Reviews

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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emmettpm's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

2.5

It's.... fine.
I really love the concept of this book, which is why I think I'm extra bitter that the execution was so poor. The pacing was pretty rough right off the bat, I think LOTS could have been cut (including a full like 25% of the first act.) Every scene that was supposed to be high energy and fast-paced was constantly ground to a halt for all of the characters to be able to turn to one another and argue about what to do next and why they should do that and if its really the best course of action and how do you KNOW its the best course of action??? I understand the feeling that you want to make your story as realistic as possible, but you're not trying to be realistic, you're trying to tell a compelling story.
I also felt like none of the characters were particularly charming(least of all the love interest), though they were trying really hard to be. Basically all of the dialogue fell flat for me. (they're actually old so they're talking in old-timey speak! isn't that funny??!!)

(also not to be that guy but making your whimsical fantasy monsters doing a genocide at the same time as the holocaust and calling them... hollowgasts?????? just sort of seems like its in incredibly poor taste to me idk.)

Definitely a bummer because I know for a fact if I had read this when I was 11 or 12 and didn't have as much to compare it too I would have absolutely eaten this up. Unfortunately I think the window is starting to close on my enjoying middle grade/YA books...

keipotato's review against another edition

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3.0

3.8
This made me miss horror movies of "realistic" settings with supernatural elements. It's got US YA horror vibes. the photos helped a lot with imagining and getting into the story more.

just it took way too long for things to happen and it being in the first perspective with one narrator, and a boy protagonist wasn't helping, gladly I got over it as more characters appeared.
And.. Emma confused me.
Also, the historical vibe isn't something I'm familiar with in fiction, the author only mentioned a part of the truth of history regarding Jews sufferings, that nobody ever accepted them which is not true. but it's certainly cool how he portrayed this whole thing and hopefully, this wouldn't justify any horrible people hurting others for the sake of tragedy. May every good soul live peacefully, amen.

I came from The Tales of the Peculiar so the setting took me off guard at first. Tho it got better and hmm now I'm curious what would happen.

Overall, I enjoyed this.

ravenous_bookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

chrys_marin's review against another edition

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3.0

16-year-old Jake is tired of his very ordinary life--but that changes the day his grandfather, the person he loved the most, is murdered. He decides to go on a trip to the European island where his grandfather was raised during WWII and find whether the fantastical stories his grandfather told him about a set of peculiar children are actually true. But what he ends up discovering turns out to be much more than what he bargained for.

I found out after I read the book that the author based the story on a series of old shots he had found in flea markets. I think that made me appreciate the story a bit more: the pictures were so uncanny, sometimes it was hard to look at them. It's kind of fun to think that he came up with the characters as he looked at this very old, strange pictures.

Otherwise, I think the story is nice but definitely more aimed at children. The writing is not great and for a book that is called "Miss Peregrine's house of peculiar children" it takes more than half of the book to actually meet the peculiar children. 3 starts for originality, but not sure if I would read the sequels.

mandeekay's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the story. I thought it was very creative and I loved the setting of the loop. The main issue keeping me from giving this book more stars were the characters. They didn't have any depth, particularly Jacob. I didn't feel any connection to him whatsoever. The peculiar children were definitely more interesting than Jacob, but there wasn't much to them beyond what made them peculiar. Overall, it was a fun read and I'll probably finish the series.

kim_j_dare's review against another edition

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3.0

After his grandfather is brutally murdered, nobody will believe Jacob when he says he saw the monster that did it. Thinking that he is suffering psychological trauma, his father finally agrees to take him to Wales, where his grandfather grew up in a children's home during World War II. When they get there, Jacob discovers that the "peculiar children" of his grandfather's photos are still alive, stuck in a time loop in which they relive the same day over and over again. Jacob is drawn to the children-- will he return to his own world or will he remain witht them to fight the Whites that are trying to abolish peculiars?