Reading Journal 2023: The Desolations of Devil’s Acre

Reading Journal 2023: The Desolations of Devil’s Acre
Author: Ransom Riggs

This final book in the beloved series, and one I was finally able to check off after numerous efforts to pick up and finish (not due to the book, but due to getting distracted by other novels), ends the now sprawling tale in what arguably could be said the only way it rightly could; by bringing us back full circle to where we started. If the individual books reflect different levels of good to great, The Desolution of Devil’s Acre demonstrates that the strength is in the whole. It was sad to see my time with these characters and in this world go, but satisfying to see Riggs committed to bringing resolution to every plot line and character that the series has encountered on the journey.

The previous books were noted for their abililty to take the contained stories of the early entries and use that to break the world wide open. In Desolution the stakes are at their hightest, but things are also dialed back down into the central characters whom form (and inform) the story’s heart- Jacob, Noor. Hollowgasts, Caul and Miss Perigrine. The book strikes a comparitively intimate tone in this regard, but one that acts as the stepping stone into the larger world of Peculiars. Because as has been made clear, they are who they are together. The arc of these individuals is largely attached to the community; Devils’ Acre if you will.

Riggs stays commited to the central plot device, the real world pictures taken by anonymous photographers which inspire and create the different plot turns in each book. By now it is second nature and so ingrained in the process that it is easy to simply read these photos naturally into the story without being distracted by it. One of the effects this has is it shapes our imagination of who these characters are, as these are flesh and blood images that define who these characters look like within the story. It also tends to take a fantastical story and ground it in that flesh and blood imagery, although even the grounded and real world images require an interpretive lens, which is part of the device that Riggs uses to push the boundaries of what we see and read. This is what sets this series apart from other YA series, and there is little doubt this is a huge part of its charm and effectiveness, even this many books in.

Of course, it should go without saying that if you’ve made it this far in the series you are bound to needing to finish it, and rightly so. Rest assured if you are like me and dragging your feet unecessarily despite an eagerness to return to this world one last time, I think this ending will leave you satisfied. If you have yet to read even a single book in the series, I will say that uncertainty in the early going (I was on the fence with the first two books) proves worth the investment as the series goes on. It only gets better as it goes.