Peter And The Starcatchers

Peter And The Starcatchers: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Have you every wondered how Peter Pan got to Neverland? Ever wondered how he met Captain Hook? Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson know. They wrote a book about it and called it Peter And The Starcatchers.

            Peter is an orphan bound for servitude to the evil King Zarboff the Third. Sailing on the same ship as Peter, a ship which is called the Never Land, is ambassador’s daughter Molly Aster, and a mysterious trunk. A terrifying pirate called Black Stache, after his gorgeous facial hair,  has heard of the great treasure in the trunk, and will stop at nothing to obtain it.

This book also features some excellent illustrations by Greg Call. I dearly love an illustrated book. I feel pictures add so much. Here, they are exciting and beautiful. I think Black Stache’s luxurious facial hair grows longer and sleeker with each illustration.

This book is intended for a young adult audience, but it is so clever and magical that anyone can enjoy it. It would also be an excellent choice for reading aloud, so parents could share it with children who might struggle with a tale of this length. There’s a lot of humor and much potential for silly voices.

I highly recommend this new take on an old story. Peter And The Starcatchers is a great book. I rate it at five gears out of five. I shall treasure and reread my copy forever.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

The Serpent's Shadow

The Serpent’s Shadow: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Exotic ancient magic and a progressive suffragette. A secret society and a well-known fairy tale. One of my favorite authors and Edwardian London. The Serpent’s Shadow, by Mercedes Lackey, is the first of her Elemental Masters series. It is an excellent, engrossing story set in a detailed world. It also contains a very subtle rebelling of Snow White, which I did not realize until somebody poisoned an apple. I found that to be a delightful surprise.

            Dr. Maya Witherspoon has recently emigrated to London from her native India. She flees from the dark magic that has slain her parents. She opens a women’s health clinic to help the chorus girls and streetwalkers of London’s underclasses. She makes a comfortable home for herself, protected by her loyal servants, her several pets, and her cobbled-together magical knowledge. Though her mother was a sorceress, Maya knows very little. Has the mysterious force, the serpent’s shadow, that her mother feared followed her to this small foggy island?

            Mercedes Lackey has a gift for creating interesting heroes. They seem like genuine people. This makes any book by her hand a treat. The Edwardian setting is well-researched and vividly evoked. I feel as if I could take a train to London and actually locate Maya’s clinic.

            I rate The Serpent’s Shadow at four and a half gears out of five. I certainly intend to read the volumes that follow, and I recommend you do the same. It is different, intriguing, and scented with all the species of India.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Mechanique

Mechanique: A Tale Of The Circus Tresaulti, A Penny Dreadful Review

            A boy with brass legs walks into a crumbling town after the end of the modern world and plasters posters for a circus on a ruined wall. A strongman with a spine of steel lifts four women at once over his head. Airialists with hollow copper bones fly from trapeze to trapeze while a man that is more musical instrument than human being plays a mesmerizing tune. That is the Circus Tresaulti. That is the ephemeral masterpiece Mechanique, by Genevieve Valentine.

            Mechanique is like reading someone’s dream. The narrative weaves in and out of time, stitching together a picture of the circus. It is as if Ms. Valentine is a spotlight operator lighting up different bits of the performers’ histories. It’s a highly unusual style. It took me a few chapters to understand what was going on, but once I got it, I was hooked.

            I highly recommend Mechanique. I give it four and a half gears out of five. It is a literary spectacle of a show, and you need to buy a ticket. Find this book. It is a treasure.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather