The second book in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series is fast-paced, action-packed, and full of adventure – perhaps even more so than the first book! I think this second book was a bit darker than the first one. It shows a glimpse of wartime London in the 1940s, which was terrifying and honestly tragic. As with the first book, the characters continue to be well-written and interesting. Relationships continue to develop and we see some more sides to characters that we hadn’t seen before.
The one thing that really bugged me about this book, however, was the use of the term ‘gypsies’. It seems that very few people in the US know this is a slur, but it is (if you would like more information, do a quick google search on the Romani or Roma people), and I’m honestly a little horrified that this got through all the gate-keeping of traditional publishing and they still allowed this to go uncorrected. It would be one thing if a character used a slur – but this is a part of the narrative and it’s just used like any other way to describe a group of people.
Overlooking that one thing…the plot and the development of the series was great, and I’m really eager to read the next one! – Anne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed the second book in this series even better than the first one! We learn a lot more about the characters, peculiardom, and growing conflicts in this book and there is some really well done foreshadowing throughout.
I’m really fascinated by Jacob’s character development in particular and I’m really eager to see where the next book will take this.
There is a good amount of action in Hollow City, especially in the final chapters, which I really like. It kept me turning pages up until the very end.
I’m normally not immediately drawn to read works which take place in the mid-20th century, but I feel like that has been gradually relaxing for me in recent years. I’m actually becoming sort of interested in the 1920s through the 1940s now – must be my classic cocktail recipe influence talking there! Hah!
There is a repeated mention of a slur throughout this book, namely ‘gypsies’, which bothers me – especially because I don’t think it’s on the radar enough. I only recently learned about this being a slur, but I think it’s really important to be more aware and respectful about this. It does matter to readers.
All in all, I enjoy books that feature the worlds of the mundane and fantastic colliding, so this series has not disappointed me thus far. – Jake ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read all of our reviews for the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children Series here:
99% Dark 
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