Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs

Overview

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was the surprise best seller of 2011—an unprecedented mix of YA fantasy and vintage photography that enthralled readers and critics alike. Publishers Weekly called it “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594746123
Publisher:	Quirk Publishing
Publication date:	01/14/2014
Series:	Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	94,954
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Ransom Riggs is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. He is also the author of Talking Pictures (Harper Collins, 2012) and The Sherlock Holmes Handbook (Quirk, 2008). He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and lives in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

01/27/2014
In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, young Jacob Portman, having discovered his ability to sense the monstrous wights and hollowgasts that are attempting to capture or kill Peculiars, has narrowly escaped with them and their injured leader, the birdlike "ymbryne," Miss Peregrine. The children must travel cross-country and through time loops, dodging monsters all the way, to Blitz-era London where, rumor has it that the last free ymbryne, Miss Wren, is hiding. En route, they meet talking animals, helpful Romany, and other Peculiars with odd talents: "The suitcase jiggled.... Its latches popped, and very slowly, the case began to open. A pair of white eyes peeped out at the crowd, and then the case opened a little more to reveal a face—that of an adult man... who had somehow folded himself into a suitcase no larger than my torso." Riggs's use of grotesque, unsettling, and sometimes lightly retouched photographs is just as successful in this outing, and while the plot occasionally feels forced to fit the photographs, it will easily please the previous book's numerous fans. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

...fans will be thrilled to know that the sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is as hauntingly sinister is the first and is unequivocally worth the wait. It’s a rare sequel that improves on the series’ beginning... A must-read!” -RT Book Reviews

From the Publisher

02/01/2014
Gr 8 Up—This harrowing tale picks up right where Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Quirk, 2011) left off: having narrowly escaped wights and hollowgasts (monsters), Jacob, Emma, and their group of peculiars (young mutants, à la the X-Men, with a dash of time travel abilities) are on the move to London to find a cure for their headmistress Miss Peregrine who has been trapped in her bird form, but time is running short. Moving through time loops, they meet a menagerie of characters who help them along the way, but danger lurks at every corner, and horrors are not far behind. Even if the teens reach London alive, will it be enough to save Miss Peregrine from an ornithological fate? This book is perfectly paced, suspenseful, and scary. It is dark and dreadful but also humorous and touching. The peculiars are intriguing, each with fascinating powers, such as invisibility or premonition. They play off of one another's strengths and weaknesses, which progresses the story and further develops the characters. And of course there is the book's main attraction: the found vernacular photography, vintage pictures that Riggs has collected from flea markets and archives. The quirky and creepy snapshots perfectly illustrate the characters and settings, reinforcing the dark atmosphere of the narrative. New readers of the series will find this novel a treat and will be able to sift through summaries of previous events to place themselves in the story. Fans of the first title will find this book a treasure. The only downside: waiting for the third installment to find out what happens to Jacob and his peculiar friends.—Billy Parrott, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

2014-01-14
Along with picking up the action where it left off in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011), Riggs fills in background detail while adding both talking animals and more children with magical powers to the cast. With evil wights and murderous hollowgasts in hot pursuit—and only days to save their beloved Miss Peregrine from permanently becoming a bird—Jacob and his nine young (in body, if not age) companions fling themselves through time loops to Blitz-torn London. The growing attachment between Jacob and kindhearted fire-conjurer Emma turns out to play a crucial role in the plot. After a brisk round of chases, captures, escapes and bombings—capped by a devastating reversal—the two end up separated from most of their allies but with a new talent that just might save "peculiardom" from its seemingly all-powerful enemies. As before, the author spins his tale in part around a crop of enigmatic vintage trick or portrait photographs, including two men (corpses?) sharing a bed with skeletons, a pipe-smoking dog and a staring girl with a huge hole through her midsection. Though less of a novelty here than in the opener, these still add distinctly creepy notes (even when the subject is supposedly comical) to a tale already well-stocked with soul eaters and tentacled monsters. Less a straightforward horrorfest than a tasty adventure for any reader with an appetite for the…peculiar. (Fantasy. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews