smarmy's review

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5.0

Again, I find myself rereading my old books and feeling nostalgic for the first time I read them. I love this series, and the first book is no different. I am able to fly with Peter, and I love the authors who made this story possible.

Peter and the Starcatchers is a great opener to a wonderful series. You definitely should read it.

jodilynclayton's review

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4.0

Well-written and great fun. If you are a fan of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, you will love this series. Even if you aren't, it is still a fun read!

lbuckman's review

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4.0

So fun!

reanne's review

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I got halfway through with this book before I decided to stop inflicting it on myself.

This book is so boring. I was not expecting the entire first half to take place on ships out in the ocean, but it does, and it’s super boring. By the halfway mark, they’d finally washed up on an island, but by then I was sick of the book for other reasons.

I didn’t like any of the characters. I was least disinterested in Molly’s dad because he was competent and seemed like a decent person, but he apparently wasn’t much of an important character, as he only appeared in a couple scenes. I really didn’t like or care about any of the others at all. They were dull as bricks.

Watching Peter and Molly (and other good guys) constantly fail and be foiled was tiresome and quickly grew repetitive and predictable. Like whenever the author started trying to build up suspense because one of the good guys was going to try something important, I knew they’d fail, so the attempt at suspense came off as kinda sad.

There were several instances of sexual innuendo which I found creepy and inappropriate for a children’s book, most of all this one:

“Take the women, too,” said Stache, pointing to Mrs. Bumbrake. It was Stache’s policy always to take women, although this one was quite large. But a woman was a woman, the way Stache looked at it.

I know pirates kidnapped and raped women, but these are supposed to be Neverland pirates, not real pirates. If the pirates in Neverland were that much like real pirates, I think Wendy would have had a very different experience when she was captured by them in Peter Pan.

I don’t like Jim Dale’s narration style. I know he’s super popular and everyone loves him because he read the US edition of the Harry Potter books, but I’ve never liked his style. I actually tried listening to this book once before and gave up after a few minutes because I found the style so grating. His way of doing character voices makes me wince. So many of his voices, even ones for small boys, sound like he’s forcing them. He sounds like an old man who has to work really hard to speak. He sounds like someone just punched him in the gut and then made him read the line. I know these are intentional choices he’s making, but they really grate on me. There’s an appropriate time for that level of ‘straining to speak’ and that time is when a character is straining to speak, not all the time and for characters it’s completely inappropriate for.

This book was a big no for me. It’s not charming, funny, whimsical, or fun at all. It’s just boring and annoying and occasionally creepy.

sydbap's review

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5.0

These are good fun. A great retelling of one of my favorite stories.

jamiebooksandladders's review

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3.0

Full review to come on Books and Ladders

debz57a52's review

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4.0

This is intended to be a prequel to the classic Peter Pan novel by James Barrie. It was entirely satisfying in that respect, and I was amused by some of the ways that the authors explained odd things in our life (Loch Ness monster, Greek gods) as extemporaneous connections. I also thought the style of writing was fabulous - with respect for the reader, dry humor, clues without telling you everything up front - and it reminded me a great deal of Neil Gaiman in some parts. I would recommend this to kids and adults alike as a good, adventurous, funny read.

cejaypi's review

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4.0

It was the perfect mix for a children's classic - wonderful, scary, funny, a little romantic and with its own kind of happily ever after. I enjoyed it, it would make a wonderful "read aloud"....

malloryfitz's review

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4.0

Premise- (3.5/5) I’m always up for a fairytale retelling. Peter Pan isn’t strictly a fairytale, but I put it in that category. Peter and the Starcatchers doesn’t reinvent Peter and Wendy’s story however, instead takes readers back to the beginning of Peter’s story and how he came to be. I was interested to see what Berry and Pearson would do with this backstory. Peter Pan is a fascinating and extremely well-known character, which I imagine would make writing his origin story pretty daunting. But I was excited to see what Berry and Pearson did with it.
Characters- (4.5/5) Berry and Pearson did an excellent job of capturing J.M. Barrie’s characters. Peter, Black Stache (the soon-to-be Captain Hook), and Smee were the characters most directly taken from Barrie’s original book. Peter’s essence as a brave, loyal, daring, if occasionally infuriating ten or twelve old boy was perfectly captured. Black Stache and his band of pirates, including the loyal Smee, were both sinister villains and comedic relief. Peter’s Lost Boys could be a bit annoying at times, but what ten year old kids aren’t? Original characters like Slank, Molly, and Alf added to the story as well. It was really sweet to read Peter and Molly’s interactions--anybody remember your second grade crush? It’s really difficult to adapt characters as well-known as Peter Pan and Captain Hook well, but I thought Berry and Pearson did a fantastic job! My only complaint is that I’m not sure how I felt about the Mollusk tribe. J.M. Barrie’s depiction of ‘redskins’ in the original Peter Pan was obviously highly offensive, and is something that can be tough to combat. I thought Berry and Pearson did an okay job, but would’ve liked to see something a bit more nuanced in the character of Fighting Prawn and the Mollusks.
Plot- (4/5) The Starcatchers were an interesting concept. I like the idea that there’s starstuff out there from fallen stars and that it has magic powers. I do think Berry and Pearson took advantage of starstuff’s magic to solve a lot of the character’s conflicts. But I think they’re allowed to do that as it’s their story, and also, the starstuff was the source of most of the conflict, so it sort of balances out. I enjoyed the way the plot would switch from one character to the other pretty much every chapter (see below for more detail). And all in all, the plot was pretty solid. It offered a number of explanations about Peter Pan, his magic, and Neverland, though I still have questions. I guess I’ll just have to read the sequel to get those answered. The fast-paced action of the plot kept me reading and engaged right up to the end of the book!
World- (3.5/5) There were a couple different environments for the story. First, we were at sea. The Never Land, Wasp, and Jolly Rodger each got some page time. These environments were well-written enough, but the island where the main action took place was more interesting. The local fauna of the island such as Mister Grin and the mermaids made it interesting to read about. Berry and Pearson did a nice job of weaving J.M. Barrie’s original elements into their own story and providing some explanations. Although it’s a bit hard to think of Neverland as an island that a ship could just wreck on, rather than being way up in the sky, second star to the right and straight on till morning. I think some of the world-building was lost in the action, but given that this book was written for a somewhat younger audience, I don’t think that’s surprising. There’s a lot of potential for Peter’s future adventures.
Writing- (4/5) Berry and Pearson’s writing was easy to read and extremely entertaining. They did a great job blending humor with the story, and there was something about the style that was just very...right for Peter Pan. I think by keeping the writing simple, they did a really nice job of capturing the youthful quality associated with Peter Pan.
Overall- (3.9/5) I think this is one of the better Peter Pan stories out there. It’s extremely interesting to consider how Peter Pan came to be, and Berry and Pearson did Barrie’s original character justice. With humorous writing, great characters both old and new, and an original plot, Peter and the Starcatchers was a winner. I’ll definitely be looking for the sequel.

goose's review

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

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