Friday 22 July 2016

The Neverland Wars, by Audrey Greathouse

*Disclaimer* I was provided with an eARC in exchange for an honest review by Sara from YA Bound Book Tours.

Title: The Neverland Wars
Author: Audrey Greathouse
Pages: 302
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Magic can do a lot—give you flight, show you mermaids, help you taste the stars, and… solve the budget crisis? That's what the grown-ups will do with it if they ever make it to Neverland to steal its magic and bring their children home.

However, Gwen doesn't know this. She's just a sixteen-year-old girl with a place on the debate team and a powerful crush on Jay, the soon-to-be homecoming king. She doesn't know her little sister could actually run away with Peter Pan, or that she might have to chase after her to bring her home safe. Gwen will find out though—and when she does, she'll discover she's in the middle of a looming war between Neverland and reality.

She'll be out of place as a teenager in Neverland, but she won't be the only one. Peter Pan's constant treks back to the mainland have slowly aged him into adolescence as well. Soon, Gwen will have to decide whether she's going to join impish, playful Peter in his fight for eternal youth… or if she's going to scramble back to reality in time for the homecoming dance.

I love Peter Pan. I really do. And I love retellings even more, so it is really sad that this is a book that is best described as forgettable and just ok. Nothing too special and not worth recommending or even remembering. While it is a fast paced read with fun aspects like e.g the mermaids (really enjoyed those) and it does have a nice modern twist on the Peter Pan store I just had lots of problems with it, the biggest one being the characters, especially Gwen. Apart from being a naive girl, the only thing Gwen is the perfect shining star (pun intended) and she is oh so special. Yes, she "sees behind the glamour" of growing up, contrary to all the teenage robots around her, but apart from that she has about zero personality. She justifies lots of her behavior with how her parents treat her, which by the way is NOT how parents treat their kids these days. It is only used as another device to get the authors message across, but while yes, I got what she wanted to achieve, but there is hardly any way around that if the reader is hit over the head with what they should be feeling. Another example for that are the lost boys. They are depicted as these really, once again, naive children, who are so centered around the idea of adventures that they completely shuffle off their families to be in Neverland. I can´t comprehend these actions, but at least they had more character than Gwen did. Also I smell a love triangle coming, which I am not a fan of.

This book just tries to be/do something it does´t have the skill to do. It tries questioning the meaning of growing up and how age and puberty affect us, but really all it does is making me roll my eyes on a seemingly desperate added depth to an already forgettable YA book. I would say if you look for a fast paced read and are willing to over lacking characters, this book might be for you, but it just wash´t for me.

Do you guys know of any other Peter Pan retellings you would recommend? If so I would be really interested in reading them!

Read on xx

Lena

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