exploring as well as him and his therapist or talking about therapy. I didn’t think there was much to keep me interested.

The love interest was a no go for me. I couldn’t get over the fact of that love interest and for the sake of spoilers I’ll keep my mouth shut but….it’s just weird. It’s really weird when you think about it and I can’t get over it that. But other than that I loved each peculiar child. Although I think Millard was the best, I think each of them have a special certain something that makes them awesome! And I think the fact that Riggs placed those photos within the books really helped with the reading experience. It was something I’ve never encountered before and I really appreciated it!

I just didn’t really like the fact that a lot of the book was almost…predictable. Like I totally knew about the bird watcher once he showed up in the story and I could spot things from about a mile away. And I understand if it’s a few things here and there, but I basically figured out every potential “plot twist” a good while before it happened. It didn’t take me too long to read this book, and I think if this book took me longer to read I’d absolutely hate it but since I finished it in such a timely manner, I don’t think it was so bad! I’m really interested to see where it goes.