I will admit, I was worried about this book.
I'd read a lot of very unflattering reviews over the months since I
purchased it. I think that's why it took me more than a year before I
actually decided to sit down and read it. I began
the book not expecting much and I will admit, I was pleasantly
surprised by the story that unfolded. It was better than many typical
novels advertised as both YA and for a wider adult audience. I think
that many adults would be very satisfied with the series
that Ransom Riggs has started. I'm looking forward to future outings
with Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children.
We are introduced to Jacob Portman. The story
is told in a first person point of view in Jacob's voice. As a young
child, he forms a very special bond with his grandfather. He wants to
be an explorer and adventurer just like him. He
relishes in the tales that his grandfather spins for him, complete with
pictures of levitating girls, invisible boys and other oddities. All
too soon he begins to grow up and starts listening to the logic of his
father who insists that his grandfather is
just spinning imaginative, but impossible stories just to keep Jacob
entertained. Jacob comes to see the pictures and fantastical tales in a
new light. The tales become impossible fantasies and the photographs
are now seen as fake.
Jacob is now 16 and reeling from the sudden
death of his grandfather. He receives a letter that sets the fantastic
events in motion. He travels to the remote Welsh island where his
grandfather lived when he was a child to escape the monsters.
His father travels with him so that he can observe the birds and with
the blessing of Jacob's psychiatrist, he lets him explore and try to
find the answers that he needs to put his mind at peace. Jacob finds
the home where his grandfather lived with all of
those peculiar children. Children who should be dead and gone
according to the island residents, but are there! And they are alive
and well! The story takes on a more fantastical turn that I had
expected but this wasn't unwelcome at all. The descriptions
and the story are so well done that you can set aside your notions of
what's possible and make yourself believe that this can happen.
The photographs used within the novel are
incredible. There have been many reviewers that have stated that the
pictures seem to serve no purpose and that they don't correspond to
what's being described in the book. I have to strongly
disagree with this statement. I thought the pictures did a great job
of giving a visual to the events in the story. They put a real face to
the characters in the story. It makes you wonder if Ransom Riggs came
upon some of these pictures and decided to
tell their story. My only complaint about the pictures and other
visual items in the book would be that they are rather difficult for
Kindle (and possibly other e-book) users. There is a workaround, but
not everyone would be willing or able to do it. If
I didn't think the detail was good enough on my Kindle, I opened my
Kindle App for PC and I could then see everything.
For me, this was a very well written novel. The
characters were engaging, very well fleshed out and left you wanting to
get to know them even better. There was a supernatural aspect to the
book that wasn't overdone or overblown, it was
made believable and above all, interesting. The pace was good, there
were very few places that I would say that the story lagged or slowed
down. The level of detail was impressive without going on and on and on
about little things that didn't matter. The
mysteries are well explained and the suspense keeps you on the edge of
your seat till the very end.
The ending was very well done. It left room for
a sequel without feeling unfinished. Sure, there's a bit of a
cliffhanger, but it's not one of those soap-opera cliffhangers where
you're more angry than excited for the next step. I would
definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to escape into
another time and place for at least a little while. Put aside your
conceptions of what is real and what is possible and just enjoy the
ride. Due to some violence and some mature language and
imagery, I would not recommend this to readers under the age of
13-14...just my personal impression.
Solid 4 stars
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