Ransom Riggs

In 1940, Jacob and his new friends escape from Miss Peregrine's island and travel to London where they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.

Hollow City

maitha mana

The world of peculiars is expanding; and now includes time/place loops, peculiar animals, oddities, and outcasts. I am loving how fast paced the book is, and how it expands and shifts environments; nothing about the series can be anticipated. I especially love the photographs, which almost nearly none have been altered, it is crazy to think these were found at vintage stalls, and how it inspired Riggs with the universe of peculiars and Hollow City.

A follow-up to the best-selling Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children begins in 1940 with Jacob and his new friends escaping from Miss Peregrine's island and traveling to London, where they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals and other unexpected surprises.

julia

This book was a little worse than the first one. Jacob was okay this time around, but the only part that I really liked was the one with the animals on the mountain. If I do read the third book,it will only be to find out what happens after the cliffhanger at the end.

Jaden Nelson

In short, I liked the book a lot. The pictures were a refreshing change from most books and they fit will with the plot. But , i only give 5 stars to a select few and this didn't make the cut. Read on for more.




This was almost a 5 star book. It has a lot more action than book 1 (which kept me interested and excited), and it has many of the great things I see in some of my favorite books like plot twists, etc. However, I am not left with a feeling of wanting to read it again, at least not for a while. Even though I shouldn't really compare one book to another as a method of rating, I just can't help but notice that there is something missing in these books that could have pushed them to be amazing. It lacks some sort of "magic" in the writing that some of my favorite 5 star books have. All in all, I liked it more than book 1, but it's not chart topping in my books (pun intended:)

Briar's Reviews

Hollow City, the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was a big let down for me.

The first novel in the series was perfection on many pages. The story flowed nicely, and the pictures assisted in telling the story. I found Hollow City to be quite the opposite: the story was told through pictures and the words were made to fit them. 

Hollow City, to me, seemed like a rushed mess based on only pictures. When reading, it seemed like Ransom Riggs took a whole bunch of pictures and shuffled them into a deck, then randomly selected one to make the next chapter about. The novel went from a fantasy novel that seemed realistic, into a joke-y child like novel. Instead of feeling like this could be a real, dystopian world, it seemed like a cartoon. Talking and walking dogs, cartoon-ish characters, and situations just happening at the right moment made the novel boring and ridiculous.

I could barely read one chapter a night, I found the novel that boring. Random Riggs did an amazing job with imagery to make me see what was happening in my mind, but I found the novel to just be not well thought out. 

If the plot line didn't seem to be made that everything was just a coincidence (things happening just when the characters needed it, instead of being a slow build), it could have been a much better novel. Ransom Riggs is still an amazing author, and I'll read the next novel if he makes another one. Hopefully the next novel will be like the first, where the pictures enhance the story instead of dictate it.

Overall, I didn't like it. It was hard to read and very dull. One out of five stars.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was the surprise best seller of 2011-an unprecedented mix of YA fantasy and vintage photography that enthralled readers and critics alike. Publishers Weekly called it "an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters." 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. Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.

The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

I would like to start this review by saying that I absolutely LOVE this series. I fell in love with Miss Peregrine’s when I read it the first time, especially because of all the ‘creepy’ pictures. I was told that it was a horror book, but I ended up not being scared of anything at all, it was more just a nice story with some ‘scary’ pictures added to it.

When Hollow City was announced, I got really excited, because I just wanted to know how the story went on. I had a bit of a reading slump since the end of December, so it was a bit hard for me to get myself to read on, but when I did the book got more and more thrilling as I read.

The Action – This book has quite some action, because Jacob and his group of Peculiar friends are being hunted by Wights and Hollowgast (I caught myself reading Holocaust a lot in the beginning though). Those action moments were the moments that really made me want to continue reading the story, they were just so thrilling!

The Characters + Peculiars – Of course we have the original characters from the first book (Jacob, his Peculiar friends from Cairnholm and Miss Peregrine in bird form). We met a lot of other characters as well, some including peculiar animals, a bunch of Gypsy’s, and a girl whose Peculiar powers made me think of Elsa (from Frozen).

My favourite characters that we met in this book have got to be the animals, the first thing I said was ‘how weird, there’s a talking dog?!’ and then I remembered what kind of book I was reading. I really loved all those animals, especially the emu-raffe!

The Romance – Like the summary says, there’s a bit of a romance going on in this book, and I loved every second of it. I was rooting for them, and I can safely say that I ship it, a lot!

The Pictures – I fell in love with all the pictures in this book! There was one pictures though, that actually scared me; and that was a picture of a clown. I am really scared of clowns, and when I read about a clown in the story, I KNEW that there was going to be a picture of said clown. I read that page with my hand over the picture, and I was happy when I could flip the page!

There was another picture, which had a Dutch sentence on it, I am not sure if it was the same sentence as Millard translated (“From the mouths of our elders comes a fountain of wisdom”), but the part of the sentence that I could read on the picture said “Dit is Hans Worst”, which literally translates to : “This is Hans Sausage”, so that made me laugh a bit. (There was another part of writing on that picture, but I couldn’t read what it said).

The Plot – In this book, the peculiars have to make it to London, to find another Ymbryne and get her to restore their own. I enjoyed reading about their adventure, their meeting with the Gypsy’s, the train journey to London, Jacob’s Peculiar power developing; I just enjoyed it a lot! I think I like this book a bit more than Miss Peregrine’s, to be honest, because this book happens in more places than just Cairnholm.

But there was a plot-twist near the end, that actually made me gasp. I had NEVER expected that and now I’m sitting here with all these feelings, oh my gods!

The Writing – The writing was amazing, just like with Miss Peregrine’s. I really loved Ransom Riggs writing, and I am planning on reading his other book, Talking Pictures, as well.

In the end, I loved this book to bits, and I can’t wait for the next book, because I NEED to know what is going to happen now!

Colleen

3 Stars
 
I really enjoyed the atmospheric mystery of the first half of  Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children . Unfortunately, once the mystery was revealed, it felt kind of corny. That’s probably why it took me a year and a half to get around to reading the sequel. The sequel continued on in the same vein. The use of old photographs didn’t seem as interesting. I mentioned in my review of the first book that sometimes it felt like the story was forced to fit the photographs. It felt the same way in the sequel. It was too hard to believe that the photographs were genuinely supposed to be of characters from the book and more like the story was contrived around them – which is exactly the case.
 
The story never recaptured the atmosphere from the beginning of the first book. This series started out intriguing then turned into your typical special teenagers save the world cliché with an immature YA feel to the writing. It was a promising start that has steadily coasted downhill.
 
I never felt emotionally invested in the characters in Hollow City. Jacob and Emma were both annoying and angsty. And frankly I had trouble telling the rest of the characters apart. Their abilities were the only thing that distinguished them since their personalities were so bland.
 
Oh, and it was extremely annoying that the characters used “bird” as an swear word. They kept exclaiming, “By the Bird!” and “For Bird’s sake!” and “Oh my Bird!” It was stupid and sounded horrible and was probably the worst swear substitution I have read.
 
The plot was fast-paced, but by the end, none of the events of book two felt like they really mattered. And there were too many farfetched coincidences. It’s mostly a drawn-out set up for the third book. Hollow City was an ok book, but I don’t feel particularly compelled to finish the series since it seems to be weakening.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Beatrix Haase

Actual Rating 4.5/5

This book was awesome. It kind of just stopped at the end. It makes you want to grab the next book. I don't have Library of Souls right now, but I hope to get it soon. 

Full Review: 
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xoxo,
Bebe

Gillian Rose

Another series that I had a long break from, but I honestly didn't remember loving the first one so I'm confused at myself for buying this one? Anyway, the characters are lovely, but I found the plot rather boring. I struggled to bring myself to open it and I didn't really find the ending that exciting to make me want to rush to read the next one.

Alexa M

**3.5/5 stars** 
I liked this better than the first and im excited for the next book!

Beatriz Aguiar

Rachel Kanyid

I really enjoy this series! This book definitely cemented that fact. LOVED the ending.

Ivy X

Oh my god. 
This was such an amazing book and I loved every bit of it. It's so well-written and the story line is very intriguing. The pictures allow this story to really come into life and the characters are just so fascinating. Their powers and personalities intertwine to make their personalities stand out. I loved this book and I think I liked this one a lot more than the first book. The first book allowed me to enter the world but this one let me actually follow them on an adventure. The concept is cool and feels very fantasy-historically based that I love it. I definitely enjoyed this book and would want to read the next one because the ending with Jacob discovering more of his powers is gold. 

And I was also stunned to find out that Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi are married. I loved the Shatter Me trilogy and I love Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. So when I found out that they were married, I was very happy.

Tylar M

Nicole

lilygriffiths 

if i’m honest it dragged a lot for me but i still enjoyed it and the story line!!

Emelie

Grace Sinks

I really struggled to get through this for some reason. It took me over three weeks to finish when normally I finish a book within a week. I just had no desire to pick it up which disappoints me because I really loved the first book. I’m not satisfied with the ending, but at the moment I don’t know that I could finish the series. It was okay but some of the plot points felt very drawn out. I think my expectations were set too high after how much I loved the first one and this book just didn’t give me the same feeling that one did.

Dee B. 

Hearts are broken every day and sometimes it's unavoidable. Time is against Jacob...

Tracie McMurray

Steph L 

If you love the first book, or love books that are weird and a little abnormal read this series!!!! While you can read this book as a standalone, you do need some backstory in the first book to understand everything that goes on.

Livia

3.5/5

The last half of this book is fascinating, but i'm a bit baffled by the direction this book is going to in the first half of the book

Bea R.

“What I believe is that when it comes to big things in life, there are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason. You’re here for a reason—and it’s not to fail and die.”

Anna Berg

** spoiler alert **
           I liked this better than the first one....But I'm still not the biggest fan of the relationship between Emma and Jacob.... She's so old after all; and used to be with his grandfather.. :(((

Phillippa Hinds 

The Second book to Miss Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children. The Book follows the 10 peculiar children who were introduced in the last book as they embark on a journey travelling across London through time loops and meeting new peculiars to try and find the last ymbryne alive to help bring back Miss Peregrine, only to be found and captured not long after finding Miss Wren . We also see Jacob develop his peculiarity – the ability to control the monsters – and how it helps him to save his friends.

Possibly the best book of the series. The book is focused on the journey rather than the explanations and descriptions of the characters which were introduced in the last book. The new characters are well incorporated and the accurate descriptions of things like the bombings and the tube station is well written. A truly enjoyable read.