Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Ratings681
Average rating3.6
Every five years, I have a year of no-book-buying, to give myself a chance to read the dozens of books that I own but haven't read. (This is inevitably thwarted by living in West Philadelphia, land of free books, and $1 books, which are essentially free, and locally-owned bookstores at which buying books is a philosophical act, really, so it should be allowed...Anyways,) this is one of those years. And this is one of those books that happened to be sitting around. I was excited to get back to my SF/F roots after a couple of years of heavy “literary fiction” reading, but unfortunately, this was not far enough removed from a life of SF/F reading to stand out.
Miss Peregrine's home is simply generic fantasy. Cliches can be nice if they're good renditions, but this isn't really. There is not a single memorable or unique element. It's fine. Nothing more or less, but fine.
The disclaimer here is that I'm not particularly visual, so I wasn't super into the photographs. I wanted a good story, not a bland story with 10 or 20 old photos that were occasionally spooky thrown in but not particularly tied to the plot in any way or really crowbar-ed in. People who like old and/or creepy photos may enjoy more.
4.5 stars
THIS.
WAS.
SOOOOO.
GOOOOOOOOOOD!!
I wanted to give it four stars but then I realized I actually started the book with really high expectations (higher than normal) and so it might have distorted my judgment that is why I wanted to rate it four stars. On closer inspection, I realized it really deserves 4.5 stars!
I wish all YA books are this good.
Ransom Riggs writes spectacularly, and he possesses great great creativity and imagination!
Thank you, lovely Rami, for buying it for me!! I love you!! :D
(Okay, we have a really weird relationship that I am declaring my love to you on the review of a horror novel. Maybe we are peculiar, too!)
I can't wait for book twooooo!! :D
Wasn't as crazy about this book as I was prepared to be. I had heard so many delightful things about the book - its fantastical cast of characters, its inventive time travel, its historically situated and referential plot, its relatable teen male lead, its charmingly detailed setting, its collage-style use of text and vintage photographs - that I was expecting to be absolutely blown away by the inventiveness and story. I found all of these things to be present, and enjoyable elements, in the book, but I was left feeling that I was slogging through a peat bog through the final 100 pages, as Jacob and his peculiar friends do so often. I felt the story suffered from an uneven distribution of detail to move the action forward - too much at once, too little for too long a time, too much exposition and explanation crammed between entire swaths of the book that seemed satisfied with being evocative and informative in all the wrong ways.
Very fun story,
I wish this had been written when I was younger, I would have LOVED this as a kid.
X-Men in victorian times. Much less exciting than that sounds. Included black&white photos are really great, and they well incorporated into the plot, but the story gets weaker with every page.
I enjoyed this very much. What a feat, combining all those found photos and making a coherent and utterly gripping story around them! Although it is, I suppose, aimed at teens, I, who have not been a teen for many years, enjoyed the writing and the creativity immensely. The last bit–I stayed up way too late because I could not put the book down.
It wasn't until I found out that there is a sequel that I realized a reaction other than sheer enjoyment. When I read that there was another book, I thought something very much like, “Oh, no thank you. I'm stuffed. I couldn't [eat another bite/read another word].” The writing and storytelling are dense and rich, and enough is enough for now.
Niet slecht, maar nu ook niet weer zo goed als overal wordt beweerd. Allé, naar mijn mening toch. Het enige dat het nogal clichématige en voorspelbare verhaal een beetje extra umpf geeft zijn de geniale fotovondsten.
Ik heb boek 2 ook liggen, maar niet meteen zin om erin te duiken, wat toch wel veelzeggend is.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children starts off as a creative writing exercise for author Ransom Riggs who constructs a story around his collection of gothic found photographs. The first book in a proposed trilogy (natch) it has to do some heavy lifting to set the stage but it still proves engrossing. It's only once we get past the requisite “before” of the emo teen who hates his life and idolizes his grandfather and his fantastical stories and into the “after” of Miss Peregrine's world does the book begin to really move.
It's a likeable YA romp. I just don't know how I feel about a budding romance between Jacob and Emma, considering she was madly in love with Jacob's grandfather before him.
Absolutely amazing! I went into this book expecting a paranormal, thriller book and was pleasantly surprised to find out is was so much more. The pictures went with the narrative so well and I just really appreciated Ransom Rigg's writing style. I absolutely adored this book and I now need to get my hands on Hollow City.
Good story, but lacking in many ways and told from a depressing viewpoint. Until the last chapter I found myself wanting the book to end.
Interesting approach to a story. I loved the photos throughout. Sort of lost me with the feeling that it was a mash-up of too many genres, times, etc. But I still wanted to know what happened, so generally I enjoyed it.
The last few chapters have very weak plotlines. But overall, it still remained to be a good series. The cliffhanger was just right as well :)
OFF TO THE SEQUEL!
I've been meaning to get around to reading this thing for at least a year. It's not bad, but I'm not sure it deserved the acclaim that it got. It felt pretty derivative to me (which, I mean, it's a book for kids– derivative is okay since most kids haven't read quite as much as a thirty year old librarian), but despite the fact that everything I saw said that the plot and characters where amazing, the only really interesting twist was the use of “vintage” photos. It felt like an X-Men story with a couple elements from the Supernatural tv show. Which is not to say it was all bad– the characters are pretty believable, minus the romance plot where the main character falls in love with his grandfather's eternally 15 childhood sweetheart, and the subplot about the fact the grandfather living through WWII as a young Jewish kid with powers was fascinating. But a lot of the loose ends are never tied up, and the end seemed really rushed.
I might be more satisfied with it if I read the sequel that came out in January, but it didn't hook me anywhere near enough to make me go out of my way like that.
Oh... huh. Well, I think I'm one of the last people left who hadn't read this yet. I don't really know what to say about it. I dug it, but it felt maybe a little overhyped by the time I got around to it? I did enjoy the found photography aspect of it for sure. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this. I guess I went with 4 because the photos were cool? I kind of wasn't that invested in the story, but the last 25% or so was a page turner.
This book was very average. For some reason I couldn't get into the world that Jacob discovers. I found myself skimming some parts and wanting it to end quickly. Although the idea of the book being crafted from those found photos was cool in theory, in practice I found the photos distracting. Especially since I was reading this book in a couple different places. One of which was the smaller screen of my phone. Overall, decent book but I won't be rushing to read the next installment.
I'm always up for something different, and this book certainly was. It was recommended to me by a fellow Goodreads member. It was the photos that intrigued me the most. They were quirky to say the least. As to the story itself, it started off promising enough but seemed to lose steam midway. That said, it was an interesting read for a rainy afternoon. I don't think I'll be getting the sequel though.
I'm surprised at how many people read this book and wrote reviews saying it was disappointing. I'm suppose if you are wanting a gruesome, bloody, type of horror book, you'd be disappointed. But nothing about this book gave me the impression that it was that kind of book.
I personally find the inspiration behind this story (all those old, strange, anonymous, yet real pictures) refreshingly unique! It's nice to read a story that came about in an unconventional way. I look forward to reading the sequel, hoping for growth in the author and the characters.
Definitely inspires imagination and creativity, if nothing else. :)
I think Riggs has potential as an author, as I really thought the beginning was very well-written, but I felt like the book was a bit too forced. The pictures are interesting, but it seems like the story was written to fit in with the pictures rather than the pictures fitting in with the story. I suppose he probably was inspired by the photographs, but it just didn't go together as smoothly as I would have liked. It was interesting, but I don't think I'll be inclined to read any sequels, which the ending foreshadows are yet to come.
At the beginning I hoped all Grandfather Portman's stories were true. And it is and I am glad I was able to meet these wonderful peculiar children. I have read a lot of reviews saying that this is somehow like Xmen. No. It's completely different and indeed is peculiar. This is just the story I needed, it's like a refresher of my childhood reading. I love this. I like how the story goes and that it is new. Kind of sad at the end. Peculiar. But I mean it as a compliment. Good job Ransom Riggs.
This was a strange book. But I enjoyed it. I wasn't crazy about how it ends. Sort of a major cliffhanger. I wonder if Miss Peregrine will ever be able to turn back into a bird, or is it because she is hurt and it is better to heal as a bird. I never saw the Dr. Golan to be the bad guy until close to the end. With the U-boat coming up does that mean the Nazi's are involved with the Hollowmen? Too many questions LOL Looking forward to the new book due out Jan 2014.