Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Source of book: Audiobook from the library.

This is the second in what has become a pretty long (and undoubtedly lucrative) series. I previously reviewed Peter and the Starcatchers here. I recommend reading the other review first, as I will not duplicate much.

As a basic matter, this series is a spinoff of prequels to Peter Pan, based largely on Barrie’s book, but also on the Disney movie, which is much better known. My eldest daughter loves these books, and she is the one who requested we listen to them. We have books one and three (from a library sale) but not this one. 

Peter and the Shadow Thieves continues the story from the first book, and reveals some of the mysteries. The “star stuff” that ended up on Mollusk Island (aka Neverland) has been sent back to England under the careful watch of senior starcatcher Leonard Aster, the father of Molly, who was a major character in the first book. It is to be held until the proper time for the “return,” where the stuff goes back to, I guess, where it came from.

However, things go awry. First Mate Slank returns to the island with a new captain (Nerezza) and a mysterious, non-human villain, Lord Ombra. (That this sounds like “Umbra” is not coincidental, although I wonder why the authors didn’t just go with the latter.) He is the “shadow thief” of the title, able to turn creatures into zombies and read their minds if he can just access their shadows. He is, naturally, after the star stuff himself.

After he learns that the star stuff went back to England, he leaves the island. Peter decides to hitch a ride (with Tinkerbell along to help) to warn the Asters, and attempt to prevent the capture of the star stuff before it can be returned.

That’s about as far as I will go with the plot, as this is a plot-driven series.

I had a few thoughts listening to this book in connection with how it compares to the first one. On the positive side, I felt that the action was less of the “set piece” nature than the first book. It read more like a, well, book, and less like an action movie. That’s an improvement. Particularly since it didn’t feel like the action scenes went on too long as it did in the first book. (I think the authors could have cut about half of the last big scene and the book would have been better.) Also good was the idea of Ombra. A nice horror/zombie trope, well executed. Also, Ombra makes a good villain for this sort of book. It isn’t intended to have particularly nuanced characters. There are good ones, and evil ones. And not a lot of gray. So Ombra works well, because he isn’t human, and can thus be unadulterated evil.

The setting of much of the book in England is also rather fun. Nothing against the island, but London is more familiar to me, shall we say, and it also has a better variety of characters.

Another thing I liked was that Tinkerbell becomes more of a major character, and one that does have some complexity. She is insanely jealous of other females, but usually does the right thing anyways. She is also resourceful and intelligent, and thus a strong female character.

On the other hand, though, Molly is a total disappointment in this book. It is hard to believe she is the same character. In the first one, she was a real match for Peter - even better than he, actually. She generally shows sound judgment, thinks clearly, and contributes to the good result at the end. Peter is the hero, of course, and must be because of the source material. But Molly was a good counterpart. In this book, however, Tink takes the role as competent female and Molly ends up making bad decision after bad decision. Despite Leonard’s claim at the end that she saved him, it is pretty clear she did her level best to mess everything up, leaving Peter to bail her out. It’s pretty clear why, too. In this book, she is too emotional and worried about her mother to actually use her brain. It would have been one thing if she had been written that way from the beginning, but she was such a good character in the first book that this was a real disappointment.

I will also note one odd thing about the plot. For much of the first half, there is a second parallel plot involving the Lost Boys back on the island. Then, in the second half, this plot just disappears, leaving things in suspense. While I am sure it will eventually be picked up in a later book, it was weird that it just disappeared, rather than being teased. (The Wikipedia article is inaccurate in this sense - at least about the audiobook. The book clearly ends before the actual return to the island.)

The audiobook was, like the first, narrated by Jim Dale, who does a fine job. These books are meant to be suspenseful, and that quality makes them a bit nerve wracking as driving books (although they ARE effective at keeping one awake and alert). Dale maintains the suspense while also dialing the tension back to a reasonable degree, the way an effective storyteller does. The words create the suspense, not the edge of the reader’s voice.

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

My eldest daughter recommended this book after she read it. Since I generally try to have at least a little idea what my kids are into (although I am pretty much the opposite of a helicopter parent), I figured it would be worth taking along on one of our camping trips.

Ridley Pearson is apparently a bestselling author of suspense and thriller novels, although I have not read any of his works. Dave Barry, on the other hand, has long been one of my favorites. I used to read his column avidly as a teen, and later collected a number of his humor books. (I should probably re-read Dave Barry Turns 40 now that I have turned 40…) Later, my wife and I read his novels Big Trouble and Tricky Business. Both are sendups of hard-boiled fiction genres, and are both hilarious and shockingly adult. It was a bit weird, though, to see Barry as an author of a children’s book. How would that work out? 

The idea is pretty straightforward. Peter and the Starcatchers is a prequel to J. M. Barrie’s story of Peter Pan. (First written as a play, then adapted into the novel Peter and Wendy, which is the one most of us know. Although probably more are familiar with the Disney movie than the book, which is a shame.) This presented some challenges, obviously. Barrie’s novel is a product of its time, and suffers from an abundance of colonialism as well as a bunch of Victorian gender stereotypes. A modern novel obviously couldn’t be as tone deaf as its source, but also had to remain reasonably true to the original story.

This dilemma was amplified too by the fact that this wasn’t just any story. Peter Pan is now a subsidiary of the Disney Industrial Complex - particularly the character of Tinker Bell, who is probably the face of Disney even more than Mickey Mouse. So this story had to remain true to the Disney franchise or risk alienating generations of kids in fairy dresses and green tunics. But it also had to reflect modern sensibilities, or it would be justly panned (no pun intended) for its shortcomings.

Barry and Pearson did do one thing right, in any case. They contracted with a Disney subsidiary to publish the book. Before I looked it up and discovered the connection, I had wondered exactly how hard it was to get the necessary permissions. I mean, the characters are in the public domain as far as Barrie’s originals. But you can bet your life that Disney would have played hardball with their best lawyers if the authors had just published without seeking licensing agreements. (I have some limited professional experience in Disney contracts and can testify that they don’t mess around. On a possibly related note, this book is really cool, and there is a website too.)

So, permissions negotiated, and idea pitched, Barry and Pearson wrote this book. I looked it up, and it does appear that the two were close friends long before the collaboration, so this wasn’t just a Disney marketing pairing.

How is the book? Well, pretty good, actually. It is well paced and plotted, the characters are memorable, the ideas fun and imaginative. The continuity with the previous works is mostly good. There are some small revisions (although I confess that I know that more from my research than from actually noticing while we were listening - except for the whole “no colonialism” thing) but they are pretty seamless.

The key goal of the book is to provide backstory, and it does. Where did the lost boys come from? Well, read it and find out. What is Pixie Dust, and where does it come from? How did Peter get to Neverland, and why doesn’t he grow old? What is the whole story behind Captain Hook and his hand? Well, that is what this book is about.

It turns out (in this fictional world) that Pixie Dust is really “Star Stuff,” a mysterious substance that makes up a small portion of meteorites. It has all kinds of powers, and because of this, it is highly corrupting. In this alternate history, many of the great minds of history were inspired by the star stuff - as were the most cruel and evil persons. The Starcatchers are a secret society devoted to capturing the star stuff before the “others” - those who would use it for evil - can get it. What they do with it is hinted at, but never fully explained in the book. Perhaps in one of the sequels?

A large chest of star stuff is being shipped on the same ship as Peter and the Lost Boys (who are orphans bound for a life of slavery) when it is attacked by the notorious pirate Black ‘Stache. The first mate of the ship (the Neverland) is also a nefarious sort. And then you have the natives, who have a backstory of their own. So that means essentially four different sides each vying for the treasure with motives of their own.

For the most part, the book is enjoyable. It goes down easily. If not anywhere near as profound as a Terry Pratchett book, or as eerie yet thoughtful as a Neil Gaiman book, it isn’t pure fluff either. It’s not boilerplate like so many Disney spinoff books for kids; it actually does have developed characters, moral dilemmas, and growth.

My one quibble is that there are times when it seems the authors self-consciously were writing a scene in the future movie. Set pieces are particularly common in the last third of the book, which I thought went on just a bit longer than necessary. Still, it’s a minor complaint. As much as anything, it probably reflects my preference for literary fiction over genre fiction. So call me a grumpy old man, and act accordingly.

But overall, a good book for traveling, entertaining without being a throwaway, and imaginative in its ideas. 

***

Okay, because this is Dave Barry, I have to talk about music. One of the running schticks that Barry uses is whenever a really bizarre phrase comes up, he mentions that it would be a great name for a band. (I may have used it myself in a post somewhere.) Anyway, my brother and I have entertained ourselves imagining ludicrous band names ever since.

Well, it turns out Barry actually has played in bands before. His first (which he mentions regularly) was “The Federal Duck.” Which, obviously, is an awesome band name. But he currently plays in a band with some other authors. They call themselves The Rock Bottom Remainders. (Other past or present members: Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Barbara Kingsolver, and Matt Groening.) They actually aren’t terrible for a basic cover band. Have a listen here, or check out their website.