Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Peculiars

Kirsten Simkiss

This is more like a 2.5 star review, but I rounded down because I just couldn't bring myself to give it 3 stars. The book itself is not as bad as some would have you believe. Is it a little boring? Yes. Does the character make a lot of bad choices? Yes. Was the writing bad? No. I don't think so. But was it fun to read?

... no, not really.

The main character is a sheltered child, hidden away from the word because of her "peculiarism" which manifested as having an extra joint on her fingers and toes, making her have extremely large hands and feet. She is constantly hiding these parts of herself as the world around her views them as signs of her being a Peculiar, which seem to be any non-human creature indigenous to the land of Scree, viewed as criminals and degenerates in human society. In my view, it gave the vibe of being a person of color in historical fiction, as their treatment is much the same. In addition, it's treated as a disability in some cases, as there are downsides to Lena's fingers and toes - some of which are a result of hiding them but some are just as a result of having them. Lena is, or thinks she is, half-Peculiar on her father's side and upon turning eighteen sets off to find him. 

All well and good, right?

She then loses her purse on the train with all her money in it, meets boy A and boy B within an hour of each other. One is kind and sweet and thinks her fingers are fascinating. The other pressures her and vaguely threatens her in order to have her spy on a man in town that boy A is working for. Oh, boy B is a Marshal. Law enforcement. Is seven or eight years older than her. Says her father was awful to her face as she talks about going to meet him. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the attraction.

This main character has a whole lot of naivety to contend with. And it was, at times, annoying but it didn't kill me to read it. She lived her whole life tucked away with just her mother and grandmother more or less. Of course she can't pick out when a man's lying to her. She's never interacted with them.
 
The story ends well enough, with a somewhat happy ending. But I've read better books. This book could be kind of slow at times. If you're considering reading it, I recommend looking elsewhere. It's really nothing spectacular.

Peculiars

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