“Deep in the green-glowing bowels of a Chinatown seafood market, down a dead-end hallway lined with crab tanks, we crouched in a puddle of dark the light-eater had made, watched over by a thousand alien eyes.”

From Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children: The Conference of the Birds.

Jacob has risked everything to help Noor, an untrained Peculiar, escape from the dangerous clan leader that was holding her captive.  When safely back in Devil’s Acre with Jacob’s friends, armed with only a paraphrased prophecy, a corner of a map, and instructions to get Noor to a woman named V, Jacob has to find a way to help the new Peculiar while not launching the world into war.  While Miss Peregrine travels to negotiate peace in America, everyone else stays to help Noor settle in.  However, when several wights escape from prison and out of the loop, Jacob and his friends are only able to search for secrets of Noor’s past and clues to an ancient prophecy that mentions her.  However, when the Peculiars are able to travel out of their loop again, they receive an urgent message from Miss Peregrine asking for Jacob’s immediate help, so Jacob heads off to America.  A Peculiar kidnapping has set two of the American clans on the brink of war, but Miss Peregrine believes it to be the work of the escape wights, so she asks Jacob to search for evidence to bring back peace.  While following the wights’ trail, Jacob realize that Fiona, a friend they had long assumed dead, is alive and being used by the escaped wights.  When they return to Devil’s Acre with their discovery, Jacob and Miss Peregrine quickly discover that the evil Caul instructed his wight followers to gather special artifacts to help him escape his collapsed loop prison.  With no other options, Miss Peregrine and the children rush off to capture the items before the wights can release Caul.

The fifth book in Riggs’ fantasy series is fast-paced and captivating. The vintage pictures are, as always, the story’s driving force, creating a vividly unique adventure. Conference of the Birds is a must-read for fans of the series that sets up perfectly for the next installment in the series.