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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very 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 abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that Miss Peregrine’s children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They 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.
16-year-old Jacob grew up listening to the fantastic stories of his Polish grandfather, Abe, who illustrated his tales with photographs, including those of his time at Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Abe grows older though, his behaviour becomes more erratic and Jacob and his family grow concerned by his claims that people are hunting for him.
When Abe calls Jacob one day in an agitated state, Jacob asks his friend Ricky to drive him over to calm him down. There they find that Abe’s wandered out of the house into the nearby woods, where he’s been brutally attacked and left to die. Jacob’s sure that he saw a monster in the woods that night, but Abe’s death is attributed to wild dogs after Ricky can’t support Jacob’s claims.
Wrapped up in his grief and suffering from nightmares, Jacob’s sent to therapy with Dr Golan. During his sessions, Jacob becomes convinced that if he visits the Welsh island where Abe spent his childhood at Miss Peregrine’s home, then he can put Abe’s death behind him. Persuading his father to go with him, Jacob discovers that Abe’s childhood friends from the home are still alive and somehow still young.
As Jacob pieces together the amazing truth of his grandfather’s life, he discovers that the people hunting for Abe are now looking for him …
The central hook in Ransom Briggs’s YA novel is its marriage of vintage photographs with fantasy. The photographs themselves are brilliant – weird, disturbing and wonderful. However, I found that the photographs drive the story rather than illustrate it, with Briggs frequently having Jacob describe something solely so that he can then put the photograph in. This slows down pace, makes for a cumbersome read and in one case, leads to a tortuous contradiction in the plot.
The story itself is so-so. I liked Jacob’s narrative voice and Briggs does well in conveying his grief at his grandfather’s death. However the Peculiar children and Miss Peregrine are underdeveloped to the point of being cyphers while the story itself doesn’t go anywhere until the final quarter, when Briggs introduces the antagonists chasing Jacob and the Peculiar children (and even they aren’t unusual fiction of this type). Even the twist is predictable.
To be honest, it’s only the photographs that made this worth reading as the story itself is slight and I’m not sure I’ll be reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
Ransom Briggs has taken an interesting concept in mixing vintage photographs with a fantasy story but while I really loved the photographs, I found that they didn’t really add much to the story other than to slow down the pace and make for cumbersome scenes. Although I liked Jacob’s strong voice, the fantasy story itself never really caught fire for me and despite the open ending, I doubt that I’ll be reading on.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very 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 abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that Miss Peregrine’s children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They 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.
16-year-old Jacob grew up listening to the fantastic stories of his Polish grandfather, Abe, who illustrated his tales with photographs, including those of his time at Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Abe grows older though, his behaviour becomes more erratic and Jacob and his family grow concerned by his claims that people are hunting for him.
When Abe calls Jacob one day in an agitated state, Jacob asks his friend Ricky to drive him over to calm him down. There they find that Abe’s wandered out of the house into the nearby woods, where he’s been brutally attacked and left to die. Jacob’s sure that he saw a monster in the woods that night, but Abe’s death is attributed to wild dogs after Ricky can’t support Jacob’s claims.
Wrapped up in his grief and suffering from nightmares, Jacob’s sent to therapy with Dr Golan. During his sessions, Jacob becomes convinced that if he visits the Welsh island where Abe spent his childhood at Miss Peregrine’s home, then he can put Abe’s death behind him. Persuading his father to go with him, Jacob discovers that Abe’s childhood friends from the home are still alive and somehow still young.
As Jacob pieces together the amazing truth of his grandfather’s life, he discovers that the people hunting for Abe are now looking for him …
The central hook in Ransom Briggs’s YA novel is its marriage of vintage photographs with fantasy. The photographs themselves are brilliant – weird, disturbing and wonderful. However, I found that the photographs drive the story rather than illustrate it, with Briggs frequently having Jacob describe something solely so that he can then put the photograph in. This slows down pace, makes for a cumbersome read and in one case, leads to a tortuous contradiction in the plot.
The story itself is so-so. I liked Jacob’s narrative voice and Briggs does well in conveying his grief at his grandfather’s death. However the Peculiar children and Miss Peregrine are underdeveloped to the point of being cyphers while the story itself doesn’t go anywhere until the final quarter, when Briggs introduces the antagonists chasing Jacob and the Peculiar children (and even they aren’t unusual fiction of this type). Even the twist is predictable.
To be honest, it’s only the photographs that made this worth reading as the story itself is slight and I’m not sure I’ll be reading the sequel.
The Verdict:
Ransom Briggs has taken an interesting concept in mixing vintage photographs with a fantasy story but while I really loved the photographs, I found that they didn’t really add much to the story other than to slow down the pace and make for cumbersome scenes. Although I liked Jacob’s strong voice, the fantasy story itself never really caught fire for me and despite the open ending, I doubt that I’ll be reading on.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
