Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
At the store where I bought The Night Circus, which I loved, they recommended this novel as being something I would also like. I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Night Circus, but none the less it is an interesting novel – consisting of strange vintage photos.
Here is the blurb …
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.
This might sound negative, but I don’t intend it as a criticism. This novel made me think of a creative writing exercise – here are a pile of strange photographs make a story out of them. Despite the fantastical elements this novel felt very realistic – the sign of a good fantasy novel if the world created by the author is believable. The sections on the Island were particularly well written. Although I found the romance between Jacob and Emma a bit icky (she had been in love with his grand father after all). The evil creatures that hunt down the peculiars are the stuff that nightmares are made off. I can picture this novel being made into a suspenseful movie or TV series (after a quick search on IMDB I find it is being made into a movie)
I think it will appeal to lovers of fantasy and quirky fiction.
More reviews …
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/books/ransom-riggs-is-inspired-by-vintage-snapshots.html?_r=0