The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 512

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 4⭐

"The fate of peculiardom hangs in the balance in this epic conclusion to the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.

The last thing Jacob Portman saw before the world went dark was a terrible, familiar face.

Suddenly, he and Noor are back in the place where everything began - his grandfather's house. Jacob doesn't know how they escaped from V's loop to find themselves in Florida. But he does know one thing for certain: Caul has returned.

After a narrow getaway from a blood-thirsty hollow, Jacob and Noor reunite with Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children in Devil's Acre. The Acre is being plagued by desolations - weather fronts of ash and blood and bone - a terrible portent of Caul's amassing army.

Risen from the Library of Souls and more powerful than ever, Caul and his apocalyptic agenda seem unstoppable. Only one hope remains - deliver Noor to the meeting place of the seven prophesied ones. If they can decipher its secret location."

What a book! 

The full story book made me shiver! First I was really lost: not sure if it was Jacob or Noor. It took me the entire 1st chapter to understand what happened at the end of the last book and to understand what was going on (great job Riggs!)

After come Devil's Arc situation: Desolation everywhere and the atmosphere full of fear, terror and mistrust that was tangible.

We are talking about Caul, a very bad guy that want to be treated like a God and if you don't want it, he simply go to make you suffer a lot.

Caul and his allies show the real faces and power they now have thanks to the Library of Souls. 

Not only you have the Hollowgates and Wights but also a lot of Peculiares that are just mean like Caul and the worst part is that they don't care of the consequences or who they gonna hurt: they just want to create caos and please Caul. 

And now you think of the Americans: how about them? Allies or enemies? Well it's a mix of both: they don't want to have Caul as a cruel god but they want to be free looped (free to get out of the loop without the problem of dying in 24h). It's a 50-50 situation.

One of the best part was to discover the true meaning of the prophecy regarding Noor and the 6 others special kids and also the origin of Jacob's peculiarity.

The ending? WOW but the last chapter? ahmmm sorry but I was thinking about something else but the kids deserved it just like it was.

The Conference of The Birds by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 5⭐

"With his dying words, H--Jacob Portman's final connection to his grandfather Abe's secret life entrusts Jacob with a mission: Deliver newly con­tacted peculiar Noor Pradesh to an operative known only as V. Noor is being hunted. She is the subject of an ancient prophecy, one that foretells a looming apocalypse. Save Noor--Save the future of all peculiardom.

With only a few bewildering clues to follow, Jacob must figure out how to find V, the most enigmatic, and most powerful, of Abe's former associates. But V is in hiding and she never, ever, wants to be found."

This book start in the middle of the last scene of the previous book so you start already with the element of "please get out and be safe".

Jacob show to be way more adult than most of them in this book and if you think all the American's clan wan war you can actually change your mind. They are hostil but they only know that actually and they understand that they have 1 comum enemy: the Hollowgates with theire wights.

And you need to add that Jacob and friends need to understand the full prophecy, help Noor to find V and help Miss Peregrin. All that in kids....

And I'm glade to now go to read the last book of this serie because the end... OMG! Got a lot of questions during the entire chapter! 

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 3⭐

The first three novels in the series introduced Jacob Portman and the world of the peculiars - and saw that world threatened by, and spared from, destruction by a hostile splinter faction and their monstrous servants. Now, in a thrilling new story arc, Jacob's adventure continues as Ransom Riggs reveals even more secrets of the peculiar world, set against the rich landscapes of American history.

Don't think its a bad story or the book is less importante than the previous 3 but I feel I was turning in circles all the way after they got the mission and also I got a lot of points that was just making a lot of WTF in my head:

1 - Why they lied to peculiares about Caul?

2 - Why if feels ok to send a kid (Jacob) to a suicide mission?

3 - Why it look like all peculiares are trying to kill each other in America

4 - Why we have no information about why America is like that?

I was expecting something more like the 3rd book but got disappointed...

Hope next 2 books get me impressed

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: Portuguese

Format: Paperback

Pages: 419

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 5⭐

"A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.

The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls. As the story opens, sixteen-year-old Jacob discovers a powerful new ability, and soon he’s diving through history to rescue his peculiar companions from a heavily guarded fortress. Accompanying Jacob on his journey are Emma Bloom, a girl with fire at her fingertips, and Addison MacHenry, a dog with a nose for sniffing out lost children.

They’ll travel from modern-day London to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the most wretched slum in all of Victorian England. It’s a place where the fate of peculiar children everywhere will be decided once and for all."

I wish to tell you it was as perfect as book 2 but the truth is that I got bored in the middle of the book. Why you may ask? Because I wanted action and some answers from some characters...

at the end I got my actions of course and it saved the rating!

Did I thought this was the end of this serie? Yes

Did I thought that evil will win? Yes

Did I wish for another end of book? Yes

Did I got mad with how it ended? YES

Thats why I checked for a book 4 and found out that this end in book 6! 

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

 

Language: Portuguese

Format: Paperback

Pages: 382

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery

Rating: 5⭐

"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."

Reading this book made me feel desperate for the kids! 

Passing a portal and entering into a war scenario is not an happy escape... Its so horrible that I wished they just come back from the same way (even if it was a very bad ideia!)

It was so sad to see that sister scene... 

But the best part was actually the animals! Was not excepting a talking dog or a sheep that have special wool.

This book was way better than the first one (probably because of the new characters and scenarios!)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Language: Portuguese 

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 334 

Genre: YA fantasy, mystery 

Rating: 4⭐

"A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows."

Ok I've read this books in 2019 and after watching the film so if this review is kind of as a memory of the feeling I got while reading it (the same apply to book 2 and 3 of this serie)

I liked the book for sure and probably since I saw the movie first I got spoiler from myself and well... that happens a lot 😂

The idea is great and it's really sweet to see how each kid protect each other even if I got a bad feeling for at least 1 kid. 

The peculiarity of each one is better explained in the book than in the movie and the best about this serie is that actually the author added the pictures where he got inspired for the book so even if the book is 300 pages you have a lot of them that are just pictures. 

Also how the chapters appear is quite appealing for young readers: it's literally 1 page saying "Chapter + number" in brown. I got that "pause effect" after each chapter. Also they are not big so you can go quickly into the reading.