Cave of the Dark Wind

Through their friend Little Scallop and Shining Pearl the four Lost Boys learn about a dangerous cave that can make people blind. Peter is away the Lost Boys want to play...well at least James does. He has to convince some of the others.

It was odd reading a Never Land story without Peter Pan and I thought I would immediately dislike it but I did not. I actually loved this story and the tying in of Hook, Smee and other pirates. I don’t know how many of these Never Land books were created but I am enjoying the new tales. Some of the book reminded me of the SyFy movie that premiered last year called Neverland which was wonderful. This book just captured the fun and excitement of unknown adventure.

Review by Blake: Really exciting with almost as much excitement as the Peter and the Starcatchers books. It tells of the Lost Boys and Little Scallop battling with Hook and his not so cut throat band of pirates. It was amazing and I can't wait to read more.

I just read this book with my son this past week for an upcoming World Book Day event. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson absolutely rule in the Peter Pan realm! J.M. Barrie would be so proud of them because they do the story justice.
In this one, Peter is absent and it´s all about the lost boys, two Indian girls, a cursed treasure and none other than Hook (of course!).
For readers between the ages of 8 and 10, this is the perfect precursor for Peter and the Starcatchers. I just love everything Peter Pan related ;)

This was a fun story. I really enjoyed this. It's a perfect pairing to the Starcatcher stories. The advantege of this story is definitely its length. The story could easily fill a single afternoon and be completed. Also, this would serve to prime the appetite of any potential yet reluctant Starcatcher reader. Pesky Lee is an excellent character and I'd love to have him be a part of future books in this series.

You’ve heard the saying, “when the cat’s away the mice will play”, well that is the way it is with the Lost Boys. When Peter is away they can’t seem to keep out of trouble. Bored James convinces Shining Pearl and her sister Little Scallop to take them to the Cave of the Dark Wind. There they find treasure, the secret goat taker, and pirates. All of these elements are brought together to solve the mystery of the cave while they once again escape from Captain Hook. This is a good addition to the Starcatcher series. This is geared for a younger reader but is still just as interesting to the older reader.

Have you ever wondered what was going on with the Mollusks. The pirates, and The Lost Boys while Peter was away having adventures in Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon? Well, this easy chapter book series (billed A Neverland Book) neatly fills that gap quite nicely. This story takes place in between Starcatchers and Shadow Thieves and features James (along with the other lost boys and of course, Shining Pearl and Little Scallop) on a madcap mini-adventure involving a mysterious “monster”, pirates, a cursed treasure, and the infamous Black Stache (and his gang). We begin the story with The Lost Boys learning of “The Taker” an evil monster living in the Cave of the Dark show more Wind and being somewhat interested in proving he too can have adventures, James becomes convinced that he can solve the mystery of The Taker and make the goats of Mollusk Island safe again. Along the way they encounter a lot more adventure and danger than they bargained for…will they discover the identity of The Taker? Is it really a monster? How will Black Stache and his gang of greedy pirates try to foil their plans and try to get the treasure for themselves? And more importantly, will they succeed? You’ll have to read to find out!

Overall, this is a cute addition to the Neverland stories, though I would wager this is most appropriate for a slightly younger age range than the longer Pan novels Barry and Ridley have written thus far. Cave of the Dark Wind comes in at 166 pages and is a nice early chapter book with large spacing and type (and some nice black and white pen and ink illustrations) with an entertaining and easy to follow storyline that younger fans of Peter Pan and get into easily on their own (best for ages 4-8) and it would certainly make a great read aloud story for younger readers! I give it four stars, both of my kids loved it and we all hope that there will be many more of these to come…we absolutely loved reading more about the Mollusks, the Lost Boys, the stranded pirates and of course the mermaids!!! show less

This adventurous story is a fairytale, like the classic Peter Pan story upon which it is based. In this story, the Lost Boys find themselves in a world of danger as they explore dangerous caves and run from the fierce Captain Hook and his band of pirates. The familiar characters in this story help make it engaging for readers. The new characters, Little Scallop and Shining Pearl, are also quite endearing, and teach readers about friendship through the friendship they develop with the Lost Boys. Like all good fairytales, this story has a strong sense of good vs. evil, and finishes with a happy ending that leaves readers satisfied.