So this is the second time I've read this novel in 2 years. The first time was when I was volunteering at the Library at my High School. The second time was over the last week - on and off.
This is a fantasy novel and I am really not sure what age group its aimed at; I would assume young adult as the main protagonist is a 15 year old boy who was told stories by his Grandfather of the childrens' home where his grandfather had stayed during the WW2 and homed a vast selection of peculiar children (such as the girl on the cover who can levitate), which ,until Jacob's Grandfather's suspicious death, he had believed to be untrue.
What was really interesting about this novel is the story is interspersed with vintage photographs which either "show" Rigg's characters or provide evidence for events mentioned in the story. It was actually quite enjoyable to be taken into a fantasy story based in the present day world and have some pictures to study along with the first person narrative. The photographs also add an eeriness to certain aspects of the story especially with the unsmiling portraits of some of the peculiar children.
I would recommend people go out and buy this as it really is an original novel. I have not come across many books that include photos of this nature and captivate the reader instead of boring them. I also enjoyed the story progression as I felt it is not unbearably slow or confusingly fast but just right.
However I felt the events leading up to the ending went a bit too fast; by that I mean that the climax and conclusion were very close together yet I don't think it destroys the overall feeling of the book. So in my opinion I would give it a 8/10 as it is original in its format but I did not feel like I want to keep reading it over and over again unlike other books such as previous recommendations.
Anyways more reviews (both film and book) should be up soon: probably A Private Place by Amanda Craig.
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