"Hollow City" Jacob's Adventure Continues

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK

     "Hollow City" is the second book in the "Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children" series written by Ransom Riggs.  The book picks up where "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" left off and follows the children's adventures.   

     They are on a quest to find another Ymbryne to turn Miss Peregrine back to her human form before she is stuck as a bird permanently.  The kids all work together, combining their skills to overcome obstacles they encounter along the way.  This book centers around their mission to find a Ymbryne and the steps they must take to do so, which includes traveling through time loops and encountering the historical turmoils that occur during the time of each loop (think all the horrors that were World War II).

    

     To be completely honest, I preferred the first book of the series, and did not enjoy reading this one as much.  While it was a decent book, it did not hold my interest as much as the first book did (once I got into the plot of the first book that is).  

     I think my major issue with this book was that it was all about getting Miss Peregrine switched back and the process seemed incredibly long and drawn out.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of other things happening in the book such as defeating Wights and Hollows, but I felt that the plot could have progressed so much further within this installment of the series if switching Miss Peregrine back did not take so long.  However because of a major issue that occurs when Miss Peregrine(or the bird the children thought was Miss Peregrine) is eventually turned back to her human form, leads to a cliff hanger at the end of the book I understand the choice to draw out the changing of 'Miss Peregrine.'  Seeing where Riggs takes the plot in the third book will most likely make his plot choices for this book much clearer.

     This all being said, if you read and enjoyed the first installment in the series, I would recommend reading this book as well.  I know I will be reading the third book when it is released so that I can find out what happens to the children, I am far too invested in the characters to not read the next book.  Let me know what you thought of the book, if you have read it, down below!

"Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children"

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK

     "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" is the first book in a soon to be trilogy/series written by Ransom Riggs.
   
     This novel was not exactly what I had expected when I picked it up, however, I greatly enjoyed it once I got into the story a bit more.  The story follows a boy named Jacob who's grandfather passes away in a mysterious way.  Jacob soon learns that they stories that his Grandfather used to tell him as a child may not have really just been stories after all.

     Driven by the need to know what killed his grandfather, Jacob (along with his father) embarks on a transatlantic trip and gets much more than he bargained for.

    Judging by the title and cover art work of this book, I did not expect the story to begin with a teenager from Florida who's grandfather seems to be crazy.  I nearly gave up on the book, but after I pushed through and actually got to the part when Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is actually introduced to Jacob (and the reader), I really did enjoy the book and couldn't stop reading, I needed to know what was going on and what would happen to both the Peculiar Children and Jacob.

     I definitely recommend this book, but be prepared to need read the second book (review coming next Friday) and the third book which is currently in the works.

     According to IMDb, the book is in the process of being adapted for the screen, and the movie is slated to be directed by Tim Burton.

     The trailer for the book can be viewed below:

"The Fault In Our Stars" Movie Review

This review is definitely a bit late, but better late than never right?

Right.

     I do not really have anything bad to say about the movie adaptation of "The Fault In Our Stars".   I feel that overall it was a great movie and that it did stand up well next to the book (which probably had a great deal to do with John Green, the author, being involved in the movie making process).  While I am sure there were parts left out or shortened up to fit within the time constraints of the film, nothing huge jumped out at me as did with the "Divergent" adaptation.

    Now, what did surprise me about the movie is that, wait for it..... I DIDN'T CRY.  Yep thats right, not a tear was shed on my part.  This is not to say that the movie did not do a satisfactory job of conveying the emotions that it was meant to, because it did.  Especially if you judge the emotional impact of the movie by the heaving sobs of the woman who was seated a few seats down from me in the theater.  I was very surprised that I did notary witching the movie as I did cry while reading the book. I think my lack of waterworks was primarily due to the fact that I am not someone who cries easily, as well as since I had read the book, I knew what was going to happen and was prepared for it ( don't worry if you haven't seen the book/movie I won't spoil it for you).

     I think the movie was well done and the casting didn't bother me as much as I thought it would with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort having portrayed siblings in the "Divergent" movie.  It was done in kind of a chick-flick manner which I really am not a fan of, I wish it had been a bit less sappy(not sure if thats the word I'm looking for, but it will have to do), but that really just comes along with the nature of the book it was based off of. If I had not read the book, I don't think I would have ever ended up seeing the movie as I am not a chick-flick enthusiast, but overall the movie was good and didn't disappoint me when compared to the book.