Alright you have no idea how much this header image is bothering me, with the title not fitting in the coloured stripe properly (it’s usually only one line rather than two but the title is way too long). But we’re just going to ignore that and get on with it, because that’s not what we’re here for.

I’d decided a while ago to reread this book. I’d finally gotten the last book in the trilogy a few months ago, but it had been that long since reading the first two I couldn’t actually remembered what happened. And with the movie of Miss Peregrine’s being released, it was about time for me to put those plans into action.

Let’s talk about Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children!

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

Author: Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk Books

Series Status: The 1st book in the Peculiar trilogy

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Number of Pages:  352

(Found on Goodreads)

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

This was a REREAD for me – originally read in 2013

So back when I originally read this book, I loved it enough to add it to my “favourites” shelf on Goodreads. I went into it this time round hoping it would remain there…but kind of knowing it wouldn’t.

Over the past year or so I’ve been reconsidering some of the reviews I gave out months – even years – ago, and when seeing Miss Peregrine’s sat on my favourites shelf, I remember thinking it didn’t belong there anymore. But I didn’t want to remove it without rereading, just to be sure. Well, now I know. It will remain there no longer.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST. 

I did still really enjoy this book. REALLY enjoyed it. I’m genuinely so glad I reread it, because it turns out I had forgotten so much more than I thought. And by that I mean basically everything.

It’s not really a surprise I like this book though, if you sum it down to this: My favourite genre is fantasy. My second favourite is historical fiction. This book is an amazing blend of both. How could I not love it? But with both of those genres, it’s not just your usual way of seeing them. The fantasy isn’t “magic”, it’s peculiarities. The history isn’t just the time frame, it’s many time frames. You’ll probably know what I mean if you’ve read it.

“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”

My favourite thing about this book is just learning how everything works. Learning about the peculiarities. Learning about the loops. Just everything. How this world is built is just so fascinating to me, especially with the eerie vintage photos there to back up the downright odd descriptions. If you can’t wrap your head around the way something looks, don’t worry about it – there’s probably a photo nearby. 

Speaking of the photos, how do people think this is scary? I swear a rumour went round ages ago that this was a horror story and now I constantly hear of people not wanting to read it because they don’t like horror. It’s not horror! At all! Sure, if you’re the sort of person that easily becomes uncomfortable by weird/unexplainable photos, it probably isn’t for you. But in my eyes there’s absolutely nothing scary about this book. I promise you. I adore the sort of gothic/eerie persona this book takes on. It fits with the history side of it SO well.

Anyway.

Reading this a second time, I wasn’t as…on board with the relationships as I was all those years ago. Or rather, just the “main ship”. Everyone else was fine. This is going to sound so confusing to the people who haven’t read the book, but I need to be vague because I don’t want to spoil it. But yeah, the “main ship”. I’m not really against it, and honestly I’ll probably be back on board with it when I read the second book…but something about reading it this time kind of creeped me out a bit. Just the connections (people-wise) they had between them – ugh thinking about it too long makes me cringe. I’d rather just ignore it, which I’m pretty sure I did the first time round. Couldn’t forget this time though apparently.

I also realised that the book is actually kind of slow, but not in a boring way. I mentioned before how my favourite thing was just learning how everything worked, and that’s a lot to do with the slower pace. It’s more about learning information, rather than action. And I know that might sound boring to some, but with a world as strange as this, I don’t actually think it CAN be boring. You never know what’s coming next.

I’m genuinely looking forward to rereading the book. I remember enjoying it even more than the first because even more history was involved, and I’m pretty sure more action. Rereading this one has reignited my interest in the series, even if I have revoked its status as a favourite of mine. There’s just something so unique about it, that’s it’s become somewhat comforting to me, even with all the peculiarities. It’s not the sort of book you’ll find a similar story for, and that’s just amazing. I love it.

Rated 4/5 stars

Amazon

Share your thoughts!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Who’s your favourite character?

If you haven’t read it, do you plan to?

Have you seen the movie? If not, do you plan to?

Let me know in the comments!

Until next time…

Come and visit me!

    

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