Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Ransom Rigg’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a dark, yet fanciful read. It blends that which is horrific and mesmerizing perfectly to bring worlds of darkness and light together in a crescendo that leaves the reader spinning as much as it does the characters.

An especially peculiar aspect of this novel is that it includes pictures.

Pfft, pictures are for kiddies, aren’t they?

Not these. These pictures are haunting. At times, I found myself disturbed and not wanting to look at them, but it was impossible to stop staring, to quit studying them. I felt as if the photographs were pages of the story that I was reading along with the pages containing words.

It’s amazing, the idea of taking real (not to mention creepy) photos and extracting a story from them, and Riggs does this expertly. He dabbles in mystery, magic, time travel, super powers, monsters, and even sheep. A lot of sheep.

The characters are so believable despite being unbelievable that the reader comes to trust them just as Jacob, the protagonist, comes to terms with the amazing and supposedly impossible things he sees and people he meets. We need the peculiar, the fantastical, the things we don’t quite let ourselves believe, and Ransom Riggs provides us with that.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who desires those things and even some who fear them. It's a lovely ride.

In accordance with the FTC, Quill Café would like to disclose that the reviewer purchased this book. The opinions expressed are hers alone and no monetary compensation was offered to her by the author or publisher. Cover art is copyright of Quirk Books and is used solely as an aide to the review.