Review: Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
Well, to be frank, I've finished the book 5 days ago and I need to clarify that I have not been procrastinating to post a book review as there is something wrong with my Google Chrome browser; it can't seem to load the wix website editor so here I am, using Safari browser for the first time.
Get straight to the point! First of all, I can't help thinking the relationship between Jacob Portman (J) and Emma (Em), the ex-girlfriend of J's grandfather (Abe), as a couple, is weird. WHY? Simple. Jacob is 16 or 17-ish? Em? She has been living for closing to a century. She is literally a grandmother!!! It's like, J is dating an old lady who refuses to grow old mentally (not like she can, physically). It really is kinda bizarre that after living for so many years (here, I am talking about 80 years), Em still remain the same, having the thinking of a teenager. I mean, is it even possible?!?!?! *******insert horror face*********
Anyway, if you have read the book, please, do me a favour, explain to me, how did Jacob fall into the hollow's cave and manage to, suddenly, control 11 hollows at once when before that, he had difficulties controlling one?! Send me an email about it if you know! amandaleiaooi@hotmail.com (thank you in advance). I have been reading the relevant passages over and over again but I just can't seem to comprehend. How did he suddenly become so powerful?
At the beginning, I wanted to rate this book a 4 out of 5 because I think I really did like the book. As it turns out, I tried too hard liking the book. I will have to admit that, sometimes, I am rather annoyed by the way Ransom Riggs wrote. The writing is really dull. The story is long and the book is thick. For this thickness, I do really expect a lot about the characters. Unfortunately, like the two previous books, the characters don't really have any significant characteristics. Instead, I think they are just "tools" for RR to continue the story. They are pretty flat, though. :/
Moreover, 420+ pages on rescuing the peculiars seem to be too long. Honestly, the trilogy can simply fit into a 300 - 400 pages book. It is well understood that plot twists are interesting, surprising and capturing but when there are too many of them, they start to lose their purposes and moved away from the plot. That's quite disappointing, though. :/
On a site note, sorry to say that, but I no longer enjoy seeing the vintage photos because I think, they are irrelevant to the plot most of the time and RR tried too hard on utilizing the photos by simply adding the persons in the photos into the plot. If he sticks to the original story, I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad.
Towards the end, I started to like the story again, especially its ending, because it's PERFECT. It is oddly satisfying (why "oddly"? Read and you'll know). I predicted that it would be a sad ending but boy! I WAS WRONG!
To tell you the truth, I've spent quite some time in reading this book till the end of it. I think, it's because I read the first two books last year and it was quite difficult for me to get into the plot at first. But once I was 'hooked', I kinda did enjoy it! Overall, it is definitely a good comeback after the release of Hollow City! Personally, I do still think that the first book is the best!
Rating: ★★★/★★★★★
