Shadow by Colleen Oakes

Genre: Young Adult, Fairytale, Retelling

Pages: 278

Expected publication: July 18th 2017 by Sparkpress

Synopsis:

Wendy Darling has found herself once again in the arms of charming Peter Pan, the god-child who desires power above all things. This time, though, Wendy burns not with passion but with a secret: with Hook as her ally, she is there to defeat the evil that lies inside of Peter, the evil that holds all Neverland hostage: the Shadow.
To do this, Wendy must quietly undo Peter from inside his heart while at the same time convincing Tink to betray the twisted love that binds them together. This is a task made nearly impossible by the arrival of Booth, her sweetheart from London and a new pawn in Peter’s manipulative game, a boy whose heart she must break in order to save his life. As all of Neverland prepares to fight, Wendy races to untangle Peter’s connection to the Shadow, a secret long buried in the Forsaken Garden. When the time comes, pirates, mermaids, Lost Boys, and the Darling family will all rise, but if Wendy can’t call the Shadow, they will all be destroyed by Peter’s dark soul. War has come to paradise, and Neverland will never be the same. Wendy Darling: Shadow is the thrilling final installment in Colleen Oakes’ Wendy Darling Trilogy.

My Thoughts

So! Epic spoiler for me – I did not realize this was the last book in the series since it did not specify in the title on Netgalley and the “Vol: 3” on the cover is not quite easy on the eyes, this aside I still read the book and here is what I thought.

I didn’t feel lost picking this book up. There was plenty of references to the prior books without rehashing all of the events. There was enough to go by that I had concluded what had happened. Peter is the villain, overtaken by “Shadow,” and Captain Hook had not only helped Wendy before but had also sided with her.

Peter, in this book, has given himself over to the Shadow, a dark apparition that possesses him and has driven him to do many, awful, dark deeds. He is a charismatic, greedy and cocky individual who yearns to conquer and inevitably destroy Neverland in the process. It is up to Wendy, someone he still loves within the darkness and ultimately obsesses over, to save Neverland and those she loves.

Admittedly, I was not overly keen on many of the characters and this could simply be due to the fact I’m late to the game and missed all of the prior building of those connections, but each character had a personality that was their own and they were entirely unique.

I found the story treading water more than once. Things were constantly taking place and happening, Wendy was forever on a “mission” except these were small things that happened, it was nothing big or something you’d expect for a series finale. Honestly, the book didn’t really pick up until the last quarter, which is when it redeemed itself for me. I began to flick through the pages rapidly at this point.

I did enjoy this dark retelling of Peter and Wendy. I enjoyed the differing roles, the depth to each character and there is a gem at the end of the book that I also enjoyed.

So, if you’re looking for a Peter Pan series that has multiple twists – pick this up! I give it 3.5 Savvy Crowns.