Still reeling from the shock of her childhood hero being alive and well, Captain Wendy Darling is appointed the mission of a lifetime: find the lost crew of the Jolly Roger and bring them home. But on the ageless planet, time is finally running out, and Wendy must decide who to trust–the legendary captain, or his mysterious mechanic, Pan– before darkness consumes them all.
Second Star
By jmsullivan
Peter Pan…in space. Need I say more? While it’s true that I fell for the wrong ship (yes, I lobbied for a novella for him instead) I adore Captain Wendy Darling’s take-charge attitude. The girl has a goal and nothing is going to stop her…mostly—there’s that pesky thing about a boy who has been lost on a foreign planet and hasn’t aged in a ridiculous number of years along with her hero, Caption James Hooke. With her two best friends (a.k.a “brothers”) by her side, and a crew fit for awesomeness, Wendy takes on her first mission—to save Captain Hooke when a transmission finally makes it’s way through to them for help, long after he should have perished. Between a robotic Tinc, fantastically helpful lost boys, horrific mermaids, terrifying natives, and a lot of mistrust…this is one epic twist on classic Peter Pan that you won’t soon forget.
I loved this take on a Peter Pan. I found that I wanted to keep reading it page after page. The world building is different than the traditional story but in a very good way. I’ll definitely continue to read this series
This was an enjoyable and creative retelling of Peter Pan! It reminded me a bit of Cinder, in that it was a sci fi version of the well-known classic. Peter is a mechanic on a space ship called the Jolly Roger, captained by James Hooke. The “Lost Boys” are kids who became his indentured servants. Tinc is a nanobot Peter programmed himself. Wendy, meanwhile, is a captain in a fleet sent to rescue the vanished Jolly Roger and Captain Hooke, and her “brothers” are two of her fellow crew members and best friends, Johns and Michaels. This by itself was so clever that I was quickly hooked.
A few things I’d have changed, though: there was a lot of exposition. Peter and Wendy (and their respective crews) don’t even meet until about halfway through the book, and the stories lagged a bit until then. When they do finally meet, at first the chemistry between them is amazing, but it quickly became too much. I could have done without about 2/3 of the blushing and heart skipping and longing gazes. I did like the fact that it was mutual, though: in the original Peter Pan, Wendy fell for him (though they were both clearly kids) and Peter seemed to feel the same but he was unaware of his own feelings. Then, toward the very end, there’s a curveball love triangle all of a sudden that wasn’t set up at ALL and seemed very out of character.
Those complaints could have been fixed with one more pass of editing, really. They took me out of the story a bit, but did not keep me from enjoying it overall. I’d definitely recommend!
My rating: ****
Violence: none
Language: none (Peter says “shyte,” which I find endearing).
Sexual content: none (unless you count one sappy make-out scene)
Political content: none
A charming retelling of the J.M. Barrie classic. I quite enjoyed the sci-fi take, though I did find the portrayal of the Stjarnin to be a bit regressive.
This is a really fun, original take on the Peter Pan story.
I really liked the way the story intertwined with the old tale of Peter Pan with a sci-fi bend. It was a good read!
This was a super fun twisted Peter Pan retelling that I really enjoyed! Highly recommend for anyone who loves a twist on a classic story.
Solid reworking of the Peter pan tale with Wendy in the ascendant. Detailed characters you root for. Just lovely storytelling.
A great new spin on a favorite classic!
For fans of both Sci Fi & retellings this is the perfect book for you. Sullivan brings in some epic world building and an onslaught of some familiar characters while making them wholly her own.
A brilliant book that highlights a girl’s strength and ability to command and lead.