Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Genre: science fiction, fantasy
Series and Book #: unknown*
Pages: 352
Synopsis:

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very peculiar 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 Miss Peregrine’s 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.

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Alright, I admit it: I was afraid of this book before I got it. At first, I was like, Oh, this sounds cool. When I was at the book store, I picked it up, flipped through it, and chickened out. But then I saw a post on Beth Revis's blog that featured Miss Peregrine's, and I bought it immediately. Such a freakish, exciting, mysterious book! The vintage photography really made the book seem all the more real as well.

Jacob was a character that was sarcastic, but he had a great love for his grandpa. Even though he'd long since knew his grandpa's tales were false (or so he thought) he loved his grandfather even though his parents thought he'd slipped away mentally. When his grandfather dies, Jacob feels as if he didn't know his grandfather as well as he thought. He goes off to a small island in search of the orphanage. I thought Ransom took awhile getting to the point when Jacob finally decided to go to the island, and to find Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Ransom built this excellent world around the peculiars. From Miss Peregrine herself, to all the children and their abilities, including Jacob's, each peculiarity is unique and their lifestyles are equally different from our world. I found myself intrigued by the tiny details that Ransom added to make everything realistic.

Overall, so glad I had the guts to get this book. I wouldn't recommend reading it at night, though. As much as it is interesting, I did have difficulty getting the photos and the pictures of the monsters out of my head. It wasn't like a complete horror novel but it definitely had the scary factor. Ransom has made a winner, and I hope there's a sequel. I felt that the book left a door open for another novel.

The Cover: Effective. Very effective. The cover caught my attention before I even heard about it!

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