Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

After putting this book off for no reason at all for months, I finally knew that I had to pick this one up this month.  With the release of the film later this month, and Autumn, the season that brings Halloween and cold, dark nights, now upon us, I knew that there was no way I could put this one off any longer, and so finally picked it up earlier this month.  I had heard such great things about the story and the characters, that along with the interest I already had in this, its safe to say I was pretty excited and curious to read this one.

This story follows our main character of Jacob as he travels to a remote islands after a family tragedy in search of a children's home his grandfather used to live in with a group of seemingly peculiar children.  And honestly, for me, one of the best aspects of this book was the plot.  It not only drew me in almost as soon as I started, but continued to grip me throughout.  

As I always seem to say, good characters are something I adore in books, and so I can't tell you how happy I was at the amazingness and variety of the ones in this.  Absolutely everyone was different, from each of them having their own unique abilities to their personalities as people and I honestly loved reading about all of them.  Even the ones I didn't particularly like as people, I still loved seeing them in the book as it made it so much more relatable that they weren't all nice and friendly characters that you couldn't help but love.  As someone who adores side characters, this book was like heaven to me.

If that wasn't enough, the main characters themselves are also just as, if not more amazing, than the side characters.  For starters, I loved having Jacob as our narrator and really found that as the book went on, I grew to like his character even more than I originally had.  I feel like he really did grow throughout this book, and loved seeing him do this from where he was at the start of it.

Unfortunately, as much as I loved this one, I did have one problem with how long it took for the main plot to get started.  As much as I loved getting to know all the peculiar children and all their stories, I just feel that the threat of the hollowgasts and the main problem in the book came around a little too late for the build up to the climax to be as good as it could have been.  Although I did find the ending fitted perfectly, I would have liked a little more development up to that point.  

Another thing that I absolutely adored in this was the gorgeous writing style.  It was so detailed and fitted so well with the mysterious atmosphere in the book, whilst still being easy to read and hooking right from the start. 

Moving on from writing style, the format of this was something that not only made me pick this up in the first place, but also kept me reading.  I adored all of the creepy little photos that cropped up throughout this, and found they not only always fit perfectly into the story, but also added something different to it that made it come alive.  They added enough in to give a visual idea of certain things, and just really helped to make this book so much more addictive for me.  

Overall, its safe to say I really did love this one, with its amazing plot and characters I can't wait to read more about.  I am now so excited to continue on with this series, see where this story goes, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a creepy little read this Halloween.  

Favourite:

Character: Milliard, Emma

Quote: I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary.  I had  simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. 

Relate a:

Song: A Place for Us - Fitz and the Tantrums 

Other Book: The Accident Season by Moira Fowley

Rating: 
4.5/5

Have you read this - what did you think?  Are you excited for the film?