A Map of Days ~ Ransom Riggs

I honestly thought Ransom Riggs had ended the Miss Peregrine’s series with Library of Souls. To find out there was a fourth novel was a nice surprise. It has been a little while since I read the first three books so some of the details were a little hazy but didn’t take away from the experience of the book. 

A Map of Days takes place immediately after the end of Library of Souls with Miss Peregrine and her peculiar wards recently arrived in present-day Florida. Jacob and his friends discover a mysterious bunker that holds clues about Jacob’s grandfather’s life as a peculiar operative. The revelations lead them to the dangerous reality of American Peculiardom. 

At just shy of five hundred pages the book doesn’t feel long and is broken up wonderfully by the photos. The photos were not the same as the first three books as some were in colour. I really liked the different pictures it added something a little new. The dispersal of the photos was not as even as the previous books. The second half of the book had more pictures than the first half. 

I enjoyed the book and thought the characters were developed well. After the events of the first three books, Miss Peregrine’s wards feel suffocated by her supervision. They decide to strike out and find their own way to help other peculiars. After being in their time loop in 1940s Wales for so long, teenage rebellion seemed like a right of passage for them actually growing up. 

This novel also begins to explore the intricacies in Peculiardom and the difference between American Peculiardom and European Peculiardom. As we followed Jacob’s introduction to Peculiardom, we got a crash course on what everything was and the only information we got was what was needed to explain the things that happened at that moment. It was nice to see another side of this world that wasn’t so idyllic.

I was a little disappointed with how little the characters we have come to love used their peculiarities. After the ending of Library of Souls, I did wonder how Jacob would use his peculiarity against the hollowgasts if there were none left. He hardly used his peculiarity at all and other characters didn’t use theirs very often either. The only character who used his peculiarity the most was Millard, the invisible boy. 

On a completely different note that has absolutely nothing to do with the story; as someone who reads in bed a lot, this book was heavy enough that it was quite uncomfortable to hold up for extended periods of time.

Overall, I did really enjoy the story and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. For me, A Map of Days is a four-star read. 

C🌙