To begin, I would say that what impressed me most about this book was how deceptive it was. For example, the first chapter seems straight out one of John Green's earlier novels: 16 year old male misfit with a talent for the language arts living in the southern United States struggles to make/keep friends and deal with family problems. However, after about 30 pages and a grisly murder, this book descends into something deliciously otherworldly and softly romantic, cleverly illustrated by a series of black and white photographs. Without spoiling anything, Miss Peregrine's tells the story of the aforementioned teenager, Jacob Portman, and his journey to a small island off the coast of Wales. Guided by his grandfather's fantastical bedtime stories and his therapist's advice, Jacob seeks the mysterious children's home that once housed his Jewish grandfather after he was evacuated from Poland in the 1930's. Although the house itself is in ruins, Jacob slowly begins to realize that it may not be abandoned, and that the 'gifted' children featured in a collection of old photographs owned by his grandfather may not only be alive, but in great danger.
In general, reading this book (for me) was like eating a handful of gourmet jelly beans, where the joy of eating jelly beans is increased by the fun of trying to guess which flavours you're tasting. That is to say, Miss Peregrine's seems like a mash up of several different books I've read and movies I've seen, and instead of getting upset about Riggs 'copying' another author (because really, who doesn't?), I found it enjoyable to identify which other texts I was reminded of. For example, to me this novel felt like a cross between the X-Men series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a John Green novel, and a Tim Burton film. While the 'haven for magical/unique children' trope is used so often in fiction and film it is almost a cliche, I enjoyed Rigg's personal take on it, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how this novel exceeded my initial expectations.
Of course, this wouldn't be a proper review if I didn't point out the aspects of this novel I feel could use some work: namely, the protagonists. As I mentioned, from the beginning, Riggs establishes Jacob as a stock character and he doesn't change much from there on. This is very clear from how little his relationship with his father changes from the beginning to the end of the novel, which annoyed me. I didn't find Jacob unlikable, just flat, and I felt that the plot of this novel required him to display a little more emotional depth. Miss Peregrine's is full of really neat ideas and concepts and has much potential, unfortunately, Jacob fails somewhat in carrying all of this information for the reader. The same goes for Emma, the other protagonist who readers won't meet until halfway through the novel. For someone that plays such an important role in the story, Emma's character verges on boring, and her actions are predictable.
Despite the weak characters, I really enjoyed reading Miss Peregrine's. In the time since finishing the book, I have become more critical and objective about the characters, plot, etc. but while I was reading the book, I felt as gripped and compelled as though I was reading a Harry Potter or Percy Jackson novel for the first time. My family can attest how excited I was as I was pulled along by the book's plot twists and beautiful imagery, and I hope that if you too choose to read this book, you will enjoy it just as much.
Genre: YA Fiction/Fantasy
Recommended To: Fans of John Green's work, Rick Riordan's YA books, readers 12 years and up
Rating: 8.0/10
Favourite Quote: "Stars, too, were time travellers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize that we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries--but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was."
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