All photos in the books are found
Riggs clarifies that he does not stage or shoot any photographs himself. Every image is an authentic vintage snapshot discovered at flea markets or sourced from fellow photo collectors.
Ransom Riggs
American
Born 1979
Ransom Riggs is an American writer and filmmaker best known for the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed 2 of Ransom Riggs's books, including Hollow City and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
2
Books ReviewedIn Ransom Riggs' own words
Ransom Riggs discusses incorporating vintage photographs into his novels during an interview at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
Uploaded by Detroit PBS, 2015 · Watch on YouTube ·
The untapped boundaries of plain text
Riggs is skeptical about multimedia gimmicks like moving images in future books, arguing that writers have barely pushed the limits of what can be accomplished at a sentence level in traditional prose.
Sharing a workspace with author Tahereh Mafi
Riggs describes working in the same room with his wife, author Tahereh Mafi, using noise-canceling headphones to respect each other's focus. He notes they act as each other's first readers without any sense of competition.
Eerie serendipity of the film adaptation
Riggs notes that before any film deal existed, he cut the novel's promotional trailer to music from Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands score. Years later, Tim Burton ended up directing the movie adaptation, with Elfman composing the score.
Also in this interview
On Hollow City
Ransom Riggs books in order
14 books, 1 series; 2 reviewed on LuvemBooks. Dates and covers from Amazon.
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children3 books
Standalones and other books
2009The Sherlock Holmes HandbookAmazon ↗
2011Our review →
2012Talking PicturesAmazon ↗
2014Our review →
2015Library of SoulsAmazon ↗
2016Tales of the PeculiarAmazon ↗
2019Mapat ha-YamimAmazon ↗
2021NEW SET! Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Complete Series - Hardcover VersionAmazon ↗
2022Miss Peregrine's Museum of WondersAmazon ↗
2024Sunderworld, Vol. IAmazon ↗
2026Sunderworld, Vol. 2Amazon ↗
Hollow City
4.6/5
reader rating · 344 ratingsThe graphic novel adaptation of Hollow City, illustrated by Cassandra Jean and published by Yen Press in 2016, brings Ransom Riggs's dark fantasy sequel to visual life — following Jacob Portman and his peculiar friends on a desperate flight from hollowgasts and wights toward WWII-era London, with Miss Peregrine's humanity hanging in the balance. The original novel debuted on the New York Times bestseller list, and the graphic novel format offers a distinct entry point into a sequel praised for its suspense-building and world-expanding storytelling.
Reviewed Jun 9, 2026
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
4.3/5
reader rating · 37,937 ratingsRansom Riggs' 2011 debut novel blends found vintage photography with young adult contemporary fantasy to tell the story of Jacob Portman, a teenager drawn to a mysterious Welsh island after his grandfather's cryptic dying words — a structurally original premise that earned the book a place on the New York Times bestseller list and launched a six-book series.
Reviewed Feb 24, 2026
Ask LuvemBooks about Ransom Riggs
Ransom Riggs has two Young Adult novels reviewed on LuvemBooks, both part of his Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series. His most distinctive technique is building narrative around real vintage photographs, using found imagery to anchor the supernatural elements of his stories in an unsettling, tactile reality. Hollow City, the series' second installment, carries an Amazon reader rating of 4.6/5 from 340 ratings, suggesting the series holds its audience well.
- Where should I start?
- Start with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, the first book in the series and the natural entry point into Riggs' world. It introduces the core characters, the time-loop mythology, and the found-photograph storytelling technique that defines the series. Beginning here gives you the full context you need before moving on to Hollow City.
- What's their writing style?
- Riggs constructs his novels around real found vintage photographs, using them not as illustrations but as narrative prompts that shape the story's supernatural logic and imagery. The result is a blend of gothic atmosphere and adventure plotting, told from a first-person teenage perspective. His prose tends toward accessible and propulsive storytelling while leaning heavily on visual strangeness to create unease.
- Books we've reviewed
- LuvemBooks has reviewed two books by Ransom Riggs. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is the series opener that introduces Jacob Portman and the time-looped world of peculiar children, built around real found vintage photographs. Hollow City is the direct sequel, continuing the story as the children flee their home loop — it carries an Amazon reader rating of 4.6/5 from 340 ratings.
- How do the two books compare?
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is more atmospheric and deliberately paced, spending considerable time establishing the world and its rules through the found-photograph device. Hollow City shifts into a more urgent, on-the-run adventure structure as the children leave the safety of their loop, maintaining the gothic visual style while raising the narrative stakes. Both are Young Adult novels, but Hollow City assumes familiarity with the first book's world-building.
- Why is Miss Peregrine's trending?
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is currently trending on LuvemBooks in connection with its screen adaptation. The 2016 film directed by Tim Burton brought significant attention to the source novel, and adaptation-related interest continues to drive readers toward the book.
- Are any books being adapted?
- Yes — Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was adapted into a feature film in 2016, directed by Tim Burton and starring Eva Green as Miss Peregrine. The adaptation brought the novel's peculiar children and time-loop mythology to a wide theatrical audience, though it made several changes to the source material.
- What genre do they write?
- Ransom Riggs writes Young Adult fiction with strong elements of dark fantasy, gothic atmosphere, and supernatural adventure. His reviewed works both fall squarely in YA, featuring teenage protagonists navigating a hidden world of children with extraordinary abilities. The series is not straightforward fantasy — the found-photograph device and eerie visual aesthetic give it a distinctly unusual quality within the genre.
- What should I read after Miss Peregrine's?
- The immediate next step is Hollow City, the direct sequel that picks up right where Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ends. It carries an Amazon reader rating of 4.6/5 from 340 ratings, suggesting the series sustains its readership well into the second book. From there, the series continues with further installments not yet reviewed on LuvemBooks.
Who is Ransom Riggs?
Where should I start?
What's their writing style?
Books we've reviewed
How do the two books compare?
Why is Miss Peregrine's trending?
Are any books being adapted?
What genre do they write?
What should I read after Miss Peregrine's?
Who is Ransom Riggs?
Ransom Riggs is an American writer and filmmaker best known for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, a Young Adult novel that launched a popular series blending supernatural fiction with real vintage photography. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was later adapted into a 2016 film directed by Tim Burton. Riggs is also known for his work as a filmmaker and his connection to the storytelling community Alchemy.
Follow up
What is he best known for writing?
Has he written anything outside the Peculiar Children series?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
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