Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Reviewed by EllenRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Starcatchers Series, Book 2
Ratings Explanation
Violence: The pirates on Mollusk Island kidnap the island chief’s daughter. It is briefly mentioned that Slank (one of the “Others”) killed and ate Little Richard while lost at sea. In London, Peter runs into a man who beats runaway children; Peter is attacked by a street vendor who sells birds and has captured Tinkerbell, then arrested by a policeman for hitting the bird seller. The Others kidnap Molly’s mother. A servant girl working with the Others tries to stab Molly with a kitchen knife. At the Tower of London, Molly tells Peter the story of two princes who were locked up, beaten, and murdered in the Tower by their cruel uncle. Mr. McGuinn, a fellow Starcatcher, is killed when he falls from a stone stairwell. In the final battle for the starstuff, both Peter and Molly’s father are shot by the Others (both recover.)
Adult Themes: Peter is arrested and sent to jail, where he encounters several other boys (street urchins) who have been sent there “to rot.” Boys who have been arrested are seldom set free again, but generally face a lifetime of imprisonment or hardship (very Dickensian). When Molly’s mother is kidnapped by the Others and held for ransom, Molly’s father must choose between surrendering the starstuff to the evil powers or saving her life.
Synopsis
In this sequel to Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and his gang of Lost Boys now live on Mollusk Island and gamefully spar with Black Stache (now nicknamed “Hook” by Peter & co.) and his fellow pirates. But the day a different ship arrives on the island bringing Slank, the noseless man Nerezza, and a dark, creepy figure called Lord Ombra in search of the magical starstuff, Peter smells trouble. When Ombra and his men learn the starstuff is in London, they sail off, and Peter decides he must head to England to warn Molly and her family before the evil men get there first. He stows away on Ombra’s ship unseen, then flies off in London with Tinkerbell to find the Aster family. London does not receive Peter kindly, and he is cast into jail and Tinkerbell kidnapped by a bird seller before they can even blink. They escape, of course (the ability to fly can come in handy) and eventually reach Molly, but not before the eerie, inhuman Lord Ombra kidnaps her mother for a starstuff ransom. Ombra steals people’s shadows (and their souls), reads their thoughts, and turns them into emotionless robots. But Peter, Molly, Tink, and even a young George Darling team up to combat the nefarious shadow-thieving Others and ensure that the starstuff does not fall into their filthy hands.
This sequel-to-the-prequel proves just as satisfying as the first, but has a different tone. There is less swashbuckling and pirate jargon, as Hook and his crew on Mollusk Island take a back seat to the main storyline set in the streets of Dickens-era London with the spooky Lord Ombra, whose shapeless figure can creep under doorways and suck up people’s shadows without warning. Famous London landmarks (the River Thames, the Tower of London, Kensington Gardens) make brief but shining appearances in the story, with the final showdown between good and evil being set in farm country at a very familiar, “stony” location. The authors even have James Barrie (Peter Pan’s creator) make a clever cameo in one scene. Another entertaining and adventurous read.