[Repeated once again, there will be novel spoilers]

Recently, I found myself neglectful of reading for fun. I used to do it all the time in elementary and middle school, but the hobby dwindled greatly during my high school years and to none in college. Suddenly at the beginning of this year, I returned to it, beginning with the book “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.”

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"
Author:Ransom Riggs
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Mild Dark Themes
Personal Rating: 73/100
Extra Media: Book Trailer, Film Trailer, Book Review Videos , Common Sense Media Book Review

What intrigued me to pick up the novel in the first place was the 2016 movie trailer. Directed by one of my favorite artists, Tim Burton, I had to get into the series. I read the novel rather late in life, the book being published in 2011. Per friends who read the book, they claimed it rather popular when it first came out and very good. Of course, that was on young adult literary level, and I was now opening the novel after reading legendary novels like Dante’s “Inferno” and Blake’s poetry and short stories. This review critical concerning an adult reading level.

As seen in the rating above, I was partially satisfied and relatively agreed with Common Sense Media rating. The outstanding point is the interesting photography on the cover. Skimming through the book, various other pieces of fantastical vintage images are included. Those in conjunction with the descriptions on the back, I expected a spooky tale, perhaps horrific that would make me question the universe profoundly in words anyone could understand. I was excited, and then let down.

Unfortunately, the pictures and images have nothing to do with the plot. At first, they are a device to introduce a kind of strangeness in the world, and pull the main character Jacob Portman into an adventure. However, they later are deducted to nothing but extra imagery that inspired many characters within the novel. They are interesting, but I wish there was more purpose for the pictures. They serve simply as extra media within the novel and for directing reader’s imagination.

Another let down to me was the lack of mystery-horror and quick turn into romantic-dull-adventure. Grandpa Portman (Jacob’s grandfather) is killed by a black monster, and the first quarter of the novel is convincing Jacob that he didn’t see it. It’s dull and only partially builds up Jacob’s mild character. A rich kid, he has no ambitions, hardly an opinion, and no fantastic features scream “interesting hero.” You can make the ordinary kid somewhat interesting through his voice, but Ransom Riggs truly captures the diluted mind of a teenage boy (yawn). I love male protagonists, which usually carry a blunt witticism not heard in female points of view, but Jacob is simply uninteresting and has a fake-poetic voice.

After being almost cured of his delusional witness statement, Jacob is pressed by his psychiatrist to put the event at rest at the source: his grandfather. Jacob goes on a journey, that only his rich family could pay for of course, to a small island town called Cairnholm. Another quarter of the book is Jacob wandering around the town, wasting the readers time with descriptions of the dullness and rain, and exploring the strange, dilapidated orphanage his grandfather once lived at. The descriptions are successful in capturing the country side of Wales, but no allegorical significance is put to the setting, the town and house, to make it challenging and interesting what-so-ever.

About half-way through the novel, Jacob discovers a parallel universe stuck in September of 1940 that houses Peculiars, or children with strange abilities. Why 1940? I assume it was to parallel the prejudice and hiding of the Peculiars with the Jews, but once again, no intriguing relevance is made of the reference. I will applaud originality of the parallel universes, or loops; they are made out more fantastical rather than science-fiction, which can be challenging for a writer. These children and their guardian, the time controlling and bird transforming person Miss Peregrine, hide in the loops from abusers of their abilities. I hoped for a “American Horror Story: Freakshow” turn around, which has a similar set up within a circus with awesome horror and social commentary elements, but it only got worse: teen romance.

Emma Bloom, a fire creating girl verging on Mary Sue characteristics, begins to fall in love with Jacob because he looks so much like his grandfather, “but more;” I suspect the “more” is that she has a second chance at love beyond the other dozen or so 10-year-olds in the loop with her. There are strange, almost forced, points of a tug-and-pull romance between the two. Why? Absolutely no clue. Their love resembles a Romeo and Juliet, where they can’t but are willing to be together, but again, why? Just to intrigue or appeal to the young female audiences or the young blossoming boys, who may or may not pick up the book? Nothing points to any extraordinary characteristics of Emma that are appealing specifically to Jacob; he even says something along the lines of “Virgin + Secluded girl surrounded by 10-year-olds = Sure, I’ll kiss that.”

The plot escalates when the children and home are attacked by the Peculiar’s greatest enemies, the hollowgasts and, their more sentient counterparts, the wights. Discovering that these creatures are what killed his grandfather, Jacob goes on with revenge, or perhaps his personal sense of justice, or perhaps his love for Emma. Jacob has no clear ambition, and there’s my main problem. We can’t sympathize or connect with a character that has no problems at all. This is a technique to connect the reader to the main character, a sort of step-in-their-shoes, but that hardly holds a reader’s minds unless it’s very interactive action, which most of the novel lacks.

Here is, perhaps, Ransom Rigg’s only commentary: those who do not harness their unique abilities are simply “just living” rather than living. Jacob never embraced his rich style life, his first-class privileges, to anything, good or bad. The children with peculiar abilities are comfortably surviving in hiding, equally not doing anything astonishing for themselves despite their clear uniqueness. They are the only one who can recognize, control, and harness out abilities is ourselves. This lesson is a good one for young adult readers, who are probably going through awkward times. However, Ransom Rigg’s neglects to integrate this possible theme with his plot, or not clearly at least.

Concluding, the enemies fall short on in their plan of kidnapping Miss Peregrine and using her power to set up an apocalypse that would empower hollowgasts and wights. The children save their guardian, but she gets stuck in her bird form and time starts moving forward once again. Thus, the novel sets up a convoluted plot for the sequel, “Hollow City.” The children travel off their haven island into war-torn Europe and to find help for Miss Peregrine.

This review was lengthier than expected, but I hope my point is clear: there’s nothing interesting is in this novel despite the intriguing exterior and inspiration. Why was there not more done with the photographs? The spirit photography and the conspiracy theories around it, why not include it? The main character, and even the Peculiar characters, are not compelling in personality. There is nothing of a plot, or an urgency of it, until the very last pages. The novel is basically a prequel to the second novel, which is just barely better and follows the points made about its predecessor. WWII setting, peculiar abilities, and romance are not made significant in any way, yet are written to be extremely important. Give it some backing! Connections!

A young adult book should be challenging to the blossoming reader, introducing these important writing pieces and techniques. It should have lessons that help build a unique character within the reader. “Peculiar Children” had the set-up, a close direction, but a poor execution.