Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk Publishing

Publication Date: June 7th, 2011

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious 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 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.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I wish I could say that I loved this book.  I wanted to love it.  I was really looking forward to reading it for quite some time.  I didn't love it.  I borderline didn't like it.  There were some things I liked about it, but there was so much more that I didn't. 

Let's start with the cover.  I loved it.  It was creepy-awesome and the picture that went with the story were equally great.  Honestly, that was one of the draws for me.  The story had real potential. It really did.  It was something different and the concept was great.  It just didn't flow right.  It started with a bang.  I was pretty into it for about the first 15% of the book, then it fizzled.  Every  time I sat down to read it I fell almost immediately asleep.  It was disjointed and confusing, and frankly, kind of boring.  Toward the end it picked up A LOT, and got very interesting (there is a big twist toward the end that left me saying,"Say WHAT?"), but by then it was too little, too late.  I did like the references to birds because I am an obsessive birder (I know, total nerd!).  Of course, that's not going to do much for most of you, so I wouldn't take that into account, but for me, it kept the book off of my "hate list".

Like I said, I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn't live up to my expectations.  I guess that has to happen sometimes...

My Rating:  ★ ★ 

Grade Level Recommendation:  I was thinking this would be a Middle Grade novel, but I was definitely wrong.  There's a good bit of cursing, and quite a bit of violence.  I would say ages 12+ (grade 7 and up).