Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Miss Peregrines's Home for Peculiar Children is an odd sort of book with quirky characters and an almost sci-fi time-travelicious plot. The story begins with Jacob Portman losing his much beloved Grandfather who had, for years, told Jacob stories of growing up on a magical island with friends that had strange gifts. Jacob was devastated by his loss and also by the manner of his death and the fact that nobody seemed to believe him. At times, he even questioned his own sanity. Following the request of his dying Grandfather's last words, Jacob makes his way to the island where his Grandfather grew up to see for himself what was real and what was just fairy tale. This is where his real adventure begins.

I've read so many wonderful reviews of this book, I may have had unrealistic expectations for it because I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The use of the incredible vintage photos to accent the story was wonderfully brilliant and were what I felt was the highlight of the book. The problem for me was, as peculiar as the children on the island were, they never really progressed much deeper than their particular oddity. I wanted to know more about each one of them but, while they were interesting enough, they were not quite as fully developed as I would have liked. I felt the same about the villains, I think their purpose was a little too vague and I would have liked a better understanding about the conflict between the two factions. The romance between Jacob and his love interest was fairly alarming and frankly a bit disgusting... and beyond that, it was not very believable as a relationship. I think if the book had been a bit longer so that the author could have further explored more of the characters, relationships, and plot, this book would have been a much better read for me.

All in all, I did LIKE the book, but I wanted to be overwhelmed like so many others felt about this unique novel. I will say that the presentation of the book itself and the use of the antique photo's were highly original and fascinating. The story kept me interested enough to continue and not simply put it down and although I wanted more, I enjoyed what was there.



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