Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs | Review

Hello again, and welcome back my fellow Bookworms!

Today I am reviewing the third installment into the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children trilogy by the absolutely amazing, Ransom Riggs.

This review is being done in preparation for the upcoming movie adaptation of the first book; Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which will be opening in Australian cinemas on September 30, and will be directed by my all time favorite director; Mr. Tim Burton.

A bit of insight into Library of Souls…

Library of Souls is the third and final book in the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children trilogy by random Riggs.

This series began with Miss Peregrine’sHome for Peculiar Children where we meet a young boy named Jacob and his grandfather, a family of peculiar children and Miss Peregrine herself. This is followed up by the sequel, Hollow City, which sets the scene for this final novel, Library of Souls.

Library of Souls continues on with Jacob’s story, where he beings to discover that his peculiarity is more peculiar, powerful and useful than he had first realised. These revalations, lead to an intense and gripping storyline laced with loyalty, love, suspense, and maybe a death or two…

As seen in very few other novels, Riggs leaves you waiting and guessing from the very beginning. With his wide array of quirky characters and often unpleasant (sometimes pleasant) surprises, the story practically inhales your soul through the
meticulously placed words, so that your whole body feels as if you’ve tumbled head-first into Dumbledore’s pensive, living – and sometimes reliving – each moment with the peculiar children.

The Review of Feels: What I loved and How I showed it…

WHAT IS THERE NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THIS BOOK????

NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! This book is without a doubt, 100 percent, I’d bet my Lady Midnight book on it (because that book is the best thing I own, second to my laptop of course); this book is FLAWLESS!!

This book gave me a severe case of The Feels. Since the second book ended with a very annoying cliffhanger, throughout this whole book I was on edge. Literally. Despite this book being quite fast paced, I became scared to read, in fear I would have to close the book at an intense scene because we all know that closing a book at an intense scene is not good for a Bookaholic’s mental sate.

I read the majority of Library of Souls while I was at school, in and in between classes, but rarely at home because at the time I was also reading Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix at the same time. Overall it took me 8 days to read Library of Souls and I am not even ashamed since I enjoyed every minute I held the book in my hands and I savoured the time I had with it, in hopes I would never have to leave the Peculiars.

I gave this book a ★★★★★ 5/5 star rating on Goodreads and now I can truly see why Jesse (from Jessethereader on YouTube) is absolutely obsessed with this series. From start to finish the book is truly remarkable and captivating. The ending especially is the most perfect ending to a series I have ever read. Although it leaves the characters with a future and more potential for adventure, you get the feeling that after this they will take it slow and stay away from adventure for a while, leaving you content and gushing over the last words uttered, hoping that the peculiars won’t be throwing themselves into any danger any time soon.

I am a sucker for good photography and illustrations in novels; so the photographs that Riggs collected for this series and this book especially helped clarify the mental images I had created from the words; refining the small details, such as positions of objects in relation to other objects as well as what characters looked like; and expanding on the wider scenery which I hadn’t even considered.

I would recommend this series – especially this novel – to anyone wanting a satisfying winter read and also to people looking for ways to crawl out of a book slump.

Story Time + Last Lines (minor spoiler)

I managed to finish this book at lunch time at school, curled up in a rock hard chair, while there were noisy girls chitty chatting all around me. Now I’m sure we can all agree that these aren’t the best reading conditions, but I did it! This book – actually the whole series – can totally make you forget about your surroundings and keep you trapped within the pages, spellbound by the way the words work to form characters, plotlines, mystery, and most important of all, family.

When I read the heart-shattering last line spoken by Jacob to Emma;

“We have time.”

My heart quite literally shattered and I, never having been in love, managed to feel all the emotions that Jacob was feeling for Emma crash onto me like a wave of what I can only describe as ‘feels’, and with no other way to express said ‘feels’ as it seemed words had escaped me in that moment, I slapped my friend a few times (not hard), disrupting her less-important YouTube viewing.

These words are quite significant as I fell that there is never enough time to do anything, but Jacob has seemingly embraced that the time that has been given to him is adequate enough compared to the time that Emma had been destined with after the collapse of their loop. He now has Emma and Emma has him, and every second henceforth will be theirs and only theirs, because as they had witnessed; time is of the essence.

Symptoms of Library of Souls may include;

A severe case of the feels
Shattered – if not broken – heart, resulting in a fast pace pounding of said organ, which may cause shortness of breath.
Hot and mushy feeling all over
The strong urge to squeeze something really hard. I would recommend a pillow and not a cute puppy.
Tears possibly lots of tears (if you’re a big crier be sure to have tissues handy).
Shaking hands. Wait at least 20 minutes for the worst of the symptoms to subside before doing any work or thinking tasks

I cannot wait to see the movie when it comes out this September – although I do have a few issues with the cast already. Expect a movie review sometime in October because there is no way I am not reviewing the movie as I am sure I will have a lot to say about it, both good and bad.

Update 19/12/16: The movie review has been posted and is titled; Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children | Movie Review.

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© Jasper+Spice 2015. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use without permission. This book review was not sponsored in any way and all opinions are entirely my own. Rating + review also posted on Goodreads. The photos were originally posted on my Instagram @jasperandspice.