The Conference of the Birds (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #5)

by Ransom Riggs

[clq]

The Conference of The Birds is a good continuation of the Peculiar Children series. Not great, not bad, but perfectly good. After reading the previous book I hoped that this book would take a completely new direction, challenging the comfort-zone of the established universe, rather than turn into a Scavenger-hunt in the old one. This book kind of does, and kind of doesn’t. Conference of the Birds could have been something very different, and I think it could have been more interesting if it were, but it plays it safe by veering more toward the style of the first trilogy, rather than taking this second trilogy in a whole new direction. Tried and Tested doesn’t have to be bad though, and this book absolutely isn’t bad.

So, to avoid the risk of spoiling anything from the previous book, I’ll say nothing at all about what happens in this one, other than there being some peril, and some effort to prevent something bad from happening. The good old team is re-assembled, and the book goes through the motions it needs to go through in order to take the story where it needs to go. The fact that this makes for an enjoyable book is a testament to the strength of the universe, the characters, and the writing. The book retains a fairytale-like quality which makes it a pleasure to read, and the characters keep on feeling very real, albeit in quite a surreal way. The story is solid, without any major twists or turns, but with enough spice to keep things interesting for the duration of the book. It’s easy, comfortable, and a little predictable. Most of all though, it feels safe, for good, and for bad.

I knew rather quickly what I was going to get from The Conference of the Birds, and I got exactly that. I didn’t mind, and I don’t think any fans of the previous books in the series would mind either. This book alone isn’t a reason to start this series, but it keeps the series going in a way that is satisfactory, and scratches the itch.