DNFed at 60%. While this book was really interesting at first, my interest waned as time went on. Took me six months to realize this. :/

This is a retelling that while paying homage to the original story with in my opinion more than one genius reference/slight change has a story of its own. While I consider that it could have been a little better in its depiction of the future (not very diverse and very stuck in many old ways), it was entertaining enough where I was laughing and enjoying the journey through the Neverland sector.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bleeding Ink Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. It came highly recommended from my friend, Sarah. We have the same taste in books so I was so excited. Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters, especially Peter. I found myself dreading when it was his POV. Also, there were A LOT of characters. I couldn't keep up with who was who.

I did like Wendy's POV. I felt she was the most interesting of the the bunch. I thought throughout the whole book that it would end up being 2.5 stars, but I ended up liking the ending. I love the two seconds of romance we got. So that bumped it up to three stars for me. I don't know if I liked it enough to continue the series.

I ended up DNFing this book, Second Star by J.M. Sullivan. This story just couldn't grip me and keep me interested in continuing to read.

Title: Second Star (Neverland Transmissions #1)
Author: J.M. Sullivan
Pub. Date: March 5, 2019
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This will be a spoiler free review and thank you Netgalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Peter Pan in space.

Literally my kryptonite.

Second Star is the first in a science fiction take on Barrie’s Peter Pan and ultimately it didn’t disappoint. I liked how it was a unique take, but still very familiar and very recognizable as a Peter Pan retelling. I really enjoyed how the magic of Neverland and other story elements easily translated into tech pieces and other worlds. I thought there were aspects that were really clever and really well done.

I was a little wary going into this book because I’d seen a few reviews from people I trust who didn’t really like it, or it had let them down. While I definitely enjoyed this book, there were a few things that I had issues with. The pacing being the big one and the fact that this adaptation stuck very, very closely to the original plot. There were also some formatting issues, but that’s not necessarily the author’s fault and the book was still readable. But let’s start with the pacing.

The first half of this book kind of dragged. This was the more unique part of the story in the sense that it greatly diverged from the original plot of Peter Pan. So much of this book is spent setting up the ending, that when we get to the second half of the book, so much happens, so quickly and feelings for basically, completely strangers are intensified.

The other issue – the plot – I think that in some regards the fact that this book mirrors the original plot so closely was an issue. Now, a lot of the aspects of the original, very easily transferred from magical to science fiction and in really clever ways. But I felt like there were a few instances where the original plot held back this reimagining and made the characters act almost out of character.

Other than those two things, I really enjoyed this, and I think my favorite parts were the relationships between characters. I love Wendy and Johns relationship and hers and Michaels, and the three of them together. Their dynamic was so fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The thing between Wendy and Boyce felt like it was a little out of left field, but it’ll be interesting to see how their relationship progresses in the next book. As for Wendy and Peter – I really liked how Peter wasn’t portrayed as an immature boy like he usually is in adaptations/reimagining’s. I get he’s the boy that never grew up, but it’s kind of exhausting sometimes. Instead, Peter is fully capable and a bit of a goofball, but not a completely immature child. So, I liked that it didn’t feel like Wendy was his babysitter.

Overall, I’m glad that this book wasn’t a disappointment and I’m a bit excited to see what happens next in the series. Peter Pan + Space = my kryptonite. I love it.

Genre: Fiction, Young adult, Science-fiction, Retellings, Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 352

ISBN: 9781948583008

ASIN: B07DH1PJS3

Format: eBook, Paperback

Publication date: March 5th, 2019

Publisher: Bleeding Ink Publishing

Type: Fiction, Novel (Series), Retellings



*A big thanks to Bleeding Ink Publishing, NetGalley and J.M. Sullivan for granting me this much-loved ARC in exchange for an honest review. I received no compensation and reviewed it willingly.*



Second star to the right. Such a beautiful phrase in Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and a brilliant idea for a retelling novel, Second Star by J.M. Sullivan. The title itself is what grabbed my attention, the gorgeous cover held it for a while, and the blurb had me requesting it on NetGalley. Here’s a hint to my review: I loved it!


Positive Sides:

I rarely do this, but I'll start right away with the writing itself because it's note-worthy! Not only is it good and pretty, but it's also action-oriented and all showing, very little telling. I really like her writing! The names of the companions as acronyms for the robots and parts are excellent! Wow!! This made me grin and giggle so much. It's a nice spin on them. Moreover, the author makes creative genius and touchy feelsy uses and explanations of real quotes like "the second star to the right". She uses the quotes brilliantly and they're so faithful to the characters. It made my heart squeeze with so many feels!

As for the action of the story, the book jumps right into the action and lasts a long while which is highly entertaining. Because when action starts, it's action upon action and it's always the worst-case scenario that happens! In my opinion, this is the best reading experience, and it's thrilling. The action scenes had me engrossed and captivated, with my heart beating faster in real life. I have to give kudos to the author for they're fun, well-written, and there is no confusion about what's happening or who's doing what. At some point in the book, things got slow, but I swear the thrill picked back up on the next page or so. It was expertly woven.

That's all very good, but what about the story itself? Well, I thought the setting was genius! It's so different and creative in a retelling, yet so many hints and equivalences are there like Tink and more. In a space academy? Then off onto a spaceship? And landing on the Neverland planet? That's genius right there. Neverland is both stunning and foreign, and I love how everything is beautiful yet tinged or made slightly different. The fact that it's an alien planet has been taken into consideration - neat! Also, I love how there is coding and technical and engineering stuff that appear prominently; that makes it realistic for the future. This might be a silly remark, but it overjoyed me that Peter is a redhead! Often in retellings he is blonde or brown... but I prefer red heads, so it made me squeal as I could imagine him even more easily. Thanks, Miss Sullivan!

As for Wendy, I like that she's at school and one for the elite at that! Plus, the fact she has no brothers and that Johns and Michaels are her besties is a cool way to to reinvent the wheel! Her relationships with her "soul brothers" is so friendly, cute, and platonic (amazing!). In addition, I looooove how Wendy is in charge! She's different, and this makes her complimentary to Peter. And there's this special treat of how Wendy always has to look proper even in most dire situations. This trait reminds me of her mother role to the boys in the original and the era she's from where everyone of status looked dapper. What about Peter? He and Tinc are immensely likable! They're mine, okay? MINE!

And... the villains! Yes, villains are AWESOME. Dangerous, too! I'm so glad the author put in the original good form argument and attitude from Hooke. I'm also quite impressed by the twist and use of Peter's shadow; very surprising and innovative. Can I add that the showdown at the end is marvelous? WOW! Furthermore, I love how science is used in this book as well as the new concepts for devices, ships, and so on. Last, I swear the author made the Mermaids' Lagoon as important as in the original (if not even more), which made me so happy.

On a side note, may I talk about the thimble? YES, she included the thimble! Oh, my emotions! I cried and all the feels and I ship it!

You may now proceed to the negative sides, thank you.


Negative Sides:

Besides its many good points, this book has two main issues, in my opinion: cheesy romance and inconsistencies. In my book, romance is not very important in books, but this one was way too cheesy to believe in. I mean, Wendy and Peter just got to know each other for a week or two. I barely buy it, which makes me go rather "bleh" and rolling my eyes or sighing while reading. So, I'm warning you: this might get on your nerves like it did with mine. If only more time had passed, that would have been more understandable. While I know love at first sight might happen for a few people (does it even exist, though?), this was brimming full with insta-love.

The other issue is how regular are the inconsistencies. I noted two of them, glaring ones, but there are a few more. For example, in the beginning, the power is out and in the previous paragraph it is said that the ship Jolly Roger is pitch black, so then how come Peter can see cook’s face and his men like in daylight? The only source of light is Tinc, and it’s not said whether or not she is near him for this scene. Also, much later in the book, there's a scene where the gun isn't working anymore, but two chapters later it does with no explanations how. This is so confusing! I had to reread several times the passages, yet I couldn't make any sense of it, so I figured these were inconsistencies. It's annoying, but mostly because the book is so good overall that you want to understand.


In Conclusion:

So, I got this ARC months ago but only got to write this review this week due to health issues, BUT what I'm about to say still stands strong: Second Star is one of the few best retellings I've ever read and the best book I've read in 2018, clearly. Heck, it's the end of 2019 and I'm still thinking about it a lot, remembering all those charming characters, engrossing action and enticing world. Thanks to all of this, I give Second Star by J. M. Sullivan a rating of 4.5 out of 5. I didn't take a point for the cheesiness of the romance (which is still cute), but I took a .5 for the (unfortunate) inconsistencies. All the rest is amazing! I'm eager to read the sequel!

❝ What mankind has coveted since the time of the Ancients, and soon it will be mine. Soon, there will be no reason to return to the Fleet. I’ll have everything I’ve been searching for.

I will be immortal. ❞

This is a book that I had sitting in my NetGalley for a while, and, honestly, that’s probably the only reason I pushed myself to read as much of this as I did. I was so pumped to read this book because it was a Peter Pan retelling, but the slow pacing, bland characters, and questionable plot ultimately forced me to put this book down.

One of the first issues I had with this book was the plot. Without spoiling too much, Peter gets stranded (along with some other crew members) on the planet they name Neverland. They survive on this planet for 10 years without any weird creepy otherworldly creatures attacking, but then one day Peter interacts with some hostile natives (not the first time) and suddenly some ancient being on the island find him interesting enough to attack and spill all the secrets of the universe to (apparently).

This was such a huge plot hole. Why was Peter interesting now? You can’t tell me that this ancient being didn’t notice Peter at all before in those 10 years.

Then, of course, we have the characters themselves. I couldn’t care less about either one of them. Wendy was really very whiny. Out of everything about her that stood out the most. You can totally write up a character that strives for their parents’ approval (with parents that don’t give a damn) without having them come off whiny. I just think that this angle was overdone and came off the wrong way.

Peter, on the other hand, was so bland it was hard to come up with words to describe him. Probably the most memorable thing about him was the fact that he’s supposed to be caring and good (he protects/saves the orphan boys on the ship) but when he sees Wendy’s ship crash down (with a very obvious fire going on) all he thinks about is how his only chance to get off the island is gone. I want to say for a good two pages he doesn’t even think about the fact that there are people in there that might need his help.

With all of this, the slow pacing was just the last excuse I needed to put it down. I ended up DNF’ing the book at 60% because that far into the book Wendy and Peter had just met and nothing major was happening in the story that I couldn’t summarize in 20 seconds.

Overall, I’m giving this book 2 stars because it was an interesting concept, but the writing killed the story. This is a series I won’t be continuing.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I have to say this was one of the better retelling of Neverland. The blurb for this book is what drew me in. The think that set this retelling apart is that it is a sci-fi in space version. Wendy is the captain of her own ship and she is going to go on an adventure to find her hero. So she goes to the planet known as Neverland. There were some times that made me rethink the story I knew from my childhood. I had a different look on Hooke, Pan and Tinc as well. It was a fun adventure.

The concept of the book is a great premise. If only the format had been accessible on my e-reader, I would have been able to give this a higher rating.

I wanted so badly to like this book seeing as sci-fi is my favourite genre and Peter Pan was one of my favourite books as a child. So naturally a combination of the two would make for a winner, right? No. Unfortunately it didn't.
I think J.M. Sullivan relied to heavily of the source material rather than writing her own original ideas so it just felt like I was re-reading the same book from my childhood. I would have liked even just a little bit of more original content. I mean, she pulled from the original book by J.M. Barrie (obviously), but also that live action Peter Pan movie from 2003 and also the Peter Pan story arc from Once Upon a Time. Basically what I'm saying is that she changed the story just enough (and I mean bare minimum) not to get pegged for plagiarism.
If you want to hop on the Lunar Chronicles bandwagon, you best do a good job.
I took me pretty much an entire month to get through this because I was so bored. I think it was at the 42% mark that J. M. stopped gushing over how wonderful and amazing and invincible Wendy is, and finally put them into the bloody spaceship.
Also I think she forgot to mention why a hundred years have passed on earth but only a few had passed on Neverland. There's a black hole right on the cover... and it's never brought up. Usually the things that make it onto the cover play a central role in the plot. (For those of you who don't know, it is theorized that as you approach the event horizon of a black hole, time moves slower for you than it does for the rest of the universe. Basically you could watch the universe whip by in fast-forward. IDK I'm only an amateur astrophysicist so I recommend looking into Einstein... he actually knows how to explain what I just tried to.)
Anyway, this book was overall... disappointing.

Peter's point of view was action packed and had a good fast pace, though it could have used a little reordering eg the author states that the captain/ cook are horrible before showing it, it would have been better if the telling came after the showing.
Wendy's point of view was slow going and I had trouble connecting with, yes she is the misunderstood genius and obedient noble girl who does want her parents want even though she doesn't want to.
Overall, I enjoyed the unique take on Peter Pan - the scifi setting was great - but found it hard care about the story and that made it difficult to finish. I ended up skimming most of it and struggle to really remember anything that captured me..

When it comes to fairy tales, I’m always on the lookout for a good retelling—stories that incorporate elements from the ones we all know and love, but with their own spin as well. Second Star is the first novel in J.M. Sullivan’s Neverland Transmissions series and I got sold immediately after reading the synopsis. It’s a retelling of Peter Pan and, despite my not remembering the original tale, the synopsis brings together two of my favorite things: retellings and space. Seriously, what could go wrong? I should be screaming from the rooftops.

Except I’m not. So really, what went wrong? Quite a bit.

We spend nearly 30% of Second Star focused on when Wendy first starts the Londonierre Academy before she becomes Captain and is sent on a rescue mission to retrieve Captain Hooke. Another 40% when she is captain and goes on the trip with her crew, only to be stranded on a never-aging planet called Neverland. Within that time she meets Peter and the Lost Boys while trying to find Hooke and fix her ship to return home while finding out a much more sinister force called The Shadow is at play on the planet.

Then the last 30% is spent on the ending, which shot Second Star all the way from “This isn’t too bad” to “What?” in a matter of chapters. Everything gets resolved very quickly and very easily and if there is one thing I hate in a book, it’s a very easy solution solved in around five chapters. We get Captain Hooke built up to be some menacing bad guy (according to Peter, but he didn’t sound horrible) rather than the hero Wendy’s history books make him out to be and all we get at the end is something incredibly disappointing and convenient.

Please. I did not suffer for a month of reading slumps and struggling through this book to get my hopes shot lower than my Calculus grade (an absolute struggle). But it did.

Then there’s the romance. Not even necessary to the story, it came in like a wrecking ball. I’m usually not a fan of insta-love when I see one, but I’ll admit there are good ones out there sometimes. The insta-love between Peter and Wendy in Second Star? Did not buy it, did not want. Enemies to love triangle? Shoehorned in with the insta-love and the ending of the story.

Second Star by J.M. Sullivan isn’t the worst Peter Pan retelling I’ve come across though. The concept was amazing and I absolutely loved it! But the execution? Not exactly my cup of tea.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

A Peter Pan retelling with all the greatness of a scifi bestseller? YES PLEASE!

I was a little disappointed at how hard it was to get into the story - it was quick and unrealistic and not explained very well. I had to force myself to get at least half way through, where it thankfully picked up a little, but there were plenty of problematic things as well (namely, the 'savage' alien species...). The writing and world building was a little dull, only explaining the bare minimum that barely be me a full view of the setting.

I feel like the author may have been trying to replicate something done with the Cinder series, but it fell short. Not a best read, but there is truly some potential in what is there.

Thank you for giving me the chance to review this story.

I should have known that this was not going to work for me because I kept putting it down and reading other books. I wanted to like it. Peter Pan is one of my all time favorite books. I have loved other adaptations and this was going strong, but then Wendy showed up and would occasionally have these absurd harlequin romance descriptions about people for no reason. She is a Navy Captain in this book, and that is awesome and then a switch is flipped and she is the love struck red riding hood in that Tex Avery cartoon. It just didn't work. I kept going. I kept trying. Then the flux capacitor makes an appearance that was just a bridge too far. Come on. That is off limits. I just kept thinking, this is the first book in a series and what are the odds I am going to to pick up book 2? The odds were low.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I should have loved this, but it is just not for me.

Peter Pan is my favorite fairytale, so I immediately snatch up any retelling I can find! Second Star is a unique and clever sci-fi twist on the beloved story, and I love how well Peter, Wendy, and the others fit into this genre. Even if you aren't a fan of sci-fi, Second Star is an easy read with entertaining characters and world-building. Highly recommend, especially for those who love the Lunar Chronicles!

I do love how this is a retelling of Peter Pan. Thats why I'm giving it four stars. The only thing thats not gripping my attention is the fact that its set in space. Books set in space, for me, are heard to get into. Depending on how it is written.

I'll still give this a second read or glance. I'll even still recommend this book as well. I love how the first chapter is in Peter's point of view.

It was the cover that caught my interest and the first reason I requested this book on Netgalley. But then I read the description and I was immensely intrigued. A sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan set in space? I was completely sold with the idea.

But sadly, though the concept of this novel was really good, the execution wasn't.

This tells the story of Wendy and Peter and how they survived the SHADOW in a planet called Neverland. The description said about Wendy as a new captain of a space ship and was given a task to rescue the legendary Captain James Hooke and his crew. The Brigade received a transmission from Hooke's ship saying they found a planet when they followed the Second Star, and they call it, Neverland. Also James Hooke's ship had been missing for a hundred years, thankfully the transmission explained that Neverland's time isn't like of Earth even though it looks like Earth.

My main problem is, there is no effing mystery or suspense in the plot even though the description promised it. Seriously, read the description and you'll think oooohh, it's gonna be one mysterious, interesting journey Wendy would take but no. First of all, the story started with Peter, one of Hooke's crews, and before they crashed. And then when we get to Wendy, she's just starting in the Academy. Yeah, the story basically started from the very beginning. How boring is that? I mean it would've been better if we started with Wendy taking off, and through her struggles in space, we're given flashbacks on how hard it was for her in the Academy. Actually I didn't see hardship in the Academy because she's a genius. I didn't see her geniuseness as well. We're just told she's amazing.

And giving Wendy the job is PREPOSTEROUS!!! A transmission from a legendary captain who's been missing for a hundred years and you'll give it to a newbie like Wendy and she'd been promoted just so she gets the job. The only explanation was as the Admiral says, she made a mistake of not trusting someone before who deserves it and so she's not gonna make the same mistake again. Like what? It wasn't explained. The Brigade should have other captains more suited and experienced for the task. It was a very important and dangerous task, for God's sake.

And Wendy and Peter only met at 50% mark. And they fell in love in 55% mark. No fucking kidding. God!!!!!!! The romance was not really necessary, it can be hinted but making it as important as the main plot is just a bad idea. The thing is, the story followed the real story of Peter Pan so Strictly and when it came to Romance, the author should have followed the original. In real Peter Pan, the Romance is not a main theme. Some subplots are too cliché too.

And I know this is a retelling but like I said, the story followed the original too close, aside from the ships, AI and bots like TINC, Peter's nano-bot, there's no other differences in the plot which made the story predictable. It's also filled with eye-roll inducing scenes.

The writing is not really for me. I was expecting for a deep, more complex writing since it's sci-fi yet I found mediocre and juvenile. I get that maybe the author is trying to make her book more understandable unlike other sci-fi with words I usually don't understand but really, it's too ABC.

The dialogues are too cheesy and cliché like this one:

"Peter, can you hear me?"… "Say something."
"Wendy."… "You saved me."
"Saved you?"…."But I'm just a girl."

I know it's a reference but ugh! There's' also dialogues like "I couldn't have done this without you guys, seriously."

Also, I don't really feel emotion, any emotion while reading. It's because the characterization of Wendy is so pretentious. I think she's being shown as badass, smart and who's someone that will think of her crew first before herself. What a pretentious ninny. I couldn't feel her. I couldn't feel her fear when she first came to the academy even though she has teary eyes when her parents left, I don't feel her crush for captain Hooke or later her love for Peter because hey, she just described their physical looks. Ugh! I hate this Wendy.

And there's one more thing, the use of the natives as the antagonists in the story. Don't even let me start with this aspect.

Obviously, I don't like this novel and my two stars are all for the main concept because a sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan set in space is really nice to think about. And the cover is pretty, for me

Honestly, I'm a little baffled by the high rating that <i>Second Star </i>by J. M. Sullivan has thus far. While it is a novel with a very promising premise, that of a Peter Pan retelling set in space with a nanobot as Tinkerbell and Wendy as a space Captain, everything about it fell incredibly short of that potential, so much so that I can only recall wishing that someone with better writing skills and less problematic racism had written this book. I find it quite devastating that the premise left me incredibly excited for a book that simply did not live up to its potential. After all, Peter Pan in space sounds like something that could become an incredibly amazing novel. Unfortunately for Sullivan, <i>Second Star</i> was not amazing.

There are a number of places in this novel where the author failed to deliver, from character development to general plot the novel as a whole was poorly researched and poorly executed. There are a number of areas where the author would have benefitted greatly from doing just a little more research. It becomes immediately clear that Sullivan has very little concept of what space travel is like and seems to have merely gotten all of her information from various science fiction television shows she may have watched. A rudimentary understanding of technology is also incredibly obvious throughout the novel. For someone who is writing a Peter Pan retelling involving space travel and advanced technology, Sullivan does little to convince me that she has any understanding of these areas of knowledge. It's all surface level and barring TINC, the nanobot Tinkerbell substitute, none of the technology really feels cutting edge or advanced. All in all, the aspects I was most excited to read in this book were minimal and disappointing.

The time spent in space is also incredibly short, leaving me feeling somewhat mislead by the premise. Instead of fighting pirates in space, both spaceships are subjected to malfunctions and end up crash landing on a tropical island planet. To make matters worse, Sullivan relied on the dated and very racist animated Disney film to draw inspiration for her depiction of the native peoples, referred to as stjarnins, living on the island. Not only does she make them greened skinned, but she describes them as primitive, unintelligent, and uncivilized. And though these descriptions, alongside the word "savage" are given by the villain of the story, Sullivan does nothing in her writing of these characters to refute the claims. The native people are written to sacrifice their own people to the shadow of the island, fearing it greatly enough to believe that keeping this shadow "full" will keep its wrath at bay. And, of course, once they realize others are on the island they take efforts to sacrifice them instead of their own people. Ironically, despite supposedly having been living on the island for more than a hundred years, this sacrificing of the newcomers only happens just before Wendy arrives.

And, of course, none of the characters have any real development. Whether it begins with their motivations, their decision making, or even just their relationships with the other characters around them I was left feeling as though I was reading personalities that were given only the barest thought when created. The purpose behind Hooke's betrayal was incredibly simplistic which therefore lead to Peter's actions becoming laughable, if only because it seemed that something was pulled from thin air in order to justify them. I never really felt as though I got to know the secondary characters and many were caricatures of their counterparts from the source material. What I did learn of them was incredibly minimal and resulted in me finding the relationships they had with each other unbelievable. The insta-love was beyond ridiculous, peppered with annoying focus on each others' appearances and the second love interest came out of nowhere, from a character so deeply unlikable that I felt horribly disgusted during the entire scene.

As for general writing, there aren't any terrible or glaring moments where I felt it was severely lacking. Perhaps my biggest gripe with it all is the sheer number of eye-roll inducing times Sullivan literally pulled quotes from Barrie's story. It became completely laughable the moment I came across the "never say goodbye" piece, a quote generally referenced as Barrie's from Peter Pan but was never actually something he had ever written. This is only further proof of how heavily Sullivan relied on the source material rather than actually researching and writing her own story. Overall, Sullivan's retelling is seriously lacking in fundamental, preliminary research, any form of real character or relationship development, and ultimately just seems to be a skeleton of what a well-written novel could be.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I always love reading new takes on fairy tales or well known stories so i was really excited for this book. At the beginning i felt like it was a little slow but it really picks up the pace later. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.