Book Review | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

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synopsis.

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.
 (Good Reads

my thoughts.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this book. I’ve heard a lot of people rave about it, but honestly, not too much in the way of details (which is the way I like to go into books) so I was (pleasantly) surprised by where and when the book started. 

Can we talk about the opening sentence: I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.

Just like that, we, the reader, are introduced to the world of Jacob Portman and his relationship with his Grandfather, and his Grandfather’s relationship with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children where he had stayed as a young man escaping the war. Jacob’s Grandfather has spent his life sharing the stories of his time among these peculiar children through curious photographs that Jacob has never really believed to be real.

After tragedy strikes, Jacob sets out to find Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children on an island off the coast of Wales to unravel the stories his grandfather shared with him as a child and in doing so meets an array of strange and peculiar individuals who unique talents and abilities. He forms friendships with many of them amid a magical world that he’d previously thought fiction. Meanwhile the world itself holds dangers of its own and these soon come to head.

This book is beautifully written and the old black and white photos interspersed throughout the book add additional dimension to a story that can be magical and mysterious and spooky in turns, but remains, at its heart a story of a young man finding his path in the world.

Also, on an aesthetic note, this edition of the book (linked below) is just stunning. The paper quality and feel is amazing and the book is heavy and the weight of the book compliments the weight of the story. (5 stars on a well designed book!)

 I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

author // Ransom Riggs
publisher // Quirk Books
genre // Young Adult, Fantasy
publication date // August, 2013
format // Paperback



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