Midnight In Never Land

by Perry Bradford-Wilson, Michael Norris

It is 1805. After Captain James Matthew Hauke of the Royal Navy ship of the line Man of War chases Napoleon's navy across the Atlantic he is left by Admiral Horatio Nelson to defend the Caribbean English colony of Dominica from French forces. The Captain is joined by an Irish Missionary, Father Pádraig Smye, who has left his duties in the war torn revolutionary nation of Haiti to replenish his faith in New Orleans. Together they attempt the daring rescue of a young girl; the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner kidnapped by pirates. Their destination; an island that has no name, one designated on an ancient map only by a dire warning: Never land. Their mission goes terribly wrong once the sun sets and the secret denizens of this lost island come out to play. They are very old... and very hungry.

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Retellings

306 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2010

About the author

Perry Bradford-Wilson lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California with his wife Mary and daughter Alex. He spends most of his time writing. A former publisher of and columnist for "Comic Relief Magazine," Perry now concentrates on short stories and novels.

"Tales of McKinleyville: Big Doin's At The Chinese Baptist Church" is the first in a series of humor novels about small California towns. The second of the series, "Tales of Placerville: Booksellers To The Savage West" was published in October, 2011.

"Midnight in Never Land," co-written with Michael Norris, is a historical dark fantasy taking place aboard a 19th century Royal Navy vessel during the Napoleonic Wars. Equal parts historical epic, fantasy, horror, and literary pastiche, its a fun ride.

Reviews

[❀Aimee❀ Just one more page... · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something about this retelling for me. It was dark, wistful, and sad. The dance of characters begins and pulls them each to the inevitable conclusion.

The book starts out with Mary Davies, raised by women in her parents' employ. Those most dear to her regale her with stories. Her family moves to Haiti and she finds the Haitian women employed by her parents have a different flavor of stories.

Much of the book is revealed through the thoughts of Father Smye. He is a kind-hearted man caught in the nightmare that is Neverland. He ends up on Captain Hauke's ship that is detouring to attempt find the kidnapped Mary Davies. While the story swirls around, Smye is the anchor we come back to in the mysteries of Neverland.


You will slowly learn what dark circumstances brought Pan, Belle, the lost boys, and all the "Windies" to Neverland.

Pan is definitely on the dark side of the scale, yet forgetful and childlike in his play and tantrums. He can be vicious and impulsive.





The lost boys follow Pan's lead each day, whether they like him or not, because they fear his wrath. For a boy who hates rules, he has quite a few of his own.


Captain Hauke slowly loses himself and transforms throughout the book from naval captain into...something else.



Belle is a dark and complicated character. She's sinister, a bit unhinged, petulant, and nowhere near innocent. I kept imagining her as a very young Helena Bonham Carter with her Bellatrix LeStrange crazy eyes. Imagine that wrapped up in Victorian goth tattered clothing.

From the lower room came Belle, her tattered clothes dragging along the cave floor. She was licking her fingers. At the same time she sang a little tune; Cry, baby Bunting, Mummy's gone a-hunting, Gone to get a bloody skin to wrap the baby Bunting in...

"Why did you take Mary away?" Pan Demanded.

"She's ugly, like a little piggy," Belle said, slowly twirling around in front of Pan dancing to unheard music.

The pirates are no match for the girls of the sea that come out at night.




Each day in Neverland brings new dangers and fewer remaining crew members. Each day as the men beg Hauke to leave the island, he comes up with more excuses to stay. He is destined to be Pan's nemesis.

An enjoyable retelling. Some characters are immediately recognizable and some become clear only later.

[Valerie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what I expected when I sat down to read this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is set as a sort of prequel to the original Peter Pan, and most of the characters you know and love are present - although the story itself is much darker than I expected, the character development was intriguing. For anyone who ever wondered how Captain Hook came to be in Neverland, the secret behind Peter Pan's eternal youthfulness, or even how the island came to be called Neverland, this book provides very satisfactory answers to all that and much more.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I won from a goodreads giveaway. The title should be familiar to everyone and I would almost call it a prequel to Peter Pan. However, this is not a book you'd want to read to small children asking for a story at bedtime! There is a lot of action, scary action. I enjoyed the authors' imaginative weaving of the original Peter Pan story into their book. In fact, I think I'll read the original just to remind myself of that story. Definitely a fun read that would be enjoyed by older children, teens, and readers who like to scare themselves to sleep.

[Fheisler · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if there were some factual basis for a number of myths, a kernel of truth that led to Ponce de León's search for the fountain of youth, J.M. Barrie's tale of Peter Pan and the lost boys, and the existence of vampires, mermaids, lycanthropes, fairies, and sirens?

If you could imagine a world in which there was some small bit of truth behind these legends, and you were very, VERY creative and talented, you might come up with the wonderful novel that Perry Bradford-Wilson and Michael Norris have in 'Midnight in Never Land.'

The book's action takes place in a completely believable world where mythological creatures exist side by side with historical fact, in the year 1805. There is an engaging back-story for the Peter Pan tale that we all know, but the book also keeps readers guessing as to what will happen next, and how it will all turn out. The connections between the book's events and various myths are ingenious, but it was the story-telling that had me staying up way too late, reading to find out what would happen to the characters.

Buy this book and read it, but don't say I didn't warn you: you WILL find yourself staying up late and neglecting your responsibilities in order to find out what happens to the characters!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to "win" this book on the Goodreads giveaway page. As you may guess from the title, the story is a reworking of Peter Pan. This version is a bit more realistic, and quite a bit darker. You see many of the characters you already know, but in a much different light, and several new ones are introduced.
Our protagonist is a young girl whose father has interests in the West Indies/Caribbean shipping routes and moves his family from London to the islands to be closer to his work. After being kidnapped by pirates, Mary finds herself in the company of Peter and the boys on an island known as Isla de los huesos (Island of the bones), Isla del Craneo (Island of the skull), or Never Land (as in "Never Land Here"). Peter, the Pan, and his crew reminded me of Lord of the Flies more than once, in their playfulness mixed with cruelty.
Rather than spoil the twists and turns of the story, I'll leave it to you to discover. Overall, the characters are well developed and the storylines tie up very satisfactorily in the end. I highly reccommend this book~ I simply could not put it down! A fairy tale for grown-ups.

[Jolie Kerenick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book as an advanced reader's copy. When I started the book, all I knew of it was what I read on the back cover, very little. I enjoyed the experience of not knowing what to expect, and letting the story unfold as I read. If you, too would like to experience the book this way, stop here. If you choose to read on, I'll try not to give too much away.

Think Peter Pan meets Lost Boys, with a nice dose of Lord of the Flies mixed in. Sounds a bit strange, I know, but the authors handled it quite cleverly. I enjoyed the way they wove the different elements of each together. Some elements are fairly overt, others are more subtle. The core elements of Peter Pan were there, some through symbolism which added a nice touch. All of the main characters are present as well. Some you recognize from the beginning, others are reavealed later. Parts of the story are quite dark, which serve to keep it from being trite. The book left a smile on my face, and a desire to reread Peter Pan and Lord of the Flies and to watch the Lost Boys movie to pick up subtlties I might have missed. All ends are tied up nicely. Creative, clever, exciting. Definitely worth picking up.

[Sharessa]

I always thought Capt. Hook might have gotten a bum rap. I look forward to reading this one and finding out just how misunderstood this villain has been.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow and boring

[Leanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read the premise for Midnight in Never Land on Amazon, it grabbed my attention because I have always been a huge fan of the Peter Pan story; the symbolism and the idea of Never Land have always fascinated me. Add the idea of making it darker? It seemed poised to scratch my itch for a decent mystery/horror/fantasy novel. I downloaded the sample chapter and after finishing it, had to buy book.

This was difficult for me to put down- I read the entire last half of it in one day! The story, although littered with minor comma and occasional spelling errors (I'm not perfect in my grammar, but I know these errors could rub some readers the wrong way), flowed smoothly and the characters were given depth without providing pages and pages of droll background history.

While the first chapter did establish main characters, the second chapter is really where the action starts and the darkness of the novel takes shape. The action is described well and painted vivid scenes for my imagination.

Those looking for a darker/bloodier take on the Peter Pan story will most likely enjoy this- it is not an exact copy, but a re-interpretation... imagine it as the "kernel of truth" behind the Peter Pan story.

Two notes for Kindle owners:
1) The story is written with some uncommon words sprinkled throughout and sailing terms (beyond stern and bow, I'm helpless) so the Kindle X-Ray feature was very handy.
2) My Kindle Touch would not skip chapters and I could not select a chapter from the table of contents. This was a minor nuisance, but I thought I would give the warning ahead of time as I'm assuming it's how the edition was programmed.

[{erika} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book since December 2010, so under 6 years and never read it. It was a very fast read for me and I definitely enjoyed it. A dark and twisted telling and prequel to Peter Pan. I'm probably never going to think of it the same way after the Windies, "mermaids", "vampires", and "Tinker" Belle. I like how twisted Captain "Hook" is by the end. I'm left feeling satisfied and a bit disquieted so well done.

[Stitch_Princess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very hard for me to review. I kept going back and fourth between 2 or 3 stars. Through out the entire book it kept going from boring to not boring and then back again. I think some parts could of been left out it just seemed to go on too long at points.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, fun read about the dark side of 'The Pan'.

[JHM]

This book had some promise, but I just couldn't get into it.