Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

By: Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: January 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59474-612-3
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: January 26, 2014

This is definitely one of the most highly-anticipated sequels that readers have been salivating over...waiting for the time they could rejoin Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children and see what their next steps would be. For those who are wondering, the vintage photographs are still incredible and unbelievably realistic. They not only bring out the goose bumps, but also scream for the reader to turn on all the lights in the house while reading...just in case the subjects in those peculiar photos come to life.

The first book in this series was immensely popular because of the extreme inventiveness of the writer, Ransom Riggs, and everyone will agree that Riggs delivers yet again with Hollow City.

To catch everyone up, the first book centered around Jacob Portman and the stories his grandfather told him about his own life in WWII, where he grew up in this ‘home of peculiar children.’ Jacob wasn’t sold on any of this, even after seeing the haunting photographs. So when his grandfather passed away, Jacob went on a journey to find out what was real and what was complete fabrication.

Hollow City begins exactly where Book I faded out. Jacob and his ‘peculiar’ companions are on the run from soldiers (which are actually wights); the kids need to get to London fast because that is the place where the cure resides that will transform Miss Peregrine from the bird form she’s stuck in, back to the woman they love and need.

Sinister...evil...all the things that go bump in the night are thrown at the children as they make their way on this very important journey; they even meet some new peculiar children along the way. But humans are not the only things they must bypass; strange animals, a gypsy troupe that may have their own agenda, telepathic characters, shape shifters - this has got it all! And, yes, Emma Bloom - the girl who can make fire with her hands - is also among Jacob’s problems, because he’s trying to figure out his love for her while searching for the hollowgasts that could tear their group apart.

The most amazing thing about this sequel is the fact that the inventive tale, along with the vintage photos, is even better than the first.

Quill says: Miss Peregrine’s realm is full of tension, fear and the unknown; it is a ‘habit’ NO reader will ever want to break.