Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: Supernatural Fantasy
Pages: 352 (hardback)
Series: I think the series of 2 is aiming to become a trilogy
Publisher: Quirk
Rating: 4.5 stars
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.
I have always been told to never judge a book by this cover, but in this case...how can you not? Both the spine, front cover and synopsis give off an eerie and creepily intriguing vibe that I found very hard to ignore. A great front cover is always a bonus for me, when it comes to books and here I certainly wasn't disappointed!
The first thing I loved about the book itself had to be its uniqueness. Never before have I come across a book quite like this one. The concept of 'monsters' and 'magic' combined with the ideas of Time and Family really gave the book a new edge. It was refreshing to find something so different yet so hooking.
This leads me on to the next thing that I really liked: I was completely and utterly gripped. Not once did I want to put this book down and when I'd finished I craved more. I think that for me, this always shows the signs for a truly good book. Ransom Riggs did a spectacular job of keeping the book fast-paced and action packed, yet didn't speed it along so quickly that it was hard to follow!
The characters in the book were really something. They all had certain qualities about them, which one can relate to or look up to. I found I grew to love each one of them all for their different reasons. (Especially the main character Jacob, who is extremely likeable.)
Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children also wasn't predictable! This is a factor I would hope contributes to all good books, yet I have often found that I'm screaming at the characters (Sometimes not just in my head) what is obviously going to happen...then a few chapters late...HALLELUJAH, they Finally figured it out! Here that certainly wasn't the case, which was somewhat refreshing.
The writing style was pretty beautiful if I'm honest. Again, I felt it was rather unique, with plenty of description, yet enough to leave some party time for your imagination. Ransom Riggs somehow managed to bring me close to tears, reduce my nails to stumps and have my heart pounding in a few pages. This is something that many authors fail to do, but was achieved in this book.
I've heard of people having mixed emotions about the mix of photography and writing in this book, for me I loved it. It again made the book unique and I felt that the photographs really linked in well with the story and made the peculiar bits even more peculiar, which is hard to do...(things get very peculiar!)
The reason why I gave the book 4.5 stars was because I really liked it, however, it didn't get a full blown 5 star rating because for me, it wasn't OMG THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!!!! (if you know what I'm saying). I also thought that We could have got to know a few of the characters a little more before the end of the book. I thought most of the characters were talked about in great depth, yet I feel that the book could have drawn a heck of a lot more emotion out of me if I had been given a little more of some characters that I could attach myself to.
The word that sums this book up is definitely unique. But I think one could probably settle for Peculiar or eerie. I highly recommend this book to YA readers and any fantasy lovers of any age...it was magnificent
Happy reading
Hebe x
No comments:
Post a Comment