Novel Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) by Ransom Riggs

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Paranormal

Publisher: Quirk Books

Release Date: 2011

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads 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.

The Cover:

I do quite like this cover. I think it sets the right mood, and I like that it's using one of the old pictures to show one of the characters in the story. I think it fits really well, and I like the font and the set-up. It's intriguing at first glance.

Review:

This was a bit of an impulse pick for me. Honestly, I should have picked this book up a long time ago, because I’ve heard so many good things, and it’s definitely sounded interesting. But the trailer for the movie finally pulled me in, because it was gorgeous.

I must admit, though, that the book was a little underwhelming for me.

To start, I did appreciate Jacob’s inner voice, and the wit and prose. It’s pretty and entertaining. Which is good, because we’re in Jacob’s head a lot, with more descriptions and thoughts than dialogue or action a lot of the time.

And the world that Jacob stumbles upon is very interesting. I love all the ideas of the gifts and the time-loops and the creatures. It’s well-thought and very intriguing. The characters that he meet are all interesting, though I do wish we’d really gotten to know the side characters more. I will say that Millard was probably my favorite; Olive was a cute girl, too, and I find Enoch’s tricks really interesting. I also appreciated Jacob’s family having such a part, particularly his grandfather, and that he doesn’t just disappear from his family without telling them first.

The romance, though, was more weird to me than romantic. I think that Emma was a sweet girl and all, and I feel bad for her, but it’s uncomfortable to me that she was in love with his grandfather and is now falling for Jacob. Also, there was just such little chemistry between them. Friends, maybe. But I didn’t feel the romance.

My biggest faults with the book were the pace and how little I grew attached to the characters. Pretty much the entire book is super slow—admittedly, it doesn’t feel that way, but so little happens in a majority of the book. Just very slow progressions. And then action in the last fifty pages. I wanted more excitement than that. For the other part, I just didn’t really feel the emotions or care much for the characters. I didn’t care enough.

So, it was okay. I wanted more excitement and intensity, but it was okay. I did like the set-up with the pictures, and I enjoyed parts. I might pick up the next one, and I will see the movie.