The Bookworm: Hollow City

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Review: Library Of Souls by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Children #3)

Library Of Souls by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Children #3)

Rating: PG

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

Score: 4.5 stars

Page Count: 458

Book #3 in the Miss Peregrine's Children series

Publisher: Quirk Books

Published: September 22, 2015

A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.
The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls. As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all. Like its predecessors, Library of Souls blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

Review:

PROS:

1. One thing I both love and hate about my favorite series' is starting and finishing the last book in that series. It leaves me both wanting more and satisfied with how things wrapped up and this series is no exception. Before I get all teary eyed talking about how yet another amazing story has ended, let's just get to the review (sniffle, sniffle).

2. I cannot seem to talk enough about how much I love these characters. There's just such a great aspect about them, how they're completely themselves without holding anything back. They are peculiar after all so they can't exactly be judged by each other. I love each and every character, my favorites being Olive and Horace, and I just love seeing them go through some changes as the stories go on in each book and how they all grow more confident, stronger and a little more annoyed beyond belief at the hollows and wights and even each other. Everyone is all about teamwork, even when it seems they can't trust certain people. They really learned to rely on each other when it came to rescuing Miss Peregrine and other peculiar children even when they weren't too sure about who they should trust or believe.

3. Do I really need to say anything more about the pictures in these books? They're just so freaking interesting! I love photography and hope to do it for a living one day (fingers crossed!) so I just adore looking at the photos strewn throughout these books and really looking at just how different and eerie they are. I love the more creepy ones that look like something out of a Tim Burton film but some of them can be quite humorous at first glance. Basically, if you love creepy, odd photos and photography itself, you should really read this series.

4. I just can't get over how unique this series is, especially this last book. There's a lot more action in this one than the previous two as well as even odder characters such as talking decapitated heads, walking bears, a mysterious man in a mask and much more. I loved the storyline in this book even though the ending was just a little bit of a cliff hanger and one of my favorite characters dies though I won't name names since, you know, SPOILERS. But I will say I was in denial about this certain character being dead up until now. The oddity that is Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is just so enjoyable and fun and makes me even more excited for the movie coming out in December!

So since this post turned into more of a talk on how awesome this series is instead of an actual review on things, I will just say that I loved this book so much even though I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous two. I can't really put my finger on the reason for this but I did love it in the end and plan on hopefully rereading this series sometime in the future, probably when I need to be reading more important things but whatever.

So that's it for this book review! I really hope you guys enjoyed it. Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

What's your favorite series of all time?

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Review: Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2)

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2)

Rating: PG

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

Score: ❤❤❤❤❤

Page Count: 399

Book #2 in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series

Publisher: Quirk Books

Published: January 4, 2014

This sequel to the first novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, 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 vintage photographs.

Review:

PROS:

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

1. So I might be just a tad bit obsessed with this series. I freaking loved the first book in this series so I was dying to get my hands on the sequel for the longest time afterwards! When I finally did pick up a copy back in November, I was so ready to read it that I set it on my desk where it stayed for an entire week as I rushed to finish a book I was currently reading then. I loved this sequel and I'm so excited to pick up the third and final book to see how things wrap up! Special thanks to my big sister for buying me the third book for my birthday ;)

2. Can I just tell you guys how much I love the characters in this book? Because I love them way too much for my own good. I love how much character development you see in all the characters as the story plays out. This book is also a little funnier than the last because of their development and they start to loosen up just a tad even though there are so many enemies hunting them down. I really love Jacob and all the peculiars, especially Olive, Enoch and Horace. I think Jacob is an interesting character because you get to see how comfortable he starts to get with his special ability and how much stronger he gets as a character. The story really shows off his determination to protect his friends and help Miss Peregrine and any other people he meets along their journey. I love the peculiars so much because of how different they all are from each other, and not just because of their abilities either. I love how quirky, sweet, moody and humorous each of the children are and their disagreements and childish bantering just makes the book all the more fun to read.

3. One of my favorite things about this series is the amazing and creepy pictures strewn throughout these books! I'm a fan of all things creepy and dark, which is why I love horror movies and Edgar Allen Poe so much, and I just love how this series combines two of my favorite things; books and creepy photographs. Enough said. I love how unique the pictures are and I love how they make the story feel so much more real being able to actually see the characters and the locations being described instead of relying on just your imagination to picture all of them (no pun intended).

4. Lastly, I'm just in love with the world of these books and the uniqueness of it all. Never would I have thought that time loops, monsters and children with superhuman powers could create something so enchanting and addictive. I think this series has a little something for everybody. It has creatures straight out of nightmares, peculiar photographs and characters, interesting twists and turns and it continues to surprise as the story goes on. If you haven't read this series, please do! I beg of you!

I honestly couldn't read it fast enough. Like seriously, I was dying until the very last page.

And in case you didn't know, the Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children movie is set to release next Christmas so that gives you plenty of time to check this series out before then. Click HERE to read about the movie and I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.

Follow Ransom!

I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!