I probably wouldn't have picked up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs immediately if it hadn't been for my favorite author, John Green, highly praising it in his video blog. Not only that, but it skyrocketed to the top of the New York Time's Best Seller's list. I'll just say that my expectations for this book were extremely high. And I was not disappointed.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children tells the story of a sixteen year old boy named Jacob who, after witnessing the awful (and slightly graphic) death of his grandfather, he sets off to better understand his grandfather's last words to him. He finds himself on a journey to a small Welsh island, searching for the remarkable orphanage his grandfather grew up in. The stories that his grandfather told of the orphanage leave Jacob a bit skeptical about the whole thing, but with old photos in tow, he sets off to uncover the truth of his grandfather's childhood and find out just who these strange children in the photos are. What he finds might just prove to be more dangerous then he could have ever imagined.
I will be honest and tell you that for the first eighty pages or so, I was a bit scared by this book. The mystery of who these children are, mixed with the eerie and authentic photographs, left me a bit...uneasy. The thing was, I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to know who these children where and why were they so peculiar. By the time I was halfway through the book, I found myself excited when I stumbled across another picture in the book. They added so much to the plot of the book, because as Jacob was finding the pictures, so was I. It brought me into the book more and more. As for the characters, I couldn't help but love Jacob. He was an outsider, only had one friend in the world and didn't really have a definite path in life except to work for the family business, something it is very clear he has no interest in being a part of. He wants to badly to believe that what is grandfather is saying is true and when he finds that it is, it's really satisfying, not just for him, but for me. The peculiar children, despite having gifts beyond the imaginable, they are surprisingly easy to believe. They have layers to them, secrets that are hidden within them and stories they wish they could forget. They hold within them with ancient aura, yet uphold their childishness with ease. It makes me want to get to know them more. I wanted to know more about them, what other peculiar children were there and what amazing gifts did they have.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next and although there were instances when I had to re-read a sentence or would crack a smile at something a bit cheesy, I loved the idea. I wanted all of my books to have surprise pictures in them, something I could look forward to as I read. I began to love the strange children in the photos and I was right beside Jacob as he not only discovers the truth, but finds where he belongs. My only complaint about the entire book was the ending and that was only because I wanted to know what happened next. They row away in their boats and then what? The end. Where do they go? What becomes of the children? If this book has a sequel, I will be in line at midnight to go buy it because this was a book that had be on my toes until the very end and sent me flying over the edge, looking for what came next.
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