Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

'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.' 

From the very start, I was in awe with how Ransom managed to so cleverly incorporate the eerie photographs with such a haunting story. The writing was wonderful, for me Ransom managed to stray from typical YA cliches and make a very interesting, unique and thought-provoking trilogy. The way Jacob’s character was portrayed was as a young boy thrust into a realm he thought was originally make-believe. He wasn’t presented as a ‘chosen one’ as such more as a character who weird circumstances had happened to. Although it was a male protagonist, I didn’t have a hard-time relating to his character, and I didn’t feel as if I was reading from a ‘boyish’ point of view. It felt like it was a friend talking to me about their day, or a character who could easily be ambiguous. I found this aspect really nice as he wasn’t like your typical YA male protagonist, he wasn’t afraid to show his emotions and to talk about his relationships with people. His relationship with his grandfather and his curiosity of this new world. His relationship with Emma, bearing in mind I was reading it from a boy's point of view towards a fellow female, I found Jacob to be caring, respectful and he just seems to be a normal, nice boy (aside from the peculiarity) This was also great to read, as he was just very normal. In my opinion, although I have seen people comment that they thought Jacob has a hidden 'dark-side', I just didn't see it at all? I found he didn't have questionable motives and wasn't selfish, I really like him as a character. 

Furthermore, the other peculiar children, were also fantastic. I adore Olive so much, she was cute and funny. All of the children were written as such 'normal' children. One thing I enjoyed was this normality that Ransom has created. It is such a weird world with odd people and things happening, yet there is a sense of 'every day' and normality which was refreshing. As there are so many characters written. you would think you'd get lost as to who was who, this wasn't the case. Each character aside from their peculiarity also had such individual persona's and were all very unique. 

Aside from the creepy photographs, I feel like Peculiar Children could be enough of a gripping story to stand alone without them! Although they do add an air of mystery and as it is a unique feature I did enjoy this added element. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, is a one of a kind book trilogy. All three are the same - fantastically told, character driven and intriguing. I would highly recommend this series!