Some of you may know that I
originally had my own blog, Beauty but a Funny Girl, prior to joining
Bookish (now Bookish Lifestyle). I was thinking the other day about all
those reviews I left behind when I transferred and thought they should
get some love too - no matter how badly written and newbie they come
off! So I present to you: Throwback Thursday Reviews! Every once in a
while I'll post an old review from Beauty but a Funny Girl, unedited in
terms of content, with the exception of any spelling or grammatical
mistakes. It's definitely going to be fun and interesting to see how my
tastes and writing style have changed over the years!
Series: Genre: Publication.Date: June 7, 2011 Pages: 325 (hardcover) Published By: Quirk Website: Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children on Goodreads My review copy:
Where to get:
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.
(Goodreads)
(Goodreads)
Originally posted January 9, 2013 on Beauty but a Funny Girl
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is going to be a bit tricky to review without giving too much away. I will say the first two lines are misleading. It's not a "mysterious" island. People live there, sheep are raised, beer is drank. It's more "remote" than "mysterious." And the orphanage isn't technically abandoned.
The third line does ring true. They are strange photographs. The best thing about the photographs is that they're REAL. Riggs got the photographs from collectors and inserted them into his novel while at the same time weaving quite a creative and original story.
I didn't mind that Riggs would describe the pictures through Jacob's eyes and then literally show us. Riggs spaced the pictures out just perfectly so as not to interrupt the flow of the story and cause them to become annoying.
The story behind why the children are "peculiar" is also quite interesting. Each child was "peculiar" in their own way and it really helped make them each unique.
The romance freaked me out. I'll definitely throw that out there. This is a plot line that I really can't get into because of spoilers, but... icky. I really did not care for it.
I thought that bad man twist near the end was good; however, it didn't do much in terms of making that last third enjoyable. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the novel, but once the mystery was solved/explained, I felt the plot lost a lot of the oomph and mystery I liked so much in the beginning. Riggs definitely left the ending open for a sequel, but I'm not all that interested in continuing the journey. It's a bummer really. I had such high hopes for the "peculiar children."
The third line does ring true. They are strange photographs. The best thing about the photographs is that they're REAL. Riggs got the photographs from collectors and inserted them into his novel while at the same time weaving quite a creative and original story.
I didn't mind that Riggs would describe the pictures through Jacob's eyes and then literally show us. Riggs spaced the pictures out just perfectly so as not to interrupt the flow of the story and cause them to become annoying.
The story behind why the children are "peculiar" is also quite interesting. Each child was "peculiar" in their own way and it really helped make them each unique.
The romance freaked me out. I'll definitely throw that out there. This is a plot line that I really can't get into because of spoilers, but... icky. I really did not care for it.
I thought that bad man twist near the end was good; however, it didn't do much in terms of making that last third enjoyable. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the novel, but once the mystery was solved/explained, I felt the plot lost a lot of the oomph and mystery I liked so much in the beginning. Riggs definitely left the ending open for a sequel, but I'm not all that interested in continuing the journey. It's a bummer really. I had such high hopes for the "peculiar children."
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