Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Spooktacular Paranormal Reading Challenge)

Released: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Quirk Books
Series: Miss Peregrine, #1
Star Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Gift
Edition: Hardcover
Page Amount: 
Age Group: Young Adult

Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2011: As a kid, Jacob formed a special bond with his grandfather over his bizarre tales and photos of levitating girls and invisible boys. Now at 16, he is reeling from the old man's unexpected death. Then Jacob is given a mysterious letter that propels him on a journey to the remote Welsh island where his grandfather grew up. There, he finds the children from the photographs--alive and well--despite the islanders’ assertion that all were killed decades ago. As Jacob begins to unravel more about his grandfather’s childhood, he suspects he is being trailed by a monster only he can see. A haunting and out-of-the-ordinary read, debut author Ransom Rigg’s first-person narration is convincing and absorbing, and every detail he draws our eye to is deftly woven into an unforgettable whole. Interspersed with photos throughout, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a truly atmospheric novel with plot twists, turns, and surprises that will delight readers of any age.

I'm going to begin this review saying that this book is a reread for me. That should immediately tell you that I absolutely love this book, which this statement is true. Actually, I gave this book one whole extra star than the first time I read it. This book is beautifully creepy, mysterious and enticing. Although I wouldn't exactly say this book is 'scary', I do believe that this book is the perfect read for this time a year, with Halloween coming up.

This book was written around a series of creepy photographs. It is interesting to be reading descriptions of these peculiars and then having a photograph to go along with the image that you came up yourself. And, let me tell you, some of these images are downright strange.

I re-fell in love with all the characters in this novel, just as I had the first time I read this novel. Jacob and Abe's relationship is unlike any grandfather-grandson relationship I have ever read - or seen in real life for that matter. You could tell how much they cared for each other through Jacob's life. Jacob was the perfect main character for a novel like this, a boy with an extra ordinary life. I loved Emma's rough edges, but you always knew that she was a softie. Jacob's friendship with these peculiars is a unique relationship that you, obviously, don't see in very many books. Despite their situation, you can tell that they truly care for each other.

I will admit, I do not read a lot of adventure novels, and this novel definitely has a lot of adventure elements within it. The story world that Riggs has made for this adventure is written flawlessly. Every little detail was planned out and I never felt as though something was missing.

I absolutely cannot wait until the second book in this series is released. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, so if that has any indication on how good the next book is going to be... we're going to be in very a phenomenal read.

About the Author

I grew up in Florida, went to Kenyon College in Ohio, then film school at USC in LA, where I still live. I write books and screenplays, blog daily for mentalfloss.com, and make short films. 
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is my first novel. I'm really excited about it -- it was challenging and rewarding and I hope people like it. If you read that and like the found photographs in it, you might be interested in a book comprised entirely of found photographs that I have coming out January 2012 from HarperCollins. It's called Talking Pictures. You can find sneak peeks by doing a search for "mental floss talking pictures" (I included a number of images in blogs there) and I made a kinda-sorta book trailer for it, which is on my youtube page: youtube.com/ransriggs.
Also, watch out for a Miss Peregrine book trailer, which I'm working on right now! I get to go to Belgium and film inside creepy abandoned chateaus, which I'm *really* looking forward to.