If you don’t know this yet, Ransom Riggs released last month the fourth book in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. After 3 years since Library of Souls, he signed a three-book deal to continue with the story for a while longer. For me, Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series are the original three books (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Hollow City, and Library of Souls) the only ones that I read and that I’m going to write about today. These three new books start where Library of Souls left off, but I consider them a new series. All the questions that I had since the first book are answered, so that story is closed. Therefore, these three new books are a new story told in a different setting with the same character and in the same world. For someone that loves this series they are gold, but for me, they are a no. So first, let’s go back to the beginning when all this adventure started.

I published the review for the first book in the series, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and I still stand by every word I wrote down. I love that book! The creepiness, the little scares it gave me are priceless, although I know that it was a one-time thing. When I think back of the things that scared me and excited me, I realise it happened because I was reading the story for the first time. At the moment, I’m not planning to reread it any time soon, but I know that when that day comes, I won’t love it as much as I did the first time.

Although my relationship with MPHFPC can’t be compared to my thoughts on the remaining books of the series. I read the other two books on the pressure to finish the series since I had started it. But in reality, when I finished MPHFPC I never felt the need to read Hollow City. I know the book was left on a cliffhanger (not the worst), but I was okay with that ending. And when you don’t feel the need to read the next book, don’t do it!

By the time I started reading this series, I was still inside the Booktube bubble. I had recently discovered it, and I was at the beginning of my reading journey, so it is very easy to get influenced by all the hype around it. Stupidly, I thought that once you start a series that you liked the first book, you have to read the rest. But despite my passion for MPHFPC I never felt the need to read Hollow City to know what happens next.

So then I read Hollow City… and I was so bored throughout. Only by the end things started to pick up and grab my attention, although I still don’t remember most of it. From the top of my head, I recall a Giant made of rock with a loop inside it; WW II in London; a frozen house; and the twist at the end. When I say that I remember these things I only know they exist, but everything that happens on each of those scenes, I don’t know anymore. And this goes to show that I wasn’t paying any attention to the story and all because I didn’t want to read it.

I still have stored in my drafts my review of Hollow City that I never got to publish because I didn’t have anything to say about it. I didn’t remember half of the book, I was constantly bored (I don’t even know how I managed to finish it), and if I was going to publish anything, I was going to make up something and probably not doing an honest review. Still gave it 3 stars that now I think I have to rectify and make it 2 stars.

As I read back what I wrote about Hollow City, I was very excited to pick up Library of Souls. The explosive finale was a big cliffhanger, and it made me want to buy the next book. But it was something momentarily. One year after buying it, I still had it on my shelf unread and without motivation to do it. Right on the first chapter, I had no idea what the book was talking about. I didn’t remember a thing about Hollow City’s explosive finale, and I was completely lost, but I kept on going. I read about 100 pages until I decided to DNF it. Although this year for the BookTube-A-Thon, I decided that it was going to be now or never. And you might think, if you don’t like a book or don’t want to read it, just don’t do it. I support that thought 100%, but I bought this book at full price, and I didn’t want to look at it on my shelf and be constantly reminded that I didn’t read it, that I didn’t know what happened with the peculiar.

Somehow I finish it! I skimmed a big chunk of it, and I didn’t start form the top – I had marked where I left off the first time. I’m not proud, but it was the best decision to tackle this book. When the story grabbed my attention, I would stop and get immersed in it, but when it was starting to get a little bored, I went back to skimming. I don’t care if this is called cheating, but it was the only way for me to finish the biggest book in the series. And now I feel a height was lifted off my shoulders. Since Library of Souls was the last book, it was also the one that takes on all my feeling on the series, so I gave it 2 stars.

And now, I can think back on the whole series and I realize what went wrong was me continuing reading more than MPHFPC. Basically, I was ok with just reading the first book. That was my only problem, I didn’t want to read the rest of the series, I never felt the need to. So I went to the other books in the wrong mood. I can’t say that Hollow City and Library of Souls are good or bad books because I don’t know. Since I never wanted to read them in the first place, my opinion on this series is stained with that mindset. I still stand by everything I say about MPHFPC, and I recommend it to everyone. It was creepy, mysterious, light, and unique as the photos are used to help tell the story. Although for the rest of the series that is entirely up to you. If you finish the first book and you feel the need to read the next one, then go for it I’m sure you are going to have a great time, but if you are like me and don’t feel the urge to pick up the next one, then don’t.

Since I’m still new at this thing of “reading”, I’m still learning about what I enjoy reading, how I enjoy reading series, and if I enjoy reading series. So I’m still in the process of learning more about my reading-self, and in the process, I’m going to make “mistakes”. And this series was one of them. With all this, I’ve learned that I don’t need to read an entire series just because I read the first one. I enjoy reading series, but I need to go book by book. And if I feel the need to read the next one then I need to read the next one, but if I don’t, it’s better to pretend the story ends there.