Review: Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's trilogy) by Ransom Riggs

So, as you may have seen, I reviewed the first book of the Miss Peregrine's trilogy HERE.

It may seem like I'm skipping past the second book (I'm not, I've read all 3 books and I'll be talking about the last 2 here, so if you haven't read them there may be some points here I'll be making which confuse you a bit!)

But here's this book (the third one, you can see the second one on Goodreads HERE)

A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.

The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls. As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all. Like its predecessors, Library of Souls blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

So, I loved this book just as much as I loved the first, and even the second (not that I reviewed the second). The pictures were just as amazing and I think if you've read my other reviews you'll understand why I adored the pictures so much.

I must admit, it wasn't my favourite book of the three (not that I don't love them all), my favourite book had to have been the second in the series (Hollow City) as who couldn't love all of the peculiar animals that were introduced when the children found the Menagerie loop?

This book starts exactly where book two left off, and Jacob has learnt just how powerful his peculiar ability is, in that he can control Hollow's if he concentrates enough. This is one of the main plot lines of this book, as Jacob learns just what his ability can do and how far he can stretch it, and he definitely tests this at different points in the book (with both a positive and negative outcome).

It is in this book though that I found my favourite loop of the series, Devil's Acre. I don't know why I liked the way that Riggs wrote Devil's Acre, as it is a horrid place, but I just loved the imagery that the place gave off. Granted, if I had to choose a loop to live in myself, it definitely wouldn't be Devil's Acre, but I admit it would be an interesting one to visit for a day (as long as you had a guide like Sharon!).

My favourite character in all the books though is Addison, I mean, who wouldn't love a talking dog? And a brave one at that! I adored Addison, you first found him in Hollow City, and he was quirky and funny and I wished I had a dog like him (I may have to find a dog and put some glasses on it to recreate Addison some time).

So, for this book, I give it 4.5 cats (and I also give 4.5 cats to the whole series)

I'm definitely going to miss this series and I can't wait for more when Ransom Riggs finally lets out the new books!

Have you read the series? If so who is your favourite character and what is your favourite book? And what loop would you like to be a part of if you had the chance? Comment below!

TBR: This week's new books

Okay, so, if you follow me on Twitter or on Instagram, you've seen my posts about my book haul this week, and on twitter I've posted about getting accepted for my first Netgalley book requests too.

So, I'd thought I'd do a quick post about these books that are very likely going to be read in the next few weeks and why I'm so excited about them! (The names of the books will link to their Goodreads pages if you wanted to check them out).

First, the two Netgalley requests:

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen

The cover for this book drew me in to request it, and as it's been compared to the maze-runner (which I loved) I thought I'd give it a try. It was my first ever Netgalley request to be accepted, so I'm super excited to get stuck into it!

Fix Me by Lisa M. Cronkhite

So, the author of this book contacted me and asked if I would like to review this book, and when I saw the description it intrigued me. And I thought, hey, I kinda want to know whats going to happen in this book now, so I requested it. It'll be fun I think to review this one.

And now my paperbacks from my book haul this week:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

So, I loved so many of her other books, and I've seen so many raving reviews about this series too that I decided to buy it and try it myself. Here's hoping I love it as much as her other books!

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

So, if you havent seen my review of the first book: Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children, you should check it out HERE. I loved it, and I loved the second book, so I'm eagerly awaiting the time that I can finally get stuck into the third and final book of the series.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

So, I've read the first book in this series (this is the second) and the first book has made me wonder just what storylines these authors have for this second book. Also, the covers are just beautiful, this one is an amazing blue colour. So, yaknow, hopefully the book is as beautiful as the cover.

Obviously, I have so many more books to read in my bookshelves, but these are the ones I think I'll be reading first, keep an eye out for the reviews of these in the future!

Have any of you read these books? Comment your thoughts on them if you have.

Review: Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Okay, so, I have a little confession here. I only heard about this book because I watched the film first.

*shocked gasp*

Yeah, I know, it should be book first then movies. But, in this case it was movie first. And I was fascinated by the movie, so I decided to buy the book! And boy, was I glad I bought this book. It was so intriguing.

Anyways, here it is (yes I chose the original cover, because even if I like watching movies that come from books, I rarely like the movie book covers, plus this is the cover I got):

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

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 were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

So,  what can I say about this book? Other than it was very peculiar. 

Yes, yes, I know that seems like a cop-out seen as it is actually called Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children. But, it's the truth.

Also the truth: it took me a while to get into the book.

I don't know if it was because of what I had seen in the film, and so I already had expectations, or just because I was so fascinated by the photos in the book, but yes, I found it hard to get into.

However, I did eventually start to get hooked on this book, and all the children in it. I think the further I got in, and when it started to divert from the film a bit, I got into it much more quickly. 

The photos were what made this book for me. Fascinating photos of the people or things that were described in the book helped me to visualise characters more easily, which then made the plot a lot more real for me. Plus, as the book was filled with the pictures it just made me picture the whole story world myself, and considering sometimes I have problems being able to visualise people clearly this made the book all the much better.

I would definitely suggest reading this book if you love to visualise characters, and even if you're not much of a reader the film was good too, and might convince you to read the book after.

But, overall, I liked this book, and you can tell how much I got into it after the rocky start by the fact I was itching to buy the next two books in this trilogy as soon as I had turned the last page of it, as the cliffhanger at the end was frustratingly good (in that I was frustrated it ended like that and I couldn't read more, and that yet it was one of the most interesting cliffhangers I had read before).

So, yes, read this book, and marvel at the astounding pictures Ransom Riggs has used inside.

Any comments on what you thought of this book? or even the film?