Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Book: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Genre: YA Fantasy.. with a mixed of history too.
Rating:★★★☆☆
For: RIP
From: a Christmas gift last year

What a strange little book! It appears to me the author came across some funky pictures, strange bizarre old pictures, and figured out a story to go along with them. Very fun idea, but sometimes I also felt it to be a little forced.

So there's this kid whose grandpa has told him some crazy stories about the past. When his grandpa suddenly dies, he leaves this boy with some mysterious last words. The boy (Jacob) is now obsessed with figuring it all out, so much so that his parents think he's gone a little crazy, but despite that (or because of that maybe) they let him, along with his dad, go investigate further.

This leads him to end up in Wales where his grandfather says he lived as one of those kids who got shipped off by their families to escape the horrors of WWII and hopefully live in a safe peaceful place. Jacob's hope is to find the lady who ran this home for children and see if any of the stories his grandfather talks about were true.

Well, yes, he finds the home and the lady and the kids, but it's not at all what he expected! Everything, not just the kids, is very peculiar! Wow, indeed. The more he learns, the stranger things get.

This book is definitely an interesting one. A strange mix of WWII history, fantasy, and horror. The pictures for sure add to the creep factor and make the story feel a bit real... sort of. For me, it felt real at first, and less and less so as things went along. I feel mixed in my review because I was quite into it all at the beginning, but sort of lost interest by the end. I think there's much much more to the story though, and so I'm assuming there's more books to come. And I do actually want to find out what happens next!

Bottom line: An interesting book that was entertaining and that I enjoyed for the most part.

Other Reviews:

The story is funny and poignant by turns, and effectively creepy throughout, enough to make me wish I’d read it on a foggy October evening. From Fyrefly's Book Blog

Do NOT read the eBook. Go out and get your hands on a physical copy. The holding of this book is as much a part of the experience as the reading of it. From Capricious Reader

For me, when I think about the story itself, I think the first half of it was the strongest. I loved the stories from Jacob’s grandpa, and the descriptions of the kids at the orphanage. From Reading in Winter

This was one story that I didn't feel like I was simply being told, but that I was actually IN the story as well. From One Literature Nut

It will give you the right amount of autumnal chills to drive back the summer heat and spending time with the peculiar children in Miss Peregrine’s home will bring back your own memories of magical childhood adventures. From Stainless Steel Droppings

Many bloggers mentioned the book trailer, and that it was a good one and actually made them want to check out the book, so I must share that too. What do you think?