Author: Lisa Maxwell
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: February 2, 2016
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Adaptation
From “talented wordsmith” (Publishers Weekly) Lisa Maxwell comes a lush, atmospheric fantasy novel filled with twists and turns about a girl who is kidnapped and brought to an island inhabited by fairies, a roguish ship captain, and bloodthirsty beasts.
For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home. Her mother believes they are being hunted by brutal monsters, and those delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. Gwen’s only saving grace is that her best friend, Olivia, is with her for the summer.
But shortly after their arrival, the girls are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and dragged to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey. And Gwen begins to realize that maybe her mother isn’t so crazy after all…
Gwen discovers that this new world she inhabits is called Neverland, but it’s nothing like the Neverland you’ve heard about in stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through your fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and tries to find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the captivating pirate who promises to keep her safe.
Caught in the ultimate battle between good and evil, with time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to finally face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But can she save Neverland without losing herself?
There was no build up to the story. You begin reading, and you are immediately in the thick of things! Not only that, but it was sufficiently creepy right from the start. I remember reading the first few chapters one night, then having to go out to my car to get my laundry. I was looking over my shoulder and freaking out at every sound!
This is NOT the Peter Pan and Neverland that you know. Not even a smidgen of the original tale is here. Absolutely NOTHING is what it seems. You can trust nothing and no one. EVER.
This is a DARK retelling. A VERY dark retelling, and I LOVED that! The more dark and twisted and gruesome an author can be with a retelling, and the more they can shock me with where they take the story, the more I enjoy it. Lisa Maxwell did just that. Give me a dark fairy tale any day, and I will devour it, as I did Unhooked.
What is it about a pirate? A villain? Then you go and put them together, as Lisa Maxwell did, and you have The Captain. Who I was completely smitten with from the start. You can keep Peter Pan, he was too "perfect" and "clean cut for me". So much so that I did not like the parts of the book that he was in. I missed The Captain so much when he wasn't around!
This book is, as far as I can tell, a stand alone, and that bothers me. At the end of the book I felt like there were still so many things left unanswered, and I still had so many more questions. There were still too many ends dangling for my liking. Unhooked could easily be turned into a duology at the very least. So I REALLY hope, Lisa will take the time to revisit this world and give us more.
Other than that, this book was a fabulous read!
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