Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: YA Fantasy


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. --Goodreads


Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children was not what I had expected when first going into it. I thought I was going to get a creepy, haunting tale of ghosts and monsters and things that go bump in the night, but instead something entirely different. Perhaps I had assumed too much from reading the synopsis and making accusations from the cover. This wasn’t a bad thing, though. The story I did end up getting was quite an unique experience overall and adventure. Even better, the ending left on a note to tell me that this is going to be a series and there’s going to be a sequel. I’m looking forward to it.

What I most particularly liked was the history put into it. The backdrop of World War Two that started many of the story’s events. With the history alone, I would have been satisfied and wouldn’t have needed the tagging pictures scattered here and there among the pages whenever characters made reference to something. In the beginning, I liked the pictures. They were fascinating, vintage, a bit of an experience to look at. But the feelings of them didn’t last too long. In fact, toward the end, I admittedly started getting a little annoyed with the photos and the occasional “looked at the picture and saw such-and-such”, then having to turn the page to see it. At times, I felt it detached away from the good story that I was reading.

The characters were wonderful. I loved the sarcasm and wittiness some of them displayed. I had some laugh-out-loud moments. I loved how the author told the POV through a male perspective, too. We don’t see this too often in YA as you all know, and when we do, it can still be hard to come across properly. Ransom Riggs did fantastic in my opinion giving a sixteen-year old male POV. Which of course, he should have, because I’m sure he was sixteen once, too. Haha!

While I wasn’t a big fan of the romantic interest in this one, it was subtle and very light. It’s possible that it could grow on me within the sequel, too.

As I was reading this, I kept thinking to myself: This could probably make a good Tim Burton film. It passes for that kind of “good-weird” that I like.

Enjoyed and recommend!

4 stars!