With the sixth and final novel in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series The Desolations of Devil’s Acre hitting shelves, we’ve created a beginner’s guide to this one-of-a-kind series to help you catch up for the finale!

Also, can we TALK ABOUT THE COVER?

Alright, let’s dive in!

What is the order of the books?

It’s best to read them in this order!

1. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
2. Hollow City
3. Library of Souls
4. A Map of Days
5. The Conference of the Birds
6. The Desolations of Devil’s Acre

What’s the set up?

16-year-old Jacob Portman grew up hearing his grandfather Abe’s stories about monsters and people with strange and amazing powers. Jacob assumed that these were just tall tales, until his grandfather is killed and Jacob sees someone or something that he can’t explain.

Haunted by Abe’s dying words, Jacob follows a set of cryptic clues to a remote island in Wales and to the orphanage where Abe spent part of his youth in the 1940’s.

The orphanage is a ruin, but, oddly, it is not empty. Jacob meets a group of children living there who claim to have known Abe as a boy.

Abe lived to be an old man but these children are still, well, children. How is this possible?

Without realizing it, Jacob has stumbled into the world of the peculiars.

Okay…so what is a “peculiar”?

Peculiars, or “Syndrigasts”, are individuals born with remarkable, sometimes terrifying, abilities. Maybe they can levitate, maybe they can control fire, maybe they can raise the dead.

These amazing powers have a way of drawing unwanted attention and peculiars have been feared and persecuted throughout history.

Why haven’t the peculiars aged? WHAT IS LOOP DAY?

For their own protection, peculiars typically live apart from the rest of society and more importantly they live outside of time.

There are hidden places around the world known as “time loops”. Within one of these loops, time resets each day. A peculiar living within a loop experiences the same day over and over, but they retain their memories with each reset. And living within a loop, a peculiar barely ages at all.

Loops are a safe haven for peculiars and they are carefully controlled and maintained by a special group of peculiars called Ymbrynes, aka female peculiars who can manipulate time and can take the form of a specific bird.

And what is the ever-so-famous day our fav peculiars are looped in? September 3rd. LOOP DAY!

Say what now?

Ymbrynes (pronounced IM-brins) can manipulate time fields and create temporal loops. All Ymbrynes are female, able take the form of birds, and they seek out young peculiars in need of protection and care.

The Ymbryne who cares for Jacob’s new friends and oversees their loop is a particularly gifted Ymbryne known as Miss Peregrine. We love Miss Peregrine.

Got it! The peculiars have super powers, they barely age, and they live safely within their loops. Sounds fun!

Well…actually there are these monsters called Hollowgasts that want to kill and eat the peculiars.

See, a while back a group of peculiars seeking eternal life tampered with a loop and they were transformed into horrible creatures. They now hunt other peculiars and, except for their shadows, Hollowgasts are completely invisible.

If a Hollowgast eats enough peculiars, they transform into a Wight. Wights have no peculiar abilities and serve as scouts for the Hallowgasts. Wights can almost pass for humans, except that their eyes have no pupils.

Hollowgasts and Wights know that peculiars live together in loops and that makes them easy prey.

This sounds dangerous. Maybe the peculiars should just leave their loop and take their chances in the human world?

Nice try! But no. When Peculiars step outside of a loop, they begin to age forward at an accelerated rate. The longer they have spent in a loop, the more aggressive the aging. Jacob’s new friends have been in their loop since 1940, so leaving is not an option.

What are they supposed to do?!?

Well, Grandpa Abe knew that the Peculiars were in danger and led Jacob there to help them.

Abe knew that his grandson was unique. He knew that Jacob was, oh what’s the right word here…peculiar?

Okay, that’s all you’re getting out of us!

Order your copy of The Desolations of Devil’s Acre here! 

Are you ready for the finale? These series are ending in 2021!