You guys know I love a good reimagining, and this one is Peter Pan! IN SPACE! I haven’t done a lot of science fiction lately, and it felt like it was calling to me. Like a transmission from deep space. Or my phone. One of the two of those.
Fair warning, there’s spoilers in the footnotes this time around. You’ve been warned.
The story focuses largely on Peter, a mechanic on the Jolly Roger who discovered that the dear Captain Hooke was a traitor and getting the ship stranded on a strange planet in an unexplored sector of the universe. While he and the Lost Boys that he rescued from the ship have learned to survive on the planet away from the remainder of Hooke’s crew, he eventually learns that Captain Hooke has gotten a transmission out, one that might cause problems and might also be their way off the planet of Neverland.
This is when we meet Wendy, brightest of the Academy and recently promoted to Captain and given the mission to recover the renown Captain Hooke, who has been missing for 100 years. She and her crew, including Johns and Michael, make their way to the strange sector of the universe and promptly get stranded themselves.
The story follows a very different pattern, with Peter helping Wendy and her crew so that he might be able to get home, and a fantastical element being brought in with the introduction of the Natives and the strange god that they must make a sacrifice to.
I really liked the way it was done. There are a lot of nice nods and homages to the original story that you do really feel like you’re being brought into a version of Neverland, with very similar characters. The story still feels very unique, however, and it follows some of the patterns that I’ve gotten more comfortable with in Neverland retellings.1
I have my problems with the resolution, but it worked really nicely for the story and I assure you that it is not a problem that anyone else is going to have.2 It didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book, which is ultimately the most important thing.
Overall, I really liked it and I’d say it’s definitely worth adding to my list of great retellings.