AUTHOR: Jodi Lynn Anderson
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Retelling, fantasy
PREMISE: Before Wendy came to Neverland, Peter Pan ran around the island with a girl named Tiger Lily....
MY REVIEW: I'm going to go ahead and say it: I never liked Peter Pan. No I don't mean the book. Bite your tongue, Peter Pan the book is fabulous. It's one of those I think everyone should read, and if you say you haven't, I tend to judge you. No, I never liked Peter Pan the character. I always felt he was a bit of a selfish jerk. Fascinating jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. I kind of always wanted Wendy say up yours and take the Lost Boys and take over Neverland. Alas, time period it was written, this was never a possibility.
This is one of those type of retellings that I adore. It takes a well known story, doesn't totally change it to suit the authors purpose but does sort of flip it and make you look at it in a new way. It's written in wonderful way as well. I adore Anderson's type of storytelling. True, it's not terribly subtle but it's written in a way that actually reminds me of JM Barrie's style and it feels wonderfully appropriate. The author makes Tiger Lily a full person instead of a stereotype and I absolutely love what the author did with Tinker Bell here. This is Neverland but it's also sort of different from say...the Disney version of Neverland. It's a retelling that does its own spin on Peter Pan but does it without walking all over the original material like oh say Scarlet did with Robin Hood.
I actually want to say this is my favorite read of the year. Literally the only flaws I see in it is that maybe the ending is a bit rushed. I sort of wish we had gotten more time with Wendy. I think this and Cinder and Code Name Verity are my top three YA debuts, unless a better book comes along later in the year. Unlikely.
WHO SHOULD READ: Peter Pan fans, anyone inclined.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five lilies
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