Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk 
Published: June 7, 2011 
Pages: 352 
Source: Bought 
Rating: 3.5 Stars

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here - one of whom was his own grandfather - were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow - impossible though it seems - they may still be alive.

In short: I loved the eeriness of the tone and the writing in the first part of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, but was remiss when the second half was nothing like the first.

The moment I saw this book - the title, the cover, the blurb, the trailer - I knew I needed to read it. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children seemed unlike any YA book I had ever read or heard of and I was immediately eager to read such a unique and odd-sounding book. You can't deny that the packaging of Miss Peregrine's - with the inclusion of the creepy, old, black and white pictures - makes it intriguing as heck and though it was perhaps a bit gimmicky, I can't deny that the images were a major part of my interest in reading it.

And indeed, I felt like the old pictures complimented the story really well - at least, in the first part of the novel - and added to the overall dark tone. The pictures don't do all the work though: Ransom Riggs is a superb writer and he infuses the story with an overarching gloomy atmosphere that really adds to the creepiness of the plot. I really liked the way Jacob was written as well. Though not everyone will enjoy his sardonic tone and his teen angst, I felt as though there was a realism to him that I really appreciated.

It was the second half of Miss Peregrine's that I liked less and where it felt like the tone does a complete one-eighty. What started out as a dark and eerie story turns into a lighter, quirkier one. It's not that the second half was bad, it's just that I wanted the creepy gothic horror that was promised to me by the packaging and what I ended up with was a sort of superhero adventure story. And even though I liked the concept of the time loop and the mythology and the children as quirky superheroes, it was not what I was expecting and the change was a bit jarring. Furthermore, the inclusion of the old pictures, which were utilized so well in the beginning, became a bit forced and arbitrary in the second half, much to my dismay.

Overall, I would still recommend Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children to anyone looking for a creepy-ish read with a cool concept and a male protagonist - just keep in mind that what you might have been expecting from the packaging isn't necessarily the case.

Other Reviews:
Muggle-Born.net
Novel Sounds
Small Review

Author Links:
Blog
Twitter
YouTube

Review: Cascade and Torrent (River of Time #2 and #3) by Lisa T. Bergren

Publisher: David C. Cook

Published: May 24, 2011/September 1, 2011

Pages: 399/388

Source: Bought ebooks

Rating: 3 Stars

Cascade:

Gabi knows she’s left her heart in the fourteenth century and she persuades Lia to help her to return, even though they know doing so will risk their very lives. When they arrive, weeks have passed and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence—while the Florentines will go to great lengths to see them dead. But Marcello patiently awaits, and Gabi must decide if she’s willing to leave her family behind for good in order to give her heart to him forever.

Torrent:

Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times.   But love calls across the centuries, and the girls are determined to return forever—even though they know the Black Plague is advancing across Europe, claiming the lives of one-third of the population. In the suspenseful conclusion of the River of Time series, every decision is about life … and death.

In short: Though I needed more depth than the River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren was able to give me, I do actually recommend this series if you're looking for a fun, fast-paced read.

The River of Time series has received so much hype and positive reviews that I just had to jump on the bandwagon and read it too. And I can see why this series is so popular. The extremely fast pace, the non-stop action, the swoon-worthy boys men, the feisty and brave heroines - the River of Time series is Entertainment with a capital "E". At no point is there ever any scene that is boring and at no point is there ever any lull in the non-stop adventures of the Betarrini Family.

At times, however, I felt the series was actually a bit too fast-paced for me - and this was ultimately the major factor in every little problem I had with the series. Plot points could have been better developed, characters and character relationships could have been further explored, and the time travel aspect could have been better explained, if only the series had slowed up the pace a bit more and included these things. Action scene after action scene is really fun, but I needed some filler to fully flesh out the story. And I really needed to know why Gabi and fam thought it was okay to completely mess with world history.

Something that really bothered me about the series, which I believe stemmed from the extremely fast pacing and not enough time spent developing the characters, is that Gabi and Lia kill A LOT of people and feel no remorse for it. We see them experiencing some grief after their first human kills in Waterfall, and then NOTHING in Cascade and Torrent. I realize that they're in a war situation and killing in defense is inevitable and I'm not asking for an all out Angst Fest here, but I needed for these young girls who grew up in the 21st century to feel something about these countless people they were killing, especially in a series where there are several passages where Gabi reflects on the value of human life. And though this has nothing to do with this series being considered Christian Fiction - because if you are a GOOD person, you will feel remorse for killing someone no matter what your religion - I was kind of under the impression that God wasn't down with killing humans.

Am I taking this series too seriously? Probably. But if that isn't an indication that what is supposed to be a light, fun read isn't the type of read for me, then I don't know what is. I needed more depth than the River of Time series was able to give me. This all being said however, I do actually recommend this series. All my complaints are obviously highly subjective and I think the vast majority of people would actually really enjoy spending an action-filled time with a cast of fun characters in Lisa T. Bergren's River of Time series.

Previously, my review of Waterfall.

Other Reviews: 
Alison Can Read: Cascade, Torrent
The Bookworm is Here!: Cascade, Torrent
A Girl, Books, and Other Things: Cascade, Torrent
Logan E. Turner: Cascade, Torrent
Musings of a YA Reader: Cascade, Torrent
Poetry to Prose: Cascade, Torrent
Small Review: Cascade, Torrent
Supernatural Snark (complete series)
The Unread Reader (complete series)

Author Links:
Website
Twitter
Goodreads

Review: Waterfall (River of Time #1) by Lisa T. Bergren

Publisher: David C. Cook

Published: February 1, 2011

Pages: 352

Source: Free ebook from Amazon

Rating: 4 Stars - I Loved It!

American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in Fourteenth-Century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the Fourteenth Century and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.

In short: Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren is entertainment at its best - complete with non-stop action and swoon-worthy boys.

I participated in a month long Read-Along for Waterfall in which I got to share in my reading experience of Waterfall with a whole bunch of lovely book bloggers. It was excellent fun but also terribly hard to stay within the allotted chapters for each week. Why? Because Waterfall is just so darn fast paced and exciting; I was never even remotely bored at any point. Lisa T. Bergren keeps the action coming page after page. Waterfall is entertainment at its best.

And how could you not be entertained by the events that take place in Waterfall? Getting mistaken for a lady in a past time period, meeting some swoon-worthy and gallant boys men and falling in love with one of them, getting to impart your modern knowledge and save a life, getting to wear pretty dresses and go to balls, taking part in the action even though you're a lady - this is all stuff of escapist fantasies. It was like Lisa T. Bergren knew exactly what her audience was looking for in a dream book and then delivered exactly that and more.

Gabi makes for a feisty and determined heroine, though I did find that she was a little too good to be true as a character. It seems awfully convenient to me that she would be fluent in Italian, basic in Latin and French, have experience in riding bareback, have a knowledge of various herbs and remedies, and be an experienced fencer (and somehow have this experience translate into wielding an extremely heavy broadsword). I guess I just would've liked to have seen Gabi struggle a bit more with her new and strange surroundings - not that I hate her or anything. I just think that would be more realistic.

I also think the pacing was a bit too fast at times (because I'm weird like that); I would've liked to have read a bit more detail about the plan that was put into place to save Gabi's sister, for instance, because I found it a bit hard to follow. But besides these minor quibbles, I had tons of fun reading Waterfall and I can't imagine a person not enjoying themselves while reading it either. I can't wait to check out the sequels, Cascade and Torrent, which also came out this year!

Other Reviews:
Logan E. Turner
Poetry to Prose
Small Review

Author Links:
Website
Twitter
Goodreads

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge
*Read as part of the YA Series Challenge

Review: Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Published: March 1, 2011

Pages: 304

Source: Won from Books Are A Girl's Best Friend (Thanks!)

Rating: 2 Stars

Lady Victoria Mansfield, youngest daughter of the earl and countess of Fairmount, is destined for a charmed life. Soon she will be presented during the London season, where she can choose a mate worthy of her status. 

Yet Tory has a shameful secret—a secret so powerful that, if exposed, itcould strip her of her position and disgrace her family forever. Tory’s blood is tainted . . . by magic.

When a shocking accident forces Tory to demonstrate her despised skill, the secret she’s fought so hard to hide is revealed for all to see. She is immediately exiled to Lackland Abbey, a reform school for young men and women in her position. There she will learn to suppress her deplorable talents and maybe, if she’s one of the lucky ones, be able to return to society.

But Tory’s life is about to change forever. All that she’s ever known or considered important will be challenged. What lies ahead is only the beginning of a strange and wonderful journey into a world where destiny and magic come together, where true love and friendship find her, and where courage and strength of character are the only things that determine a young girl’s worth.

In short: Unfortunately, Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney was unable to capture my interest and somehow managed to make even magic lame and boring.

Magic plus time travel. Can't go wrong, right? Unfortunately, much to my surprise and dismay, Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney didn't work for me. It was an amalgamation of things that didn't work but ultimately, I was bored. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters or the plot. Nothing inspired any stirrings of interest; if I was the type to DNF books, I would've done so within the first 50 pages of Dark Mirror.

The magical abilities that Tory and her friends have weren't even interesting, which I didn't think was possible. Talk about some of the lamest magical powers ever. One guy is an expert at moving clouds around; one girl specializes in heating things; one guy is particularly good at finding things. LAME. And they seriously thought they were going to be able to take on Napoleon's army with these powers? Don't get me wrong, it's noble and all that they want to fight for England, but they were clearly delusional.

I disliked the writing as well but I'm not sure I could put into words exactly what didn't work for me. It seemed a bit amateurish, though I know that's not true because M.J. Putney is a fairly experienced author. I guess I thought the writing was too simple and bare. I'm not saying I need writing to be extremely flowery and detailed all the time, but I like to be able to experience more fully the surroundings, the plot elements, and the characters' personalities than Dark Mirror allowed me.

One thing that I was impressed by was the setting: not one, but two historical settings were involved, 1803 and WWII. M.J. Putney demonstrates a great amount of knowledge of the eras, though I would've preferred had she not stated this knowledge so matter of factly in the novel. If she had interwoven the historical information more seamlessly into the plot (something that Rick Yancey, author of The Monstrumologist Series, does very well), then I would've been truly impressed.

Think you might want to give this one a try yourself? Enter my giveaway to win Dark Mirror and Choker (Hmm? What's that? You no longer have any interest in entering my giveaway now that I've trashed the book? Well, for what it's worth, other bloggers seemed to enjoy Dark Mirror more than I did.)

Other Reviews:
Books Are A Girl's Best Friend
Small Review
Tales of Whimsy

Author Links:
Website

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge

Review: Wildwing by Emily Whitman

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: September 21, 2010
Pages: 359
Source: Won from HarperTeen
Author's Website: http://www.emilywhitman.com/
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars - I Liked It
Description (from the jacket): When Addy is swept back in time, she couldn't be happier to leave her miserable life behind. Now she's mistaken for Lady Matilda, the pampered ward of the king. If Addy can play her part, she'll have glorious gowns, jewels, and something she's always longed for—the respect and admiration of others. But then she meets Will, the falconer's son with sky blue eyes, who unsettles all her plans.
From shipwrecks to castle dungeons, from betrothals to hidden conspiracies, Addy finds herself in a world where she's not the only one with a dangerous secret. When she discovers the truth, Addy must take matters into her own hands. The stakes? Her chance at true love….and the life she's meant to live.


In short: Wildwing by Emily Whitman was an interesting look into 13th century England but I found I could not relate to the main character and her motivations.

Wildwing by Emily Whitman tells the story of Addy, a girl born out of wedlock in 1913 England. Because of this, she is mocked by her peers and is forced to be a lowly maid. When she finds a time machine in her employer's home she doesn't hesitate to leave her miserable life behind and go to live in the 13th century where she's treated as a grand lady. Once there she meets Will, the falconer's son. The actual identity of Will was very obvious. Although in the author's defense, I don't think she really meant it to be a big surprise reveal at the end or else I believe she would have tried harder to make his identity a mystery.

Throughout most of the book I wasn't sure what to make of Addy's personality. There were times that I felt sympathetic towards her and her crappy life as a bastard child in the early 1900's. But my empathy quickly dissipated once she assumed the role of Lady Matilda and became horribly selfish. Her desire to have people serve her and be rich was a big character turn off for me. In one scene, she decides not to stand up for a kitchen boy who was beaten and threatened because she worries it will hurt her position as a grand lady. Also, I found it strange that never once did she worry about the life that she left back home, her mother specifically. When she plans on spending the rest of her life in the 13th century, her thoughts are never that she will miss her single mother who raised her, only her concern that she won't be able to be with Will in the way she would like.

Two thirds of the way into the novel, the story starts to pick up and Addy redeems herself mostly when she realizes her priorities in life. I really did enjoy the last part of the story as the plot reaches a peak and the story becomes a bit more interesting. I really responded to Whitman's writing style; it was very strong I thought. I also really enjoyed the scenes where Will was teaching Addy the art of hawking. It was fascinating learning about how birds of prey were used to hunt in the 13th century. Speaking of which, Novel Novice posted an interview with Whitman in which she admits to some historical inaccuracies that she had to allow for the sake of the story. I found that I really don't have a problem with any of the changes she had to make. I understood she had to do what she had to for the plot to progress.

There's just one last nitpicky thing that I feel like I have to mention and yet it probably is only a big deal to me. When Addy travels to the past she lands in the same spot she left, just 670 years earlier. Whitman describes the land in the area and the bluff leading down to a river as being familiar to Addy, not having changed any. WTF? This would simply not happen. The processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition are ALWAYS in effect and the land and river and slope down to the river would be very much different almost 700 years later!!!! Sorry, this just really bugged me O_O

ETA: I've thought of something else that bothered me and the more I think of it, the more it gets to me. SPOILER COMING UP. My problem is that wouldn't the future have been altered once Addy returned from the 13th century (Back To The Future style)? Even just a small change can change the course of the future and more than just a small change was made. Addy's employer, Mr. Greenwood, also goes back in time to meet Addy when he finds out she's gone. Once there, he educates the people on technologies that are advanced for the time. How would this not change the future? ...I'm probably overthinking this, aren't I?.

Other Reviews:
Small Review
Novel Novice