In 2012, a novel by a writer named Rens Riggs, House of Weird Children, was published in the United States. This book received very enthusiastic reviews and became one of the best-selling in the country, and then in the world. Is this work so interesting and commendable? What do readers think of him? It’s worth sorting out.
The book "The house of strange children Miss Peregrine"
Reviews about a work cannot be compiled unless it is familiar with its plot, heroes, and background.
Therefore, you should pay attention to these points in the first place.
Roman Riggs was published in 2012. After 2 years, a sequel came out - Hollow City. And a year later - the final part of the Library of Souls.
In 2016, a film was made based on the first novel - “The House of Strange Children”. This picture received mixed reviews, but more on that later.
Writing background
The main feature of the trilogy, in addition to the plot itself, is the design of books. The fact is that Riggs, for many years, was keen on collecting old photographs. Once, in addition to his collection, he composed a story, illustrations of which were photos. So the idea of the novel “The House of Strange Children” arose.
Rens Riggs received encouraging feedback from relatives and his wife (she was already a famous writer at that time) when he showed them sketches of his new book. Therefore, he not only sent it to the publisher, but also attached photographs from his collection to it. Later, it was in this form that the novel was published, and old photographs helped create an amazing atmosphere for readers.
As for Miss Peregrine’s school, her appearance in the plot is connected with the author’s recollections of her childhood spent in an educational institution for gifted children. By the way, this is called “strange” in the Russian translation of the characters, the original uses the word peculiar, which means eccentric, unusual or specific. Therefore, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children can be translated as "Miss Peregrine's Home for Eccentric Children."
The breed of the bird of prey Falco peregrinus, into which the mistress of the house of Miss Peregrine could turn, served her name. However, in Russian it is called peregrine falcon, so there is a variant of the title of the novel: "The house of the strange children of Miss Sapsan."
Reviews of the main characters of the book will be presented in the next section.
The main characters are children and reader reviews
In the center of the plot of all three books is a boy named Jacob Portman.
For many years he did not suspect the existence of people with unusual abilities, who are called "strange", and their amazing world. Having inherited the talent from the grandfather to see the Void, the guy was forced to learn at an accelerated pace in emergency conditions to use his "strangeness" to survive. Throughout all the books, Jacob evolves from a frightened boy (who considers himself crazy) to a real hero.
This character was liked by most of those who read the novel "Miss Peregrine's House of Strange Children". Reader feedback and suggestions regarding Jacob are mostly positive. So, the young man is attracted by his sincerity, as well as the courage that he discovers in himself at the same time as the readers. As for his love for Emma, many fans of the trilogy are pleased to note that their novel is described very chastely, and this contrasts nicely with other teenage novels. As for the negative, it concerns more than the third novel, in which the whole plot is mainly focused on the young Portman, and this upsets fans of other characters.
Jacob's sweetheart is Emma Bloom.
Although she looks 16, the girl is actually almost 90 years old. In the past, she met with the hero’s grandfather and very difficultly experienced a breakup with him. Because of this fact, the guy for a long time doubted that Emma loved him as a person, and not as a copy of his grandfather. Emma’s strangeness is the ability to create fire with her own hands, it has repeatedly saved the life of the heroes of the book “House of Strange Children”.
Reader reviews of the girl are not as good as those of Jacob. Despite the courage, nobility and care she showed, many say that she looks more like a spoiled teenager than a wise person in the body of a teenager (which in fact is). The main disadvantage of Emma is that the heroine often does not think about the consequences of her actions. On the other hand, the element of the girl is fire, is it any wonder that her character corresponds to this?
Another important child character is Millard Nullings, who is invisible. Because of his peculiarity, he is used to feeling almost invulnerable, therefore he is quite hard to tolerate injuries. Some readers of the book “House of Strange Children” leave comments about this boy as a deeply unhappy person, unable to become visible and exist in the ordinary world.
Among other young heroes - Horace Somnasson, who sees the prophetic dreams; the girl who makes plants accelerate their growth - Fiona Frauenfeld; weightless Olivia Elephant, forced to wear heavy boots; Hugh Apiston in whose stomach a bee swarm lives; incredibly strong Bronwyn and Victor Brantley; and also able to resurrect other Enoch O'Connor.
Each of these characters is unique in its own way, but with each new book they are given less and less space in the plot. Despite their considerable age, they are ordinary teenagers in their psychological development. According to some readers, this infantilism is the result of a long stay in a temporary loop and the educational model of Miss Sapsan, who is forcibly trying to drive her wards into childhood.
Reviews of the main characters-adults
The only representative of adults among those who inhabit the house of strange children is Peregrine. Reviews and comments about this heroine are very diverse.
Some readers admire her indefatigable care for children and are upset that in 2 and 3 novels little space is given to her. Others vehemently criticize Alma LeFey Peregrine as a very short-sighted and authoritarian woman who does not allow her students to gain independence, locking them in temporary loops, which does not help them, but rather harms them.
The grandfather of the protagonist - Abraham Portman - like almost all readers. Since he, the only one of all the wards of Alma Sapsan, found the strength to leave her refuge and fight with his "demons". In the book, the author does not go into details about why Abraham fell out of love with Emma, however, many speculate that he could not forgive her cowardice: after all, the girl did not dare to go into real life with him, and remained in a temporary loop. Perhaps later she bitterly regretted it, so she took the appearance of Jacob as a chance to correct her mistake.
The parents of the protagonist rarely speak well of readers of the novel "The House of Strange Children." The book received special reviews for realism, in the image of the relationship between parents and their children in modern society. So, Franklin and Marianna Portman are quite wealthy people and have enough free time to engage in raising their son. But instead, each of them focuses on their personal problems. Sometimes it seems that they do not have a family - but 3 children, each of whom is focused on his own.
As for the other ginger - Miss Zaryanka, Miss Finch, Miss Korolek and Miss Drozd, the author does not pay enough attention to the description of their character and motivation. All of them are quite the same.
Negative Character Reviews
Regarding the main villains. In addition to the numerous servants of the Creatures, there are three of them, two of them are the brothers Miss Peregrine. However, they manifest themselves in the 2nd and 3rd novels of the cycle. In the first book, the main villain is Dr. Golan, using Jacob to get to Miss Sapsan's loop.
Many note that all 3 main antagonists of the cycle are “stuck” by the author according to one pattern. They say smart, and sometimes quite fair things, and seem to be baked on for the common good. But when it comes down to business, they begin to behave like madmen, sparing no one and nothing on the way to their own goal.
With the first of Alma Paregrin’s brothers - Cole - a full acquaintance takes place in the second novel, during which he successfully poses as an enchanted sister.
With the second brother - Bentan - acquaintance takes place in the third novel. Unlike Golan and Cole, he is a very successful inventor and researcher. But on the way to his goal, the antagonist is no less ruthless than other villains. However, in the final, he admits his mistakes and corrects them at the cost of his life. Bentan is the only antagonist of the series who evokes sympathy, readers explain this by the fact that Riggs presented his motivation and character in much more detail.
Summary of the novel
A 16-year-old teenager, Jacob Portman, was very close to grandfather Abraham, who shared amazing stories from his childhood spent in a boarding school on one of the islands of Wales. When the boy grew up, he began to consider his grandfather's stories as fiction, and photos with his childhood friends - cheap photo montage.
When Abraham Portman was killed by an unknown creature right in front of his eyes, the boy initially considered himself crazy. On the advice of a psychiatrist, he decided to visit the place that his grandfather told about in order to reconcile himself to his death.
Arriving on the island, the hero discovered that the shelter where Abraham had grown up was in ruins. In 1943, during a fascist bombardment, a shell fell on a house, and all its inhabitants died. Deciding to walk through the ruins, Jacob saw a strange girl. Chasing after her, he fell into the time loop of the past. Here, the boy met with his grandfather's friends and found out about the existence of strange people with innate superhuman abilities. To hide from the ordinary inhabitants of the Earth, the strange live in temporary loops created and controlled by imbrins. Thus, for many centuries they are able to not age.
But the weird ones have enemies. At the beginning of the XX century. some of them wished to gain unlimited power and conducted an experiment that turned out to be unsuccessful. As a result, invisible monsters arose - Voids, who adore devouring people, including unusual ones. And the experimenters themselves have also changed. Called the Creatures in the wizarding world, they began to use these creatures to hunt imbrin and strange children.
Jacob, like his grandfather, had a rare ability to see the Void and anticipate their approach. While he was talking with friends of Abraham and his ex-girlfriend, the psychiatrist Jacob came to the island incognito, who turned out to be one of the Beasts. It turned out that he used the boy to find Miss Peregrine's noose. Moreover, Creatures and Void learned to break into temporary loops that were previously inaccessible to them. Using new opportunities, the villains began to steal imbrin around the world, without which the loops are broken, and strange children are defenseless. In addition, having remained for a long time outside the limits of their native loop, they began to age rapidly and in a few days reached their true age.
Trying to stop the Beasts, Jacob learns to control his strangeness and with the help of new friends kills the Void. However, the Creatures manage to abduct Miss Peregrine. And although the children at the last moment manage to free the dear mentor, however, she was “stuck” in the bird's form and is not able to restart the loop. As a result, it is torn.
Jacob decides to break with his past life and go with Emma and other strange children in search of other imbrins.
Summary of the work of Hollow City
Shortly after publication, Miss Peregrine's House of Weird Children became very popular. The book of reviews gathered so good that the release of the sequel was a matter of time and in 2014 the second novel of the series “The City of Empty” was published.
The events of the sequel begin at the same place where the first book ended: strange children, together with the enchanted Miss Peregrine, try to get out of the island and find other imbrins. However, the Creatures are on their heels. Accidental acquaintance with circus performers helps heroes temporarily hide from the chase. In the confusion, children lose the atlas, where all the temporary loops of the world are indicated, and now do not know where to go to them.
Miss Peregrine in the form of a bird tells them to use a book of fairy tales, in which the road to some loops is encrypted. So Jacob with friends finds a place where strange animals live. It turns out that their ginger was also stolen, and the creatures and the Void are trying to attack the zoo.
The talking dog Edison, whom the travelers met in the animal loop, advises them to go to London. Following the advice, the heroes overcome a lot of difficulties and find an ice loop, where many strange ones hide from the Creatures. The local ginger is trying to help Miss Peregrine regain her human form, but it turns out that the bird that the children brought with them is not their mentor at all, but her evil brother Cole, who can also turn into a bird. He destroys the noose and captures many strange with his accomplices. Jacob and his beloved Emma manage to escape, but on their heels follows the Void. In the finale, the protagonist discovers the ability to speak and command the Void language.
The second novel of the series “House of Strange Children” collected reviews not as enthusiastic as the first book. Many readers were disappointed that the whole plot was centered around Jacob, while the rest of the strange children received almost no attention. Moreover, at the end of the book, so that they “do not interfere,” the children were abducted, except for Jacob and Emma. The plot itself was also criticized: for the whole novel, the heroes did not advance in their searches, they only travel and get acquainted with new strange ones.
Despite all these nuances, many loved the new novel.
Summary of the work of the Library of Souls
The final book appeared 3 years after the release of Miss Peregrine's House of Strange Children. Book reviews did not deserve bad, but most even the most devoted fans of the cycle noted that it was inferior to the previous ones.
Jacob's newfound ability to speak the language of voids helped the heroes escape, but the guy realized that he could not control her. The dog Edison joined the travelers, telling about the attack on the noose-zoo. Possessing an extremely sensitive sense of smell, he undertook to help Emma and her boyfriend find abducted friends. Together they managed to find out that the children and all the ginger were hidden in a noose for criminals, known as the "Devil Acre."
It turns out that young Portman is the only person on Earth who can find them. To get help, Jacob and Emma turn to Miss Peregrine's other brother, Bentan.
Blackmailing Jacob, the brothers force him to enter the library and find the best oddities for them. However, Bentan repents and engages in battle with Cole. Because of their actions, the library collapses, burying the brothers under its ruins.
All prisoners and Jacob gain freedom and defeat the Beasts. However, now the main character has to return home. Parents are happy about his return, only they are starting to doubt his son’s sanity again and plan to send him to a hospital. At the last moment, they are stopped by Miss Peregrine, who, along with the children, settles near Jacob.
Book issues
In his work, Rens Riggs raises many important issues. First of all, this is a rejection by society of people with disabilities. So, most of those who inhabit the house of strange children Peregrine, reviews about the real world are not the most flattering. After all, as soon as their unusualness began to manifest, they became victims of bullying and persecution of others. Often their tormentors were their own parents. Only in the loops created by the imbrins did they find a real family and the opportunity to be themselves, not being afraid to cause condemnation of others.
Also, the author of the novels in a rather unsightly light demonstrates the modern relationship between children and parents. The proximity of Jacob and his grandfather is due to the fact that the guy felt alienated in his father's house. Since both parents loved him more out of a sense of duty. They took care of him, bought everything they needed, paid for a psychiatrist, but did not delve into what was happening in his soul.
"Miss Peregrine's House of Strange Children": reviews and criticism of the same movie
In 2016, Tim Burton was filmed the first novel of Riggs. Like most films of the director, this turned out to be very bright due to the addition of entertaining details.
As for the impressions made by the movie “Miss Weird Kids House ...”, the reviews about it are very good. Those familiar with the source complain that Burton is too confused about the plot. However, the majority are simply delighted with the film adaptation, believing that the director very successfully combined the events of 3 books into one picture, throwing out all that was superfluous, and created a truly entertaining sight, and Abraham also resurrected in the final.
Great merit in the success of the project of the performer of the role of Alma LeFey Peregrine - Eva Green. The actress was able to create a unique image on the screen, more saturated and attractive than it was described in the book. By the way, in the film adaptation of this heroine more space is given than in the novel.
Summing up the numerous reviews of readers, we can say that the novel "The House of Strange Children" was well received all over the world. The book reviews have earned positive not only in their homeland in the United States, but also in other countries. Of course, it was not without plot holes and inconsistencies of the plot, as readers often pointed out in their comments. But, on the other hand, it is worth remembering that the genre of the novel is fiction, and in addition, it is designed for a teenage audience.