Novel: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: YA Science Fiction & Fantasy
Here goes me first book review ever! Let me just say that i read the review on my coworkers blog, http://olivesshelf.blogspot.com/. She's an absolute book junky, like myself, so I tend to trust her word when she tells me a book is good! After reading part of her review, aside from the spoilers I decided to go to the nearest Barnes and Noble and check it out. It immediately caught my attention on the shelf. A little girl hovering above the ground with a forest set in the background, all in black and white with absolutely amazing text and design used for the title written at the bottom! I was in love! (I love horror and dark imagery and anything, well, peculiar for that matter!) So I knew this was a book that I had to get my hands on and discover what was to be so peculiar about these children. The pages on which the novel was printed and the patterned pages to break up the chapters were simply gorgeous. And the fact that there were pictures within, strange old vintage photographs to be more exact, made me have to have it even more! And so I got it for Christmas from my lovely fiance! <3
"Because we weren't like other people. We were peculiar."
The story starts off with Jacob and his intrigue with his grandfather's past life. Jacob is the perspective the entire novel is based upon. He simply adores his grandfather and is fascinated by the stories he tells him as he is growing up. As a child Jacob believes these strangely magical yet bizarre tales about children whom Grandpa Portman had grown up with who were too peculiar to reside where the common people lived. They live on a far away island with The Bird who is introduced as the headmistress to the peculiar children. Once Jacob is older he looks at these stories as merely fairy tales, and is becoming more and more convinced everyday that his grandfather is nothing but crazy. Until one fatal day when he witnesses his grandfather's death and is convinced something of the unknown had killed him out in the woods. A man whom is hidden beyond the trees and is strangely similar to the monsters his grandpa had described in his tales about the Peculiars.
There was something in the woods, all right - I could feel it.
***Spoilers Ahead***
If you are interested in reading the book and finding out the rest for yourself I suggest you stop reading now!
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The cast of peculiars are great! Here is a small list of the children Jacob meets and the extraordinary gifts that they have:
Emma - She is the love interest of Jacob, although at first she thinks he's a wight (ill explain that later). She is able to produce fire in the palm of her hand. We later find out she and Abe (Jacob's grandfather) were in love.
Millard - Ah the invisible boy. It must be pretty awesome to be invisible. I love how inanimate objects seem to be floating around when it's only really Millard creating the mischief!
Bronwyn - The little girl with great strength. She is able to pretty much lift and destroy anything that is in her path. She's rather vicious!! We later find out Victor (the boy holding the boulder in one of the photographs) is her brother.
Enoch - He is the creepiest yet has the most amazing power in my opinion. He can harvest hearts and then bring inanimate or dead beings to life with the hearts. He says it best within the novel, "That's what I can do - take the life of one thing and give it to another..".
Horace - He is a young boy basically dressed like Mr. Peanut! lol He wears a suit, has lapels, a top hat, a monocle, and carries a cane with him. He has prophetic dreams that have a tendency to come true.
Fiona - She is able to make plants and flowers grow on command and has the power to bring trees to sprout from the ground in mere seconds. She is also able to control them in order to move or pick up or reach things otherwise out of their own reach.
Olive- The girl with the lead shoes. She is the girl to grace the cover of this wonderful novel. She levitates and without her shoes is as light as a balloon and must be tied to something in order to not float away!
The Bird - She is the headmistress of the peculiars and resides in a large house on the island. She is the keeper of what is called the Loop. The Loop is a static moment in time, here being a single day, September 3, 1940. The day that existed right before what could have been their last moments of life, right before a WWII German air raid dropped bombs that would completely destroy the large house and everything in it.
I absolutely love the idea of the Loop. It can be a magical moment that is sustained in time that can be relived for as long as you like. Age increases but does not show as the peculiars live to be hundreds of years old yet look like children.
Then there are the monsters and the wights. The monsters are concerned about controlling all the loops, of which there are hundreds, in order to make a grand loop of the entire world in which to repeat time and control time to their own liking. The wights are mere puppets to the monsters. They are set out to live and scout within the society of common people to study and take notice of any peculiars who may exist outside of a loop. Thus they can use them to infiltrate the hidden loops around the world. They are frightening creatures in their own way, they have eyes without pupils. They can be easily noticed among common people unless they can hide their eyes from them, although most people who do not know of the existence of the wights can simply pass by as an ordinary blind person may.
All in all the powers of the peculiars and the horrors of the monsters set together with the frighteningly odd photographs throughout the book, makes for a chilling and mysterious story that keeps you reading from start to finish. It creates a vivid world to let you explore the mystery and adventures Jacob encounters. I suggest this novel to anyone who enjoys a good mystery with strange twists and haunting photographs. You will become engrossed with each character and their unique abilities and ultimately the mystery as to what exists within the loop and the extraordinary life Jacob comes to lead.
"The composition of the human species is infinitely more diverse than most humans suspect."
They are writing a movie as we speak! Looks like Tim Burton may be involved which should make this as true to peculiar looking as possible! Here's a little of what to expect! Enjoy!
