A Map of Days: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #4)

by Ransom Riggs

__________

Things have started to get quite . . . peculiar . . .

Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back in Florida, where his story began.

Joined by Miss Peregrine, Emma and their peculiar friends, life has become carefree. They spend days at the beach, and take part in 'normalling' lessons.

But it's not meant to last.

The discovery of Jacob's grandfather's subterranean bunker leads to clues about his double-life as a peculiar operative.

Jacob begins to learn more about the dangerous legacy he's inherited, and the truths that were part of him long before he walked into Miss Peregrine's time loop.

Now, the stakes are higher than ever as Jacob and his friends are thrust into the untamed landscape of American peculiardom - a world that none of them understand.

New wonders, and dangers, await in this darkly brilliant next chapter for Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, illustrated with haunting vintage photographs- in full colour.

Praise for the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series:

'The popularity of the Miss Peregrine's book series cannot be overstated' Entertainment Weekly

'Creepy in the best way possible' The Guardian

'Readers searching for the next Harry Potter may want to visit Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' CNN

'A thrilling, Tim Burton-esque tale with haunting photographs' USA Today

• ISBN10: 0141385901
• ISBN13: 9780141385907
• Publish Date: 2 October 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 April 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

I absolutely love this series!

[clq]

A Map of Days is a welcome revisiting of the Peculiar Children universe. It’s easy to be sceptical toward the fourth book in what was originally a trilogy, and I was, but this was a good start to a new trilogy, rather than being a forced continuation of the first one.

This book does pick up where Library of Souls left us off, but largely leaves the story of the first three books behind, taking place mostly at a different time (the present) in a different place (the US). The familiar, or, rather, peculiar characters from the first three books are back, but instead of the main character being a stranger in their world, they are now strangers in his world.

I don’t want to give away anything by saying what happens after that, but the story turns into a bit of a scavenger-hunt themed road-trip with occasional Alice-in-Wonderland-for grown-ups-styled encounters. A premise that could go easily have ended up all over the place, but A Map of Days keeps it within the realms of reasonability, even though a few of the peculiar parts of the story feels a bit like due-diligence. Fun due-diligence, but due-diligence nonetheless. The story that drives everything is a little thin, but it works, in large part because the characters are still solid, and the writing still manages to invoke the feeling of wonder, confusion, frustration, and empathy with the main character that I also got from the other books.

But the fact that this book feels the same, and that it still invokes some of the same wonder, is where the similarities to the previous books ended for me. Whereas I’ve described the previous books as mature fairytales with more grown up stories, this book feels more real, which makes sense, considering that more of it takes place in the real world. For me A Map of Days just about got away with what it was doing, as I never stopped being interested in what would happen, and it seems like it could be a good spring-board for the books to come.

I would recommend anyone who’s a fan of the original trilogy to try this book, but whether or not they’d like it would depend on why they liked the originals. This is the start of a new trilogy that I think might be quite different, and I am excited to see where it will go. Regardless of whether I end up liking it, I’d rather this be a trilogy I liked less, than it attempting to extend the already great trilogy from the first three books.

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

I was originally interested in the series because it made use of odd- and sometimes creepy- old photographs. The idea of crafting an entire world around those old photos was incredibly creative. The plot-line of the first few books wrapped up pretty solidly in the third book (Library of Souls), so I didn’t know what to expect in A Map of Days. In this fourth installment, Jacob is back in his home state of Florida, surrounded by people who know nothing about peculiars or wights, and wouldn’t believe him if he told them. The peculiars that went through his adventures with him in the three previous books have shown up out of the blue, and Jacob is asked to give them lessons in “normalization,” so they can pass for children of the present day. What begins as a crash course in being a modern child soon turns dangerous as the peculiars learn secrets about Jacob’s grandfather that send them on a secret mission across the U.S., in and out of the different time loops. There are also several new characters introduced, one of whom is seriously cool.

I felt that Ransom Riggs becomes a better writer with each subsequent book, and this one is by far my favorite. It has a different feel than the others, and the fact that it takes place on a different continent opens Riggs’ world up and makes the stakes feel higher. I also like that it wasn’t just a rehash of the other three books: there are new villains to fight, and new problems to solve. In a lot of ways, it seemed like a treasure hunt: there were clues that needed to be put together, and a lot of second-guessing as far as whose motives were questionable.

This book split the peculiars into a smaller group, which meant each character was able to have more focus put on them. That had both good and bad points for me: Millard was given a lot more attention, which I love because he’s one of my favorites, but Horace wasn’t in it much, completely bumming me out. Millard had several new experiences, though, and there was at least one “aww!” moment for me involving him. The whole Jacob- Emma relationship thing kind of weirds me out, seeing as the third member of the unintentional love triangle involves Jacob’s deceased grandfather. I mean, come on Emma! Maybe try dating outside the family. Thankfully, all that is resolved without becoming the main focus of this book. All in all, despite a few odd moments here and there, I felt this was the best book in the series to date. It’s a fun read, and absolute one-of-a-kind. I’m looking forward to picking up the next book when it releases.

[Steph L]

I enjoy this book and I can't wait to see where the series goes from here.