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A review by 13_michelle
Second Star by Alyssa Sheinmel
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.)