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from the NPR poll of great Young Adult fiction ...
This was not what I expected. Which leads me to wonder what it was I expected, and then try to contrast that with what it was that I found instead.
I guess what I expected was an exciting, engaging, adventurous, magical story involving a houseful of fairy sprites existing in an alternate plane. And what I got was an adventure story about a houseful of dull and peculiar children existing in a sort of alternate plane, but it was neither engaging nor ...more
This was not what I expected. Which leads me to wonder what it was I expected, and then try to contrast that with what it was that I found instead.
I guess what I expected was an exciting, engaging, adventurous, magical story involving a houseful of fairy sprites existing in an alternate plane. And what I got was an adventure story about a houseful of dull and peculiar children existing in a sort of alternate plane, but it was neither engaging nor ...more

It starts of strong with intrigue. I really enjoyed the mystic of the story but as the books goes on it looses itself a little bit. As someone mentioned in reviews before, i did not get attached to any of the characters either. Something was missing.
The whole idea to write a book around real pictures is just fantastic and the photographs within are just so mesmerizing. They make you wonder what the real story behind them is and who are all those people.
I am looking forward to book two :)
The whole idea to write a book around real pictures is just fantastic and the photographs within are just so mesmerizing. They make you wonder what the real story behind them is and who are all those people.
I am looking forward to book two :)

This book was not what I expected. I picked it up at the library because of the cover and the concept of mixing letters, photographs and the story intrigued me. Still, I had no idea how much I would enjoy the world Riggs creates or how deeply I would feel for the main character. The story is unique and captivating and as the mystery unfolds, readers are swept up in a completely different world full of interesting secondary characters, whom I liked immensely. But at its heart, the story is about
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I recently reread this over the course of a Sunday afternoon to prepare for reading the sequel (Hollow City) and discovered two things.
1) I think I liked it more the second time than I did the first and
2) I had forgotten quite how good it was.
Ransom Riggs created a world that really draws you in with characters you (or at least I) feel like you want to spend time with in person. Although protagonist and narrator Jacob is kind of annoying -- although, realistically, who isn't as a teenager -- the ...more
1) I think I liked it more the second time than I did the first and
2) I had forgotten quite how good it was.
Ransom Riggs created a world that really draws you in with characters you (or at least I) feel like you want to spend time with in person. Although protagonist and narrator Jacob is kind of annoying -- although, realistically, who isn't as a teenager -- the ...more

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Found it strangely scary at the get-go- reading at 3am while nursing really amps up the terror factor. But it is not actually a frightening read, not really. Very interesting! Would have been better in a print book than on the kindle, but so it goes.

I felt like the story line was pretty much the same as a lot of other YA fiction - teenage boy finds out he's not like all the others and then he has to band together with others like to save the world! But the writing wasn't so compelling. I did think the idea of the story from old photos was quite novel (no pun intended) and I liked that part enough to give it three stars.
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A lot different than what I expected. I thought there would be more of a "creepy" factor, but it turned out to be a great fantasy/adventure story. I'm looking forward to the next installment and interested in how they will turn this into a movie.
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Oct 23, 2012
Linnea
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
time-travel


Nov 11, 2017
Heather - hturningpages
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
that-cover-though


Jul 12, 2016
Isabel
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy,
young-adult