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Everland by Wendy Spinale (Review #130)

"The only way to grow up is to survive.

London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived the destruction and the outbreak of a deadly virus are children, among them sixteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her younger siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the deadly Marauders—the German army led by the cutthroat Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer.

Unsure if the virus has spread past England’s borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook is on the hunt for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the surviving children. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return.

Until one day when they grab Joanna. Gwen will stop at nothing to get her sister back, but as she sets out, she crosses paths with a daredevil named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it might cost Gwen more than she bargained for. And are Gwen, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart the ruthless Captain Hook?"

Review:
This was an okay book. The overall theme and idea behind it is actually very interesting and I enjoyed this new take on the classic tale.

However, I didn’t feel especially attached to any one character. I felt that no character was really given the depth to really get to know them very well. Gwen and Hook are the two narrators of the story and even they were hard to sympathize with or simply care. I will say though I did enjoy Bella. While she had most of the same tropes the original Tinker Bell had, this Bella had her own sort of resilience which I came to appreciate. The end of the book was predictable and the “surprise” twist I figured out really early on in the book, so it lacked suspense for me and worry. I knew what was going to happen so why get invested in the moment? Also whenever there was a traumatic moment, it seemed very rushed. We weren’t as readers given time to care about what has happened before we’re moving on.

Overall it was a sweet story. For the most part it was the same story as the original story of Peter Pan, but set in a post apocalyptic, steampunk universe. I think it’s just geared towards a much younger audience than I. So is this something you’re interested in reading? If you’ve read it, what’re your thoughts? Leave a comment below!


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