I was recently scanning Netgalley for something soon-to-be released, and I saw Second Star by J.M. Sullivan. Ooh, I know J.M. Sullivan! She’s one of the hosts of #AuthorConfession on Twitter! I always love to read books fantastic people (although I have to confess, it can make writing a review more difficult sometimes).
Second Star by J.M. Sullivan is a Peter Pan retelling. So if you love Peter Pan, then you already have a reason to read this book. I think the story is okay, although I haven’t seen it in years (the Disney cartoon, that is). I’ve seen some of the Peter Pan movies over the years, like Hook, and I’ve never read the original book. Like Heartless, I think you’ll get more out of this retelling if you’re more familiar with the original story.
Our story follows Peter and Wendy. Peter is a mechanic on the Jolly Roger, a star ship out on a mission. Wendy is an intelligent girl whose parents push her to be an overachiever. At the military academy, Wendy seems to develop a crush on the historical James Hooke, a captain who was lost years ago. Eventually, the paths of Hooke, Peter, and Wendy cross on a star far away from Earth.
The Good
Ms. Sullivan does a great job combining the classic Peter Pan tale with a futuristic starship story. There’s Tinc, a nanobot that Peter put together that behaves eerily like Tinkerbell from the classic story, SMEE, who is Captain Hooke’s assistant, the Lost Boys, and even mermaids. The book speaks of themes like immortality (which Hooke is searching after) and there’s even a thimble in there. I probably miss a great deal since I haven’t seen the classic cartoon in eons, but there’s a lot of cleverness in there.
The friendships are great in this book. Wendy seems to be a little difficult to warm up to, but her friends are loyal and she loves them back. I’m glad the kids she became friends with at the academy get to be with her on all of her adventures.
What Could Be Better
While Second Star was very entertaining, it seemed like it could use a little more polish. It’s difficult to describe why I felt this way, although it’s a very subjective measure rather than anything concrete I can point out.
One other thing that I thought could be better is the relationship aspect of this story. The friendships in this book are great, but Wendy and Peter have something of an insta-love that would probably be better if they slowed down a bit. While I could understand if they felt insta-attraction, they were emotionally invested in each other a little too quickly for my taste. There’s the possibility of a love triangle in the second book (I kinda hope not though).
Overall
Second Star was overall entertaining, even though it’s not likely to make any of my best-of lists. I do plan on reading the second book in this series, and not just because J.M. Sullivan wrote it. I want to find out what happens to Peter and Wendy. If you’re only going to read one book this year, I probably wouldn’t choose this one, but if you like Peter Pan or retellings, you might want to consider adding this to your TBR.