Second Star Review

Title: Second Star

Author: JM Sullivan

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Trigger Warning: 

Rating: 5 Stars

Release Date: March 5, 2019

Synopsis

Wendy Darling worked her entire life to rise through the ranks of the prestigious Londonierre Brigade. Now as a Captain, she has everything she's always wanted, including a ship and crew of her own. But when the Brigade receives a strange transmission from the legendary James Hooke, lost a hundred years earlier in uncharted space and presumed dead, Wendy is willing to risk it all to rescue her hero. She races to the planet known only as Neverland; her mission to find the long-lost crew and bring them home.

But there is more to Neverland than meets the eye, and more to Hooke than what was written in history books. When Wendy crash lands on the ominous planet, she quickly discovers Neverland's dark secret; a malevolent being known as The Shadow that's looking for a host body to escape its eternal prison. To fulfill her mission, Wendy must decide whether to trust the dashing Hooke or the mysterious Fleet mechanic who goes by the name of Pan--and she has to decide quickly...

Before the darkness consumes them all.

Review

A special thank you to Netgalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for providing a free advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.


JM Sullivan's Second Star is a Peter Pan retelling set in space. I love retellings, and this one does a great job bringing in the story of Peter Pan and changing it to fit into this future world. The characters and the major points are all there, but there were some subtle references to Peter Pan that while not the main focus of the plot, were still extremely well written. All of these little references were really cool to read and contributed to the rest of the story without getting too much in the way.


I typically don't enjoy science fiction and fantasy that gets too technical, but Sullivan explains the rules of this world gradually when they come up so that it does not get too overwhelming and everything still makes sense. The beauty of Neverland is well described which partially describes the own rules within this world. The descriptions allow for actual understanding about what this world looks like. The characters were really well described, especially how cool the non-human characters were. All of the characters had their own unique personality, many mimicking their character from Peter Pan but even the other characters were still well made and interesting.


The two point of views had unique voices that made it easy to read, even when the plot and descriptions did get a little too technical based on the expertise of the characters. While both characters do have experience in space, they were written differently enough that it made it easier to keep track of what was going on and the various characters. All of the side characters, even those on Captain Hook's ship with minor roles, are introduced well and easy to keep track of. Looking back, there were many characters but it was not hard to remember the specifics about an individual character and not get them mixed up in my mind.


I struggled with the pacing in the story. At some points, the plot moved way too slow and the end felt kind of rushed, like the author was trying to push everything else she wanted to be able to cover into only a few chapters. Some of the background at the beginning was interesting, but it did start to drag on and I would have preferred to move on to the action sooner.


Still, if the Neverland Transmission series continues with another book, I definitely would love to read it and continue in this amazing world created that reminisces on the Peter Pan world without taking too much from it. I thought some of the incorporations were really cool. Wendy and Peter are absolutely adorable together and I can't wait to know what happens after the ending. Peter Pan in space was a great novel concept and Sullivan did a great job with this initial idea.


This was a really great book and I definitely recommend reading it once it releases on Tuesday!

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa