Review: Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Where I got it: ARC from AmazonVine
Rating: 4.5 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's pretty, a bit weird but pretty.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Page Count: 292 p.
Buy it: Book Depository / Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Before Wendy taught the lost boys manners, there was another girl in their midst. Tiger Lily stumbled upon Peter and the lost boys one day, and her life was never the same. Back in her village things weren't going as planned, so the boys gave her a place where she could pretend for awhile. Peter was completely different from all the people she already knew. Unfortunately hanging out with the lost boys may get Tiger Lily into trouble with her tribe. She is destined to be wed to Giant. This is not the life TIger Lily wants and she longs for Peter every moment she's away, even if she doesn't realize it. Meanwhile, Hook and his crew are searching for the Lost Boys and they may do anything to get rid of Peter.

So I picked this up, because I love a good re-telling. When I tried to think of Tiger Lily though I realized that I don't think I've ever watched the Peter Pan with her in it. I think I've just seen Hook a bunch of times. I read the book, but it was so long ago that the details of Tiger Lily are fuzzy. Regardless, I knew a little about her and looked up a bit more online. I did recognize the other characters though so that was great.

This was such and in-depth re-telling that I will not be able to recommend it enough. It takes Peter Pan and changes it into a whole new beautiful story. The characters are examined closer and the backstory of Neverland is detailed.

This novel is narrated by Tinker Bell, which gave an interesting viewpoint of events unfolding. It also gave great insight into the different characters as she observed them. She was not an unbiased narrator, but she was loyal. She even gave us a bit of her own story which just made things even better.

There were some nice consistencies between the original and this novel. Tink still doesn't speak, Tiger Lily is a girl of few words, there are even crocodiles and Englanders. This novel just elaborates and changes things nicely. There's a lot of meat and emotion in this novel. Tiger Lily becomes this wonderful fleshed out character with so much emotion in her still face. I also loved Pine Sap.

There are some terrible things that happen in this novel. There's death and rape and other fairly terrible things. It's a more honest sort of fairy tale.

If you loved the original tale or love fairy tales, you should definitely pick this one up. It was a fantastic story, even if you have never heard of Peter Pan. I will probably be re-reading this one again soon.

First Line:
"She stand on the cliffs, near the old crumbling stone house."

Favorite Lines:
"She wondered if there was anyway she could fly away too."

"And then she stepped up onto a fallen tree, edging to where it hung over the abyss."