Straight On Till Morning-A Twisted Tale

I wanted to like this book more than I did and struggled between giving it a 2 and a 3. Peter Pan and Neverland have always been among my Disney favorites. This story was interesting and entertaining in parts, but also very slow in others. I like page turner books that make it hard to put down the book. This just did not have that same urgency for me and at times I felt like I had to push to continue. One of my biggest complaints is about the author's need to use obscure words that left me heading for the dictionary. This detracted from my enjoying the story. For a book that is supposed to be ages 12 and up, the vocabulary is too difficult. Even a strong young reader would get frustrated.

As for the story, it has been a long time since I last read/watched the story of Peter Pan. This is definitely different as Wendy first goes to Neverland on Captain Hook's ship. She buys passage by giving Hook Peter Pan's shadow. And then spends the rest of the book trying to get it back and stop Hook from destroying Neverland. We do not meet Peter until the last 25% of the book (page 362!!!) so most of it is about Wendy and Tinker Bell. The ending is anticlimactic and left me unsatisfied. It ends with Wendy's return to London and the last chapter reads like a biography rather than a great end to a story that makes you sad it is over.

I love the Disney Twisted Tales series! Having said that after reading “Straight on Till Morning,” I realized rather quickly that this book is not for kids. My daughter is in fifth grade and wanted to read it after me, and I decided she isn’t ready for some of the mature content in this book. Two attempted rapes, a somewhat graphic description of a man being shot, among other things more mature.
There were parts of the book that were interesting but I wished Braswell tied more of the classic tale Disney created into her story. I am finding Braswell has a writing style that is a bit darker than The Disney versions, and sometimes that version falls flat. This was the case with this book. The shame is I love the story of Peter Pan and Neverland, and I don't feel like Braswell took me there. It was an utterly different island with dangers that never existed in the original Neverland (and they didn't make Neverland more interesting). This book does make up for the fact that Wendy and Tink hated each other, as the sole focus is their relationship and eventual friendship. Peter Pan doesn't make an appearance until WAY LATER in the book, which was a bummer.
Overall the book was disappointing and didn't live up to it's potential.

I just couldn't personally get into the book quite honestly, and that might just be me. I felt that the beginning was painfully slow. The middle was alright, I really liked the friendship development between Wendy and tink. But I was kind of annoyed once it got in the late middle by then I feel that too many things were happening at once.

The twisted tale books are hit and miss. Some are excellent and would make better live action films than what Disney is putting out, others not so much. Straight On Till Morning was unfortunately not only a miss, it was a twisted tale I couldn’t finish the last one being Tale as Old as Time. (Thank goodness I checked this out from the library) It’s hard to follow, the book dragged on and on not getting anywhere. Wendy I felt was made to be such a dumb character. Why on earth would she trust Captain Hook and give him Peter Pan’s shadow? I understand wanting to escape being sent away but it’s not only stupid on her part, it also makes Wendy selfish, something I don’t remember her being in the Disney film or in the original book. In her dreams she knew Hook wasn’t all that good of a man. An attempted rape scene almost happens 60 something pages in and Hook shoots the almost rapist and makes it known that Wendy would be their slave mother or whatever. After a certain point I stopped reading. The idea sounded good but it wasn’t executed very well. If Wendy didn’t even know who Hook was or didn’t know he and Peter were enemies for a reason then I would have found Wendy’s actions believable. It’s a good thing The Twisted Tale books are written by more than one author. The Aladdin and sleeping beauty book written by Liz were excellent, after that her books haven’t been that spectacular. Even little mermaid was a disappointment. Jen Calonitas Mirror Mirror was excellent, Conceal Don’t Feel was better than the movie frozen in some ways. Elizabeth Lims Mulan book wasn’t my favorite but it was still an entertaining read and I can’t wait to read So This is Love which is about Cinderella.

This was a gift from my husband. I'll be honest here, I took my time getting around to reading this book. I read the beauty and the beast and sleeping beauty twisted tales by this author and was not happy with her writing. I started to read her aladdin tale and again had trouble with this author so I stopped. I was sure this book would be terrible. And the beginning of the second chapter with the very descriptive scene of London almost had me put aside the book for good - but I am glad I stuck it out because this was a wonderful book and has restored my faith in the author. I think she did a wonderful job capturing Wendy, tinker bell and all of Neverland. The book is full of adventure, wonder, and purpose. It is not obvious how things will be resolved and the main character is thoughtful in her growth as a character. The way the author writes is very descriptive so it is not a quick read, I caution you against speed reading or skipping - you will ultimately miss out on wonderful details and the deeper meanings of the tale. I think its a great book for any disney fan, Peter Pan is by no means my favorite disney tale (that would be beauty and the beast!). If you are on the fence, please give this book a chance!

Let me preface by saying I have read all the other books in the series and loved them. However, I found this one incessantly boring to the point where I stopped reading halfway through. It was extremely long winded and lacked any true character development. I caught myself hearing the tick tock of the crocodile but alas it was just the sound of my own clock ticking away the hours I wasted reading this book.

The twisted tales series rocks I’ve already read 200 pages and i love this new book in the series

Peter Pan was in maybe two scenes after the first 400 pages! It was all about Wendy and tinker bell and the end was really weird and dumb. This author thinks she can’t have strong female characters if they fall in love. So she kinda made Peter out to be less liked than Wendy and Wendy of course couldn’t like him in the end. I wish the book had had a better ending with Peter and Wendy, and not such a political agenda, it’s a fairytale. Peters my favorite character and she completely cut him out of his own story.

I’m appalled that such a lousy book would be published by Disney. This book wanders through a lot of trash and darkness without much development of character or storyline at all. I can’t fathom why anyone would find any of the characters likable. The story line is quite dark and this seems to be a trait of this author. I found it very difficult to trudge through. The story was definitely adult themed, with attempted rape. I would caution parents of young tweens. Even the ending is purely unsatisfying. To sum it up, it has a horrible writing style; It is too dark for a young audience (and me for that matter); The characters are unlikeable; and, frankly, it is very boring. I love a good twist on a classic tale - this isn’t it.

My daughter takes these to her middle school English class. She keeps a pretty extensive library for the kids These books are always in use