Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs | 352 pgs, published 2011

While I was reading this book, I thought it felt a little disjointed. Then I found out, after I was done, that the author had collected bizarre old photographs and written the story around them. Well, mystery solved.

The book does have some interesting ideas, such as (and here I assume you won’t mind a spoiler because I haven’t exactly recommended the book) being able to keep people in an eternal loop of one day. Like Groundhog Day, but in a good way, because it keeps the group safe. Life goes on as normal for everyone outside the loop. Also, there was a twist I didn’t see coming, which says a small something in the book’s favor. A more astute reader would probably pick up on the hints ahead of time.

Altogether, though, I don’t care what happens to the kids in the book, and the love story part is CREEPY WEIRD, and the photos are truly bizarre. I’m going to say skip it. I’m here to save you from wasting time on mediocre books!

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Taggerung

by Brian Jacques | 448 pgs, published 2001

I don’t know that there’s much to say about any of the Redwall books. They’re about animals, there are bad guys that try to attack the good guys living at Redwall Abbey, and there are lots of descriptions of food that sound like they’d be divine, if somewhat less than filling. True to form, Taggerung is exactly what I expected when I picked it up. It was a decent read, but unmemorable.

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The Name of the Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss | 662 pgs, published 2007

I sort of want to take back what I said about Mistborn being the biggest recommendation I’ve ever given. After reading The Name of the Wind, I immediately put it on my list of top 4 favorite books (the others: Ender’s Game, Jurassic Park, Cutting for Stone).

I’m not sure how this ended up on my list of books to read, but I was having trouble falling asleep one night this summer and got an email that the e-book was available for me to check out from the library. I meant to just read for half an hour or so. Instead I stayed up for hours. I couldn’t put it down. It was . . . amazing.

To roughly summarize, this is the story of Kvothe, who is something of a legend. He’s now living in a small village in obscurity, and most people believe he’s dead. When a man called The Chronicler comes looking for him, Kvothe agrees to tell his story and says it will take three days to tell. The Name of the Wind is the first day. It beautifully combines Kvothe’s first-person narration and “interruption” chapters of what actually happens while The Chronicler is there writing. There’s a fascinating magic-type system, based more on intellect and scholarly study than a normal fantasy magic would be, but there’s also an astounding amount of history built into the world. Legends within legends and that sort of thing. I can’t express enough how much I loved this book. I thought the writing was phenomenal and the story was brilliant.

Like the same kind of books as I do? READ THIS!

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