The Piper’s Price by Audrey Greathouse

3/5 STARS

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling [Peter Pan], Young Adult
Author: Audrey Greathouse
Published: February 2017
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Pages: 300 {e-book}

Review on Goodreads

this review is spoiler-free until I state otherwise

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Initial Thoughts Upon Finishing

Gah I just love this retelling of Peter Pan! I think I preferred the first book but the second has me so excited for the conclusion I can’t even. There’s less Neverland in this one which is probably why I felt it dragged just a little at some points but it’s a great book for further exploring Gwen’s character. I love how different this retelling is by swinging it into YA – AND THE COVERS ARE GORGEOUS.

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The Piper’s Price

This the second book in this series and it’s a retelling of Peter Pan!! So if you haven’t read the first book then leave!!

Spoilers ahead for book one!

The Piper’s Price picks up from the events of the first book and we’re still following Gwen as she’s at an awkward age to be in Neverland but determined to stick with her sister — and with Peter, who she obviously is more than a little fond of — and fight against the adults that are ruining Neverland with their abuse of magic.

So the plot of the sequel is Gwen trying to get in contact with the Piper to get him on their side of the war to try and save Neverland before the magic runs out. But he’s a tricky fellow and demands several things of Gwen before he’ll co-operate. Most of the book follows Gwen as she tries to meet this criteria.

We get to meet a few new characters in this book, such as the Piper and also Tiger Lily. But most of the book takes place outside of Neverland and is much slower paced, or maybe the better way to describe it is that it just less exciting than the first one. I can’t deny I was ever so slightly disappointed overall but I still enjoyed it, and I’m hoping the third book will round things up wonderfully!

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Indecisive Feelings

So let’s discuss these indecisive feelings a bit further. I’m all for retellings of classics, I love seeing someone do something new with the story. My favourite thing about what Greathouse has done with this series is making Peter older and introducing a love interest (we think). I love that Gwen is at an odd age and so we’re seeing Neverland from a curious perspective — and I love the story of the magic and the war against reality.

But everything is moving much too slow for me. I’m not sure what to think about love interests anymore because our lover boy from book one — the guy from school, Jay — is back in this book. And Peter is fairly elusive, so are we shipping Gwan (can that be the ship?) or not?

Spoilers!

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I’ve always been an on-the-fence person when it comes to the classic character of Peter, himself. He’s childish in all the bad ways, selfish and pesky. The more I re-watch Disney’s take on it, the less I like him. I thought that Greathouse was steering away from his odd character complexities but this sequel has me doubting.

Peter is just not there and I want him to be. I mean, I get that the book is playing on Gwen’s insecurities hence her flight issues and hence her lapse into wanting to be in reality again — she’s clearly not fitting well into the whimsical ways of Neverland. It’s like his position as “leader” of the lost children has made him too important to do any of the dirty work any more. I think he might be there more in the next book, but who knows? So much of this sequel is based in reality which means it’s all about Gwen and her life — her relationship issues and her frustrating inability to fly properly. And I think this was my main let down of the book: it wasn’t magical enough for what I was expecting.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Piper but his story was alright — I particularly loved the final “battle” scene with all the children in reality being given fairy dust. I guess the bottom line is that this was too slow, but I still enjoyed it.

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Summary

An interesting sequel to the first book, indeed!! I’m crossing everything that the third book takes us out with a bang — and I can’t wait to see our fantastic mis-match of character battling it out against reality together. I hope that Gwen pulls herself together more so that she can have it straight in her head whose side she’s actually on and I hope to god Peter is upfront and centre in book three. I guess we’ll see.

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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