Friday, September 24, 2010

Review: Another Pan by Daniel and Dina Nayeri


Sixteen-year-old Wendy Darling and her insecure freshman brother, John, are hitting the books at the Marlowe School. But one tome consumes their attention: THE BOOK OF GATES, a coveted Egyptian artifact that their professor father believes has magical powers. Soon Wendy and John discover that the legend is real—when they recite from its pages and descend into a snaking realm beneath the Manhattan school. As the hallways darken, and dead moths cake the floor, a charismatic new R.A. named Peter reveals that their actions have unleashed a terrible consequence: the underworld and all its evil is now seeping into Marlowe. Daniel Nayeri and Dina Nayeri return to reimagine Peter Pan as a twisty, atmospheric, and fast-paced fantasy about the perils of immortality.

This is a guest review by my friend Katie. It's her first, so show some love!

I’ve got a confession to make. Another Faust, the first book in the “Another Series” , was not one of my favorite books. Don’t get me wrong. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it. It just was not the kind of story that I thought that it was going to be. Plus I am not familiar with the original (Faust). I mean who is?
So when I started to read this book I thought that it was just going to be more of the same, but it was so awesome. It blends Ancient Egyptian legends, the drama of high school, and a beloved classic into a seamless story that you cannot put down.
I think another reason that I enjoyed this book more is because I am familiar with Peter Pan. It has the Lost Boys, the rivalry between Wendy and Tina (Tinkerbell), and boy who never wants to grow up. It has just enough similarities to Peter Pan and just enough differences to make this story work. If you’ve read Peter Pan or seen the movie you have to read this book.
This book is definitely action packed. I think that guys will love it. But, it is still accessible to girls. So anyone could read this book and they would not feel that it was geared toward any one gender.
Whether you loved Another Faust or not you’ll go crazy over Another Pan. The story is alive and takes the readers mind and imagination to the extreme.

Note: I usually would say that if there is a previous book in a series you should read it before you read any of the later books. In the case of these books, however,  I do not think that it would cause you any problems to skip Another Faust if you are so inclined. There is not much overlap with characters or details. The only characters that are carried over to the second book are Connor Wirth and Vileroy. Connor is not important and any blanks on the part of Vileroy are easily filled in. But if ya’ll still want to buy Another Faust I am sure the authors would appreciate it.

4.5/5

4 comments:

  1. I absolutely refuse to read this book after the atrocity that was Another Faust. I fought my way through the whole thing and did not give it a DNF for naught. It was one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire 30 years on this planet and out of the 12 people that I know have read it none have them have even thought it was mildly redeeming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sort of reading this right now, but so far, it's pretty slow :\

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pam: I thought Another Faust was alright, but definitely had issues. My friend felt the same way, but she said that AP was much better.

    Marie: My friend also had that problem. She said it started out kind of slow, but got much better as it went on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I keep seeing this book around. I keep hearing mixed things.
    Be sure to check out these Pan-related books -

    Based on Barrie's own notes for more:
    Click!
    A great 'What if?' adventure (but it's not for the kids!): Click!
    BELIEVE!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails