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

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 352pages

Published June 7th 2011 by Quirk

Synopsis:

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.

My Thoughts

I’m behind the times! This book has been on my TBR since it came out, and I even stayed away from the movie so I really had no idea what this book was about when I began reading.

The plot wasn’t at all what I was expecting, granted I didn’t read the synopsis to refresh myself. Oops. But when I saw it available in my Libby app, I took a chance on it.

Did I miss out on anything? I don’t think so. I wasn’t a fan of this book, but here is why. The plot was interesting enough-boy has a unique relationship with grandfather; the grandfather has a mystery surrounding him; the event happens and propels grandson to uncover things about his grandfather and in doing so meets new/peculiar people. All of it sounds interesting, and the idea really is, the peculiarities are interesting, too. Howeverrrrr, this book was drawn out to the extreme in preparation for the series, and when I say drawn out… I mean if I wasn’t listening to someone actually read the book I would have DNF this.

The characters? I wasn’t keen on ANY of them. Jacob was a puke, and I was disconnected from all of the characters except the grandfather.. 😐

The saving grace here was the actual idea for the plot. I won’t be continuing the series.