Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series #2)

by Ransom Riggs

Overview

The #1 New York Times best-selling series

To find a cure for Miss Peregrine, their beloved headmistress, Jacob Portman and his peculiar friends journey through a time loop to London, 1940—the peculiar capital of the world

Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and the rest of the peculiar children are fleeing the malevolent  wights following them. Miss Peregrine is the only one who can help, but as she is trapped in bird form, the children must take a time loop to World War II London in search of a cure. 

Along the way, the children encounter new allies and a menagerie of peculiar animals, but hideous surprises and betrayals lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom. 

Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, the second chapter of the beloved Peculiar Children series will enchant readers of all ages. 

“I was blown away. . . . Hollow City is fantastic.”—USAToday.com

“A worthy follow-up, and as addictive a read as the first.”—Hypable

“A perfect blend of creepiness and thoughtfulness.”—PopMatters

“Ideal for fans of Neil Gaiman and Daniel Kraus, Hollow City blends fantasy and horror into a world that will engross readers and leave them eager for more.”—Shelf Awareness for Readers

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594747359
Publisher:	Quirk Publishing
Publication date:	02/24/2015
Series:	Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(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 the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children novels. Riggs was born on a farm in Maryland and grew up in southern Florida. He studied literature at Kenyon College and film at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the best-selling author Tahereh Mafi, and their family.

Read an Excerpt

 We rowed out through the harbor, past bobbing boats weeping rust from their seams, past juries of silent seabirds roosting atop the barnacled remains of sunken docks, past fishermen who lowered their nets to stare frozenly as we slipped by, uncertain whether we were real or imagined; a procession of waterborne ghosts, or ghosts soon to be. We were ten children and one bird in three small and unsteady boats, rowing with quiet intensity straight out to sea, the only safe harbor for miles receding quickly behind us, craggy and magical in the blue-gold light of dawn. Our goal, the rutted coast of mainland Wales, was somewhere before us but only dimly visible, an inky smudge squatting along the far horizon.
     We rowed past the old lighthouse, tranquil in the distance, which only last night had been the scene of so many traumas. It was there that, with bombs exploding around us, we had nearly drowned, nearly been torn apart by bullets; that I had taken a gun and pulled its trigger and killed a man, an act still incomprehensible to me; that we had lost Miss Peregrine and got her back again—snatched from the steel jaws of a submarine—though the Miss Peregrine who was returned to us was damaged, in need of help we didn’t know how to give. She perched now on the stern of our boat, watching the sanctuary she’d created slip away, more lost with every oar stroke.
     Finally we rowed past the breakwater and into the great blank open, and the glassy surface of the harbor gave way to little waves that chopped at the sides of our boats. I heard a plane threading the clouds high above us and let my oars drag, neck craning up, arrested by a vision of our little armada from such a height: this world I had chosen, and everything I had in it, and all our precious, peculiar lives, contained in three splinters of wood adrift upon the vast, unblinking eye of the sea.
     Mercy.

Editorial Reviews

...a tasty adventure for any reader with an appetite for the…peculiar.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“Riggs has created a fresh and original world in these Peregrine novels, with likable, quirky characters and a very readable style.”—Library Journal Xpress Review

“...fans will be thrilled to know that the sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is as hauntingly sinister as 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

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

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

Fans of the surprise hit MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN will welcome Kirby Heyborne’s engaging narration of Riggs’s second book. Jacob and his band of peculiar friends continue to travel through time, encountering strange creatures and chilling hollows—shadowy monsters that Jacob is peculiarly able to detect. Heyborne deftly guides listeners through the complex story. Never hurrying the pace, he allows listeners to absorb Riggs’s image-rich, densely plotted prose. Heyborne also moves masterfully among the large cast of characters, creating distinct British voices for each of Jacob’s peculiar friends. Heyborne’s sense of timing, evident pleasure in the material, and ability to thrillingly execute the book’s many dramatic moments will keep listeners riveted. J.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2014 - AudioFile

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