Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (2007)

My blog post about this book is at this link . ( )

The third and final book in the series that began with Peter and the Starcatchers. There are two main conflicts in the story. A tribal war breaks out on Mollusk Island, and Peter and his friends have to stop The Others and Lord Ombra from destroying the force of light which would allow the forces of darkness to take over the universe. ( )

Background: The continuation of Peter and the Starcatchers and Peter and the Shadow Thieves. Peter and the Secret of Rundoon chronicles the adventures of Peter, Molly, and George as they attempt to save the world and starstuff from the Others. They are on their way to Rundoon to defeat the Others and all the while the island is under attack from another evil force.

Review: I love these stories. I think Peter Pan is a wonderful tale and Dave Berry does a great job giving us more of its background and story. Why Peter can fly and the other Lost Boys cannot and the history of the pirates and the island. It is an adorable story with adventure and escape! Great read/ listen for the summer times months. Light and fun, normally for a younger audience but enjoyable for all. I think that this was supposed to be the conclusion to the Starcatchers series but, there is another volume: Peter and the Sword of Mercy and I think another after that... ( )

Summary: Peter and Molly thought that they and the Starcatchers had defeated Lord Ombra at Stonehenge. Peter, imbued with enough of the starstuff's power that he can fly, and no longer ages, has returned to Mollusk Island, and Molly has gone back to London. However, Lord Ombra is not gone, and upon his return he orchestrates the kidnapping of Peter and the Lost Boys from the Island. They're headed for the desert court of the King of Rundoon, where Peter will be forced to play an integral part in Ombra's plan, a plan with dire consequences, not only for Peter and his friends, but for the whole of humanity. Molly races to save him, but can she possibly get there in time?

Review: I'm almost certainly biased by my love of Peter Pan stories (Peter was the first boy I ever had a crush on, and it's never entirely gone away), but I find the Starcatchers books incredibly charming and fun, and this one was no exception. It's been four years since I listened to the first two books, but this book immediately immersed me back in the Victorian London of the Starcatchers, and reminded me of what had happened in the previous stories without unnecessary repetition. The book is packed with plenty of action and adventure, and keeps the plot for the most part moving steadily along; there is a subplot involving Mollusk Island being invaded by a tribe of brutal hunters known as the Scorpions, which comes into play nicely at the end, but distracts from the main storyline during most of the book. I also thought there a nice range of humor throughout; there are some jokes that are clearly aimed at the younger end of the target audience (the flying, pooping camel comes to mind), but there's also some subtle snarky humor that should appeal to more mature readers.

But really, my favorite part about these books is the way that they pick out various parts of the familiar Peter Pan story, and fill in the backstory in such a way that it's both clever and plausible. (Well, plausible given that one accepts the existence of Starstuff.) There are a number of such things that get explained in this book - the crocodile swallowing the clock, for example - but my favorite was watching the developing tension surrounding Peter and Molly's relationship: Tinkerbell's possessive jealousy, the enmity and posturing between Peter and George Darling, and the play of emotions as they all realize that Peter is never going to live the life of a normal boy. It's all handled very well, and with more depth than you might expect given the age of the intended audience.

Jim Dale, unsurprisingly, does a lovely job with the narration; I picked this book up in large part because I needed a narrator that I could rely on to be good. But I have to admit that there were points when Peter Pan sounded distractingly like Harry Potter, and Molly got more than a little Hermione-ish in places. Plus, who would have thought the word "dungbombs" (see above re: the camel) would have come up in more than one book? 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Peter and the Secret of Rundoon is not a standalone, but the series as a whole is definitely recommended for anyone who grew up (or is growing up) (or will never grow up) loving Peter Pan and wanting to run away to Neverland. ( )

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