Peter and the Shadow Thieves

by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

The second book in a humorous re-imagining of Peter Pan, I found Peter and the Shadow Thieves quite a bit more interesting than its predecessor (Peter and the Starcatchers). Hard to go wrong when the book begins like this:

“A mango,” thought Peter. “The perfect weapon.”

Although the entire idea of starstuff is still utterly ridiculous to me (and really makes me think of the movie Stardust), I was able to ignore that premise for most of the book – even though it’s a key plot element. Nice to be able to not focus on it, though. I did like Peter’s “translation” of what Tinker Bell said; being a somewhat vicious and jealous fairy, she didn’t usually say anything nice. Peter always managed to make it sound acceptable, even if he had to say something opposite of her true sentiments.

It was also fun to see George Darling make an appearance. I expect the authors will write another book, where everyone else has grown up (Molly and George will be married, and have three children – Wendy, John, and Michael) but Peter is, of course, the same age. If not, at least we found out how the Darlings got together.

Not the best book ever, but definitely fun, quick, and better than suffering through Robert Jordan. Try it!