I like Hollow City (book 2 of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children) more than the first book. I think because we know the characters by now and their mission against the Hollogast and the Wight is clear so we know the direction they are going. I feel the characters are very well rounded. Ransom Riggs has developed a realistic alt-world which can be easily bought into. ( )

These books always end weirdly... ( )

Set during the 1940 Blitz of London, this second book in the Miss Peregrine series is even better than the first. The first book, while fascinating, relied on the reader's sympathy for its nebbishy protagonist, Jacob Portman, who risks seeming like just another wannabe Holden Caulfield. For those of us who have never been teenage boys, that sympathy was a tad hard to maintain. But the second volume concerns the whole gang of peculiar children, plus other people whom they meet on the road. The first book was delightfully open-ended but somewhat uneven in pace, while the second clicks along briskly from danger to rescue to danger to escape to danger. Riggs always maintains a humane perspective, and doesn't dwell too long on gore. His main problem is that every once in a while, he has to insert a big chunk of background information to keep his story going in the direction he chooses. Sometimes his choices seem arbitrary rather than organic.

The theme of "Hollow City" -- resistance against world domination by racist, soul-splitting bad guys -- is not so new or fresh, but Riggs creates an interesting world peopled by sympathetic characters. I enjoyed this even thought its not my usual kind of read. ( )

I liked Hollow City a lot more than the first book. It had way more action, lots of adventures, turns, and twists. There were some parts that weren't that interesting and kind of dragged on but for the most part it's well paced and keeps you engaged. The ending, again like the last book, I did not see this ending coming. Totally surprised me and caught me off guard. Definitely want to know more and definitely want to read the next book. There are a lot of pics in this book just like in the first but the pics in this one aren't as creepy as the first one, a lot of them seem to be pics of places. The one drawback for me for this series is I still haven't connected with the characters. At this point I really don't care if any of them die, I just want to see what happens with the plot. I don't even care about Jacob and Emma's relationship. I mean I'm not rooting for them to break up but I'm not rooting for them to be together either, I'm just indifferent. For me, that's the only major drawback from giving this a 5 star. ( )

I really liked this book, it lived up to the first one and answered a lot of questions and left a lot to answer in the next one! ( )