Emily R. (troyalg) reviewed on 9/14/2016 + 6 more book reviews

I'm disappointed in this series. I was expecting something a bit more mysterious and creepy. I like fantasy, but this is as run-of-the-mill, "kids with powers" book as one can get. Despite being peculiar, there isn't much extraordinary in these stories. The first book was okay, but the sequel is one note. The whole book is traveling to help Miss Peregrine and just near misses and catch/release type stuff. The new characters seem like pointless encounters ( talking animals, traveling gypsies, Brits during the Blitz ) because they don't make any difference to the story (maybe the animals do a bit) and they live in times passed so nothing for them can change, as the peculiar children point out several times. Also, the love story between Jacob and Emma has annoyed me since the beginning, but in this book, it takes focus away from the story and is totally unconvincing.

My perception of the first book was that the author found interesting pictures that he felt held a story--a picture's worth a thousand word. However, in Hollow City, my perception is the author was trying to fit as many pictures into the story as possible to keep up with this running gimmick. Instead of the pictures feeling natural, it felt as if much of the story was added so a picture could get added as well. I would rather have had a flowing, cohesive story with fewer photos, than this forced "point A to point B to point C" storytelling.

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