Everland book review

Everland
By: Wendy Spinale
320 pages
5 out of 5 stars.
Get it here: Amazon

Check out the Booktube review here: YouTube

Description:
London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived are children, among them Gwen Darling and her siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the ruthless Marauders -- the German army led by Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer.
Unsure if the virus has spread past England's borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook hunts for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the survivors. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return. Until the day they grab Joanna. As Gwen sets out to save her, she meets a daredevil boy named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it will cost Gwen. And are she, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart Captain Hook?

*Spoilers ahead*


Okay let me just start off by say this book was an unexpected gem. I've always been a fan of all things Peter Pan. But I had never really read anything steam punk, so I was a little worried going in. But  I was instantly in love with this book. Our main character Gwen is trying to survive in a destroyed London. She is in charge of her two siblings and keeping them alive. After the death of her parents.
The majority of humans have been wiped out by an air born disease. (Hello our worlds biggest fear)
The children for the most part are slow at reacting to the disease. But only one child out there is immune. *Or so the stories say*
I will admit that it took me a few chapters before it hit me that Joanna and Mikey were John and Michael.  *Okay I may have been so into it that I forgot it was Peter Pan and not its own setting.*
   When her sister Joanna is taken by Hook himself.  Hook's name is so bloody long that I know why the kids call him Hook. *But the name made me smile*
Hook unlike in other stories is almost the same age as Gwen, who is a teenager in this series.  While she is out the night that Joanna is taken she sees a boy on the roof across the street, and he crows. (Yes I fangirled here) He follows her back to her home thanks to her not really covering her tracks. She reluctantly agrees to go with Pete and Bella. *Peter Pan, and TinkerBell* They offer to help her save her sister. So they take her to Everland, which isn't another world but the deep underground of London. Its a whole other working city, run by who else but the lost boys!
Gwen find out that Bella has the disease and it is rapidly spreading, suddenly saving her sister isn't only about that. Its about saving all of them. We meet Doc who has his own issues but there are instantly sparks between him and Gwen. Of course this angers Pete.
When they leave Everland in hunt of Joanna and Bella who has also left they meet another girl *Tiger Lilly* and she shows them into the back doors of the castle that Hook has taken over. She tells them all about the Doctor there who has been saving children and helping them escape London.
When they find Joanna she is cared for, Bella is still sick because the mysterious Doctor hasn't gotten to her. Doc injects her with Gwen's blood and she starts healing fast.
When the Doctor comes into the room finally it is a shock to everyone, but mostly Gwen that its her mother. They band together to escape London but of course problems arise. Gwen decides to offer herself to Hook, since she's the cure and Pete can't let that happen so he goes after her.
In an epic stand off they fight and Gwen cuts off Hooks hand. *This was a beautiful shock!*
The book ends on a good note, not a cliff hanger but you know there is more to come.
I loved Pete from the moment I met him. And I had one Pan in my mind as a I read. This beautiful face.

This book was unique in that it was written from both Gwen and Hooks POV's . I loved being inside of Hooks twisted mind.  I enjoyed this fun take on Peter Pan. It made the world so unique that it was its own book. I have seen a lot of people complain that it didn't stick "true" to the original story and I have to say I love that she didn't. Wendy took a loved story and made it her own and I love it. I am waiting anxiously for book 2 and can not wait to dive back into this world. It was perfect and magical.
Thank you for such and amazing book Wendy!

"To die would be an awfully big adventure."