【Book Review】Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2)

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2)

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★★

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★★

       The reason why I haven’t updated for nearly a month is because I didn’t finish even one book. I have no idea what’s wrong with me, but now I finally finish reading something, and I will update another book review for my viewers. Though, I suppose there are not many of them. This is actually the first time I have ever written a review for the second book in a series. I have read the first book Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children several months ago and really enjoyed it. I think that is a great beginning of a trilogy. I didn’t expect myself to read this book for nearly two months. It’s really surprising that after dragging on reading it for two months, I can still be engrossed in this book.

    My overall rating is four stars. It is definitely as great as the first book. Ransom Riggs does a wonderful job in maintaining the feeling of the language, creating a “peculiar” sense. Since this is already the second book in this series, I won’t spend much time on introducing the plot. The story mainly talks about the journey the group of peculiar children have to face after they were forced to leave their little island and venture into the grand city of London. The plot of this book is apparently more twisted than the previous book which introduces all the major events on the small island where the peculiar children are stuck in. In this book, Jacob and his friends need to travel to other places and are forced to encounter much more difficulties and arduous challenges that may even threaten their lives. Since the story happens in the 1940s, the WWII is happening, and there are several devastating scenes being portrayed in this book. I read the last 100 pages all in one sitting, and there are a lot of things that happened at the end. I didn’t expect a major plot twist, which is a very clever move of Ransom Riggs’. It is indeed shocking and unexpected, so I definitely have great fun reading the last fifty pages.

    As for the characters, I think they all possess unique characteristics. My favorite one is Enoch, which may surprise many people. Enoch is clearly not the most pleasant person in the story. In fact, I believe many people may find him disturbing because of his sarcasm. I personally find him interesting and funny. Even sometimes he is kind of sarcastic, I still enjoy reading his parts and feel that he is very realistic. If Enoch is not part of the story, I may give the character part only 3 or 3.5 stars. I am not a huge fan of Emma, though. Don’t beat me. I don’t have much to say about the writing. Ransom Riggs does a great job in portraying his peculiar world. His language may not be as fabulous as Jane Austen’s, it is still well-crafted and fits well into his world. With his vivid depiction, I can read more fluently and be engrossed in the plot.

    The Hollow City is a powerful and well-developed book in this series, and I am definitely looking forward to the third book since this one ends with sort of a cliffhanger. However, I won’t pick up the third one anytime soon, because I have struggled in this world for nearly two months now, and I desperately need a break. If I pick up the third one right away, I may not enjoy it as much as I am supposed to be.