** spoiler alert ** 
 Wowie, wow, wow, wow! 
 What an amazing book! I have to say I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. I'd thought it might be another 3-star Peter Pan retelling to add to my list of Peter Pan retellings I've read, but it was SO much more than that! 
 The best way I can explain it is that while it's wholly original its a bit like Clockwork Angel, City of Ember, and Hunger Games with J.M. Barrie sprinkles on top. 
 I do have a couple (relatively small) gripes with the book, and feel a little petty for bringing them up but I'm going to do so anyway. 
 1) They just can't get Smee right CAN they? It seems like so many Peter Pan retellings these days do a terrible job when it comes to the Smee character. They make him so creepy and violent and cowardly and unlikable! It's like people have forgotten that in the original novel/play Smee was so likable the frightened lost boys actually ENJOYED playing with him while being held captive on Hook's ship. Wendy in particularly loved him; when he asked if she would join them (the pirates) the novel flat out says "she couldn't, not even for Smee". But in these kind of books (most notably Tiger Lily, the YA novel) Smee is the most unlikable son of a gun to crawl the earth! WHY? 
 I have to admit, in THIS book, it bothered me less than others that have done the same because it feels more distanced from the original. Smeeth isn't really Smee, even though that's where his name came from, and his character (while loathe worthy) was really interesting and cleverly written. Not to mention that showdown between him and Gwen/Wendy? MAN, THAT WAS SO COOL! 
 Honestly, I wouldn't say anything, save that this is a personal pet peeve of mine. 
 2) Really? They made the Tiger Lily character a Hindi Indian as opposed to native American to avoid people griping over the alleged "racist" overtone of her character? DUDE, I have friends who are Native Americans and they get less squirmy about this stuff than we do. It's like as a society we just love to slap offensive labels on everything. In fairness, it's not a BAD idea making "Lily" Hindi, but it IS a pointless gimmick, as well as one that's been done before for television VERY recently so was just not needed here. 
 Those two things said, I'm kind of torn as to my feelings about this being labeled a Peter Pan retelling at all. The allusions to it are VERY noticeable (you'd have to be COMPLETELY unfamiliar with anything Peter Pan not to see them) and add an extra sprinkling of fun to the story, yet this book was so good on it's OWN merits, the characters so vivid and real, I almost wonder if it's a dishonor to them making them all connect to Peter Pan characters. 
 Especially Pete. He has such an interesting backstory/personality/reason for acting immature, that I wonder if it isn't a bit unfair making him be the "Peter Pan" of the story. And Gwen is so kick-butt and awesome... Maybe making her another "Wendy" character (awesome as that is) isn't entirely fair? 
 All the same, would I have picked up this book if it WASN'T marketed as a Pan retelling? If I'm being honest with myself, considering the drudge of books out there about post end-of-the-world disasters and children fighting to survive, probably not. And it would have been a shame to miss out just because of that. 
 Not to mention, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that it's the WENDY character (Gwen) in this book who cuts off Hook's hand, not Peter. It was just so unexpected and girlpowery and WOW! 
 Also it's kind of nice to see Hook as an outright VILLAIN again. In so so so many retellings he's the good guy to Peter's brat, here he's evil again. And I don't just mean a LITTLE evil, I mean A LOT evil. And Peter (Pete) is back to being the hero, which is refreshing. And it's not like Hook is cartoonishly evil in this -- it's really multi-layered, as he has his own POV and everything. 
 I just loved this book! So fun, with dazzling grimy darkness and sparkling dialogue. Highly recommended!