Blurb for the back cover:
“Shadow Thieves is just as epic, just as fun, and just as enjoyable to read as Starcatchers“

Since it’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day, let’s talk about a book that features pirates.

Peter and the Shadow Thieves is the second book in Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson‘s Starcatchers series that serve as unauthorized prequels to J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan. I read the first book, Peter and the Starcatchers a couple years ago and love it. Having never read the original Peter Pan but being a fan of the Disney movie, I found Barry and Pearson’s detailed explanation of how Peter Pan, Capitan Hook, and Tinkerbell came to be compelling. Even though the book was 500+ pages, I managed to finish it quicker than normal. Then again, it is a book intended for young readers but I believe that anybody who is a fan of the Peter Pan story will enjoy it.

In Shadow Thieves, Peter is living on Neverland Island along with four other boys who decided to stay with him after the events of Starcatchers. Peter spends his day taunting the recently handicapped and newly nicknamed Captain Hook who has been stranded on the island along with his pirate crew. One dark evening, a mysterious ship comes to Neverland looking for Starstuff, which the byproduct of shooting stars and gives a person great powers. Leading this treasure hunt is Lord Ombra who is part man, part shadow and has the ability to take over someone’s shadow and control that person. The only safe place to be is a place where no shadows are cast, a.k.a. in the dark, which really isn’t that safe when you think about it. Anyway, things happen, people are kidnapped and Lord Ombra and his followers set forth to London to discover the location of the Starstuff and get a hold of it by any means possible. Hearing this, Peter decides to leave Neverland for the first time and fly to London to warn Molly and her family of the dangers that are headed her way.

The plot would make more sense if you have read Starcatchers. There is a lot of mythology that gets set up and it is assumed the reader is familiar with it when Shadow Thieves starts.

For the most part the story takes place in London, a place that is strange to Peter having grown comfortable to flying around Neverland. He gets thrown in to difficult situations while trying to track down Molly. Afraid of drawing attention to himself, he can not use his flying ability and Tinkerbell has to constantly stay hidden or else she might get captured by a greedy bird catcher.

This book was just as good as the first. I was originally worried about the possibility of a squeal after I finished Starcatchers. I saw no way for them to follow it up and have it come to be anywhere as good as the original. I was surprised. Shadow Thieves is just as epic, just as fun, and just as enjoyable to read as Starcatchers. Like I said, anyone who is a fan of the Peter Pan story should give this series a read.

Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 11:45 am.
Filed under: Book Review, Thoughts on Books.