Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

By Ransom Riggs

Loud sigh. Seriously. That is my reaction. A very loud sigh.

This is the story of Jacob, a teenager who loses his grandfather tragically and travels around the world to make sense of the mysterious/gruesome nature of his death. His grandfather had always told him stories about his childhood in a home for peculiar children, though everyone assumed them to be fantasy stories. Needless to say, peculiarity ensues.

Sounds fun, right? Sure. The beginning was awesome! The mood was dark and mysterious- heightened with the use of spooky vintage photographs. I found myself zipping through the first few chapters because I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. I’m not even embarrassed to admit that, on a couple occasions, the story was so tense and eerie that I had watch something light hearted before I could go to sleep.

But, I am sure you remember the loud sigh.

Sometimes you read a book that starts out amazing and then turns to shit and you think, “Man, that author just couldn’t figure out where to take it.” This time, I would define this as a shitty book that accidentally, as a complete fluke, had an amazing beginning. The story turned to crap and it turned to crap fast and hard.

It became so ridiculous and stupid, the plot doesn’t really make sense, the villains go from scary to lame-ass---- it ended up feeling like an X-Men for kids.

I wanted to love this book. I really did and I tried my hardest. But it just couldn’t happen- Riggs made it impossible. Like I had a hot date and it started out so promising, I wanted to fall in love, but then my date farted, then threw up, then shit himself and seemed to think it was normal. You don’t love this person, you excuse yourself politely to go to the bathroom, run outside to call a cab, and then change your cell number.

Those first few minutes were so promising. Those first few moments were some of the best ever.

But…alas.

Loud sigh.