Have I had this book on my TBR forever? Yes. My bad! I got it with the intent to reward myself for finishing the trilogy with reading it and then, well, last year was not the best year for me in general. But I picked this up from a Pulp Lit event directly from the author and we had a great chat that had me excited for it.
We follow Basil Stark, Captain Hook’s first mate and only surviving pirate who has now settled into the land of Everland, a place very different than Neverland was, and has been working as a private detective in a world of corruption and dark history. When the woman he’s been asked to track down turns up dead, he falls into a mystery involving magical research that they all thought had no merit and uncover some mysteries of the island.
This was so much fun. With my brain, I can’t follow a lot of mystery stories well and I found that I was perfectly okay with just coming along for the ride without trying to keep track of the clues that had been laid throughout the story. Between the characters and the way the world came together around the central story, I was fully engrossed and wanting to keep going right until the end.
I really loved it. It was so much fun, and I love a reimagining of a story. The choice to use an evolved Neverland as a backdrop to the story and taking inspiration from the original made for a lot of new ideas and it was a fantastic ride. Absolutely check it out.