Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Book: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's book #1) by Ransom Riggs

Source: Library

Description:

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.



Rating: 1 star (Did Not Finish)

Review:

This book was so dull and boring that I couldn't bother reading any more. Which is a shame because the story started out really good. The prologue and the first couple of chapters had me really interested but then it went downhill really fast. Between the writing and the lack of plot, the story just lost momentum and I felt like the story spent too much time telling me stuff instead of showing me. Oh, did I mention there's some time traveling going on in this story, which didn't help the story at all. There was also nothing interesting about any of the characters, they were just there.

Something that I found to be unusual was that the story wasn't very descriptive instead it relied heavy on the old pictures that are shown throughout instead of providing more detail to the story. The pictures after a while just felt gimmicky instead of really being part of the story telling.

Lastly, I found nothing either peculiar, spooky or creepy going on in this book except for the beginning of the story.

I'm really glad I checked this out from the library because I would have wanted my money back. It's been a while since I've read a book that droned on and on. Wow, this was just a total disappointment.

Update:

Sorry, I was so disappointed with this book I forgot to say what it was about. The story started off with Jacob telling the reader about how much he loved listening to the stories his grandfather told him when he was younger. The stories told of his grandfather's adventures as well as his time spent on a island for orphans. The island was a safe haven for the children whose families sent them away due to the approaching of the war during WWII.

As his grandfather told him those stories he would tell Jacob of the strange children who stayed on the island and the monsters that he escaped from. He even showed Jacob pictures of the children and in one picture there was a kid but all you could see were clothes that were standing up. His grandfather told him that the young man in the picture was invisible. As a little kid, Jacob believed all the stories especially the ones with the strange kids and monsters that is until he got beat up at school by bullies for telling those stories. Jacob's dad told him that there was some truth to his grandfather's stories, he did live on a island during the war and did escape monsters but they were the human variety, the Nazis. So Jacob stop believing anything about those stories that is until he was nearly 16.

As the years went by Jacob had to deal with his grandfather's mental decline and when one day while Jacob was working, his grandfather called saying "they were coming for him". Thinking his grandfather is experiencing one of his delusions, Jacob along with his friend Ricky go over to check on him. After searching throughout the house for his grandfather, Jacob finally found him in the woods behind the house covered in blood and trying to tell him something.

Once the mysterious message was told, his grandfather doesn't have much time left but as his grandfather lay dying something caused Jacob to turn around and when he does he sees a monster. After that the story starts to dissolve, Jacob's parents think he's having a some sort of mental breakdown and then he's seeing a psychiatrist and so on and so on.

I thought once Jacob deciphered the mysterious message and eventually made it to the island the story would get back on track, no it continued to be one big snooze fest until I decided to stop reading it.

This was such a waste of time.