Book Nerds Across America: miss peregrine's home for peculiar children

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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Book Review: Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

Goodreads Overview:

The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls. As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all. Like its predecessors, Library of Souls blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

Jacque's Review:

The original overview for this book implies this is the final book in a trilogy. The story picks up pretty much where the previous book left off. Miss. Peregrine and the other Ymbrynes have been captured by Wights along with some of the peculiar children. Jacob, Emma, and a few others who managed to escape must now rescue them before life as they know it is lost forever. Without Ymbrynes to manage the loops, peculiars are not safe from their enemies. In addition, if they remain outside of a loop for too long, they will begin to age. Most of the peculiars were friends of Jacob's grandfather, but still look like children because of the loop's ability to freeze time. They are immortal as long as they remain inside of a loop. Even a couple of consecutive days in the "real world" could cause them to age and die.

While I did enjoy the pictures that drive the plot of this stories, I did not feel like this book was as fast paced and as engaging as the previous two. There were a lot of detailed descriptions of the setting, which is dreary and bleak most of the time. The lengthy battles were overdone and often caused me to lose interest. I did enjoy the premise behind the Library of Souls and how Jacob's ability made him the "librarian". I was happy with how everything played out and felt like there was a definitive ending to the series. The struggles the peculiar have endured for years appeared to be behind them and we are left with as close to a happily ever after as I thought we could get. But now there are 3 more books in the series!!!

It looks like the next book is set in America instead of England and the peculiars are going to give life in Jacob's world a try. I'm not sure I am up for an additional 3 books, but the 4th book is actually getting pretty good review and is averaging over 4 stars on Goodreads. I think I will take a break from the series, but will probably give the fourth book a try just to see how things play out. I do enjoy the characters and if the story line has a faster pace, I will likely enjoy it more than I did book 3.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Book Review: Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2)

Goodreads Overview:

This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.

Jacque's Review:

This is such a unique series that I hardly know where to begin. The story is written around a number of vintage photographs the author has acquired from various sources. For example, we are introduced to a number of new peculiars in this novel such as the one on the cover of this book. How else could someone explain a photo of a girl with a hole in her torso that appears to be completely healthy? She is most definitely "peculiar". All of the peculiars have unusual abilities that did not meld well into society, so they have been living in "loops" where they live out one day over and over again and never age.

There are evil creatures known as hollows and wights who have been raiding the loops and taking their caregivers known as ymbryne, such as Miss. Peregrine. In order to save their peculiar world they must first rescue their ymbryne.

The majority of this novel is spent traveling through WWII bombings in 1940 and escaping the constant chase of hollows and wights. The children travel from their island off the coast of England to London and beyond in order to help Miss. Peregrine, who was injured during the raid at the end of book 1. They meet not only peculiar people, but also animals along the way who assist them with their quest. The cleverness of Ransom Riggs is remarkable as he weaves a tale with unusual abilities around photographs that would otherwise be inexplicable.

The constant chase was exhausting for the children and it felt like an end was never in sight the majority of the book. Jacob is beginning to come to the realization that he may have already accomplished what he set out to do and should return to the safety of his home in present day America, when he is thrown an unbelievable twist. (Of course there had to be a twist...we already know there are two more books in the series.) Now I can hardly wait to read the next book, Library of Souls, to see what happens next. I already picked up a copy when I was at BEA in 2016 and spent the better part of two days trying to catch up with Ransom to get it signed, which I was able to accomplish on the final day.

If you enjoy YA fantasy, I would recommend giving this series a try. On a side note...I read a physical copy of the first book and an ebook copy of the second. It is worth getting the hard copy because the pictures are larger and can be viewed in better detail. I tried increasing the font size on my kindle to see a larger copy of some of the pictures, but it only increased the font size and not the size of the photos. I will definitely read the physical copies of the remaining books in this series.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Books to Movies Giveaway Hop

When we first started Book Nerds Across America, we had a monthly feature where we all read and reviewed a book that was going to become a movie. Because we love books, and we love movies. We aren't able to do this all the time anymore, but we still do reviews of movies based off books every once in awhile. I think it's great! I really enjoy reading a book and then seeing how the director and actors bring it to life. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't -- sometimes I don't like them, a lot of times, I do. Anyway! All this is to say we are happy to participate in this Hop. Here's the prize...

It's a mini poster based on Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, courtesy of Quirk Books. (I accidentally ended up with two, so I'm paying it forward with one for one of you :). Have you seen this movie yet? I haven't, but I want to. We did read and review the book. This contest is US only (sorry - we will do another international giveaway soon!) and you can enter via the Rafflecopter. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now you can hop on!

Saturday, June 18, 2016

WIN: Miss Peregrine Tote Bag!

So remember how Jacque was excited to grab a Miss P. tote bag from BEA? It is pretty cute, right?!

Well, we can't keep the cuteness to ourselves so we're gonna share the wealth! Want to win one? Just let us know in the comments who your favorite of Miss P.'s kids is. Don't forget to include your email address. We'll give this a random (U.S.) commenter. Good luck!! Contest ends June 30, 2016.

Also, don't forget to jump in on #5PeculiarYears:

Monday, April 27, 2015

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Book Summary
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.

Flo's Review
So I've met Ransom Riggs and we have a cute picture together, but I'm having computer problems and can't find it :( Boo! So this will have to suffice for now:

Anyway, the point is I met Ransom in 2013, so my reading Miss P was long overdue. A couple of things pushed me in the right direction. 1) Quirk Books kindly sent me a review copy and 2) I learned that the movie was filming in Florida.

As you may know, this book was written around several old school pictures, which are featured throughout the book. Because of that, listening to it on audio doesn't seem to make much sense, but it ended up working out for me. The narrator of the audiobook was really fantastic, and I would flip through the book to see the photographs.

I really enjoyed Jacob's voice, and that is what kept me going through the story. The layout (because I can't think of the proper word right now) for the story didn't really sit well with me, but there's no way I can explain why without giving away spoilers. If you've read the book already, and you're curious, you can click here for my spoilery review.

Hollow City, the next book in the series, seems like it is going to be a lot of fun. I'm eagerly awaiting the audiobook from the library so I can jump back into the action with the children.

Jacque's Review:

Jacob is a sixteen year old high school boy that has never really fit in. He is the only person in his family that has a strong relationship with his grandfather, but even he hasn't been able to believe his grandfather's outrageous stories for years. After his grandfather dies, Jacob is determined to uncover what his final words truly meant.

His grandfather grew up during World War 2 and fled to an orphanage off the coast of England for refuge as a boy. He always described it as paradise with all sorts of peculiar children. He showed Jacob pictures of the children, but nobody in their right mind would have believed the photos were real. Bees flying out of a boy's mouth, a girl floating in thin air, another child that is invisible, etc. This is the best part about the book in my opinion. Ransom Riggs used dozens of unaltered old photographs from collectors and wove the story around the images. It was very creative, imaginative, and unlike anything else I have ever read.

The majority of the story is spent on the island as Jacob tries to discover the truth behind his Grandfather's past. I really enjoyed the story, but I would have been disappointed if I read this book when it was first released. I didn't realize until the end of last year (three years after the release of this book) that there was going to be a sequel. The ending is left wide open and there are a million loose ends, which would have been extremely frustrating to the reader that believed this was a stand-alone novel. As it stands today, I am anxious to pick up where this story left off and already requested a copy of Hollow City from the library.

The movie version of this book is currently in production and scheduled to be released in March 2016. I'm not sure how they will incorporate the pictures into the film, but I am excited to see how this story will be depicted on the big screen. The setting will be very unique with the old school and the island with its ever changing weather. There is a lot of action and several "monsters" at the end of the book, which should appeal to a wider audience than just the YA reading population. With the hit or miss success of YA books to movies in recent years, I really hope this movie will get the support it deserves.

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