Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Part of a series? Not really, but there is a companion novel.
Summary: 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 had wanted to read Miss Peregrine's for a long time before I actually got myself a copy and decided to read it. There are so many people who enjoyed this book and even some who raved about it, so I was actually really looking forward to it. But I'm sorry to say that this is one of those books that didn't really live up to the hype for me.
I first started it back in July. The beginning was interesting enough, but it wasn't as horrific as I thought it would. Not that death in a family isn't horrific, but I wanted creepy Halloween horrific and it wasn't giving it to me. I stopped about fifty pages in and set it aside for a couple months.
In those two months that I didn't read Miss P's, lots of things started pushing me to read it again. I had people telling me that I just needed to give it a chance and saying that I'd really like it, and that wasn't really enough for me to want to pick it up again. But Tim Burton was. I learned that Tim Burton is supposed to be directing the movie adaption! And then I picked up the book and started finishing it.
My feelings throughout the book remained mostly the same. It was slower than I would have liked, and there was no thrill factor for me. There were certain scenes that I went "Whoa, that's weird!", but I didn't get the creepy, goosebumpy adventure I was looking for. I can totally see how it would be terrifying as a movie, but the book didn't do it for me.
Also, the romance was off for me. Jacob and Emma annoyed me, and having the two of them get together didn't do much for the plot, in my opinion. It just felt unnecessary to me. Jacob's one redeeming factor was his whole issue finding where he fits in because I get that. Heck, I'm pretty sure everyone gets that.
I don't want to say that I didn't like this book because there were aspects that I actually did enjoy. Riggs's writing flowed well, to the point where it was almost lyrical at times. The whole concept of the Peculiars and the time travel-y loops is interesting, and the vintage photos included are awesome.
Overall, Miss Peregrine's isn't a bad book; I just don't think it was my style. The basic story worked, but the pacing didn't. I'm hoping that I'll like it as a movie more than I liked it as a book.
I first started it back in July. The beginning was interesting enough, but it wasn't as horrific as I thought it would. Not that death in a family isn't horrific, but I wanted creepy Halloween horrific and it wasn't giving it to me. I stopped about fifty pages in and set it aside for a couple months.
In those two months that I didn't read Miss P's, lots of things started pushing me to read it again. I had people telling me that I just needed to give it a chance and saying that I'd really like it, and that wasn't really enough for me to want to pick it up again. But Tim Burton was. I learned that Tim Burton is supposed to be directing the movie adaption! And then I picked up the book and started finishing it.
My feelings throughout the book remained mostly the same. It was slower than I would have liked, and there was no thrill factor for me. There were certain scenes that I went "Whoa, that's weird!", but I didn't get the creepy, goosebumpy adventure I was looking for. I can totally see how it would be terrifying as a movie, but the book didn't do it for me.
Also, the romance was off for me. Jacob and Emma annoyed me, and having the two of them get together didn't do much for the plot, in my opinion. It just felt unnecessary to me. Jacob's one redeeming factor was his whole issue finding where he fits in because I get that. Heck, I'm pretty sure everyone gets that.
I don't want to say that I didn't like this book because there were aspects that I actually did enjoy. Riggs's writing flowed well, to the point where it was almost lyrical at times. The whole concept of the Peculiars and the time travel-y loops is interesting, and the vintage photos included are awesome.
Overall, Miss Peregrine's isn't a bad book; I just don't think it was my style. The basic story worked, but the pacing didn't. I'm hoping that I'll like it as a movie more than I liked it as a book.
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