Hollow City:
The Second
Novel of Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children
By Ransom
Riggs
Published by
Quirk Books
Copyright ©
2014
Review by Anthony Kendrick
In the “Miss
Peregrine” series the side show freaks are the main attraction and I wouldn’t
have it any other way. This second book gives us even more peculiars, even more
action, and even more suspense. This sequel definitely lives up to, and even
surpasses the original!
The
adventures of Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children continue in Hollow City.
Miss Peregrine has been saved from the Wights but she is stuck in bird form, and
only another ymbryne can cure her. So, her wards will embark on a journey to
find help in war torn London of 1940. Finding one uncaptured ymbryne is hard
enough, but with bombs dropping everywhere, Wights disguised as allied
soldiers, and Hollowghast seeking to eat them alive it becomes a nearly
impossible task. With the help of a menagerie of peculiar animals, some
gypsies, and some stray peculiars they will find the only free ymbryne in
London, but will they find her quick enough to save Miss Peregrine?
Ransom Riggs
surprised me with his initial offering “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar
Children” which seemed like an old fashioned X-Men. The story, however, was
heavily focused on Jacob Portman the boy from the future who finds the Cairnholm
Loop and can see the Hollowghast. Jacob is still the main protagonist and the
development of his abilities play a key role in the safety of him and his friends,
but Riggs real victory here is that he develops the other peculiar children
more fully in “Hollow City”. He also delivers on the X-Men feel with more
action as Miss Peregrine’s peculiars show how useful their powers can really be
in a fight; I mean who really thought that a boy who has bees living in him
would find a way to be useful. (And why in the world do bees live in him
anyway!? Riggs gives us a very succinct answer.) Additionally, he adds to his
cast of peculiars by introducing child and adult peculiars from other loops and
times whose abilities are just as odd and powerful.
If I had any
qualms with the story it was that the relationship between Jacob and Emma got a
little boring at times, but I understand its utility within the story. That
said, “Hollow City” is the perfect sequel. I loved it just as much or more than
the first book. One fantastic thing is that the author has left us hanging once
again, so we know there will be a third in the series. I don’t want to give too
much away, but just when everything seems to be going right it doesn’t. And
just when heartbreaking decisions are made, they are turned upside down. I am
now eagerly awaiting the third installment even more anxiously than I did the
second. Fans of Fantasy, and comic book fans (this is not a comic book), should
read this story. Riggs really shows how good Juvenile and Young Adult novels
can be.
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