Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children review

Description: A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And 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 who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate 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.

My thoughts: My initial reason for wanting to read this book was because I saw it on The Book Smuggler’s radar post about 2 months ago. Just about anything they’re interested in is something that usually also appeals to me. And then I saw that the book had a high rating and multiple reviews all saying one thing: that they loved this book. And that was more than enough evidence to show that I needed to read this book. 

I have to say that although I might not have felt the same enthusiasm as it seemed other bloggers had for this book, it did not disappoint. What I liked most about this book was that even if for some reason you thought it wasn’t original, the photos themselves were appealing enough to make the story original. And I loved that although this wasn’t a scary story, some of the vintage photos at the end did provide me with a reason to be a little scared, or at least very uncomfortable.

I do admit that the plot and characters didn’t quite excite me (for lack of a better term) the way I thought or hoped they would be, but that was more because of my expectations and not because there was anything wrong with the book necessarily. However, my enjoyment for the book was a bit diminished because I thought the second half of the book regarding the plot and characters weren’t as peculiar as they seemed during the first half of the book.

With all that said, it’s like saying I hoped something was an A +, but instead turned out to be an A-. It’s still an A (this is an ex. and not a rating)! Overall, it was an entertaining read with many twist and turns and a unique concept. And it’s just the beginning of the series, so it has the opportunity to get even better!

Something extra: I liked that the “new world” Jacob was trying to find and prove to be true and not just a story his grandpa liked to tell him had so much history. It’s hard to explain what that means without giving something away but the world Jacob found in the book had and did affect hundreds and maybe thousands of other people. I’d be very interested in learning more about how everybody became peculiar, or how things got the way they got by the time Jacob arrived.