Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #1), by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #1), by Ransom Riggs
★★★ ½

Synopsis: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of peculiar photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, 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 decaying bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that Miss Peregrine’s 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.
In A Sentence: An enjoyable read with unique qualities

My Thoughts: For some reason I kept thinking of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes while I was reading this, at least in the beginning. It was definitely that kind of read: a thriller novel with a dash of horror. It was also a young adult novel, and it read like one. What I mean is, it was simply written, with little depth to either the plot or characters. It was relatively fast-paced and fun to read, but the parts of the plot are kind of predictable.
Like many YA novels, the concept of the novel was interesting. I did like the inclusion of bizarre antique photos that were peppered throughout the story (some were downright creepy), and I thought the idea of the plot was entertaining and fairly original. While this wasn’t an amazing piece of literature that would stand up with the works of Bradbury and Stephen King, I still thought it was an enjoyable bit of reading. It’s also the first installment of a trilogy, maybe even a series, I don’t know. I would certainly recommend reading this book, but be prepared to read more than one novel regarding this paranormal universe.


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