Peter and the Starcatchers (Peter and the Starcatchers #1) by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson
4/5 stars
Premise- (3.5/5) I’m always up for a fairytale retelling. Peter Pan isn’t strictly a fairytale, but I put it in that category. Peter and the Starcatchers doesn’t reinvent Peter and Wendy’s story however, instead takes readers back to the beginning of Peter’s story and how he came to be. I was interested to see what Berry and Pearson would do with this backstory. Peter Pan is a fascinating and extremely well known character, which I imagine would make writing his origin story pretty daunting. But I was excited to see what Berry and Pearson did with it.
Characters- (4.5/5) Berry and Pearson did an excellent job of capturing J.M. Barrie’s characters. Peter, Black Stache (the soon-to-be Captain Hook), and Smee were the characters most directly taken from Barrie’s original book. Peter’s essence as a brave, loyal, daring, if occasionally infuriating ten or twelve old boy was perfectly captured. Black Stache and his band of pirates, including the loyal Smee, were both sinister villains and comedic relief. Peter’s Lost Boys could be a bit annoying at times, but what ten-year-old kids aren’t? Original characters like Slank, Molly, and Alf added to the story as well. It was really sweet to read Peter and Molly’s interactions–anybody remember your second grade crush? It’s really difficult to adapt characters as well known as Peter Pan and Captain Hook well, but I thought Berry and Pearson did a fantastic job! My only complaint is that I’m not sure how I felt about the Mollusk tribe. J.M. Barrie’s depiction of ‘redskins’ in the original Peter Pan was obviously highly offensive, and is something that can be tough to combat. I thought Berry and Pearson did an okay job, but would’ve liked to see something a bit more nuanced in the character of Fighting Prawn and the Mollusks.
Plot- (4/5) The Starcatchers were an interesting concept. I like the idea that there’s starstuff out there from fallen stars and that it has magic powers. I do think Berry and Pearson took advantage of starstuff’s magic to solve a lot of the character’s conflicts. But I think they’re allowed to do that as it’s their story, and also, the starstuff was the source of most of the conflict, so it sort of balances out. I enjoyed the way the plot would switch from one character to the other pretty much every chapter (see below for more detail). And all in all, the plot was pretty solid. It offered a number of explanations about Peter Pan, his magic, and Neverland, though I still have questions. I guess I’ll just have to read the sequel to get those answered. The fast-paced action of the plot kept me reading and engaged right up to the end of the book!
World- (3.5/5) There were a couple different environments for the story. First, we were at sea. The Never Land, Wasp, and Jolly Rodger each got some page time. These environments were well written enough, but the island where the main action took place was more interesting. The local fauna of the island such as Mister Grin and the mermaids made it interesting to read about. Berry and Pearson did a nice job of weaving J.M. Barrie’s original elements into their own story and providing some explanations. Although it’s a bit hard to think of Neverland as an island that a ship could just wreck on, rather than being way up in the sky, second star to the right and straight on till morning. I think some of the world-building was lost in the action, but given that this book was written for a somewhat younger audience, I don’t think that’s surprising. There’s a lot of potential for Peter’s future adventures.
Writing- (4/5) Berry and Pearson’s writing was easy to read and extremely entertaining. They did a great job blending humor with the story, and there was something about the style that was just very…right for Peter Pan. I think by keeping the writing simple, they did a really nice job of capturing the youthful quality associated with Peter Pan.
Overall- (3.9/5) I think this is one of the better Peter Pan stories out there. It’s extremely interesting to consider how Peter Pan came to be, and Berry and Pearson did Barrie’s original character justice. With humorous writing, great characters both old and new, and an original plot, Peter and the Starcatchers was a winner. I’ll definitely be looking for the sequel.