Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children promises an innovative approach using authentic vintage photography added to the narrative. The photos are interesting and creepy, but most of the time they do not really add anything innovative to the book. Don't get me wrong, not every novel has to be innovative, but these photos are the gimmick that tries to spice up an otherwise bland novel.


The use of the photos in Miss Peregrine's home calls to mind the use of photos in other recent novels, Water for Elephants being a good example. The difference between the two is that Water for elephants is a good novel even without them. Miss Peregrine's Home promises paranormal mystery but does not deliver much. The mystery is pretty quickly solved and it isn't very exciting.

Much of that can be explained with the fact that it's probably the first installment in a series. A lot of time was taken introducing characters and the basic premise. Will I read a sequel?...I might. It may be worth giving another chance to the series, but as a stand alone novel it's weak and the gimmick it relies on doesn't work very well.

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