Synopsis: As a young child, Jacob delights in his grandfather's fanciful tales of his childhood spent in an orphanage on a Welsh island surrounded by children with truly unusual talents (among them: levitation, invisibility, incredible strength). His grandfather's magical tales are brought to life by eerie photographs that he shares with Jacob, but as Jacob ages, he begins to doubt the strange stories. When his grandfather is violently murdered, his final words to Jacob compel him to travel to the island and search for Miss Peregrine, the school's headmistress.
Review: Grandfather's tales of the peculiar children he grew up with are fascinating, the photos are downright creepy, and this story piqued my interest quickly. Riggs' collected the bizarre photos used in this book with the intention of making them into a picture book, but was encouraged to flesh them out into a novel, which he's done here. The eccentric photos set the book's frightening tone which continues throughout the first few chapters, when Jacob arrives on the island and finds the remains of Miss Peregrine's school, an apparent dead end. The book takes a strange twist about halfway through the novel and its eerie undertone is replaced with an X-men style battle of good vs. evil which is both silly and a bit gruesome at times. Don't expect a satisfactory ending either; this book is the first in a series.
Spoilers: I loved the first half of this book and zipped through its first few chapters, but I lost interest with the introduction of ymbrynes (how do you even pronounce this word?), loops, hollowgasts, and wights. As I mentioned before, this book became like a cheesy version of X-men, although without the interesting characters. I found Jacob to be a bit spoiled, continuously trying to get fired from the family business and insisting on getting his way. The other characters in this book, especially the peculiar children, whom I wanted to like, fall flat. Jacob and Emma's relationship seems forced and, to me, gross since she'd also loved his grandfather. Leaning in for a kiss while squatting in sheep crap is not romantic, even for teens.
For a young adult novel, I found the language a bit crass and the action a too violent and gruesome. It should have been made into a stand-alone novel rather than leaving a few loose ends to allow for a sequel. I didn't care for any of the characters enough to continue reading about their fight to save the ymbrynes from the wights and hollowgasts in the leap-frogged loops....er, whatever that entails.
Review: Grandfather's tales of the peculiar children he grew up with are fascinating, the photos are downright creepy, and this story piqued my interest quickly. Riggs' collected the bizarre photos used in this book with the intention of making them into a picture book, but was encouraged to flesh them out into a novel, which he's done here. The eccentric photos set the book's frightening tone which continues throughout the first few chapters, when Jacob arrives on the island and finds the remains of Miss Peregrine's school, an apparent dead end. The book takes a strange twist about halfway through the novel and its eerie undertone is replaced with an X-men style battle of good vs. evil which is both silly and a bit gruesome at times. Don't expect a satisfactory ending either; this book is the first in a series.
Spoilers: I loved the first half of this book and zipped through its first few chapters, but I lost interest with the introduction of ymbrynes (how do you even pronounce this word?), loops, hollowgasts, and wights. As I mentioned before, this book became like a cheesy version of X-men, although without the interesting characters. I found Jacob to be a bit spoiled, continuously trying to get fired from the family business and insisting on getting his way. The other characters in this book, especially the peculiar children, whom I wanted to like, fall flat. Jacob and Emma's relationship seems forced and, to me, gross since she'd also loved his grandfather. Leaning in for a kiss while squatting in sheep crap is not romantic, even for teens.
For a young adult novel, I found the language a bit crass and the action a too violent and gruesome. It should have been made into a stand-alone novel rather than leaving a few loose ends to allow for a sequel. I didn't care for any of the characters enough to continue reading about their fight to save the ymbrynes from the wights and hollowgasts in the leap-frogged loops....er, whatever that entails.
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