Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ericbuscemi 's review for:
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
I've heard a lot of different books lauded as "the next Harry Potter" -- from YA titles like [b:Eragon|113436|Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle, #1)|Christopher Paolini|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1366212852s/113436.jpg|3178011], [b:The Lightning Thief|28187|The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)|Rick Riordan|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361038385s/28187.jpg|3346751], [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258], and [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775], to speculative fiction works such as [b:The Name of the Wind|186074|The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)|Patrick Rothfuss|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg|2502879] and [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg|6278977]. But I have never heard that buzz for this book. In fact, I had thought this was a horror (the cover art is very reminiscent of movies like The Ring and Woman in Black).
Despite the lack of buzz, this book should be compared favorably to Harry Potter, with the material, tone and writing all lending themselves to the lofty comparisons. Of course, with a movie based on the book being optioned, they may soon come, but with Tim Burton slated to direct, that too may be mismarketed as a horror story.
As for the book's story, it is told from the point-of-view of Jacob, a teenager who discovers long lost secrets from his grandfather's past that come back to shape his future. I won't give away specifics from the plot, but it reads as a mix of the above-mentioned Harry Potter and The Magicians, and also shares a lot of similarities with X-Men.
One thing that did bother me was that the book ended with the start of a journey -- I haven't seen a sequel set-up this obvious since watching Mortal Kombat.
As for the photographs, I understand that they were the inspiration that eventually led to the writing of the book, but I believe the author would have been better served by removing the photos altogether (and describing them in better detail) or lumping them together in the middle or end of the book. Having them inserted throughout the story kept pulling me out of the narrative. Also, the pictures looked terrible on the Kindle for PC app, and I am certain they would have looked even worse on my physical Kindle.
Despite the lack of buzz, this book should be compared favorably to Harry Potter, with the material, tone and writing all lending themselves to the lofty comparisons. Of course, with a movie based on the book being optioned, they may soon come, but with Tim Burton slated to direct, that too may be mismarketed as a horror story.
As for the book's story, it is told from the point-of-view of Jacob, a teenager who discovers long lost secrets from his grandfather's past that come back to shape his future. I won't give away specifics from the plot, but it reads as a mix of the above-mentioned Harry Potter and The Magicians, and also shares a lot of similarities with X-Men.
One thing that did bother me was that the book ended with the start of a journey -- I haven't seen a sequel set-up this obvious since watching Mortal Kombat.
As for the photographs, I understand that they were the inspiration that eventually led to the writing of the book, but I believe the author would have been better served by removing the photos altogether (and describing them in better detail) or lumping them together in the middle or end of the book. Having them inserted throughout the story kept pulling me out of the narrative. Also, the pictures looked terrible on the Kindle for PC app, and I am certain they would have looked even worse on my physical Kindle.