Book Review of Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Hollow City begins immediately where Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Book 1 in the series) leaves off. The children are adrift in rowboats on the ocean after rescuing Miss Peregrine from the Wights and Hollows. The only problem is Miss Peregrine is stuck in her current bird form. When the children finally reach land, they discover that Miss Peregrine only has three days to change back to human form or she’ll be a helpless bird forever. Thus begins the long, arduous journey of finding the only other surviving Ymbryne, Miss Wren, who can help.

This book is long and, in many places, it drags on quite a lot. It’s definitely a plot-driven novel, in that the seemingly never ending series of events drag the children along and things simply happen to them while they react. Therefore, we still see the same character traits that we saw in Book 1. Nothing much new is happening with character development.

Basically, this book, from start to finish, is a very long quest to find Ms. Wren. Like I said…long.

I didn’t like that, as with the first book, this installment also ends abruptly with no real resolution. Whenever an author does this, I get the distinct impression this is simply a ploy to get readers to purchase the next book. Therefore, neither Book 1 nor Book 2 is a standalone read.

I doubt I’ll go on to read Book 3. I’m suspicious that it’ll be just more of the same drawn out storyline. The movie, based on Book 1, was TONS better than either book. I’d see Book 2 in movie version if it ever becomes available. Otherwise, I’m pretty much done with this series.

3 of 5 Stars, Review by Susan Barton