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e_d_ivey's review
4.0
It was surprisingly sad, and a little disappointing at the end, but still beautiful.
merlin_reads's review
3.0
Peter Pan is one of my favorite Disney movies. I mean, I have a Peter Pan tattoo, so I'm not lying when I say I love it. A YA book that's a Peter Pan retelling? Sign me up!
Sheinmel has an interesting way of presenting these characters. Wendy is a girl looking for her missing brothers, John and Michael. Peter is a surfer boy she meets on her search. He lives with a bunch of runaway “lost” boys including one girl named Belle. Hook in this scenario is a drug dealer named Jas who pedals “star dust”. While these weren’t the characters you remembered, there were key elements that reminded you this was a retelling.
Somewhere along the way, the story fell flat for me. Peter was all over the place, Wendy seemed to just drag her feet around, there was no tangible connection between Wendy and Peter, and I just wanted him gone. I was more drawn to the Jas character. As the story’s “villain”, I felt Jas had a more interesting background. He was a mystery and I could see why Wendy was attracted to him. It was a little weird to have a love triangle in this setting of the story, but that could just be my attachment to the Disney movie. It also seemed out of place. This was a story I felt was more about Wendy’s journey to find her brothers, not which guy she would ultimately choose.
The ending was a bit of a disappointment for me, to be honest. It didn’t seem to flow correctly with the set up the author had already lain out. I was left in confusion almost as much as the characters over what had transpired. In the end, I wanted more. The writing was intriguing and the ideas original, it was just the execution that left me looking for a way out.
If only Peter…
Sheinmel has an interesting way of presenting these characters. Wendy is a girl looking for her missing brothers, John and Michael. Peter is a surfer boy she meets on her search. He lives with a bunch of runaway “lost” boys including one girl named Belle. Hook in this scenario is a drug dealer named Jas who pedals “star dust”. While these weren’t the characters you remembered, there were key elements that reminded you this was a retelling.
Somewhere along the way, the story fell flat for me. Peter was all over the place, Wendy seemed to just drag her feet around, there was no tangible connection between Wendy and Peter, and I just wanted him gone. I was more drawn to the Jas character. As the story’s “villain”, I felt Jas had a more interesting background. He was a mystery and I could see why Wendy was attracted to him. It was a little weird to have a love triangle in this setting of the story, but that could just be my attachment to the Disney movie. It also seemed out of place. This was a story I felt was more about Wendy’s journey to find her brothers, not which guy she would ultimately choose.
The ending was a bit of a disappointment for me, to be honest. It didn’t seem to flow correctly with the set up the author had already lain out. I was left in confusion almost as much as the characters over what had transpired. In the end, I wanted more. The writing was intriguing and the ideas original, it was just the execution that left me looking for a way out.
If only Peter…
13_michelle's review against another edition
2.0
The predominant problem that plagues Second Star is simple: the story lacks substance. Most if not all of the other issues that one might have with this book, I think, stem from its shallow treatment. I adamantly dislike love triangles, but here the concept is something like a riptide: it has curious potential that pulls and pulls. Shortly after wading into the book, that potential, with nothing there to support it, quickly lets go. What's left in its wake are several dull, please-be-kidding-me plot devices.
Everything--the need that compelled Wendy to search for her missing brothers; the animosity that should have felt like a splintered wall between Peter and Jas*; Belle's jealousy; why Peter was so certain his runaways should stay with him in the house on the cliff above the beach--was either skimmed over or completely, woefully unexplored. Sure, the story takes place in and around the water, but reading this book, as thirsty as I was for any flavor of emotion, some sign of life, I might have been stranded in the middle of a desert.
I wanted Second Star to be a rich retelling, one that delved further into these familiar characters and their complicated relationships; one that carved out of California a Neverland-shaped space that hummed with palpable danger and bite-back magic. Unfortunately, for me, it delivered nothing of the kind.
(*I do wonder why Sheinmel went with Jas for Hook. [POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD] Hook, as a moniker, wouldn't have fit here for obvious reasons--and there's something else to wonder at: Why strip away such an integral part of the character? Especially when it could so easily be explained by, say, a surfing accident (perhaps one Jas held Peter responsible for). I suppose that bit of bafflement has to be chalked up to 1) trying, needlessly in my opinion, to deviate from the original, and 2) another instance of underdeveloped characterization.)
Everything--the need that compelled Wendy to search for her missing brothers; the animosity that should have felt like a splintered wall between Peter and Jas*; Belle's jealousy; why Peter was so certain his runaways should stay with him in the house on the cliff above the beach--was either skimmed over or completely, woefully unexplored. Sure, the story takes place in and around the water, but reading this book, as thirsty as I was for any flavor of emotion, some sign of life, I might have been stranded in the middle of a desert.
I wanted Second Star to be a rich retelling, one that delved further into these familiar characters and their complicated relationships; one that carved out of California a Neverland-shaped space that hummed with palpable danger and bite-back magic. Unfortunately, for me, it delivered nothing of the kind.
(*I do wonder why Sheinmel went with Jas for Hook. [POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD] Hook, as a moniker, wouldn't have fit here for obvious reasons--and there's something else to wonder at: Why strip away such an integral part of the character? Especially when it could so easily be explained by, say, a surfing accident (perhaps one Jas held Peter responsible for). I suppose that bit of bafflement has to be chalked up to 1) trying, needlessly in my opinion, to deviate from the original, and 2) another instance of underdeveloped characterization.)
readingundertheradar's review
Since I read an e-version of this, I didn't get to fully appreciate how pretty the cover is. I am loving the lens flares and color combos on this cover, especially since it kind of puts everything in a foggy, disbelieving sort of light. It seems like a magical place.
But that's where my excitement ended. I kind of forgot this was a Peter Pan retelling until it was PAINFULLY obvious. I wanted this to be more like Sara Benincasa's "Great," where you couldn't really tell until big things happened, and then you were thinking, "Oh! Yes! This is spectuacular!" This one, instead, was painstakingly annoying with its obvious ties to Peter Pan. Everyone had the same names except Jas, who seemed to be a new character just stuck in there (the best one, in my opinion, but I'll get to that later). There were a few other people at the beginning like Fiona, Wendy's best friend, that I thought were the most interesting and could have made the story so much better, but it was too stuck on the Peter Pan storyline to give attention to things that weren't tie-ins.
There just did not seem to be a lot happening in the book, and I felt like at 75% I should be in the thick of the novel and on edge, but it still felt like Wendy was stuck in the same cycle and wasn't going anywhere for a while.
Read When: Skip this one unless you're REALLY into Peter Pan. But even then, I'd recommend Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson instead.
Head to my blog for more thoughts on this! http://www.happybookloversblog.com
But that's where my excitement ended. I kind of forgot this was a Peter Pan retelling until it was PAINFULLY obvious. I wanted this to be more like Sara Benincasa's "Great," where you couldn't really tell until big things happened, and then you were thinking, "Oh! Yes! This is spectuacular!" This one, instead, was painstakingly annoying with its obvious ties to Peter Pan. Everyone had the same names except Jas, who seemed to be a new character just stuck in there (the best one, in my opinion, but I'll get to that later). There were a few other people at the beginning like Fiona, Wendy's best friend, that I thought were the most interesting and could have made the story so much better, but it was too stuck on the Peter Pan storyline to give attention to things that weren't tie-ins.
There just did not seem to be a lot happening in the book, and I felt like at 75% I should be in the thick of the novel and on edge, but it still felt like Wendy was stuck in the same cycle and wasn't going anywhere for a while.
Read When: Skip this one unless you're REALLY into Peter Pan. But even then, I'd recommend Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson instead.
Head to my blog for more thoughts on this! http://www.happybookloversblog.com
moonchild720's review
3.0
I love fairy tale retellings so much. They are some of my favorite stories to read. I was very intrigued and excited about this one. I guess it just wasn't what i was expecting. I don't know the real story of Peter Pan, just Disney's version. Maybe that's why I was disappointed. I didn't like how everyone kept trying to convince the main character that she was crazy. At some points it kind of made me feel like I was crazy. If everything was made up that Wendy said, where the heck did she disappear to all those times. I enjoyed the story I just didn't like this particular interpretation of it. I also wasn't a fan of the ending. It was enjoyable but not how I would have chosen to do it.
kathhh's review against another edition
3.0
Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood characters so I decided to read this retelling. Thus, my expectations for this book are a little high.
Okay. So.. This is a not-so-okay book for me. First, because the events (and maybe the story too) are actually quite disappointing. Then, the story left off with an open ending and a little confusing. Sooooo.. Ms. Sheinmel, you may have let me down but please, if there is a second book, please announce it or something. I would def read the next one to know what will happen to Wendy and the other characters. :)
Okay. So.. This is a not-so-okay book for me. First, because the events (and maybe the story too) are actually quite disappointing. Then, the story left off with an open ending and a little confusing. Sooooo.. Ms. Sheinmel, you may have let me down but please, if there is a second book, please announce it or something. I would def read the next one to know what will happen to Wendy and the other characters. :)
jenbsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This is being billed as a "Peter Pan" retelling. And it is. It was interesting to hear the familiar names woven in. I did wonder that John and Michael were twins. There was no real reason they couldn't have been a couple years apart, more true to the traditional (and by "traditional" a do mean the Disney movie and/or the play. I have not read the original.)
But even more than this being a Peter Pan tale, this was a SURFING story. Surfing, surfing and more surfing. I'm not into surfing, so this was a little too much surfing for me. Just something so central to the story, so many descriptions ... something I'm not really interested in.
But overall ... the flow of the story and the Peter Pan elements were interesting and enjoyable. I liked it ok, but I felt like I was pushing myself to finish, it just wasn't really holding my attention, making me want to turn the next page to find out what would happen ... I just wanted to finish.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing the book for review.
But even more than this being a Peter Pan tale, this was a SURFING story. Surfing, surfing and more surfing. I'm not into surfing, so this was a little too much surfing for me. Just something so central to the story, so many descriptions ... something I'm not really interested in.
But overall ... the flow of the story and the Peter Pan elements were interesting and enjoyable. I liked it ok, but I felt like I was pushing myself to finish, it just wasn't really holding my attention, making me want to turn the next page to find out what would happen ... I just wanted to finish.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing the book for review.
pagesplotsandpints's review against another edition
2.0
First Impressions 3/9/14:Struggling with this rating... 2.5 stars I think? I guess I'll round down to two for GR purposes?
Second Star was not as magical I had a hoped, and not even in the traditional sense of magic. It was a contemporary adaptation of Peter Pan, which I was I had expected, but I just wasn't entirely thrilled with the way the story went.
Wendy wasn't really a likable character for me, unfortunately, and really... not many characters were. I wasn't dazzled by Peter and Jas could have been SO much more interesting. All of them sort of fell flat for me.
I was disappointed in the way the book ended because it sort of made the whole book seem pointless?
I guess I just wasn't into the surfing aspect at all either. For me, it made up too much of the book and just didn't keep me hooked.
And the whole drug thing... I don't care about drugs in books, really, but it just felt so forced and bizarre.
Just not my cup of tea, as you can see.
Full review, originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide 4/14/14: I’m just gonna come right out and say it… SECOND STAR was a very disappointing read for me. I’m not a huge fan of Peter Pan, but as with any retelling or adaptation, when it’s done well (for example, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson and others non-Peter Pan related), I have the potential to fall in love with it. SECOND STAR was not that book for me.
The synopsis sounds exciting, right? Love, loss, lies, dark magic — the back cover even talks about magical realism which I was incredibly curious about and couldn’t wait to see how magical realism really came into play. The sad fact was that it didn’t. This is a contemporary retelling — which I don’t have a problem with at all, except for the fact that too many elements of the original story, which is obviously a fantasy, were forced to squeeze into the plot of a contemporary novel. It’s just too hard to make a contemporary retelling so parallel to that of the original fantasy and fairy tale. Let me explain…
The book starts off with Wendy Darling graduating high school. She sees a mysterious boy out in the surf at night (“Pete”) and ends up immediately enthralled with him. Deciding to finally go off and try to find her missing brothers John and Michael (who were supposedly killed in a surfing accident but with little trace of them, Wendy had never believed it), Wendy travels from beach to beach looking for clues and ends up crossing paths with Pete in more ways than one. Enter Pete’s nemesis “Jas” (the Captain Hook character who I would have LOVED more “good to be bad” appeal from) and a love triangle between the three.
Okay, that I can do. But I had some major issues with the book and how things were forced to fit in. First: I could have loved the Wendy-Peter-Hook love triangle. I wanted her to choose between the innocent and the corrupt, but the switch from guy to guy happened way too quickly and I didn’t really feel a genuine connection to either one. I also wanted much more dark side from Jas. He IS the nemesis after all, but turns out just to be a good guy who is perceived as bad when he’s just taken a few wrong turns in life. I guess that’s entirely possible as a contemporary adaptation spin on Peter Pan, but I think I was hoping for a more Machiavellian Hook than unfortunate circumstances.
Second: I hated the drug story arc. What? Drugs, you say? Yes. Drug use in books doesn’t really bother me — I’m not always a fan of it, but it doesn’t usually bother me — but what I didn’t like about it in SECOND STAR was the way it was used and how forced it felt. The popular drug among the surfers is…. “fairy dust”. I felt like the drugs existed solely in the the story to incorporate fairy dust in there somehow and I could have done without all of it. There could have been some other backstory to create the rivalry between Pete and Jas (rival gator farms? I could have totally loved a more comedic retelling like that…) and not used a weird drug plot.
Third: The most interesting thing about this book to me was the mysterious disappearance of Wendy’s twin brothers Michael and John. Wendy never believed that they had died in a surfing accident and so she sets out to find out what really happened to them. The book starts out with this giant mystery and while Wendy really is looking for answers the whole time, the reader gets virtually no clues the entire book until closer towards the end. When I first saw that a mystery was being introduced, I was hoping it would follow a more mysterious path, but it really just felt like a constant back and forth between Wendy and the love triangle, and Wendy and her stubbornness to find her brothers. I felt like she was constantly going back and forth — obsessed with this or obsessed with that — and I just didn’t like her character much at all.
I was hoping for a lot more as the book progressed because I felt like the beginning half was going fairly slowly and when Wendy finally started picking up big clues about her brothers, I was ready to jump back into the mystery. The ending, however, was entirely a let down. It was confusing, it was unclear, and it was very disappointing. I’m not sure if this is where the “magical realism” was supposed to come into play…? Honestly, there was no magic in this book. I mean, that’s fine — it’s a contemporary retelling so really, it shouldn’t have magic, but it was advertised in more than one place so I just had expectations that it would show up.
Really, SECOND STAR just didn’t work for me. I didn’t enjoy the plot, I felt like too many aspects of Peter Pan were forced into the book and in other places that not enough of Peter Pan was present. Retellings are a tricky business and it’s really hard to get a perfect amount of original story and adaptation, but SECOND STAR just didn’t mesh well for me. I was also not a fan of the characters at all and I felt like they could have been so much more developed. Their personalities didn’t shine, no one stood out, and the back stories seemed weak or convenient. The upside was that it was a quick read and the mystery of Michael and John kept me interested although I was ultimately disappointed with how pretty much even story arc resolved.
Second Star was not as magical I had a hoped, and not even in the traditional sense of magic. It was a contemporary adaptation of Peter Pan, which I was I had expected, but I just wasn't entirely thrilled with the way the story went.
Wendy wasn't really a likable character for me, unfortunately, and really... not many characters were. I wasn't dazzled by Peter and Jas could have been SO much more interesting. All of them sort of fell flat for me.
I was disappointed in the way the book ended because it sort of made the whole book seem pointless?
I guess I just wasn't into the surfing aspect at all either. For me, it made up too much of the book and just didn't keep me hooked.
And the whole drug thing... I don't care about drugs in books, really, but it just felt so forced and bizarre.
Just not my cup of tea, as you can see.
Full review, originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide 4/14/14: I’m just gonna come right out and say it… SECOND STAR was a very disappointing read for me. I’m not a huge fan of Peter Pan, but as with any retelling or adaptation, when it’s done well (for example, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson and others non-Peter Pan related), I have the potential to fall in love with it. SECOND STAR was not that book for me.
The synopsis sounds exciting, right? Love, loss, lies, dark magic — the back cover even talks about magical realism which I was incredibly curious about and couldn’t wait to see how magical realism really came into play. The sad fact was that it didn’t. This is a contemporary retelling — which I don’t have a problem with at all, except for the fact that too many elements of the original story, which is obviously a fantasy, were forced to squeeze into the plot of a contemporary novel. It’s just too hard to make a contemporary retelling so parallel to that of the original fantasy and fairy tale. Let me explain…
The book starts off with Wendy Darling graduating high school. She sees a mysterious boy out in the surf at night (“Pete”) and ends up immediately enthralled with him. Deciding to finally go off and try to find her missing brothers John and Michael (who were supposedly killed in a surfing accident but with little trace of them, Wendy had never believed it), Wendy travels from beach to beach looking for clues and ends up crossing paths with Pete in more ways than one. Enter Pete’s nemesis “Jas” (the Captain Hook character who I would have LOVED more “good to be bad” appeal from) and a love triangle between the three.
Okay, that I can do. But I had some major issues with the book and how things were forced to fit in. First: I could have loved the Wendy-Peter-Hook love triangle. I wanted her to choose between the innocent and the corrupt, but the switch from guy to guy happened way too quickly and I didn’t really feel a genuine connection to either one. I also wanted much more dark side from Jas. He IS the nemesis after all, but turns out just to be a good guy who is perceived as bad when he’s just taken a few wrong turns in life. I guess that’s entirely possible as a contemporary adaptation spin on Peter Pan, but I think I was hoping for a more Machiavellian Hook than unfortunate circumstances.
Second: I hated the drug story arc. What? Drugs, you say? Yes. Drug use in books doesn’t really bother me — I’m not always a fan of it, but it doesn’t usually bother me — but what I didn’t like about it in SECOND STAR was the way it was used and how forced it felt. The popular drug among the surfers is…. “fairy dust”. I felt like the drugs existed solely in the the story to incorporate fairy dust in there somehow and I could have done without all of it. There could have been some other backstory to create the rivalry between Pete and Jas (rival gator farms? I could have totally loved a more comedic retelling like that…) and not used a weird drug plot.
Third: The most interesting thing about this book to me was the mysterious disappearance of Wendy’s twin brothers Michael and John. Wendy never believed that they had died in a surfing accident and so she sets out to find out what really happened to them. The book starts out with this giant mystery and while Wendy really is looking for answers the whole time, the reader gets virtually no clues the entire book until closer towards the end. When I first saw that a mystery was being introduced, I was hoping it would follow a more mysterious path, but it really just felt like a constant back and forth between Wendy and the love triangle, and Wendy and her stubbornness to find her brothers. I felt like she was constantly going back and forth — obsessed with this or obsessed with that — and I just didn’t like her character much at all.
I was hoping for a lot more as the book progressed because I felt like the beginning half was going fairly slowly and when Wendy finally started picking up big clues about her brothers, I was ready to jump back into the mystery. The ending, however, was entirely a let down. It was confusing, it was unclear, and it was very disappointing. I’m not sure if this is where the “magical realism” was supposed to come into play…? Honestly, there was no magic in this book. I mean, that’s fine — it’s a contemporary retelling so really, it shouldn’t have magic, but it was advertised in more than one place so I just had expectations that it would show up.
Really, SECOND STAR just didn’t work for me. I didn’t enjoy the plot, I felt like too many aspects of Peter Pan were forced into the book and in other places that not enough of Peter Pan was present. Retellings are a tricky business and it’s really hard to get a perfect amount of original story and adaptation, but SECOND STAR just didn’t mesh well for me. I was also not a fan of the characters at all and I felt like they could have been so much more developed. Their personalities didn’t shine, no one stood out, and the back stories seemed weak or convenient. The upside was that it was a quick read and the mystery of Michael and John kept me interested although I was ultimately disappointed with how pretty much even story arc resolved.
kjanie's review against another edition
3.0
I love Peter Pan so much so I'm happy I found this book. I love how she incorporated the original characters into the story in a unique way. I was a little Dissapointed in the ending though (it was good I just found it inconclusive)