Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Length: 352
Source: Purchased.
Anyone who remotely follows book releases, will have heard about the buzz this book caused during it’s release. It took me years to get there but I read it! Andddd I’m not sure how I agree with the hype:
This book gave off this creepy/horror vibe, but it left me feeling (REALLY) overwhelmed. This story was more focused on world-building which is perfectly fine… Except I didn’t find the world building compelling enough to keep me interested. The characters had nothing special or personable about them and they were a little two dimensional, and quite frankly boring.
Another reason why I wasn’t really into this book was because I couldn’t relate AT ALL to the main character. This might have been because Jacob WAS SO DAMN FRUSTRATING. I couldn’t understand him and his the way he thought and to be honest sometimes he sounded like an ungrateful little prick.
I don’t think any of the elements were developed enough, and so it left the reader feeling like something was missing while reading the entire book. It just felt more like a first draft than an actual published book. I think there was too much emphasis placed on the creepy factor, and the images included rather than the actual content, the plot, the story line etc.
Whilst writing this review I really tried to find something positive to say about this book, but I only carried on reading it because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. But to be completely honest this was a story I didn’t really feel invested in, barely managed to finish, and once I did I didn’t feel anything at all.
In summary, the world building wasn’t that great and nothing of relevance or significance rarely happened, but because of the characters and their lack of development when it did I really couldn’t care less.
Also side note: If you still haven’t read the book SPOILER ALERT
Another thing I wasn’t exactly on board with was the fact that Emma, who was Jacob’s grandfather’s LOVER has now fallen in love with Jacob and is considered his love interest in this book?? I can’t be the only one that finds that hella weird??
Your comment about the hype is one of the reasons I don’t read the best sellers. I suspect it is overblown.
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In this case it was wayyy overblown! To be honest the hype doesn’t really affect my experience, I just genuinely don’t understand where there was so much surrounding this particular book…
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The hype doesn’t matter rather I like a book or not. I feel there so many good that for some reason don’t hit the editor or publisher the same way.
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I’ve read all three books in the series and enjoyed them. But i agree they are underwhelming considering the amount of praise they get. The concept is good, I like the photos…but sometimes throughout the series Riggs almost tries too hard to tie a picture in where it simply doesn’t work and the story suffers for it. I’d say they’re good enough to get through and like, but certainly not as great some make them out to be.
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I’m the same when it comes to over hyped books, and I think the higher expectations the hype creates are almost always unwarranted, which inevitably leads to disappointment. I did like this book a lot though, I loved the atmosphere it managed to create around the photos. The sequels, however, are another story…
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I am completely with you on that part about Emma and Jacob. I found it weird. Honestly, if I were Jacob, I would feel awkward about it as well.
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This was one book where I just didn’t get the hype at all. It wasn’t exactly bad, it was more just meh. I think it was the creepy cool photos that got the attention.
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So many people find it weird. You’re okay
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Well….the first book was ok, but it’s not for me. It’s just neutral for me.
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Thank you for your honesty! I’ve had my eye on this book for a while, you’ve saved me from buying it!
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I read the book and enjoyed it. It was novel. But I didn’t read the sequel. One foray into Miss Peregrine’s word was enough.
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I have this on my stack of TBRs. I think I may have, accidentally on purpose, knocked the stack over. Oh look, there it is, second from bottom.
.!!
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Yes, this sums up exactly how I feel about this book/series! I see so many people raving about it, but I never really felt the same way. You broke down a lot of the reasons why I didn’t exactly love it.
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