Monday, May 23, 2016

Library of Souls, by Ransom Riggs. Quirk Books, 2015





I LOVED the first two books in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children trilogy, so after finishing the second one I got Library of Souls from the library as soon as I could, expecting the excitement to carry on.

I was disappointed. Sorely.

I had trouble getting into the story; I actually found it a chore to read it for long stretches. It wasn’t all like that; there were some great incidents. But I felt that the book would have been twice as good if it had been half as long. There just wasn’t enough story and unique happenings to support 450 pages. The villain was a bit of a caricature; he would have fit into a comic book with his manic rule-the-world goal. There are some Deus-ex-Machina moments; some miraculous cures that, done once, were acceptable, but done more than that became just too convenient.

Unlike a fair number of reviewers, I did like the ending; I felt it was well deserved. I loved Addison the glasses-wearing, talking dog. I enjoyed the character of Sharon, the boatman on the horrible river (it wasn’t named Styx, but should have been) just because of some humor- not as laugh out loud as the heads-on-pikes on the bridge, but nice.

If you’ve read the first two books, you kind of have to read this one. I wouldn’t have been able to stand not knowing what happened. I just wish it had been better. 


The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon they will give me a few cents. This in no way influenced my review. 

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