Everland (The Everland Trilogy, Book 1)

Starred review from March 7, 2016
Zeppelins dot the sky and Marauders roam the bombed-out streets of Everland, formerly London, in this darkly imaginative take on Peter Pan. Fifteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her siblings Joanna and Mikey are struggling to survive since their parents failed to come home after the war started. A virus set free when Capt. Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer (aka Hook) conquered London has moved beyond its borders. Hook aims to find a cure using children who are immune, but Pete, his Lost Boys, and Lost Girl Bella have no plans to get themselves captured. When Joanna goes missing, Pete offers to help find her. What follows is a fast-paced adventure set in and under a ruined city where steam-powered weaponry collides with the ingenuity of the Lost Children. In an exemplary debut, Spinale uses Gwen and Hook’s voices to offer glimpses into the psyche of a man desperate to please his cruel mother and a girl intent on saving the only family she has left. This is a magical, wondrous treat, with a conclusion that’s nothing less than epic. Ages 12–up. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

February 15, 2016
With London crippled by bombings and a deadly disease outbreak, Gwen Darling and her siblings, Joanna and Mikey, are bent on just surviving until they find a way out. Besides the demolished state of their home, they face serious obstacles, the loss of their parents and the city's other adults being just one. They must also evade Capt. Hans Otto Oswald Kretschmer--Hook for short. Hook and his army of Marauders go about snatching up the bombings' survivors for experimentation for a cure for the Horologia virus. Those taken by Hook never return. One day they snatch Joanna, and in Gwen's quest to rescue her sister, she joins forces with a fearless boy named Pete and his equally bold friend, Bella. The question then becomes: will this team, together with the Lost Boys, be enough to outsmart and outrun Hook and his German army and rescue Joanna without putting any other lives at risk? This reimagining of Peter Pan tries too hard to hold on to key elements of its inspiration to succeed on its own, and the hand of the author is sadly evident. Repetitive conversations unnecessarily lengthen the story, and the romantic subplot seems clumsily tacked on. The characters are fickle and impulsive in ways that feel designed to ensure that readers never forget that they are children. With predictable plot twists, this story is unoriginal in ways that have nothing to do with the fact that it retells a classic. (Urban fantasy. 14-18)

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June 1, 2016

Gr 6 Up-The story of Peter Pan (Pete), Wendy (Gwen), and the Lost Boys is reimagined as a steampunk fantasy. Hook (aka Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer), the son of Katherina, the power-hungry "Bloodred Queen" of Germany, is captain of an army of Marauders. Equipped with eight-legged steam crawlers and zeppelins (including the Jolly Roger), they capture London (now called Everland) and reduce it to rubble. Hook's Buckingham Palace headquarters is the only building left in reasonably good condition. Even worse, the German bombs have destroyed Europe's largest biological weapons lab, releasing the deadly Horologia Virus, killing nearly everyone over the age of 18. Gwen and her two siblings, moving from one destroyed home to another in London's outskirts, are discovered by Pete and Bella (a petite girl wearing mechanical wings) and taken to live underground among the Lost Boys. Chapters alternately narrated by Gwen and Hook describe the action from both sides. Hook hears that one of the girls is immune to the virus and makes a plan to capture her; Pete, Gwen, and the Lost Boys must save them. Intertwined with the plot is Hook's desire to earn his evil mother's love. The story becomes somewhat melodramatic as the ending looms. Peter, Gwen, and the Boys try to escape from the Marauders; there's a bit of a love story as well. A girl named Lily, Smee (here called Smeeth), and crocodiles all make appearances. VERDICT Tweens and teens who delighted in the original Barrie or Disney versions when younger might find this more sophisticated, pseudohistorical twist an interesting read.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2016
Grades 6-9 A deadly virus has decimated England. Only children survive, though they, too, become ill as they grow older. Anyone not sick becomes a the target of the Marauders, a band of soldiers who stalk children in hopes that one of them will be The Immune, the one who might become the basis for a cure. Heading the Marauders is Hook, the son of the German queen seeking world domination. The Marauders are plagued by Pete, the leader of the Lost Children, the orphaned of England who scavenge for their lives among the ruins of a once-great city. Enter Gwen, a young woman who just might be The Immune that Hook seeks. Peter Pan goes steampunk in this debut, which twists the familiar tale into a survival story complete with well-drawn characters, a blistering plot, and plenty of adventure. Readers unfamiliar with the source material will still appreciate the constant threat of danger pursuing Peter and Gwen and their charges. Fans of Scott Westerfeld and A. G. Howard will be eager for more from this author.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
In post-apocalyptic London, Gwen Darling struggles to protect her siblings from the Marauders, led by Captain Hook. Aided by Pete, who defends a hidden troop of orphans, Gwen learns she and her mother may hold the key to saving the world. Elements of Barrie's famous work frame (at times awkwardly) this series-opener. A creatively constructed adventure tale of survival and family.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)