Everland (Everland)

Title: Everland

Series: Everland (Book #1)

Year: 2016

Author: Wendy Spinale

Summary: 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: There are so many books out there that claim to be retold stories of classic favorites. Peter Pan is just one classic that, I feel like, is underappreciated and also not done real justice when it gets retold. There are too many elements that get left out, or too much deviation on the new author's part that it basically fails to be any sort of retelling of the original.

This book pleasantly surprised me. It's written in present tense (which is sometimes awkward for me to read), but once I got over that, I was sucked right in. And the strength of this retelling is something to be impressed by. It's got all the things.

Gwen is only trying to survive -- and she's got two younger siblings to keep alive, too. In this alternative universe where war and power control have gone wrong, Gwen knows it's only a matter of time before she and her siblings are caught and disappear forever. Unless she can get them all out into... someplace safe. That's when she meets Pete, a cocky youth who leads a bunch of Lost Boys against the infamous Captain Hook.

I won't waste too much time on giving a summary -- the author did a bang-up job with that in the summary copied and pasted above. Read that, if you will.

I just want to take a moment to bask in the Peter-Pan-ness of this story. True, it's not a perfect story, the style is quick and sometimes choppy, some of the characters lack depth, but I was really surprised at how well the plot was laid out. And when I said it had all the Peter Pan things -- boy howdy. John from the original is now a girl, Joanna, but the transition is smooth and perfect for the story (since girls are more susceptible to the deadly virus roaming around). Thus, since the girls are dying off, Gwen is seen as a special person (Mother), and Pete really does lead a gang full of just boys. Bella (Tinker Bell) has wings (!!) and can actually fly and IT WORKS SO WELL.

The only thing I really didn't like right away was Captain Hook. With his long German name, I felt the moniker was a little forced, but he grew on me. But we've got a quick look at Smee and crocodiles. Yes, crocs, plural. I told you it had all the things. The Jolly Roger is a zeppelin, which I thought was pretty cool.

Alternative historical books really aren't my thing, but this is a dystopia with a tidbit of hope. Normally, you don't get much hope in dystopian tales, but in this one you do. I might read more of them if they turned out more like this one.

Advisory: Some violence, explosions, fighting, and death. One character (slightly spoiler-y but not a surprise) has his hand cut off; crocodiles kill another character; etc. The tone of the book is suspenseful and active, but I didn't think the violence was over the top.

Light romance leading to a kiss.

The big plot of this book centers around the deadly virus plaguing London. This sickness, to me, almost seemed like a form of leprosy, since the skin on the victim's hands and feet is affected first, basically dying and crumbling off to leave sores and raw wounds on the affected areas. Since it is deadly, people die, but again it wasn't over the top. Just be aware that there are some descriptions and mentions of the virus and its symptoms.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars