Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Pros: character growth, creepily atmospheric, high quality physical book, creatively meshes backstory with mythology and history

Cons: don't learn as much about the kids as you'd like, doesn't fully explain their abilities or why they're born as they are

For Parents: some swearing, some violence (mostly offscreen), kissing

If ever there were an argument against ebooks, it would be Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  Yes, you can read it on an ereader, and yes, the story would still be creepy and fun, but you'd miss something about the experience.  This is a beautiful hardcover, with thick pages and gorgeous black and white photographs scattered throughout.  Holding it and turning the pages is part of the ambiance the story creates.

Jakob Portman grew up hearing his grandfather's fantastic stories about the children's home he was sent to in England as a Jewish Polish immigrant in World War II.  The stories were about children who could do peculiar things, like levitate, hold fire and lift very heavy things.  But the violent death of his grandfather, along with the old man's last words, make him wonder if there was some truth to his stories.

This is a slow paced coming of age story.  Mr. Riggs takes time to develop Jakob as a character, especially regarding his mental state, as well as the settings, in the book.

At first glance, the children seem like X-Men rip offs.  They're said to be the next step in evolution and have different, extraordinary abilities.  But while some of the abilities are useful, others - like having 2 mouths or bees living inside your body - are not at first glance advantageous.  And while one group of peculiars thinks it would be grand to use their abilities to subjugate normals, the rest simply want to live in peace. 

I loved how the author amalgamated their existence with history as witches, changelings and circus performers.  It gave the book a sense of history, and the kids a practical reason to hide.

The downside of the novel is that you don't learn as much as you'd like about certain things: the kids (their histories and abilities), how the loops work and why people are born peculiar.  I'd love to see Riggs bring out a book of the grandfather's stories or a photo album of Miss Peregrine's home, with the stories of how each child came to be there.

There seems to be a move in SF towards the reimagining of history with a horror slant.  While Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is mostly set in the present, it reminded me of Eutopia by David Nickle and Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett.

This is an open ended novel with series potential.  It's a slow, atmospheric work that adults and teens will love.

I still think the book has one of the best book trailers out there.


Ransom Riggs, who has done book trailers for others, did his own. Here's a video of him touring Belgium looking for a good decaying home to use in it.

Two Creepy Book Trailers

I got an email about Glen Duncan's book The Last Werewolf, out July 12th.  Looks and sounds interesting.  From the Knopf youtube page:

Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but you'd never suspect it. Nonstop sex and exercise will do that for you—and a diet with lots of animal protein. Jake is a werewolf, and after the unfortunate and violent death of his one contemporary, he is now the last of his species. Although he is physically healthy, Jake is deeply distraught and lonely.

Jake's depression has carried him to the point where he is actually contemplating suicide—even if it means terminating a legend thousands of years old. It would seem to be easy enough for him to end everything. But for very different reasons there are two dangerous groups pursuing him who will stop at nothing to keep him alive.

Here is a powerful, definitive new version of the werewolf legend—mesmerising and incredibly sexy. In Jake, Glen Duncan has given us a werewolf for the twenty-first century—a man whose deeds can only be described as monstrous but who is in some magical way deeply human. 

One of the most original, audacious, and terrifying novels in years.

I heard about this second book a while back and unfortunately forgot about it.  Thankfully, Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews posted the synopsis and trailer, and it's now firmly at the top of my to be read pile.  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs, has one of the best book trailers I've ever seen.  It's in stores now. 

From Irreference's youtube page:

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.