"There have been Starcatchers on Earth for centuries, Peter. Even we don't know how long. But our task is always the same: to watch for the starstuff, and to get it, and return it, before it falls into the hands of the Others."
-Molly, from the novel
I had not read this youth novel before I saw a play entitled "Peter and the Starcatcher" at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. The play was a wacky but enjoyable pirate story. I decided I needed to read the book from which the play originated. I can tell you the play was loosely based on the novel. It featured the same human characters but many of the fantasy elements couldn't be portrayed on a stage---things like flying animals, devilish mermaids and talking porpoises.
This novel was written as a sort of prequel to the familiar story of Peter Pan. Did you ever wonder how Captain Hook lost his hand, how Peter connected with Wendy and Tinker Bell, or what happened to make Peter stay a boy? Those questions answered and more in this 450-page book!
Though I read the whole book, I wondered why, because I didn't really enjoy it that much. I guess I was just curious enough to see how it would end. I will rate it 2.5. Fantasy is not a favorite genre of mine although I LOVED the Harry Potter series and thought all seven were superbly conceived and written.
I can see how boys would like this pirate saga with the adventure and fighting and some magic thrown into the mix. I would recommend it for upper elementary to middle school age.
There were numerous errors in the edition I read; it should definitely have been edited more thoroughly. There are 2 other novels in this series but I won't be searching them out!
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