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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
The Neverland Wars by Audrey Greathouse
2.0
There are actual two fictional worlds that I truly love. Wonderland and Neverland. And it's both for the same reason. The possibilities of those two worlds, of explanations, origin stories, follow up stories, exploring and expanding, are endless. Everything you can dream of, everything you can imagine. It can happen in Wonderland and Neverland. So, every time I find a new retelling starring one of those worlds I'm curious.
And the start of this book was actually kinda promising. We get a nice explanation of magic in this world and why adults are trying to keep it away from children. It's a pity that we never truly get a chance to make up our mind on that point of view. Apart from a very brief explanation and a glimpse of the aftermath, we see nothing of our world, of our side of the conflict. Which actually makes the war part of this story a little dull by default. While it could have been really interesting, as I think I would be able to understand both parts of the conflict.
The biggest part of the book takes however place in Neverland, with Peter Pan and his lost children (in this tale he clearly doesn't care if they are boys or girls). But for some reason the magic of the world and the wonder of it never really shines through. Maybe I was just too tired, but I didn't feel the thrill of Neverland, the danger, the playground, all fantasies coming to life. Every scene we read I already knew. It never really felt vivid or original or mesmerizing. Which is a pity, because I think that was the point of the story, showing us how wonderful Neverland is and what Peter is actively fighting for. His side of the conflict. It just doesn't work.
And to make it even worse, the characters never really did it for me either. Gwen comes across as stupid. And it's kinda hard to follow her choices and feelings, because I never really felt them myself. Peter is a cardboard version of himself. I don't feel like I know this Peter. I didn't see his true colors and even scenes that normally have a huge impact on me just didn't do it. I didn't care about any of these characters, because they weren't vivid, because I didn't connect with them, because they were just there.
If you're like me and looking for a great Neverland story, this one is clearly not it. (I personally really like Colleen Oakes' Wendy Darling series. It's slow, very slow, but the atmosphere, the world and the characters are breathtakingly amazing!)
And the start of this book was actually kinda promising. We get a nice explanation of magic in this world and why adults are trying to keep it away from children. It's a pity that we never truly get a chance to make up our mind on that point of view. Apart from a very brief explanation and a glimpse of the aftermath, we see nothing of our world, of our side of the conflict. Which actually makes the war part of this story a little dull by default. While it could have been really interesting, as I think I would be able to understand both parts of the conflict.
The biggest part of the book takes however place in Neverland, with Peter Pan and his lost children (in this tale he clearly doesn't care if they are boys or girls). But for some reason the magic of the world and the wonder of it never really shines through. Maybe I was just too tired, but I didn't feel the thrill of Neverland, the danger, the playground, all fantasies coming to life. Every scene we read I already knew. It never really felt vivid or original or mesmerizing. Which is a pity, because I think that was the point of the story, showing us how wonderful Neverland is and what Peter is actively fighting for. His side of the conflict. It just doesn't work.
And to make it even worse, the characters never really did it for me either. Gwen comes across as stupid. And it's kinda hard to follow her choices and feelings, because I never really felt them myself. Peter is a cardboard version of himself. I don't feel like I know this Peter. I didn't see his true colors and even scenes that normally have a huge impact on me just didn't do it. I didn't care about any of these characters, because they weren't vivid, because I didn't connect with them, because they were just there.
If you're like me and looking for a great Neverland story, this one is clearly not it. (I personally really like Colleen Oakes' Wendy Darling series. It's slow, very slow, but the atmosphere, the world and the characters are breathtakingly amazing!)