SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Peter is forced, along with his fellow orphans, to board a ship and head for employment for a not-too-nice king in a far away land. On board, he meets Molly, a young girl who seems to know something about the ship's contents. Peter becomes determined to find out more, only to become involved in a dangerous mission.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Peter considers himself the leader of his group. Although he is not that close to them and even considers leaving them if he could. Later, he becomes a real leader, trying to provide food for them and keep them safe.
Molly is the daughter of a Starcatcher and from a wealthy English family. She is can be bold but when it comes her father she can also be quite fragile. She worries about him a lot.
Slank is the acting captain, since the actual captain of the Neverland is an idiot.
Black Stache is the captain of a ship called the Sea Devil. It's obvious he will become captain Hook because of his first mate named Smee.
Captain Leonard Aster, Molly's father, is a brave and kind man who tries to keep his daughter out of harm's way. He does his best to protect the starstuff.
PACING
The pacing is good because it goes back and forth between multiple stories. We get mostly Peter's view and Black stache. But we also get Molly's, some scenes from Leonard Aster's and from Slank and his crew.
THE ORIGINS OF THE STAR STUFF
There is a scene where Molly finally decides to tell Peter the truth. I found some of it fine and some of it cringe worthy.
Mainly the part about gods and goddesses and how these stories came about because of star stuff. And then it evolved into kings and queens who did great things...because of star stuff.
I had no problem believing people had used the substance to gain power and keep it. However the idea that mythology was true because of it seemed rather convoluted. After all, there is no evidence that these people ever existed in these myths.
MERMAIDS
Starstuff seems to have the ability to create intelligent life, but only from other already existing life. Molly already mentioned that star stuff creates centaurs when it comes into contact with horses. I did find that kind of convoluted but it only plays a small part in the story. And to be fair, it is necessary, as it causes fish to sort of evolve into mermaids. And these mermaids play a larger part in the plot.
USE OF HUMOR
There is a good sense of humor used throughout the story. Little things like Molly messing up her porpoise and always saying “My teeth are green” as well as other aspects. The conversations between Black Stache and Mr. Smee are often silly but not overkill because they are few and far in between.
THE DOLPHINS
A dolphin named Amm plays a key role as he sends messages between Molly and her father. The dolphins also save someone who falls overboard.
MOLLY NOT BELIEVED
There is a scene where Molly tries to warn Slank about Captain Stache and is ignored. It could have easily made all of the adults look like idiots but it didn't. It didn't seem like a mere child would have this knowledge and of course, Slank later realizes that she was right.
MOLLY & PETER
Molly and peter's friendship starts off tentative. Molly warns him about trying to escape and he realizes she was right.
Later, she keeps him away from the trunk but gives him food for the boys. Eventually the two argue because Peter wants to know the truth. About the trunk, about the flying rat he saw, and about what she was doing with a dolphin. When she refuses his feelings are hurt because he thought they had formed a friendship. This leads Peter to being angry, determined to find out the truth without her.
Later on, they have another fight. This one about their priorities. Molly thinks the trunk is the most important, while Peter thinks his friends are. Because of this they actually separate.
What's nice about their relationship is that they make mistakes and learn from them, continuing to grow throughout the story.
MOLLY'S ROLE
Molly's main role is revealing the truth about the trunk and its contents. She also sends messages to her father to warn him and does her best to keep the trunk from being found. Another important role she has is when someone goes overboard she takes them to shore.
PETER'S ROLE
Peter becomes Molly's ally and helps protect the trunk when she finally reveals the truth to him. But eventually they work together to do more than that, as Peter's friends get in trouble. He risks his life not just for his friends, but for Molly as well.
THE MOLLUSK TRIBE
Upon landing on an island, we eventually come to learn that it is inhabited by a tribe. This tribe is called the mollusk tribe. It made sense to have an indigenous people instead of throwing in odd copies of Native Americans (which we all remember from the disney movie).
STAR STUFF-SPOILERS
The dust that makes you fly is not in fact Pixie dust, as there are no faeries in the story. Instead we get star stuff, which in itself creates an origin for Neverland, as well as the creation of Mermaids.
I liked how it was an original idea, but didn't take too many liberties with the original story. After all, we don't really know how James Barrie envisioned an origin story for the island, or even if he thought of one. But it was obvious that in a series about Peter Pan, we needed to see his beginning, as well as the islands.
FIGHTING PRAWN
This tribe has a leader who is actually an Englishman, or he was. Now he resides in the island with no desire to leave, as their leader. It turns out he was enslaved and forced to work for the navy, so he considers the English to be the barbarians.
I thought this was kind of silly to blame an entire society for one aspect which many had no control over. Especially since he now resides in a society where they haven't discovered the wheel.I understood the main purpose, we needed to be able to communicate with the tribes in order to further the story. Without this ability they wouldn't have been able to play any real role.
But he came across just as barbaric as the English when he makes a decision that condemns innocent children to die.
CLIMAX-SPOILERS
Slank kidnaps Molly and threatens to kill her if Peter doesn't hand over the trunk. Peter does as he says but he takes Molly back to his ship. Eventually Molly manages to get off his ship after Peter attempts to save her, but fails. But there is a twist, Molly survives and the trunk is saved from Slank.
AFTERMATH
Revelations about Peter are given, and because of this, he decides to stay on the island, rather then returning. His friends choose to remain with him. Peter is given a gift by Aster that is a familiar sight to all Pan fans.
CONCLUSION
Barry and Pearson create an original origin story for Neverland and Peter Pan while at the same time creating likable characters in Molly and Peter with a relationship that slowly develops. Not to mention a fast paced story.
Their sense of humor is sprinkled throughout, so as not to overwhelm the plot but remind you this is a childrens' story that doesn't take itself too seriously.
My only real critique is portion Molly's star stuff origin story and Fighting Prawn's illogical actions (perhaps if he was given a more detailed backstory, this would have been believable. I give “Peter and the Starcatchers” four stars.
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