Mixed feelings on this one. It was not what I expected at all. From the cover to the eerie pictures, I really thought the story would be about a weird orphanage filled with equally weird children with fucked up stories, like what happened before they came to that home, their feelings and the events that happened now that they are all gathered in that one place. That was not the case at all. The book was about this boy who was intrigued by the stories that his grandfather had told him over the years, especially when he died, his last words were about "the island" and just finding the home and stay there until he's safe. everyone thought he went crazy because of the traumatic experience with the death of his grandfather.. And things happened... The dreams.... the daily reminders of what he'd seen and it just went on like that for awhile until he decided to finally try and do whatever it takes to know the truth about his grandfather's past. I won't be saying anything more because if I try to push it, I might just reach the ending because seriously, there's not much story in this. To me, the book reminded me of Alice in Wonderland meets Peter Pan and directed by Tim Burton. the elements of the book felt like something that kids should and should not be reading. It is not scary at all but does have an eerie quality to it and I think that Mr. Riggs' writing style was excellent, easy to read and detailed but I must admit that the book at some parts seemed a bit dragging and over done. I loved the pictures and how they helped create the world into the reader's imagination, very artistic and it was really a good idea to make a story about authentic peculiar pictures from various collectors. Obviously, I can't make up my mind about this one which is why I gave it 3 stars out of 5. I will be reading the next book (to be released next year 2014) , hopefully the story would stick in my mind because I don't think i'd be interested in re-reading this. I don't regret buying the physical copy though because I did enjoy the pictures and I loved the cover, so it was still worth it for me.
