Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: A Review

Goodreads (description):

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.

My Review:

I can honestly say that this book is not what I was expecting. I was thinking that it was going to be super ultra mega creepy and it... wasn't. And yet, I still was surprised at what happened in this book. It turned out FANTASTIC! Even if I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't as creepy as I thought it was going to be. Although, the pictures set at infrequent intervals in this book did help with the creepy factor.

This is pretty much a scarier version of X-Men. The Peculiarities of the children are, dare I say it, even more strange than the mutations of the X-Men. And much harder to disguise. These poor children's only hope of survival is from The Bird. For if they went out into the real world, they would not survive long.

A major difference and driving factor in this book versus X-Men is what is hunting the Peculiar Children. It's not humans, but the evil Peculiars. In fact, The Commons--normal people--don't even know about the Peculiars like they do in X-Men.

This story follows Jacob and his adventures on discovering who and what he really is. He has been subjected to a lot of crap as of late, but I love how even though he feels like he is weak, he is far stronger than he realizes. This great trait he holds inspires others around him. I love how he stands strong even when his parents do not give him the support he needs. How he fights on and makes his own paths in the world.

There are some creepy parts and the pictures are downright odd. It was actually quite a fun, good read and I read it fairly fast. I enjoyed seeing Jacob's growth and the plot twists I didn't see coming.

Until you read this book, you won't understand completely about the time loops, but I thought that was a genius idea. It really adds to the "what the heck is going to happen next?" factor.

I also enjoyed how this book was also a tad bit historical. I love reading about history in a novel. And part of this book focuses on WWII--which granted, made me a bit sad, but it was also very interesting on how Riggs incorporated his idea into it. Genius, I say. Genius!

This may not be a very "scary" book, but it is definitely a good one!

5 out of 5!!