Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

His whole childhood, Jacob heard his grandfather tell tales of the incredibly peculiar children with whom he grew up.  The older Jacob gets, though, the more he thinks his grandfather's tales are nothing more than make believe.  But, when his grandfather speaks a few cryptic words before he dies, Jacob is determined to learn the mysteries of his grandfather's youth.  He ends up on a creepy island, learning the startling truth of his grandfather's life/

What an incredibly imaginative book this is; I absolutely loved it.  First off, the story is so completely imaginative.  The plot is so different from most of the books out there.  The book is dark, and rich, and I just could not put it down.  One of my favorite parts of the book was the accompanying pictures.  It felt as though Riggs had taken a collection of odd photos, and wove them into an incredible story.

I though the characters were really well developed and thought out.  The characters were complex, from Jacob to the peculiar children.  I loved seeing all the different relationships unfold, and more than once found myself surprised about the revelations about some of the characters.

While the story is aimed at young adult readers, the story is complex enough to entertain and thrill adult readers.  For me, it felt much like the Lemony Snicket books, for an older audience.  The story ends in such a way that makes me hope there will be a sequel.



 I received a review copy of this book as part of the Amazon Vine program.