Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke Published by City Owl Press on 15th February 2022
Pages: 302
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Tinker Bell, banished from her homeland for doing the unthinkable, selling the hottest drug in Neverland—pixie dust—wants absolution.
Determined to find a way home, Tink doesn’t hesitate to follow the one lead she has, even if that means seducing a filthy pirate to steal precious gems out from under his…hook.
Captain Hook believes he’s found a real treasure in Tink. That is, until he recovers from her pixie dust laced kiss with a curse that turns the seas against him. With his ship and reputation at the mercy of raging storms, he tracks down the little minx and demands she remove the curse. Too bad she can’t.
However, the mermaid queen has a solution to both of their problems, if Tink and Hook will work together to retrieve a magical item for her.
As they venture to the mysterious Shrouded Isles to find the priceless treasure, their shared nemesis closes in. However, his wrath is nothing compared to the realization that achieving their goal may mean losing something they never expected to find—each other.
Megan Van Dyke might just well be my author of this year, as late as this discovery as this might be (better late than never?).
Her loose interpretation of fairy-tales aren’t really quite the same retelling as I normally read about, but rather, a brand new exploration of relationships rearranged in whatever kind of permutation or combination you can possible think of. Admittedly, it sounds like a grand foray into fanfiction and less part of the uppity world of corporate publishing, but I’ve always appreciated these odd pairs when done well nonetheless.
The Peter Pan/Tink story has always slipped over my head for some reason and I was actually glad for my own fuzzy knowledge as I dove into the story, riding the waves of anticipation as Tink finally takes centre stage with a villain that turns out to be more relatable than you’d ever imagine.
And what’s not to like really? Tink’s fiercely committed to her cause, bold and forward in her own chase after Hook and plucky and brave when it really matters. Hook gets his own back story and together, van Dyke presents an unusual but believable pair whose mutual longing and simmering tension jump off the pages as they head on a high adventure on the high seas with magical isles and merfolk who in this verse, don’t spend their time singing wholesome songs and combing their hair with forks.
The climax and resolution are albeit predictable–betrayal and revelations that I sort of saw coming–but perhaps the only nitpicking question that I was left with after finishing the last page was how Hook managed to keep his designer stubble throughout the whole story without it ever growing out.
Other than that petty question, I loved every moment of this escapist fantasy…then got angry shortly thereafter that there wasn’t any more to come after this.
