The Conference of the Birds by Ransom Riggs

Phew! We are back to normal. I am very relieved that the Jacob-Emma romance is put to bed; it was just so awkward in the last book.

Now back to our regularly scheduled peculiarity. The prophecy is kicking into high gear, and like every book that has a prophecy story line, they are misinterpreting it. Tons of cliche plot points going on here, but it is well done enough to make an interesting story.

The kerfuffle of hunting down the escaped convicts amidst the impending doom of the prophecy keeps the story moving at a nice pace, and it almost seems to leave no room for the teenage heart pangs. (Another sigh of relief). 

We continue to experience the isolated American loops, but this time without the overpowering attempt at a love story. I'm glad with this novel we got to experience more the peculiarities and less of the teenage angst. Riggs is not a romance writer and really should quit trying to throw it in these books. He is an excellent oddities writer. The whole New York loop similar to Enoch is so brilliantly peculiar. 

And since the old time photos are such a big part to these books, I feel I should mention that they are starting to lose some luster. There were still pictures that clearly inspired some very unique characters, but then there were just plain photographs. Sure, they're old, but they weren't peculiar. Is Riggs now being forced to include photos submitted to him?