Halloween Read-A-Thon Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

October 25, 2016

Halloween Read-A-Thon Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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.

(There are spoilers in this review but they have been clearly marked so)

Jacob is well quite a selfish, arrogant, rich spoilt brat who at most points in the story thinks that the world revolves around him. I understand that he's a teenager and hence can't be expected to act quite like an adult but I still couldn't really like him. I liked how he was portrayed in the prologue but didn't like him from the start of Chapter One. Jacob is not what one would call a relatable character. I couldn't relate to anything about him except for the fact that he loved and cared about his grandfather. Him being wealthy(conveniently) assists him at many points in the book during the beginning stages of the story.

The 'peculiar' children disappointed me. Their only role in the story is to be peculiar. We learn nothing else about them. Their personalities are shrouded by their 'peculiarities'. That's the only thing we know about them throughout the book.
*spoiler* If they are in a time loop, shouldn't they at least not 'act' like children? I expected them to be more adult-like but nooo..they act so childish that it's hard to believe they are actually around 80 years old. Despite the fact that they are stuck in a time loop, the children get to have different experiences each day and yet, mentally and personality-wise they stay the same as they were on September 3, 1940?Doesn't quite add up. *spoiler*

Emma reads as a forced in character for the sake of the 'romantic' element.
*spoiler* His Grandfather's girlfriend is now Jacob's? Forgive me if am not exactly jumping for joy at Jacob and Emma making out. *spoiler*

Miss Peregrine despite being the title character did not appeal to me. She seems like a common headmistress or matron in her personality and behavior.
*spoiler* The safe haven she's created for the children feels more like a prison. It is only normal that they want to know about the world in the future and wish for a life outside the loop. *spoiler*

The prologue did draw me in. The author creates a pretty intriguing mystery during the initial pages. The photographs add to the setting and plot of the story but yet feel like they've been awkwardly inserted. Maybe because the story has been written to accommodate them and not the other way around. But truthfully speaking, the plot did interest me and the photos gave me creepy & vintage feels. What I did not like is how the story seemed to drag in the middle. It felt almost monotonous. I expected some creepiness towards the end but was disappointed by the climax that ends in something of a cliffhanger. Overall it makes a decent adventure book (excluding the draggy parts) and I guess I have only myself to blame for expecting the book to be creepy. (I blame the cover for that!)

The writing was clear and the author creates powerful imagery. I could picture the whole story in my head while reading it so full points for that! The writing is not monotonous. I know that seems to contradict what I said about the story being monotonous but what am trying to say is, the monotony came from the story not having anything happening rather than the writing being bad. Does that make sense to you? It does to me.

- The prologue (I personally love prologues and feel they play a really important role in setting the tone of a story. This prologue was pretty awesome.)

- The outline of the plot

- The writing (wonderful imagery)

- The draggy and monotonous story in the middle

- The romantic element

- Majority of the characters

WILL I BE READING THE SEQUEL?

I believe I will because I do want to know what happens next. But the sequel is nowhere near the top of my TBR list.

It is a pretty decent adventure story that would probably appeal to younger readers. The premise is interesting but neither the story nor the climax is gripping. DO NOT pick up this book hoping for a creepy read. Despite the cover picture, the book is not a scary book.