Review - Peter and the Starcatchers

It's no secret that Peter Pan is one of my favorite children's stories, Disney movies, etc. I've sometimes been told I suffer from Peter Pan syndrome and while I don't know all the ins and outs of what that means, but I definitely have plenty of immature tendencies and am willing to revel in the joys of childhood more than your average stuffy adult. Anyway, when I heard about Peter and the Starcatchers, I was stoked.

This book (the start of a series) is a re-imagining of the Peter Pan story. This book is the story of how Peter became the Peter Pan that we know….how he (and others) got to Neverland. Where the magic came from. How he and Captain Hook became rivals. Basically a new beginning of a new and fresh telling of the Peter Pan adventures.

I had encouraged my two boys to read the book at the same time as me so we could talk about it. Unfortunately, the book starts out a bit slower than they were in the mood for and they both gave up about 40 pages in. Now that I've finished the book, I have encouraged them to push through…letting them know that they are nearly to the point of exciting adventure that goes on nearly non-stop through the end of the book.

The opening few chapters have a lot of character and plot development that is very interesting and creative and even a bit suspenseful, but not very action packed or exciting right away. Granted, as compared to the original Peter Pan story, the opening here is probably more enticing to young readers. :-)

I really had a lot of fun seeing Peter grow into the Peter Pan I know and love. I also loved the way the pirates were portrayed (particularly the Captain)…they were much more violent and repulsive than sometimes portrayed. This made them feel more realistic (and more frightening and threatening).

I thought that the way Peter was transitioned into being Peter Pan was handled very smoothly and made for a natural and fun presentation. It also answered a few of the somewhat ambiguous questions from the general Peter Pan mythos.

The writing style was a lot of fun…dark and creepy at times, witty and humorous at others. For the sake of younger readers (and their 21st century short attention span), it might have been better to have one exciting action scene closer to the beginning. But as an adult reader and one who grew up with slower paced children's stories, I found it perfectly acceptable and I hope I can get my boys to give it a second chance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to diving deeper into the series to find out what happens next.



4 out of 5 stars

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