“Find the second star from the right, and fly straight on ’til morning, all the way to Neverland, a children’s paradise with no rules, no adults, only endless adventure and enchanted forests – all led by the charismatic boy who will never grow old.

But Wendy Darling grew up. She has a husband and a young daughter called Jane, a life in London. But one night, after all these years, Peter Pan returns. Wendy finds him outside her daughter’s window, looking to claim a new mother for his Lost Boys. But instead of Wendy, he takes Jane.

Now a grown woman, a mother, a patient and a survivor, Wendy must follow Peter back to Neverland to rescue her daughter and finally face the darkness at the heart of the island…”

Series Info/Source: I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This is a stand alone book.

Story (3/5): I thought the beginning of this was very slow but enjoyed the second half of the book more. This book is about Wendy’s daughter, Jane, getting taken to Neverland by Peter. This forces Wendy to venture back into Neverland and solve its dark secrets in order to rescue Jane.

It was an okay read, not great…but the ending does pick up pace. No ideas here that I haven’t seen in other Peter Pan retellings though. I also felt like Peter and Neverland were kind of left in limbo, it felt a bit unfinished. The conclusion wasn’t very satisfying and it kind of felt like the story just stopped.

Characters (3/5): I thought Wendy and Jane were okay characters. Wendy feels a bit distant from the reader, almost like she is in a bit of a daze the whole time. I did enjoy seeing glimpses of Wendy’s history but always felt like I was watching her from a distance. The reader spends more time watching her actions than getting to know her as a character. I really enjoyed Jane as a character but we don’t spend nearly as much time with her as we do with Wendy. I would have liked to read more about Jane. Peter is more of an idea than an actual character with dimension, history and feelings…he feels very unfinished. The lost boys are fairly interchangeable and were mostly just part of the background.

Setting (3/5): The setting alternates between London, Neverland and various timelines. Neverland is described to mainly look like the Neverland we all know and love. Again, nothing too earth shattering here. The settings were fine.

Writing Style (3/5): The book jumps around between Wendy’s childhood, her time in an asylum, and her marriage. There are also chapters from Jane’s POV. While the timeframe is printed whenever the timeline changes, the POV of the chapter is not. So, sometimes you have to read through a bit of the chapter to figure out if you are reading from Wendy or Jane’s POV. As mentioned above it starts pretty slow but does pick up pace in the 2nd half of the book. The other thing I really struggled with here was how incomplete things feel. We never see what happens with Peter and Neverland in the end. There are also some strange elements, like where some of the lost boys come from, that are never tied in well with the rest of the story. The whole thing feels a bit messy and could have used some better editing. It also feels rushed at the end, like Wise wasn’t quite sure how to tie things up.

My Summary (3/5): Overall while I didn’t mind reading this it felt kind of slow and unoriginal to me. There are some interesting ideas here (a darkness in Neverland, where lost boys come from) but they’ve been explored in similar ways in other Peter Pan retellings. The POV you are reading from can be a bit confusing and the story is a bit of a mess and ends abruptly. There were a lot of loose threads at the end and I was left wondering why they were tied into the overall story at all. I am pretty sure this is a stand alone, however if there were to be a sequel then that would explain some of the issues I had with this book. I don’t plan on picking up any more books by Wise.

Review – Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise (3/5 stars)

Like this:

Related

Follow Hidden in Pages

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Follow Hidden in Pages