Shadow (Heirs of Neverland book 2) by Kara Swanson

Summary

Oh my goodness do I love this series! I mean it is such a good plot line, the romance is sooo sweet, the adventure is totally amazing and the overall story is jaw-dropping awesome!!!!! What a great read for teens 14 and up! (But there are some dark parts of the book… Prepare for some spoilers!!!!!)

This book is about Peter Pan, but the older slightly desperate version who finally makes it back to Neverland to save Claire. But when he gets there, it isn’t the Never Never Land he remembers… This land has been torn apart by a dark shadow that will stop at nothing to change everything. Claire, now in control of her pixie dust, must fight the darkness if she ever wants to she the light in her brother again… But it might be too late to save the old Neverland…

Wow was this book stunning! I was totally enthralled by it!!! I mean, who writes like this? Who writes a totally new, amazingly original Peter Pan story, but takes a spin on it giving it a light vs. darkness tale in a Christian setting that totally makes it complete?!?! It is truly amazing. Also, the romance was adorable! I loved Peter and Claire! (Who needs Wendy and I right?!?)

Now… I am going to spoil parts of the book to explain some of the darker chapters. This book is a 14 and up novel, and honestly it could go 16 and up because of the darker topics. There is some violence in the book. Not too graphic but a bit described. Mention of blood, crimson staining clothing and hair, mention of people getting burned, drowning, dying and such. Mention of someone desperate to stop hurting people they would “end it” to save them. Mention of sirens who drown and eat people, (gross…) mention of water magically being pushed down someones throat, (traumatizing) and mention of people getting cut or throats slit. Yes it is a bit gross and violent, but it isn’t gory. Just mentioned and a bit described. (Look if I can read it and not throw up, I think it’s good.)

Now for the SPOILERS!!! (This book has a huge focus on shadows in it. Kind-of like a spiritual warfare thing. Enclave Publishing is a Christian publisher that writes Young Adult fiction, but it is sometimes a bit more violent and has a very good vs. evil focus. And in this book the shadows are kind-of like demons. A character in the book has something happen to him that kind-of scars him, you never find out what that is, but when he gets to Neverland his shadow posses him in a way and takes over his body. (Kind-of like a demon) He gets black veins under his skin and it kind-of pulses like it’s breaking free. Near the end of the book, this character tries to corrupt Neverland by pouring his shadow into the star at the center of the island. To do so it comes out of his mouth. Kind-of disgusting but ok. This honestly is NOT voo-doo or anything. The character used “dark magic” to do this, but it is never described or deatiled only mentioned that he did it early. He also drowns someone by pushing water down their throat. Talk about a villain. There is also a part of the book where 2 people die then come back to life. NOT zombies, it’s like the star reversed time and healed them. There is also a character who drowned, but the magic (or the star) of Neverland kind-of stopped them from dying, but if they leave the island water fills their mouth. Yet again, that doesn’t mean this is a bad book. Personally I think this book is just fine. It is showing the evil of certain actions and how it can change you.

Now, some people might not like this book. I get it! I don’t like certain books either. (I don’t like the Yuuzhan Vong War books of Star Wars and personally find them disturbing. But I know Christians who do read them and think there fine.) This book to me is clean, and like a lot of Enclave books it deals with shadows and darkness in a magical world and how to overcome them. It’s Christian Fantasy.

Overall, this book gets a 3.8 Llama rating from me and I will stand by it. It is a clean, very enjoyable read that I totally suggest! If you are looking for an interesting, totally original Peter Pan series, I give you the Heirs to Neverland. -The Young Llama Reader.