Book Review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

This book seems to polarize opinion in the way that most bestsellers do. I’d been hearing about this one in librarian circles for a bit before it exploded into the mass market consciousness, and decided it was worth a buy solely due to what I knew about the story. While the book carries a couple of substantial flaws, I enjoyed it about as much as I expected to, rational criticism be damned.

Jacob Portman spent his childhood in the thrall of his grandfather’s amazing stories, and the bizarre photographs that were displayed as proof of them. Even as Jacob grows into a sullen teenager, the unlikely recollections of a magical island where kids could float and lift boulders exerted a strange, nostalgic pull on him. On the night of his grandfather’s unexpected death, Jacob sees something impossible lurking in the night. Determined to find out once and for all if his grandfather was crazy (and whether he is heading down the same path, himself), Jacob ventures to the remote, supposedly magical Welsh island that sheltered his grandfather from the Nazis during World War II. Expecting to find closure, Jacob instead discovers that the weird tales and photos made more sense than he realized.

The first half of this book was absolutely perfect, as far as I was concerned. The writing is fantastic and the macabre mood is established and maintained with subtle skill. The full-page photos, genuine oddities around which Riggs wrote the book, are a nice gimmick and add a dark weirdness. Between all of this and the sinister-looking cover of the book, I think a lot of people got tripped up on the notion that this is a horror story. It certainly feels that way at the beginning, but before long, the plot takes a left turn and becomes a mishmash of superhero fantasy and standard YA action. The transition is pretty seamless, from a technical standpoint, but it takes some adjustment for readers who were expecting more horror or mystery.

Unfortunately, though I didn’t mind this new focus in the second half of the book, the writing didn’t work nearly as well past the halfway mark. The photographs that were so effective in the beginning, when the story and characters were being established, started to feel a little shoehorned in once the action got going. While some of the characters felt genuine, others seemed inconsistent or shallow. Emma in particular seemed a bit halfhearted in her characterization, which is kind of a big problem to have with your love interest. Worst of all, the ending of the book is decidedly weak, possessing a distinct episodic feel. “Want to know what happens next? Tune in next time!” For all of its charm, this book simply does not carry its weight as a standalone book, from a story perspective.

Still, the creepy wonder that suffuses the beginning of the book made a lasting impact on me. This is one of those rare books that captured me so thoroughly with its premise and atmosphere that I forgave more than I usually would in the actual plot. It is definitely not a perfect book, and its novelty doesn’t quite balance out its problems in execution. However, it is an extraordinarily fun book with an evocative setting, a slick presentation, and a genuinely interesting angle in the antique photos. The writing style is definitely skewed towards teen readers (and Riggs does a great job in capturing an authentic teen voice, at least in Jacob’s case), but this is a worthy read for anyone with a taste for gothic adventure. I look forward to the next book, even if I am annoyed that I don’t really have a choice in the matter.

Verdict: 4 / 5