The Grown-Ups' Crusade (3)

The Neverland Wars #3

by Audrey Greathouse

Gwen has returned to Neverland with Peter Pan and the lost children, but this time, the adults are following close behind.

The Anomalous Activity Department has plans to finally conquer Neverland by bringing the final battle to the vulnerable island. The children will have to rally fairies, mermaids, and allies from other magical realms to stand a chance against the shadow-casting army of grown-ups heading for them.

The black-coat soldiers are far from their only problem. Lasiandra is missing. No one has seen her since Gwen left her at the lakeside with Jay, and the mermaids searching have found only grave omens in the stars. With the island on the cusp of a war that threatens to strip the land of its magic, the last thing Peter and Gwen need is the ancient flagship that appears on their horizon, sailing pirates straight for their shores.

When the battle begins amid old and new enemies, Gwen's maturity will be a double-edged sword. She will either grow stronger or grow up... maybe both.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Fairy Tale Retellings, Ebooks

300 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2018

About the author

Audrey Greathouse is a Seattle-based author of science-fiction and fantasy. Raised in the suburbs, she became a writer after being introduced to NaNoWriMo during her sophmore year of high school. Since then, she has drafted more than a dozen books, 100 sonnets, and 800 other poems, and a handful of short stories and one-act plays.

After dropping out of her university and beginning training as a circus performer on the aerial silks, she returned to school to study at Southern New Hampshire University College of Online and Continuing Education to earn her B.A. in English Language and Literature, with a minor in Computer Information Technologies.

Audrey Greathouse is a die-hard punk cabaret fan, and pianist of fourteen years. She's usually somewhere along the west coast, and she is always writing.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good! I felt like the ending was sort of bitter sweet, but I loved this trilogy.

[Mitsubachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The breaking of my heart over the end of this book series might not have been as loud as I had expected, but it was as painful as it could be. I love this series so much because I love Peter so much and that's als why I am hurting.

So let's get straight to the point first: I have a very deep love-hate relationship with this ending. I think it is great and wonderful and I smile to myself and I want more. At the same time I want to bury my head into the pillows, hide below my blankets and cry my heart out. Because why? Was there any freaking reason for Gwen to NOT take Peter Pan with her? He could be a pirate! He could play games! He could...do so much!! Don't leave him in the real world to grow old and die ;___;

Now what I felt strongly during my binge read was that these books could have been one, giant book. I don't think it's bad they split it but thinking about how I might have had to wait for the next book in the series is horrible. I am glad I discovered the series so late and didn't have to wait.
Aside from that, this book gave me many, many feels. So many feels. I wanted to be a child again, I felt for Gwen when she was in the between with her feelings, I caught myself feeling bad for some characters I shouldn't feel bad for and then for others I didn't even though the book tried to make me. It was an emotional roller coaster, if you let yourself think about so many of the implications and things in there.

The book was also more grown-up than I thought it would be, with so many fatalities and loss... Even now after I finished the book, there is so much sadness. Maybe because there was too much magic lost by making it a good story? I don't know what it is but I love how it turned out while the child in me is struggling against the stupid little things that I am unhappy with and want 'my story' to be fixed.

Still, what I can say is that I am utterly in love with Peter Pan as much as I am with Neverland. The pirate ship is my new goal, the connections to the real world and story building so great. This book leaves me with an incurable ache for an adventure nobody ever came to pick me up to and I am glad I got to have an adventure through this book. I can only recommend you to read it if you love Peter Pan, Neverland, if you do believe in fairies and want to see how children's imagination always wins, even against the harsh reality. There is always a way.

[Hannah Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good resolution to the series. The pacing was different from the other books which have been rooted in wonder and slow-moving awe, contrasted with this book that was action packed from beginning to end. And curses for making me cry while I read this as I was proctoring a medical histology final!

Unfortunately, the copy-editing was lacking. As in, almost non-existant. But that isn't exactly the author's fault.

I'm happy with where the story went, and I'd recommend the series.

[Calibrie Slone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the series, although super slow at times. I, as many others have mentioned, am a little upset with the ending. It wasn't necessarily a bad ending, but it felt kind of thrown together and didn't make complete sense. Sort of like Gwen's first ending to the Margaret May story. She has the connection with Peter that comes before almost everything throughout the series just to leave him at the end? It doesn't make sense to me. Great series overall, but the ending left me a little unfulfilled.

[David Chittenden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome I love Peter Pan

[David Chittenden · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is awesome

[megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a really solid ending to the series. A little bit bittersweet but I think it fit Gwen's character well. Overall, a really good series!

[Kaitlyn Pellegrino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greathouse knows how to echo Barrie’s form of writing. And with that skill and a new choice of words she builds a series where she whispers a new neverland into the readers’ hearts. This series as a whole weeps with nostalgia for those who grew up loving Peter and perhaps find their loss of childhood bittersweet. While this third book leaves much to be desired in the end, Greathouse’s strength is that she can spin a tale where one finds much comfort in the setting and characters if not the plot.

And while Greathouse may have given in to her childhood and whimsy while writing this story, she needs to grow up and proof read her own work…Or find an adult that could be bothered.

[Jamie Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series was a bit different than I anticipated. Being a big Neverland fan and usually loving to read different writers take on the imagination that feeds this fairytale, this series didn’t do much for me. It was really dry in many parts and in others predictable. There are a few truly imaginative, endearing and page turning nuggets. However, just as those pages start to turn in a furry - the anchor drops and you are thrust back into turning your own pages.
Reading this didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out, but it didn’t keep me wanting to fly to the second star on the right and waiting to return to Neverland.

[Mya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to rate this four stars. It's a chunky last installment, it's well paced and filled with adventure, and the ending-which-isn't-an-ending sat well with me. But the ebook I read had so many typos and spelling and grammatical errors that it really impacted my reading pleasure negatively. I'm not sure why the editing of the last book in the series was so awful (I didn't notice it being this bad for the first two). A real pity.

[Tricia Hutson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bummer

The sheer number of typos in this book is incredibly aggravating. At least two per page in the first handful of chapters. The ending is almost satisfying and yet wildly disappointing. She basically abandons Peter which I find deeply selfish. Hard to love this one. Feeling let down.

[Myla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the beginning. Very action packed. The one thing that I find bugs me is that in the end when Gwen goes with the pirates she doesn’t tell Peter. I find that odd the she would just leave like that even though throughout the whole book Gwen’s mentality is that she’s not going to leave Peter behind. We see that when the get captured she could have left with Rosemary but instead went back into the jungle for Peter. We see it again in the containment cells that she refuses to go home until she she’s Peter. But the all of a sudden when she gets a chance to return to Neverland she doesn’t even tell Peter. The Peter Pan who’s home is Neverland. She just goes up and abandons him and I feel like that’s very out of her character. I was very happy with the book but am very disappointed in the ending.