I think the reason why a lot of people wrote very bad reviews of Ms Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children saying the execution failed is because the common misconception is that the photos were there to illustrate the text when it's actually the other way around ... the story is made up out of (or around) the photos. I don't want to sound overly analytical but the rabidly fanatic (haters) wrote reviews enough to scare people away when they really shouldn't. I'm not defending the book (well, maybe I am sort of lol) but I've read worse pieces that actually "earned" awards and I can name two right now but I already wrote reviews for them before so I'll leave it at that. Heh.
What I'm saying is, when reading fantasy novels, I think people should be open to a whole world of possibilities. Like the protagonist being a rich, spoiled and feeling-misunderstood teenager and not the usual poor and oppressed but nice kid in town. In the real world, most poor and oppressed kids end up in juvie.
Granted, there can be a lot of "inconsistencies" like some-photos-referring-to-the-same-person-aren't-really-the-same-person-inconsistent but one would think people reading a fantasy novel shouldn't be very literal and use their imaginations, hey? Or the some-photos-not-being-a-huge-part-of-the-story-inconsistent but how do you know the author wasn't planning to write something more about them in the next books since this is a series. And especially now that you lot have pointed it out. Kee-hee.
Moving forward, I don't believe this should be under the horror genre. The cover and the photos may have that overall feel and yes there's that supernatural thing going on but X-Men isn't a horror story, is it? And as for those people who said this is "nothing but an X-Men story with a twist" ... what's your beef with people with special abilities not wearing underwear over tights? As for the hollows and wights, that could easily pass for SciFi. I also don't agree to this being under historical fiction. Just because the words WWII, Polish immigrants and the Nazi were mentioned doesn't make it a historical fiction. It's just a setting and is part of the plot.
Now, after all that "defending" bit, I have to say I liked this book and it's more than just okay but I wouldn't go as far as saying I loved it. I would read the sequels, of course, but this book is only a 3-star for me. Three and a half since I'm generous. I thought the money was worth it too. I thought the chapters toward the end was pretty ... suspenseful.
The biggest thing that I didn't like about this that made me take off 2 stars is not actually part of the story. The reason? This.Is.A.FRIGGIN'.Series. How could I be so stupid? I should pay more attention to the blurbs. I've had this book on my to-read list for a while because of the cool concept but never paid much attention to the "Miss Peregrine, #1" bit on the title row. In this trilogy-infested(?) era I'd really like to sit down and read a book and then move on to another story and not wait for the next installment to come because, really, if the world ends this year then we won't get to read the next books. Heh. Seriously, I picked the book up because of the concept but the concept alone (imho) does not have enough juice for a series.
And before I forget, my favorite photo was the one Abe used to explain to Emma why he couldn't come back. What was yours?
