Ranson Riggs
When Jacob was young his grandfather told him stories of a fantastic school for strange children, beset by monsters. The photographs of children with unusual abilities seemed to support his tale, but as Jacob got older he realized the photos were obviously doctored, and stopped listening to his grandfather's tall tales. But when Jacob's grandfather is murdered, Jacob sees something that forces him to reconsider everything he thought was true. He travels to the island where his grandfather lived as a child, but what he finds there, he never expected...
I was kind of disappointed in this book. I was expecting droll and creepy, and what I got was occasionally witty and not-as-unique-as-it-sounds. Not that it was a bad book - the story was decent enough - it just didn't live up to the hype.
Mostly Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was sort of like X-Men, but less fun and with time travel. At first I thought it was going to be really great - the beginning was pretty enjoyable - but the story got bogged down by exposition somewhere around when Jacob and his father arrived on the island. Then nothing really happened for a long time until the very end, when many things happened abruptly and nothing was really wrapped up. It felt like the book was laying the groundwork for a sequel, though on Goodreads it didn't look like it was part of a series.
The characters were fairly unremarkable as well. It was a little weird that Emma was in love with Jacob's grandfather and then decided she liked Jacob. There were a couple times that I thought people were acting out of character, which does tell you that there were distinct characters they could actually act out of. And I did sort of like the idea of the ymbrynes, though I thought they could have done a lot more with that, not to mention the unrealized potential of the hollows and wights.
I wouldn't say I disliked this book. It was entertaining enough for a rainy day. If you're bored one day and have nothing better to do, give it a try, but until then, leave it at the library.
Plot: 2 cupcakes
Characters: 3 cupcakes
Style: 3 cupcakes
Overall: 3 cupcakes
If you liked Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, try:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
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