Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

“They were orphans of war, washed up on that little island in a tide of blood. What made them amazing wasn't that they had miraculous powers; that they had escaped the ghettos and gas chambers was miracle enough.” ― Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
Jacob Portman grew up on his grandfather's stories. Stories of surviving World War 2 by escaping to a mysterious island off the coast of Wales where he met all sorts of peculiar children with special abilities. At sixteen, Jacob hasn't believed the stories in a long time, but that's about to change when his grandfather is murdered by a monster. Now everyone thinks Jacob is losing his mind and his only chance at proving them wrong is to go in search of the boarding school where the the students are most peculiar.

As far as concepts go, I thought Ransom Riggs executed his beautifully. Picking out a selection of haunting photographs, to accompany a brave selection of haunted "peculiar" characters. The tension in the plot was thick, each new unanswered question leaving the hints of paranoia and curiosity in the forefront of the mind. The story wraps up with an explosive war scene and a life changing decision by the hero of the story. This is not just "another young adult novel", it's an adventure I'd encourage anyone of any age to read. Embrace the peculiarity.

 Rating 4/5
Review originally posted:
May 03, 12

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to leave me your thoughts! I try to respond to all comments and questions, so come back soon!

Popular posts from this blog

Top Ten Literary Animal Friends

Image
Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl ) was listed as 'Relationship Freebie'. I went with Top Ten Literary Animal Friends. 1. Despereaux - from the The Tale of Despereaux  by Kate DiCamillo 2. Black Beauty - from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 3. Manchee - from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness 4. Buck - from The Call of the Wild by Jack London 5. Hedwig - from Harry Potter by JK Rowling 6. Athansor - from Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin 7. Ned - from Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques 8. Rosie - from Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 9. Richard Parker - from Life of Pi by Yann Martel 10. Jaws - from Jaws by Peter Benchley. (Okay, so this fish didn't make many friends but how cool would it be to have a shark friend. You'd have a swimming buddy for life, and someone to feed your enemies to...) Do you have any favorite animal characters?
Read more

The Sunday Post

Image
   Happy Sunday! Welcome to my Sunday Post, a weekly blog news meme hosted by  caffeinatedbookreviewer . My blog is on the small side, so I decided I'll only be posting the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The month of February has been eventful. I've had some wild weather in my neck of the woods: real feel listed as 11 degrees one day, switching to 60s and endless rain, and then to dry windstorms that brought trees down. I successfully managed not to freeze, drown, or fly. I became an aunt to a beautiful niece, who just narrowly escaped being a leap year baby, and I'm pretty excited about her arrival. My Kindle Touch was finally lost to the ravages of time but was replaced swiftly with a Kindle Paperwhite. I also reviewed the following stories: Lethal White by Robet Galbraith Training Strategies for Dressage Riders by Charles de Kunffy What Feasts at Night by T.Kingfisher (just released!) Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith I originally planned to ...
Read more

Top Ten Books I Was Assigned to Read in School

Image
Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is all about Books I Was Assigned to Read in School. I've been a lifelong avid reader, but I was always that student that once a story was assigned, I was unlikely to want to read it. Like accidental reverse psychology, I can count on one hand the number of books assigned that I actually liked... three of which made today's list. 1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - I've read 2 Steinbeck novels, this one, and The Red Pony  and I hated them both. I don't get the fascination with him. 2. Animal Farm by George Orwell - This is about communist pigs, if you like that sort of thing which I didn't. 3. The Outsiders by SE Hinton - I know a lot of people absolutely love this book, I'm just not one of them. 4. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - I was too young to be reading a story this upsetting. 5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - This was also upsetting. 6. The Eye in the Door by Pat ...
Read more