Book Title: Hollow City
Author: Ransom Riggs
Series: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2
Series: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2
Date Started: January 26th 2014
Date Completed: January 30th 2014
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Rating: Three stars
Review:
I'm really conflicted with what to think with this book: on the one hand, there's some great concepts and exciting scenes, but on the other there's a childish feel throughout the book. I found it very hard to choose between three or four stars for this book, but since I'm trying to be stricter with my ratings, I feel I have to opt for the lower rating.
The children of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children have had to flee what's left of their home, and now they set off to England, to save their friend - now trapped in the form of a bird. With wights on their trail and no idea where to look first in London or even how to get there, they must stick together to make sure they actually reach their destination in one piece.
I really love Riggs' style of writing. There's a mature, old-fashioned nature to it, yet it still keeps that modern twist that allows it to be accessible to so many people. I think the writing draws in each character's persona and makes it behave believably in the world of the book.
In addition, the way Riggs has of tying his story around his photographs and making them depend upon each other to work is very skilful and brings a life-like nature to the story. I remember the photos are what first attracted me to the series when it first came out - I used to make up stories around pictures myself, so I find it easy to relate to the ideas if they have visual support.
The storyline was a little lacking for me, just because it didn't develop. We meet the characters already with an agenda left over from the end of the last book, and that goal doesn't waver at all throughout the story. I expected there to be developments which put the children a little behind so they had to adapt, or perhaps change their plans entirely. What actually happened seemed too simple to me - I can't say the characters got off lightly, but whenever attacked with an issue, they seemed to be in the clear a few pages later and back on their journey like nothing had happened.
Furthermore, I was a little confused with the combination of childish, and then actually reasonably adult themes in the story. I have nothing against talking animals, but to take them seriously, they need to be introduced in a way that makes me feel real people are reacting to them existing etc.
And then you have the more serious parts (like Emma and that horrible wight solider in the barn). I, personally, enjoy the darker moments in stories, as I find it easier to be moved by them. This was the same in this book; I loved the parts where the characters were scared or actually feared for their lives. I think this was because it was pretty much only at these times that the characters became real to me.
For me, Hollow City just had too many characters. First of all, the main group of protagonists was too large, and so most of the time I forgot half of the people themselves and was surprised when they turned up in a scene, since they had been mostly quiet. Also, a huge amount of characters are introduced throughout the story and then disappear after a chapter or so. Because of this, it was incredibly hard to keep track of who each extra character was, what they had done, and if they were a threat or not. (Also, the majority of the characters seemed rather dim for their various ages.)
Jacob is a bit of a useless hero, to be honest. I'm aware he's new to the peculiar-world and everything, but he seems to fade into the background a lot of the time, even when he has something to say. In a way, this isn't a bad thing, as it shows a nice diversity in character from what you might usually get from a Young Adult novel - I just thought it seemed a little out of place around all the other headstrong characters.
I do love Emma, though. I remember really liking her in the first book (although that's just about everything I remember), and I think her independent, authoritative nature worked really well in this story. First of all, I think she's a very realistic character and for some reason, I connected with her a lot better than with any other character. Furthermore, she has a huge influence on the group, and she's pretty much the only voice of reason within their ranks. To me, Emma seems to be the hero - I'm just not entirely sure if that was intended or not.
The pace of the book wasn't as consistent as I would have liked, although not really a major issue. I found there were parts of the story where I couldn't bring myself to put the book down. But these were then followed by parts where I didn't want to pick it up again and keep reading.
This did improve a lot towards the end of the book, where the climax started to kick off, and there was a lot of things going on. Up until that point, however, I had a little trouble keeping my interest in the story.
If you've read the first book in the Miss Peregrine series, I think Hollow City is a good sequel - however not as intriguing and mysterious as the first novel, in my opinion. Although my review may seem rather negative, I did enjoy this book; I was just frustrated at some of the elements since I know Riggs can write them so much better. Having said that, however, the next book might resolve some of my issues with this instalment.
I'm really conflicted with what to think with this book: on the one hand, there's some great concepts and exciting scenes, but on the other there's a childish feel throughout the book. I found it very hard to choose between three or four stars for this book, but since I'm trying to be stricter with my ratings, I feel I have to opt for the lower rating.
The children of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children have had to flee what's left of their home, and now they set off to England, to save their friend - now trapped in the form of a bird. With wights on their trail and no idea where to look first in London or even how to get there, they must stick together to make sure they actually reach their destination in one piece.
I really love Riggs' style of writing. There's a mature, old-fashioned nature to it, yet it still keeps that modern twist that allows it to be accessible to so many people. I think the writing draws in each character's persona and makes it behave believably in the world of the book.
In addition, the way Riggs has of tying his story around his photographs and making them depend upon each other to work is very skilful and brings a life-like nature to the story. I remember the photos are what first attracted me to the series when it first came out - I used to make up stories around pictures myself, so I find it easy to relate to the ideas if they have visual support.
The storyline was a little lacking for me, just because it didn't develop. We meet the characters already with an agenda left over from the end of the last book, and that goal doesn't waver at all throughout the story. I expected there to be developments which put the children a little behind so they had to adapt, or perhaps change their plans entirely. What actually happened seemed too simple to me - I can't say the characters got off lightly, but whenever attacked with an issue, they seemed to be in the clear a few pages later and back on their journey like nothing had happened.
Furthermore, I was a little confused with the combination of childish, and then actually reasonably adult themes in the story. I have nothing against talking animals, but to take them seriously, they need to be introduced in a way that makes me feel real people are reacting to them existing etc.
And then you have the more serious parts (like Emma and that horrible wight solider in the barn). I, personally, enjoy the darker moments in stories, as I find it easier to be moved by them. This was the same in this book; I loved the parts where the characters were scared or actually feared for their lives. I think this was because it was pretty much only at these times that the characters became real to me.
For me, Hollow City just had too many characters. First of all, the main group of protagonists was too large, and so most of the time I forgot half of the people themselves and was surprised when they turned up in a scene, since they had been mostly quiet. Also, a huge amount of characters are introduced throughout the story and then disappear after a chapter or so. Because of this, it was incredibly hard to keep track of who each extra character was, what they had done, and if they were a threat or not. (Also, the majority of the characters seemed rather dim for their various ages.)
Jacob is a bit of a useless hero, to be honest. I'm aware he's new to the peculiar-world and everything, but he seems to fade into the background a lot of the time, even when he has something to say. In a way, this isn't a bad thing, as it shows a nice diversity in character from what you might usually get from a Young Adult novel - I just thought it seemed a little out of place around all the other headstrong characters.
I do love Emma, though. I remember really liking her in the first book (although that's just about everything I remember), and I think her independent, authoritative nature worked really well in this story. First of all, I think she's a very realistic character and for some reason, I connected with her a lot better than with any other character. Furthermore, she has a huge influence on the group, and she's pretty much the only voice of reason within their ranks. To me, Emma seems to be the hero - I'm just not entirely sure if that was intended or not.
The pace of the book wasn't as consistent as I would have liked, although not really a major issue. I found there were parts of the story where I couldn't bring myself to put the book down. But these were then followed by parts where I didn't want to pick it up again and keep reading.
This did improve a lot towards the end of the book, where the climax started to kick off, and there was a lot of things going on. Up until that point, however, I had a little trouble keeping my interest in the story.
If you've read the first book in the Miss Peregrine series, I think Hollow City is a good sequel - however not as intriguing and mysterious as the first novel, in my opinion. Although my review may seem rather negative, I did enjoy this book; I was just frustrated at some of the elements since I know Riggs can write them so much better. Having said that, however, the next book might resolve some of my issues with this instalment.
| Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12396528-hollow-city |
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