Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The chatter around this book is immense. It's on so many best of lists, and it has been thrust into my hands on more than one occasion. Miss Peregrin's takes a hybrid approach, filled with creepy photographs. It's a horror YA novel that has collided with an art project. Left in sensitive hands the photos alone could cause nightmares. In tandem with the story they complement a creepy tale. When I was reading I felt the steady influence of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and some of the older works of Stephen King playing into the plot. Also, a nice movie companion would be Tod Browning's Freaks (1932).
The book itself fell into some of the classic mistakes that a young author can make. I feel like Riggs doesn't quite trust his audience yet. In places where I wanted more plot I got descriptions of the sky. In places where I wanted more descriptions of the sky I got more plot. It's a frustrating endeavor, but will be easily remedied with time. If put on a scale the good far outweighs the bad with this book. I'd love to see Riggs get into graphic novels, or some sort of hybrid book/mixed media project. The desire is there, and we have the means. In Riggs I think we've finally found the talent to be able to pull something off that would take e-readers/tablet computers to the next level. Björk did it with her most recent iPad app, it's now time for an author to try it. Mr Riggs if you ever read this post, consider this your challenge. You've got the talent. Go use it. Wow me. I dare you.
Next up is Level Up by Gene Luen Yang. His prior graphic novel American Born Chinese wowed me a few years ago. According to the rumors, this is supposed to be as good as his debut. It will be a quick read, so I'll more than likely have the write up done in the next day or so.
The chatter around this book is immense. It's on so many best of lists, and it has been thrust into my hands on more than one occasion. Miss Peregrin's takes a hybrid approach, filled with creepy photographs. It's a horror YA novel that has collided with an art project. Left in sensitive hands the photos alone could cause nightmares. In tandem with the story they complement a creepy tale. When I was reading I felt the steady influence of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and some of the older works of Stephen King playing into the plot. Also, a nice movie companion would be Tod Browning's Freaks (1932).
The book itself fell into some of the classic mistakes that a young author can make. I feel like Riggs doesn't quite trust his audience yet. In places where I wanted more plot I got descriptions of the sky. In places where I wanted more descriptions of the sky I got more plot. It's a frustrating endeavor, but will be easily remedied with time. If put on a scale the good far outweighs the bad with this book. I'd love to see Riggs get into graphic novels, or some sort of hybrid book/mixed media project. The desire is there, and we have the means. In Riggs I think we've finally found the talent to be able to pull something off that would take e-readers/tablet computers to the next level. Björk did it with her most recent iPad app, it's now time for an author to try it. Mr Riggs if you ever read this post, consider this your challenge. You've got the talent. Go use it. Wow me. I dare you.
Next up is Level Up by Gene Luen Yang. His prior graphic novel American Born Chinese wowed me a few years ago. According to the rumors, this is supposed to be as good as his debut. It will be a quick read, so I'll more than likely have the write up done in the next day or so.
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