I've always enjoyed fairy tale retelling and I can tell you now read quite a few and this one didn't disappoint. its a great story with a sci- fi twist would i would definitely recommend its.

This time I am not even going to tell you what this book is about except science fiction retelling of Peter Pan with a rescue mission. That's it but maybe that's all you need to know, at least I didn't. I loved every single second of this magical world that J.M, Sullivan created here.

Let me start with saying that I am not the biggest fan of sci-fi genre and most often I am confused and don't understand the world author is trying to show us (I belong to 1800's !) but this was explained to the every detail and I quite enjoyed the concept of the strict world that would be the 23rd or 24th century. Book structure was wisely put together and plot was explained from the begging, starting with relationship of Captain Hooke and Peter Pan through Wendy's training and finishing with the mission. I had time to get used to everyone and get to know them throughout their lives- it helped me to learn their motives and characters better.

This is not where talent of Mrs. Sullivan ends. I believe to be able to create so many clever and brilliant analogies you need to be a magician and author here, with all the tale written, is a witch herself. Even though a story itself was very original, the adaptation of the plot already told before was witty, smart and ingenious. I will admire this book for a long time and can honestly say that I cannot wait till the physical copy is out.

Even though the novel itself wasn't too long I believe the last quarter of the book happen to quickly too me. The slow pace of the first three quarters didn't prepare me for this unexpected ending. Feelings between Wendy and Peter exploded between them rapidly so their separation left the reader craving for more. What is going to happen next? I was kind of disappointed that there was no more simple situations with them together and we have only seen their relations in danger and under pressure.

Overall I can say that this was an interesting and gripping read full of analogies of the story I adored from my childhood. This is a reason why I love re-tellings (especially with a twist, and what a twist that was!)- they remind me of my happy past as a kid, hot chocolate and cosy evenings with a book in a hand.




I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Bleeding Ink Publishing, and the author, via netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised at how much I ended up liking this novel. I found the characters to be excellent and where written to fit into the story world wonderfully. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy the retelling of fairy tales. I can't wait to see where the author takes this series. I strongly suggest that people who enjoy fantasy and science fiction to read it.

I would also like to thank Netgalley for giving me the chance to read the ARC.

would definitely recommend i love peter pan retellings and this is a really good one you wanna go in kinda blind dont need to know more than what the book descrpition says

<b> You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com </b>

Actual rating of 3.5

Second Star is a retelling of the fairy-tale Peter Pan. Set in the future, it is told from alternating points of view between Wendy and Peter. Peter is the mechanic on Captain Hooke's space ship, the Jolly Roger, when he realises that Hooke cannot be trusted and is in fact defecting from the Brigade's mission and purpose. Pan sabotages the Jolly Roger, but does so at the edge of a sector which causes them to be pulled in to an unknown planet by it's gravitational force. While Peter and the rest of the young boys onboard the Roger aim to get free from Hooke and his band of pirates, they find themselves also battling another force on this strange planet, it's native inhabitants. Fast forward 100 years, and we meet Wendy, who is a genius and has been accepted to the Academy so she can train to become a part of the Londonierre Brigade, hoping to one day, make it as a Captain. fast forward a few years, and Wendy is older now, and tasked with being part of a rescue mission out to the unknown sector, where a transmission has come through from none other than Captain Hooke. Wendy and the rest of her crew head out to bring back the crew of the Jolly Roger, though things aren't quite what they seem, secrets and lies, as well as an evil dark power abound in Neverland. Can they make it back home again?

Fairy-tale retellings, what's NOT to love about them, hey? I love seeing the different spins that author's put on them, while still keeping the core of the original story intact. I found it incredibly clever in this one as TINC is actually a nanobot that Peter has tweaked to his own specifications, TINC is actually short for Technological Interface Nano-Companion, as well as SMEE who is also robotic and Hooke's first mate, is short for Synthetic Maintenance Engineering Emissary, another piece of equipment is referred to as pix.E which is short for Personal Interface Cross-Electro Positron. I found this play on original characters and stuff from the story incredibly clever, and even got a little bit giddy when I first read it. I think that was my absolute FAVOURITE thing about this retelling. IT'S.JUST.SO.CLEVER. Other characters that we all remember are Michael who is now Michaels (last name) a tech genius, John who is now Johns (last name) and he is a brute and one of Wendy's best friend. Tiger Lily is also incorporated in a small part as the bride of the prince of the natives.

I loved the way that this fairy-tale was skyrocketed (literally) into the future, the way that Sullivan was able to incorporate all the important and most well known parts of the original into this retelling was done flawlessly and so well, and I think that's incredibly important if you are going to be retelling a well known story. You have to be able to do it justice, I believe Sullivan did. So why not a higher rating?

Well, this book, according to Goodreads, is only roughly meant to be about 350 pages, though it took me a long time to read it. I think this had a lot to do with the pacing, a lot of the time I felt like there wasn't really that much <i>happening</i> though there was. I understand that Sullivan had to set the world, characters and story up, and I feel that something would have been lost had it not been written the way it was, I just felt bored a lot of the time. The story was progressing but at a snail's pace in my eyes. Even wanting to see what happened to the characters wasn't enough to keep me glued to the pages, so this was a little disappointing for me. The last 20% of the book were action, action, action, I kinda wish that the rest of the book had this as well, I think it would've helped the pacing a lot had there been more going on.

I had no issues with the characters at all, I feel they were all written superbly. Wendy is strong, fearless and so driven, I loved it. Johns was the secondary flirty character and didn't disappoint in this role. Michaels is still the shy boy that I remember, and Pan? Pan was cocky, sure of himself, a fighter, and incredibly flirty and playful, just like Pan should be. The way that Hooke was written, as though having gone a little crazy was brilliantly done and he couldn't have been written better.

All in all, if you love a good 'ol fairy-tale retelling, give Second Star a go, you may enjoy it :)

A Peter Pan retelling in space from Wendy’s perspective? Sign me up!

This had so much promise and I was so excited to read it, yet, now that I’m done, I’m disappointed. I just felt that there should have been so much more.
The characters were my biggest struggle with this book. I liked that they were all the original Peter Pan characters with creative was to come into their names and slight quirks that were homages to the originals. Unfortunately, they mostly seemed to fall flat. I really did enjoy Wendy in the beginning. I thought she was tough, feisty, and ready to take on the world. Once she reached Neverland and met Peter, she seemed to become a helpless girl though. I was disappointing towards the end how useless she was, especially as a captain and leader. I did not like Peter’s character. I could not connect with his storyline as I felt I had already read it and wanted to get back to Wendy, Johns, and Michaels.
The plot was a pretty straight forward retelling of the classic tale with a science fiction twist. There are some added additions, but mostly we follow Peter and Wendy through the same situations they have been through before (mermaids, sword fights, poisoning).
The setting fell along the same lines. It was new, yet it was still the same. Same mysterious land with a lagoon, a skull island, a jungle, and ships. Only the ships were a little different as they were space instead of pirate. The academy for Wendy was pretty stark with details which left the reader with a normal school setting.
The ending was a bit quick, too clean, and quite impractical. It was left open for possible future installments, yet enough was finished to be the end, as the original ended.
As a whole, this wasn’t enough of something new to get me excited about. I wanted more of Wendy’s story, as that was the new part and how the book was promoted. This was a fair attempt to try a new spin, but didn’t succeed in bringing much substance to a classic story.

It took me so long to find a plot line in this book. I could not figure out what was going on. I've read Peter Pan, so I sort of understood who all the characters were, but other than that, I could not find anything in this book to talk about. I had no idea what was going on, and while I wanted so much to get into the sci-fi element of a story that I already liked, there was nothing about it that pulled me in.
First off, it took a really long time to get started. The book was just slow in the beginning. I wanted it to be faster paced, and while it seemed like things were happening, I had no idea what the world looked like, or even what the characters looked like. It felt like I was reading about people sitting in a room with nothing in it talking to each other.
The weird romance that basically consists of Peter staring at Wendy for "too long" is based off of her "galaxy eyes" which is not a color I was familiar with unless it means that her eyes are literally blue, black, and pinkish with glitter in them. By the time it's the ending and they're trying to save each other, there's been no relationship built. I don't believe that Wendy would be crying and desperate to save Peter because I've barely seem them talk. There's been no development of the relationship to show me that one really would be miserable without the other.
The ending just didn't do anything for me, and felt like a cop out, and I honestly don't know if I cared about anything that happened in this.

Second star is a retelling of a classic story we all know and love. Wendy, Peter Pan and of course Captain Hooke ! I absolutely loved this retelling, which was set in the future where Neverland is an alien planet with natives that are not happy about newcomers but who religiously follow the “Shadow” a vicious creature that takes people and uses them. When the Jolly Roger crashes on Neverland time stops, the crew only come to know they have been stranded for 100 years is another crew sent to rescue them and informs them of their time spent there.
Overall I fell in love with this book and the classic Peter Pan quotes. My favorite will always be in that place between dreaming and awake is where I will always love you!
It broke my heart the ending and I really hope for a second book to see what happens between Wendy and Peter and if we ever find Captain Hooke again ?!

*Thanks to netgalley and BleedingInk for the ARC of Second Star for an honest review*

I have been all about retellings lately and totally washed out by the same old happily ever afters of modern tales and adventures so this was a breath of fresh air! We all know and love our lost boy, Peter and the idea of never growing up on an enchanted island, but who would have thought The Shadow could be lurking on a distant planet where only extraordinary space captains dare to venture.

Sullivan was able to capture the beauty of our favorite adventure and twist it into a rocket ship soaring through space. With twists and turns around every corner, readers get whisked away to a land only few could dream about. Second Star is filled with friendship, compassion, loyalty, heartache, a little bit of love, and of course a dash of pixie dust.

Think happy thoughts as you fly away with Wendy and her crew in hopes of saving the historical Captain Hook who isn't all he seems to be. Fall in love with Peter and the lost boys all over again in his fantastic retelling. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, a version of Peter Pan where I didn't hate Peter? Sign me up!

This adaption was an absolute joy to read. I loved Wendy and the interactions with her crew and her terrible parents. I adored the Lost Boys.

I loved the way that Hooke's villainy was framed.

And the Shadow? YES!

This book was a joy to read and I would absolutely recommend it!

Love this sci-fi take on Peter Pan and Neverland. It was great to see Wendy shine as a strong, female leader. The way the characters were reworked into the sci-fi story was great and I was looking forward to see each one show up. The story was well paced and did have a cliffhanger ending. Loved it and the cover. Can't wait for the next one!

New adventure for today’s generation

Visit Neverland and all your childhood heroes and villains for a retelling of the classic tale of joys of eternal youth. Peter flies again in this wonderful tale of adventure and daring escapades. Pitted against the deadly Hook, he must keep his lost boys safe while helping Wendy and her crew escape the evil presence hidden within Neverland.

Set in the far future, Peter has sabotaged Hook’s ship to stop his evil plans. Stranded on a strange planet, that poses as much beauty as it does danger, Peter must convince Wendy Darling who has been tasked with rescuing Hook and his crew that the good Captain is up to no good.

Ms. Sullivan has returned after her much acclaimed, Alice with another tremendous adventure that mirrors some of our favorite childhood tales. Grab your sword and get ready for a swashbuckling read that will keep the pages flying.

This book was a clever take on a classic story and well worth the read. Creative, inventive, and sure to please lit lovers and science fiction fans.

This is a new twist on my favorite fairy tale Peter Pan so that immediately drew my attention to reading this book.

Second Star focuses on Wendy Darling's life as the new captain of the Jolly Roger that was formerly run by Captain James Hook. When Wendy discovers unkept secrets of the ship and with the planet we know as Neverland, Wendy takes the adventure to Neverland to uncover the secrets of the ship and Captain James Hook. But there is a dark force known as the shadow and it's on a mission to find a new body to escape it's imprisonment as a spiritual being. Will Wendy find her way out and escape with Captain James Hook or will she put her trust into this man they call Pan?

This book left me wanting more and increasing my curiosity leaving me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what will happen to Wendy and will she find and unlock the secrets to the ship. This book is similar to the movie Pan that came out carrying on the prequel to the classic fairy tale we all know and love because being a huge fan of the fairytale and seeing so many versions of it, made me want to find out how he came to be and finding new twists and turns to the story to see if the same result is still plausible and that in itself was very enjoyable and refreshing. This definitely will find its place on our YFiction/Fantasy shelves and that is why we are happy to give it 5 stars!

I finally finished Second Star and wow it was amazing, I can’t stop thinking about it, the characters were well thought and I can’t wait to see where Boyce and Wendy’s romance goes.

It was an amazing retelling of Peter Pan.I loved the way the story was given a sci-fi twist.
Characters where beautiful, especially Wendy and Peter and I loved how gradually they developed feelings for each other,it was beautifully described.The first four chapters were a little bit slow paced which was basically needed to set up the whole plot.As a reader I wanted more elements about James Hooke.The description of Never land creates a whole new world in front of the reader which was tremendous.It is very well written.Loved the ending it created a curiosity of knowing what will happen next.It was nice that despite of being a retelling it still had the influence of the Peter Pan classics.Really enjoyed this book.

Second Star is a scifi spin on Peter Pan. I usually love scifi retellings. It was ok. I didn't really like the ending. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.