Hollow City (Miss Peregrine #2)

 
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Hollow City (Miss Peregrine #2)
Author(s)
Publisher
Age Range
13+
Release Date
January 14, 2014
ISBN
9781594746123
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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was the surprise best seller of 2011—an unprecedented mix of YA fantasy and vintage photography that enthralled readers and critics alike. Publishers Weekly called it “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.” This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises. Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.

Editor reviews

4 reviews
Overall rating
 
4.3
Plot
 
4.5(2)
Characters
 
4.0(2)
Writing Style
 
4.5(2)
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N/A(0)
New Peculiar's!
Overall rating
 
4.0
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
I like the first book. Just liked. It wasn’t mind blowing or incredibly creepy. It was exaggeratedly descriptive in a beautiful way (which meant that I was constantly re-reading paragraphs).

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was interesting enough that I read it fairly fast and then passed it on to my friends and family who enjoyed it very much.

And now we’re here, Hollow City. And this one, I adored just enough that I plowed through it. I took in every beautiful description like it was the last book I’d ever read. I fled right along with our peculiar friends and met many new (more interesting ones tbh) along the way.

Hollow City starts out very slow. Nothing much happens and I was afraid I’d be back in the same boat I was with the first one. But, it soon picks up and we’re traveling through time! Literally. Away from the ruins of their beloved lighthouse on the island.

And so much happens, but it all happens very quickly. And there is almost too much to take in.

Peter-and-Joel. The only reason you’ll need to read this book. They’re my favorite adorably peculiar boys!

I could really do without the “romance” between Jacob and Emma. It seems to be adding nothing to the story.

If you can take in all the back story and keep up with every little thing that is going on in these books, it really is an interesting and magical thing.

End note: I’m ready for the movie. I can’t see it being anything more than amazing.
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Will Not Leave You Feeling Hollow
Overall rating
 
4.7
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
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N/A
What I Liked:
I read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children just a couple of weeks ago, through happenstance. The fact that Hollow City came out right after that and that I received a review copy is basically a blogger miracle. Riggs’ debut impressed me with its lush writing, eerie tone, and air of magical realism. Even so, sequels make me nervous these days. Second book syndrome plagues many a talented author, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hollow City. I need never have worried, however, as Hollow City basically blows Miss Peregrine’s out of the water with awesomeness.

Where Miss Peregrine’s was slow and contemplative, gorgeous and thought-provoking, for most of the novel, Hollow City starts out with a bang and continues at a pretty fast clip all the way to the incredibly intense conclusion. The stakes are raised so much higher than in the prior novel, and danger follows behind the peculiar children at all times. Though I love a well-done slow pace, as Miss Peregrine’s is, the increased danger and faster pace made everything feel so much more real and immediate. Hollow City is a much more intense read.

The children embark on a series of adventures together, all with the aim of saving Miss Peregrine, who has gotten stuck in bird form, and finding a place to hide. They hope to find a surviving ymbryne, so that they may shelter within her time loop. I especially love this plot because it reminds me of Animorphs: View Spoiler ». Whether this is an intentional reference, I can’t say, but it gives me a lot of nerdjoy.

What I like best about Hollow City is the teamwork the group exhibits. They don’t all trust each other implicitly quite; they’re a lot of tension between Enoch and Jacob especially, but they are working towards a common goal. Where I didn’t have a great sense of most of the peculiars as individuals in Miss Peregrine’s, they all get so much more characterization in Hollow City and all get a chance to shine. Each ability has use, and no one character is the savior of them all.

I especially want to comment on the girls in the group, and laud the fact that they are so incredibly powerful. Bronwyn’s the most physically strong in the group, while also being the kindest and most loving. Emma winds up being the de facto leader of the group with Miss Peregrine incapacitated. So often even fiction devoted to a badass heroine will fail to show any other strong women, but there are so many of them in Riggs’ series. I really love the way that he gives so many characters a chance to show their different kinds of strength, rather than making Jacob the big hero of the series.

The formatting of Hollow City is as lovely as that of its predecessor. Though the pictures aren’t as logical this time, given that in Miss Peregrine’s they were all photos shown to Jacob, they are still used very effectually. The pictures help sell the magical realism feel of the novel, and make the incredible fantastic elements feel very real. Plus, they’re creepy and haunting.

What Left Me Wanting More:
The one factor I’m still not in love with is the same thing that I didn’t like in the first book: the romance. I simply cannot ship Jacob with his grandfather’s ex-girlfriend. I can’t and I won’t. That’s really all I have to say about that bit of ickiness.

The Final Verdict:
All of the powerful elements that made Miss Peregrine’s such a success remain. The tone and writing style are much of a piece with the previous novel, which I can say with more authority than usual having read the first book so recently. If you loved Miss Peregrine’s, be prepared to love Hollow City just as much or perhaps more.
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User reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
4.2
Plot
 
4.3(3)
Characters
 
4.0(3)
Writing Style
 
4.3(3)
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
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better than the first one
Overall rating
 
3.0
Plot
 
3.0
Characters
 
3.0
Writing Style
 
3.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
“You can’t feel bad every second, I wanted to tell her. Laughing doesn’t make bad things worse any more than crying makes them better. It doesn’t mean you don’t care, or that you’ve forgotten. It just means you’re human.”

I must say this, I liked Hollow City better than I liked Miss Peregrine's Home for peculiar children. It was more action packed and the characters’ personalities had more depth. In the first book the peculiars felt like an amusing and quirky background to Jacob’s angsty teenage life. And we’ve had enough of that already. I enjoyed Enoch's sarcasm (and his love for London, of course!) and Emma’s badassery and Bronwyn maternal instinct. I enjoyed how smart and resourceful Millard is and how Hugh’s power has come in handy in many desperate situations despite its unlikeness. I enjoyed the new additions to the group and I hope we’ll have more of them in the next book. Still Jacob failed to find his way into my heart. I don’t know why. I believe he’s too egocentric and I don’t enjoy his point of view at all. Olive, I just wish she didn’t act so childish all the time. I know that technically she is one but… oh for god’s sake, my patience has its limits, you know? Finally the romance... I just want to rip my eyes out everytime it is mentioned. Sorry guys, I really cannot stand it!

“Everything depended on a pigeon.”

Plot-wise the story starts from where it ended in Miss Peregrine’s Home and it is basically a road trip but it had its twists and interesting additions so I enjoyed the ride. It didn’t blow me away that’s for sure but I’m ready to forgive how lame I found the first book.

The pictures though were nothing special. At least in the first one they had that creepiness that made this series so appealing. In this one we mainly had pictures of landscapes. And that's a shame.

"Esme can't... do anything?" I asked.
"I can count backward from one hundred in a duck voice." Esme volunteered through her sniffles, and then began to demonstrate, quacking "One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight..."

Esme, the truest peculiar of them all!
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Once agian.... I LOVED IT!
Overall rating
 
5.0
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
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N/A
I picked this book up at Target a good bit of months before I got around to reading it, I had been like okay I bought this book now Im going to read it.
When I first picked it up, I put it down by the second chapter because I was like, "You know what Im just not into this right now." When I started again I got very into it! When I finished it I hated it because, they just left you hanging. I was glad I had the next book preview to read!
Defiantly buying the next book!
Good Points
The plot, characters, and writing was perfect!
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I want book three now
Overall rating
 
4.7
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
In Hollow City, Jacob and his peculiar friends embark on a journey to save their ymbryne, Miss Peregrine, from the wights and their hollows. They will meet other peculiar on their way who will helped them or will need help from them.

It was worth the wait to read the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children after two years. I liked how it picked up right after book one ended, after the peculiar children started roaring towards safety. Like the first book is magnificently descriptive and the used of vintage photographs (again) make it into another original and vivid tale. It's so realistic and imaginative, how the photographs create and empowered the story. It contained some aspects the first book didn't which was a plus. In the part when they are in London and are witnessing everything that is happening (the horrors of World War II) like ghost stuck on the past, it so sad, what they have to endured. The pictures of it are so terribly sad (the kid in the stroller crying :(. )They had me close to tears.
I loved the ending, so powerful. It had me thinking about the hollows, how they seems to be the pain taking form, and those who can control the pain are able to see them like Jacob and his grandfather.

"Don't fight the pain, that's the key. It's telling you something. Welcome it, let it speak to you. The pain says: Hello, I am not other than you; I am of the hollow, but I am you also."

A page turner and I 'm eagerly waiting for the next book in the series. Ransom Riggs has done it again. Excellent. 4.5 Stars
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