Just months short of his 16th birthday, Jacob Portman holds his grandfather’s mutilated body and witnesses his death. Moments later he sees in the dark forest the face of the inhuman creature which surely must have done this to well-loved grandfather. Thus begins the hair-raising and death-defying adventures of young Jacob; these adventures include nightmares and panic attacks, apparent hallucinations, time travel, the killing of monsters bent on destroying him, and even love.
By now, the particulars of Ransom Riggs’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children are well known, because it has achieved a very high degree of popularity. And this popularity is well deserved. Mr. Riggs portrays his teenage protagonists in a highly realistic way, and the internal dialog of main character Jacob rings very true from beginning to end. This book contains elements that set it somewhat apart from other “teen fiction”: supernatural creatures of several kinds, including the “peculiar” children and the monsters who want to murder them. It includes the touching teenage “everyman” musings of Jacob, who matures by leaps and bounds, and remains a well-meaning youth throughout.
Paced well, with excellent descriptions of very oddball goings-on, this is a fun, gratifying, and sometimes very suspenseful read.
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