3 stars!!! 
 So I picked up this book, mainly, because I wanted to read it before watching the movie. So I could compare and contrast. However, I am quite disappointed because I thought I was going to head into this fantastical world with all these children with abilities and what I got was a somewhat watered down version of it. I will go into this more in detail in just a minute. 
 Firstly, the story starts off with a boy named Jacob. He's a lad who is living a particularly ordinary yet mundane life. He has a close relationship with his grandfather. Suddenly, one day his grandfather is murdered by monsters. This leads him on a journey to a mysterious island where he discovers all the tales his grandfather told him about the peculiar children to be true. He also finds out that he has inherited his grandfather's ability to see these monsters. Thus, an "adventure" ensues. 
 Well, I do commend Ransom Riggs for his writing skills. The worldbuilding and details are quite immersive. He has the ability to weave quite a good yarn. However, the downfall of this book is the pacing and the overall character development. When the story starts, I was quite interested in Jacob but then he got boring. There's a lot of description and narration about things but not enough action. There were several times when I kept wondering when a chapter was going to finish but it just kept plodding on. I don't know whether this was done intentionally to create a setup for things, but it was majorly dull despite the wonderful writing. 
 With regards to the characters, I felt they were mostly characterized by their abilities like creatures in a freak show. We don't get their backstories or anything based on their individual personalities. It felt their purpose was only to interact with Jacob and carry the story forward. Nothing else. I also found the romance to be very contrived. I actually thought it could have been left out. I didn't see the point of pairing Emma with Jacob. Besides, the age gap was plain weird. It's not like she is a vampire that is stuck in an immortal age. Her age is going to catch up with her at some point. So essentially Jacob is in love with a Grandma :/ 
 I did, however, appreciate the illustrations. They did not lend a scary feel with the novel but more of a surreal weirdness. I was, honestly, expecting more I guess. All I can say, it felt like the story was more of a mystery with fantasy elements as opposed to a horror one. There was some action towards the end of the book but I feel more of such scenes interspersed throughout the novel would have helped in achieving a much needed adrenaline rush. Overall, I would say the book is average and good for a one time read. Hopefully, the sequel is better and I look forward to seeing how the story progresses.