Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine #1) by, Ransom Riggs

 

 Summary: 

A horrific family tragedy sends Jacob 16 to a remote island off Wales, to the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, where he finds unusual old photographs. The children, one his grandfather, were more than peculiar, perhaps dangerous, quarantined for good reason - and maybe still alive. (Via Goodread.com)

 

 Pages: 352

 

Release Date: January 1st 2011

 

Review:

     I had no idea what I was going into when I started the book.  All I knew was that a couple of my friends enjoyed the book, they told me it was also rather creepy, and they showed me the photographs right off the bat.  I am the type of person to read any genre, any length of book, and I also tend not to read the back of books, unless I am buying them instead of getting them from the library or from a friend because I want to know what I am going to spend my money on. 
    The novel was not quite as I expected.  It was mysterious and creepy but not as much as I expected.  It was really good though and at the beginning I was able to put it down.  But after about the first one-hundred pages it was difficult for me to stop reading it.
     I had not expected any romance but I ended up loving it!  I know that both Emma and Jacob like each other, but if Emma had not been in love with Grandpa Portman, I wonder if she would have any interest in Jacob.  Since it appears that she is into him because of his similarities with his Grandfather. 
     I liked that the mystery of what Grandpa Portman told Jacob was unraveled at different points, not just all at once.  That was one of the reasons that the novel was so interesting.  I was  invested in knowing weather what I assumed was right or completely off.
    The loop was very intriguing to me.  I found it interesting that the loop stayed on the same day, but outside of the loop life moved forward.  At first I thought it would be okay for Jacob to stay because he could just leave and time would resume from when he left the loop.  But it turned out that it was much more complex than that.
    The photos that were included in the novel were fascinating. It came to my attention that the author took them from other novels or collections of work, so I wonder how those photos were placed into the book or collection they came from. The photos were actually one of the reasons I picked up and wanted to read the book. They are creepy, strange, and some are just plain disturbing. The one question I still have about the photos is, who were dressed up as those two clowns?
    It was interesting the certain powers the children had. Some like Emma, she could create fire, had been seen before in other novels. Enoch for example could make dead bodies or dolls come alive by stuffing an animal heart in the body. I have read in other books that characters can heal or bring people back from the dead, but Enoch cannot do it by himself. He uses a heart and he cannot keep a human back from the dead for too long. It was just interesting to see the different powers the children had, some where weird and creepy, but others were fun and useful.
    I am not quite sure why but lately I have been reading many books based in the World War II time period. I am not sure if there are huge amount of books set during that time frame or if I just tend to like the era. Nonetheless, I liked that it was based during that time period.
    Lets talk about the ending. When a book ends and there is a planned sequel or series, I assume that it will have a major or some kind of cliff hanger. This is the first book that I have not actually expected a sequel. I am not saying that the ending answers all my questions at the end, but I could live without knowing the answer. That is probably the only time I will never say that. On the other hand, I am not implying that I will not read the sequel, Hollow City, at one point. I will read the novel because I would like to get my questions answered if they will be out there.
    Overall, the novel was intriguing, intertwined, odd, creepy, mysterious, and thrilling. The sequel, Hollow City will be released January 14th, 2014; and at some point in 2014, I will be picking it up and reading it. 
~Casey