Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Why did I wait so long to read this? What an excellent debut novel!

I truly enjoyed just about everything about this book (even and except the photographs). The photos were helpful and creepy at the same time. In the beginning they really freaked me out, especially the one of the "monster" and the ones of the children, but as the book went on they really illustrated what was happening and gave me an image in my head to focus on as I followed along with the story.

The book starts off chillingly enough. The reader quickly understands that the monsters Abe (Jacob's grandfather) is talking about are real - not just Nazis but something else. I think Jacob realizes this as well, subconsciously, but just refuses to believe it. While he may long for an extraordinary life, he is used to the mundane and doesn't quite want to think that his grandfather's stories are true.

But the monster he sees in the woods after he finds his grandfather is real enough, whether he is talked out of it by a psychiatrist or not. And the idea of that monster was enough to give me the creeps. I was actually expecting a lot more of a horror book, but it quickly turned into a creepy fantasy, which is much more my speed and made me very happy.

I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't read it yet (I know several of my friends have this on their To Read list and I don't want to ruin it for them), so I will just say that the twist at the end involving the bad guys really was well-done and unexpected. Never in a million years would I have seen that coming!

Recommended to everyone who can handle a little bit of monsters, a little bit of creep, and a lot of great writing and storytelling. I've seen comments about a second book and a movie (holy cow), which would be awesome, but even if it were left as a stand-alone I would be completely satisfied with the ending.

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