Synopsis (Goodreads)
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.
A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
My Review
The first thing I'd like to say about this book is.... OH MY GOSH THE PICTURES! The book is filled with amazing genuine vintage photographs like the ones below:
They help to accentuate the darkness of the story. They send shivers up your spine. Some of the photos are purely disturbing or downright creepy. Others are actually kind of beautiful. Still some are poignant and emotional.
It has been argued by some that the writing would suffer without the pictures and that the writing relies on the pictures to be 'good'. I don't think this is totally true, but I wouldn't call them wrong either.
I agree with their points that the first scenes gives the reader all of the speed, scariness, shivers-down-your-spine awesomeness. And then... it kind of stops. It stops being scary and becomes one gigantic explanation. A romance grows and takes over the freaky vibe. Only towards the end does it start becoming a little scary again, but that has faded once again by the last pages.
So...uh... Riggs? Keep it scary :)
The sub plots began to swamp the scariness until it disappeared into an almost childish sort of plot. It feels like half of the bit in the middle could be taken out and make little or no difference to that actual book.
Other than that, Riggs is an eloquent writer most of the time and I didn't stop reading once- it really does keep you hooked.
All in all, I thought it was all good. I thought Riggs did a good job with making the children sound much older than they are- adding to the creepy, out-of-place theme Riggs was attempting to maintain.
The interactions between characters were good, to be honest. I enjoyed reading about the characters a lot.
So, long story short: This book is quite good (not exceptionally so) in all areas, but I feel that the theme established in the book could have been maintained throughout the whole novel and that the writing could have been a little more mature.
Because of all of this, I have decided to award this book:
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