Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Ransom Riggs

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.

+5 Cover Design

I actually love this cover. It's simple and really gets the idea of the book across. Typically pictures of people don't really work for me, but since the idea of this book heavily involves the use of photographs, I think it definitely works. 

+4 Writing Style

The writing itself didn't really stand out to me but what did stand out was the use of photos incorporated into the novel itself. There was small excerpt that outlined Ransom Riggs's writing process and the way he intertwined the process of creating this story with the process of finding the corresponding photos is just fascinating to me. 

+3 Plot Development

The plot moved at a strange pace and I'm not completely sure how I feel about it. So much of the novel is spent in introducing the characters and the world around Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children and so much of the plot is concentrated in the last two chapters. It wasn't bad plot development, just uneven plot development.

+2 Character Relations

I think my biggest problem with this book was the character relationships, especially that between the protagonist and his parents. There seemed to be a theme throughout the book that Jacob's parents worried about him and loved him, but Jacob's behavior near the end of the book didn't reciprocate that at all. I just didn't feel like the relationships portrayed had any depth to them.  

+1 Character Development

I didn't really see any character development in any of the characters really. The span on the book only stretched three weeks, which isn't that much time, but I hope in the next couple of books we see some growth in Jacob as a character. 

+3 Likability of Protagonist

I didn't love Jacob. He was pretty much like every other male protagonist. Somewhat whiny, kinda dramatic and just generally meh. I didn't outright hate him, but there wasn't anything about him I really loved. 

+4 Necessity of Minor Characters

The importance of the minor characters was what made this book. The pictures and the "powers" were what made this book interesting and different. I really hope Jacob was just a path into this world and in the next few books we focus more on the other characters and their perspective throughout all of this. 

+4 Setting Description

I think the description of the setting was one of the best things done in this book, after the writing format of course. It was easy to follow and descriptive but not descriptive to the point of being overwhelming. 

+3 Interesting Storyline

Again, I didn't hate the storyline but I also didn't love it. It was interesting in some aspects but the pace was uneven like I mentioned before. I hope it picks up soon but as of now I don't have really high expectations. 

+4  Predictability

Thankfully there were plot twists to keep the storyline interesting. 

+50 Finished

Final Total: 83/100 ; B

Overall I've heard a lot of hype behind this book and for some reason it just didn't meet my expectations. It's definitely not as scary as it's made out to be, but there are many people who have thoroughly enjoyed this book and this series, so give this book a try and let me know what you think!