Reading Review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This book is completely different from others that I've read. Miss Peregrine's is so unique because it uses vintage photography with its story to illustrate characters, places, and events. This was the first book of its kind that I'd read, and I must say that so far it's been the best done that I've read. This book is really well done, and I can't wait to share my thoughts.


A horrific family tragedy sends Jacob 16 to a remote island off Wales, to the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, where he finds unusual old photographs. The children, one his grandfather, were more than peculiar, perhaps dangerous, quarantined for good reason - and maybe still alive.

I read this back in October, and you can see my initial thoughts in my very first Paper Worlds and Swirls of Ink post, my October Wrap Up. I thought that this book was going to be super creepy and a scary book, but honestly it's not. Instead, it's a really well written, historical fiction influenced book. There's a lot of amazing things to this book, and I gave it 4.5 stars.
Let's talk about the characters. There are quite a few in here, and I think that each character is unique in some way. Jacob, the protagonist, is an interesting sort. The beginning of this book is actually why it lost .5 stars. In the beginning, the book is so slow it's a little hard to read through. Jacob's life is pretty miserable, and his apathy about it makes it a slow start. Things aren't very exciting, and while it's well written, it's incredibly boring. However, things do pick up. The book itself is not a horror novel or a scary book, but there were some creepy moments with the villains in this book. So, once the book picks up after a boring beginning and a creepy moment, everything is exciting and fast paced. I loved the story- it was so unexpected. I didn't know exactly what this book was going to be about, and that's one thing that I appreciated about it, so I'm not going to go into the plot details. 
Avoiding spoilers, I think that this is a really fun book. If you haven't picked it up yet, then now is a great time to try it because the sequel, Hollow City, comes out January 14, 2014. When I initially saw that it was a 3 year gap between books, I was confused, but seeing as there have to be enough photos and perfectly matched to each section, it's understandable. Which reminds me, the photos in this book really add to the storyline. Ransom Riggs takes care to make sure that the details match up so that each picture complements the part of the story it's in, which I really appreciated about this and look forward to seeing more of in Hollow City. This is a great, unique book!

Find it on Goodreads    Check out the sequel (spoilers for the first book!)   
  Visit the Author's Website 

From a paper world,
V