Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs

Pages: 190

Intended Audience: Tweens & Teens

Genre: Supernatural

Notes for Parents: Some unusual content that may be disturbing to sensitive readers

The Back Cover

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 and haunting stories in Tales of the Peculiar—known to hide information about the peculiar world—first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his #1 bestselling Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series.

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

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

Many of the stories include annotations and illustrations.

What’s good?

The best description I’ve heard for these stories is “quirky in a deadpan way.” These ten short stories are unique and easy-to-read folktales of the unusual people found in the world of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The stories range from funny to macabre, and almost all come with a life lesson. Tales include a giant who helps animals, the historic fight between pigeons and humans, a classic (sort of) princess story, a ghost story (with a twist, of course), and a community of cannibals. All include strong characterization, diversity, beautiful illustrations, and several annotations.

Best Part: The copyright page stays in character. “Printed in a nomad’s tent in the desert of Lop, known to some as the Great Lop Depression, extending eastward along the foot of the Kuruk-Tagh to the formerly terminal Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, an almost perfectly horizontal expanse.”

What isn’t good?

I can’t really think of anything that wasn’t good. I liked some of the stories better than others, but I didn’t dislike any of them. I guess my only complaint would be that I wanted more.

Worst part: None.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺☺ (5/5)

You don’t need to know the novels to enjoy these unusual short stories from the Peculiar world, but if you’ve read the novels, some of the tales give a deeper insight into characters and situations from the books. The stories are short, entertaining and wonderfully whimsical. The author has a great talent for storytelling. Definitely recommended.

Riggs, Ransom. Tales of the Peculiar. New York: Syndrigast Publications, 2017.