Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children)
The #1 New York Times best-selling series. Includes an excerpt from Hollow City and an interview with author Ransom Riggs A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow--impossible though it seems--they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows. "A tense, moving, and wondrously strange first novel. The photographs and text work together brilliantly to create an unforgettable story."--John Green, New York Times best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars
"With its X-Men: First Class-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it's no wonder Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox. B+"--Entertainment Weekly
"'Peculiar' doesn't even begin to cover it. Riggs' chilling, wondrous novel is already headed to the movies."--People
"You'll love it if you want a good thriller for the summer. It's a mystery, and you'll race to solve it before Jacob figures it out for himself."--Seventeen
"With its X-Men: First Class-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it's no wonder Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox. B+"--Entertainment Weekly
"'Peculiar' doesn't even begin to cover it. Riggs' chilling, wondrous novel is already headed to the movies."--People
"You'll love it if you want a good thriller for the summer. It's a mystery, and you'll race to solve it before Jacob figures it out for himself."--Seventeen
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Community Reviews
I found this book rather charming. It was different, and I found that I liked that about it. I smell a series...The characters were quirky, the concept of the loop was puzzling and yet so fresh, the idea of finding yourself as a peer with children your grandfather grew up with - now that was quite a shocker! Not your typical time travel scenario at all. Fresh visionary writing! I loved it.
This book is a wonderful mix of the fantastic and the mundane. It's an ordinary world, but some people have "peculiarities" - invisibility, the ability to levitate, or create and control a ball of fire, and the like.
Although the premise of ordinary-kid-finds-out-he-has-extraordinary-powers is a bit worn-out these days, Riggs manages to turn it into something new. I don't know whether it's the somewhat-disturbing photos that are sprinkled through the book that keep it grounded, or the fact that Jacob's "peculiarity" doesn't seem all that phenomenal, but whatever it is, it makes this book read more like fiction than fantasy. I'll take either, and don't mean to make a judgment-call about fiction over fantasy here. I only mean to say that Riggs has a very deft touch as a writer.
Unfortunately, his touch his not so deft when it comes to explaining the idea of a "loop". The idea is that the "peculiarity" exhibited by some people is that they can create a loop of time that continuously resets itself as long as its creator can maintain control over it. I get that, and I can even wrap my head around the seeming-inconsistency that, although the people outside the loop are completely unaware of it, what happens to people inside the loop is permanent (everyone inside the loop remembers everything, if someone dies, they stay dead, even after the loop resets, etc.). What I couldn't make square was that people from both inside and outside the loop can enter and leave at will, as long as they know where the entrance is, without there being any impact on the loop itself. There are going to be more books about the peculiar children, so perhaps this will be explained, or perhaps I just need to take it on faith, but as it stands it detracted from an otherwise very enjoyable, and subtle, story.
Although the premise of ordinary-kid-finds-out-he-has-extraordinary-powers is a bit worn-out these days, Riggs manages to turn it into something new. I don't know whether it's the somewhat-disturbing photos that are sprinkled through the book that keep it grounded, or the fact that Jacob's "peculiarity" doesn't seem all that phenomenal, but whatever it is, it makes this book read more like fiction than fantasy. I'll take either, and don't mean to make a judgment-call about fiction over fantasy here. I only mean to say that Riggs has a very deft touch as a writer.
Unfortunately, his touch his not so deft when it comes to explaining the idea of a "loop". The idea is that the "peculiarity" exhibited by some people is that they can create a loop of time that continuously resets itself as long as its creator can maintain control over it. I get that, and I can even wrap my head around the seeming-inconsistency that, although the people outside the loop are completely unaware of it, what happens to people inside the loop is permanent (everyone inside the loop remembers everything, if someone dies, they stay dead, even after the loop resets, etc.). What I couldn't make square was that people from both inside and outside the loop can enter and leave at will, as long as they know where the entrance is, without there being any impact on the loop itself. There are going to be more books about the peculiar children, so perhaps this will be explained, or perhaps I just need to take it on faith, but as it stands it detracted from an otherwise very enjoyable, and subtle, story.
Meh. Found this pretty boring. It felt like X-men meets Harry Potter, if X-men and HP were both boring. Main character is not someone I can relate to at all. I’m not sure if it’s the audio-readers fault but I found most character dialogue pretty irritating.
His dad is honestly the best character and he gets shafted the whole time lol
I gave two stars because it started out good. But I started to lose interest once he started solving the mystery, which is fairly early on.
His dad is honestly the best character and he gets shafted the whole time lol
I gave two stars because it started out good. But I started to lose interest once he started solving the mystery, which is fairly early on.
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