Review: Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2) by Ransom Riggs

I was lucky enough to get to see Ransom Riggs back in January, when he was here with Rainy Day Books.  It was very interesting to hear him talk about how he started collecting the old photographs that he used for these books.  Enough that when I went to a flea market/antique store a few months ago I actually ended up buying old pictures, thinking maybe I could try to do a story like that myself.  I don't know that I will.  Maybe I should just send the ones I found to him and let him see if he can do anything with them.  That is where I actually got this book, got it autographed, but not personalized.  And then I took it in and donated it to the high school library where I work.  I just didn't know when I'd get around to reading it, even though I did enjoy the first one for the most part.  But, it just wasn't the kind of story that sucked me in right away, so it was harder to pick up and read.  Once I did, it still took a bit to remember bits of it, but eventually I got back into the story where it was at, and was able to read it quickly at that point.  There will be just a few spoilers in this review since it is a sequel but only if you haven't read the first one yet.

Jacob is our main character.  And he was from the present day.  But stumbled into what is called a "loop" which is kind of a time loop, that was used by children that were called peculiar.  The one that was near where his grandfather lived, and when he did that, he ended up getting involved with the group of children that were with Miss Peregrine.  And they are now being hunted by another form of peculiars, called wights.  These wights have captured all the other headmistresses like Miss Peregrine. They were even able to get her, until Jacob and his friends got her back.  But now they can't seem to get her to turn back from a bird. So they journey to London to try to get help.  They must deal not only with the dangerous wights, but also monsters called hollows, and other people that might be out to get them, as well as World War II that is going on at the time. 

As with the first book there are photographs worked in.  This time there are many that aren't as peculiar as the last book, but they fit in mostly with the story.  And we are left at the end hanging a bit, so that now I'm ready to read on in the next book.  Which I have no idea when it will come out.  One really cool thing though, is that supposedly Tim Burton might be making a movie of the first book, according to the author when I saw him in January.  I can think of no one else that would be as perfect to do this.  So I recommend this to those who read the first book and were intrigued with the characters and keeping up with their adventures. 

Ransom Riggs with me.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

First thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I've read another book by this author, Allison Hewitt is Trapped, and I enjoyed the zombie story.  So when I saw the info about this on Edelweiss, and heard it was going to be like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, I immediately requested a download of it.  And it was a pretty good, twisty plot story.  It comes out at a good time, after the recent hit TV show American Horror Story had its 2nd season take place in an insane asylum.  My only disappointment is that not all the photos for the story were part of the e-galley.  Although I definitely understand why that was probably the case.
The main character is Dan Crawford.  Dan is attending a summer institute called New Hampshire College Prep.  It just so happens that the dormitory the high school students are staying in is called Brookline, and was once an insane asylum.  One that has some really bad history, and the town really would like to see it destroyed.  Dan doesn't seem to have a lot of friends from what he sounds like at the beginning.  And his roommate Felix is a bit odd he feels.  But at the mixer the first night he meets a girl named Abby.  And she introduces him to the friend she made on the bus trip there, Jordan.  Now, when Dan first got to his room, there was a picture in the drawer where he put his belongings.  It was what looked like a doctor maybe, with his eyes scratched out.  And his roommate said he'd seen some cool stuff down in an office that was from the old asylum.  So when Dan tells Abby about this, she immediately thinks it sounds like a fun trip.  It takes a bit of convincing, but they get Jordan to go as well.  Once down there they find more pictures, and old files, and weird things start to happen.  Abby finds a picture that just speaks to her for some reason.  Dan begins having dreams where he seems to be seeing things from the warden's view point in the past.  And that's not all.  When they get caught for being down there by one of the Hall Advisers, a day or so later, he is found dead.  And not just dead, but kind of posed, the way a serial killer that had once been at the asylum used to do to his victims.  And when Dan tries to ask townspeople more about the asylum, he runs into some issues.  One is when he tells them his name.  See Daniel Crawford was the name of the last warden, the one who was doing so many horrible things to the patients.  What is really bothering Daniel is why he has the same name, why such a huge coincidence?  And as he is adopted, there is no telling if there was some relationship between him and this guy.
In the end, it is definitely left a bit open, because I would like to know exactly what his relationship is, and while they thought they'd solved the mystery, something happens at the end that leads you to think otherwise.  A good creepy story, and I can't wait to actually see the book in print with all the pictures, and then I'll be eagerly awaiting a sequel, I hope!

Stacking the Shelves - May 2013 Round-up

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.   With the end of the school year, things get really hectic, especially in my school where we have to pack up all our stuff in our classroom every year.  So, I've gotten several books, ebooks, etc., since my last STS post.   I tried to write them down as they came, but I think I may not get all of them.  Here are the ones I remember/wrote down:

Although I was disappointed to get 4 rejections of books from Edelweiss over the past two weeks, two of which I did REALLY want, I was approved for Asylum by Madeleine Roux, the author of a zombie book I enjoyed called Allison Hewitt is Trapped.  This is her first teen novel, and it is compared to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  So excited to get this one!

I won an e-book of The First Days by Rhiannon Frater, from At Random Blog from the Spring Carnival Blog Hop.  This is one I've been interested in awhile, even blogged about it in one of my "Hazards of Working at a Bookstore posts.



I had 2 successful trades through the YA Book Exchange.  I got an ARC of Light by Michael Grant from Lori, and Exposure by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes from Megan @ The Book Babe.



And finally, the Scholastic Book Warehouse had their big sale, similar to the one I bought about $200 worth of books at last December.  But since I am not teaching English next school year, and just bought a bunch at the RT Convention at the beginning of May, I limited myself to the 2 books you see above.  Finally I can read the very popular Cinder by Marissa Meyer, as well as The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix, one of my favorite authors.

What about you?  What books did you add to your shelves this week?