Tales of the Peculiar (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #0.5) by Ransom Riggs | Book Review

Title: Tales of the Peculiar
Series: Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Illustrator: Andrew Davidson
Published: 9/03/16
Edition: hardcover
Pages: 160
My Overall Rating: 4 / 5
Goodreads page

There are no spoilers in this review.

Synopsis

Before Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales.

Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne. These are but a few of the truly brilliant stories in Tales of the Peculiar—known to hide information about the peculiar world—first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series.

Riggs now invites you to share his secrets of peculiar history, with a collection of original stories, as collected and annotated by Millard Nullings, ward of Miss Peregrine and scholar of all things peculiar.

(This synopsis is from Goodreads.)

Overall Thoughts

It felt like I was reading a really weird fairy tale book. I guess that was the point of the book. It’s a compilation of some of the fairy tales in the peculiar world.

While I was at school, I listened to the audiobook that I borrowed from the online version of my local library. That way I didn’t have an extra book to carry. Also, I borrowed the physical copy from my local library and didn’t want to damage the new book. Listening to the audiobook was a blast because it made me feel like a little kid again. It felt like storytime. A really weird storytime, that is.

Can I also mention that the art in this book is stunning? From what I know, I believe the artist used linocuts to make prints that went into the story. From my own experience, linocuts are super hard to create. I did the watered down version and I struggled.

Individual Stories + Ratings

The Splendid Cannibals: 3.5 / 5

The Fork-tongued Princess: 4 / 5

The First Ymbryne: 4 / 5

The Woman who Befriended Ghosts: 4 / 5

Cocobolo: 4 / 5

The Pigeons of Saint Paul: 3.5 / 5

The Girl who could Tame Nightmares: 3.5 / 5

The Locust: 4 / 5

The Boy who could Hold Back the Sea: 4 / 5

The Tale of Cuthbert: 4 / 5

Conclusion

I rate this book 4 / 5 BBC Sherlock heads. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Peculiar Children trilogy.

Until next time….