Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) in Into the Forest

Jul 17, 2011 Christine rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-and-new-adult, fantasy-urban

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have a problem with time travel plots. I really do. I don't know why. Maybe because they make my head hurt. Even Brigadoon, does this, too many blasted years. The whole 100 years thing, I mean what if there is a parking lot there? Or a cabin? Something? (Not to mention, why its okay that everyone goes home to Bonnie Jean). So in all fairness to Riggs, I'm not partial to time travel books.

And this book involes one of those time loops where no one ages, but everyone is okay with that.

Jacob's gra I have a problem with time travel plots. I really do. I don't know why. Maybe because they make my head hurt. Even Brigadoon, does this, too many blasted years. The whole 100 years thing, I mean what if there is a parking lot there? Or a cabin? Something? (Not to mention, why its okay that everyone goes home to Bonnie Jean). So in all fairness to Riggs, I'm not partial to time travel books.

And this book involes one of those time loops where no one ages, but everyone is okay with that.

Jacob's grandfather dies, and eventually Jacob travels to a sterotypical ~~Irish~~ ~~English~~ Welsh island where people are very attached to thier sheep. He does this to find out more about his grandfather and the peculiar children his grandfather might have met.

This book really isn't bad, except, outside of the time travel thing, I had some issues.

The first is Jacob. At times, Jacob comes across as a believable surly teen. And the other times, he doesn't. He sounds way too adult, and uses British terms that very few Americans use. It doesn't sound right and is jarring.

Jacob is one of the few characters that is developed. Many of the others just seem invented to use the really awesome photos. Jacob and every one get along too well, too quicky.

And then there is this whole time loop thing. Really, you're okay with being five forever. And I'm sorry, but one line about how it was strange to be about to make out with your grandfather's old girlfriend who is really 80 something before doing said act, does not remove the ick factor. And it's not really the age difference. It's really icky, disgusting, and quite frankly has the feeling of statutory rape (almost, only almost because they didn't go all the way).

Yet, the book does have some good points. When something finally rears its head, the action sequence is good and there is one other aspect of character shift besides Jacob. Though, I wish there had been a better ending.

The real selling point is the pictures, though this too has its drawbacks, for sometimes, especially in the first half, it feels as if plot points and characters are simply there for the pictures. Inspired by is fine, but if you have character simply so you can put in a picture, it doesn't work. It just becomes a shade.

...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Michele rated it it was ok

I so much wanted to love this book, with its odd photographs and mysterious grandfather and menacing hollow creatures and, well, peculiar children, but I couldn't, not quite. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. The use of photographs was clever, the idea of living inside a time loop intriguing if a bit fuzzy in its logic, but I had two biggish problems with the book as a whole.

The first is a lack of good pacing/tightness. Ideally a book hooks you immediately, the tension gradually ratchets up as ...more

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May 11, 2011 Julia rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, contemporary-fiction, holocaust, illustrated, ya, time-travel, based-on-folksong-myth, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 29, 2012 Garry rated it liked it

Once again, oh how I wish we could award half stars, because this one deserves the additional half star.

The book has a lot to recommend it. The writing is of a very high quality. (I am now eager to read Ransom Riggs blog and travel writing. A good sign to say the least.) The book uses historical photographs in an inventive way that does NOT seem too-clever-by-half (a very real risk) nor contrived.

But at the same time it is surprising how much the "construction" behind this story shows through. ...more

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May 24, 2014 Erin rated it liked it

3.5 stars, but on the lower end of 3.5, which is why the official rating is a 3.

I definitely enjoyed this book, although I'm not sure if it was the concept or the actual writing I actually enjoyed. To be sure, the plot is intriguing: secreted (literally) away on a tiny island in Wales, is a home to peculiar children 鈥撀爌eculiar being the word for people with special abilities, like levitation or invisibility. Add to the recipe a sprinkling of antique photography (admittedly, very cool), a pinch ...more

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Dec 13, 2012 JS rated it it was ok

Shelves: children-books, fantasy, unusual

I was intrigued by the idea of this book, but it just didn't pan out for me. I think a great deal of that was due to the writing style. The idea of telling so much of the story in photographs was pretty cool. But then, after you looked at the photograph, the author described the whole thing again. So there was a lot of skimming to be done.

Kind of meh. ...more

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