Hollow City - Ransom Riggs

Genre:Young Adult/Fantasy/Historical Fiction
Synopsis: 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.

*** 

Review: I'm not going to give this a full review, as I never do for series books beyond the first. Instead, I'll compare my enjoyment of this with the first.

Obviously, since this got only 3 stars versus the first installment's 5, I didn't like this one as much. For the most part, it was quite good, but there was a heavily fantasy-based section early on which I couldn't stand at all (and which I felt was actually very out of place in the novel). Aside from that, I had two major issues with the book.

1. The photos. In the first book, most of the photos are portraits, which makes sense - photos of the kids in their house/surroundings. In the second book, there are photos illustrating scenery at moments of actual life-threatening danger, and I'm sitting here thinking, 'oh so someone is coming to kill you but you're just gonna photograph this. Cool I'll wait.' No. Sorry. Didn't work.

2. Repetition. Endless circling of the same dilemma over and over by Jacob. Without any credible resolution in the end, either.

Aside from those issues, I thought the story broadly progressed well, and had a pretty awesome twist or two. I've heard the third book is better than this one, but I can't honestly say I'll be rushing out to get it.

Rating: 3/5

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