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Jan 18, 2013 D.G. Speirs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Review:
Second On The Right
By Elizabeth Los

Reviewed by D. G. Speirs

18 January 2013

One of the bravest thing a writer can do is take on a legend. Elizabeth Los had decided to do this in an imaginative reboot of the Peter Pan story in her novel, Second On The Right.

The story of the novel veers back and forth across time and space freely, as myth and legend should. The story centers around the story of Eileen Davis, the multi generational descendent of a pirate captain, who is swept back through time Review:
Second On The Right
By Elizabeth Los

Reviewed by D. G. Speirs

18 January 2013

One of the bravest thing a writer can do is take on a legend. Elizabeth Los had decided to do this in an imaginative reboot of the Peter Pan story in her novel, Second On The Right.

The story of the novel veers back and forth across time and space freely, as myth and legend should. The story centers around the story of Eileen Davis, the multi generational descendent of a pirate captain, who is swept back through time and ends up aboard the pirate ship Mistral Thief under the tutelage of the legendary pirate, Captain Robert Benedict. Benedict teaches Eileen the ways of a pirate, all the while falling in love with her. But this experience changes the young woman, and she has a different destiny. Returned to her own time, she instead falls in love with Benedict’s descendent, James. These two are soul mates. But a dark presence in the world stalks the Benedicts – a fey creature of legend that steals children and takes their youth to stay forever young. How the different generations of Benedicts finally deal with this threat form the core of this novel.

This novel has its share of problems. It takes a long time to get started. The author has a tendency to switch viewpoints - not just within the chapter, but often in mid paragraph as well. It’s difficult at times to keep track of who exactly is doing what. Additionally, at first, the character of Eileen is not very realistically portrayed. She’s described as a med student who is within a few credits of completing her license, yet she is unable to tie a knot. One of the first things you learn in med school is how to suture – a skill that involves tying knots.

The author could also have benefitted from some judicious editing. There are grammatical and formatting errors. But more importantly, there’s a general looseness in the early parts that indicates it was written at different times and parts were overlooked. For example, in one chapter, she introduces and describes the character of Patrick, the best friend and confidant of James Benedict. Then in a later chapter, she reintroduces the same character and does the exact same descriptive process. There are also grammatical and formatting errors.

Throughout the first half of the book, there were also these pieces of poetry that I believe were supposed to be prophecy of a sort, foreshadowing of the action. To this reader, they seemed to be more of a distraction than anything else.

Despite all of this, it really is two stories. All of the problems I’ve described literally occur in the first half of the novel; I found only one or two formatting errors in the last half. If you can push your way through first half and make it to the confrontation at sea between James and Eileen and the dark force opposing them, you will be well rewarded. This book takes off like a rocket from that point! Los hits her stride as an author in this, confident both in her prose and subject material. She hits all the right notes; you’ll find yourself nodding as you see all the touchstones from James Barrie’s original Peter Pan tale. Her tale ebbs and flows, moving from hope to despair and back again. She certainly kept this reviewer in suspense until the very last pages.

And one really special mention: how Los explains the origin of the name of Captain Hook’s second in command caught me by surprise as I was taking a sip of a beverage. In other words, a soda out of the nose moment, because I laughed so hard. Well done, Elizabeth!

So, like any adventure, you may have to brave rough seas at first, but there truly be treasure at the end of this tale. I give it four stars.
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Mar 17, 2014 Kyoko M. rated it really liked it

Very few authors have the talent to take something legendary and classic and put a creative spin on it, but Elizabeth Los is one of the privileged few. All the great things about storytelling are present--compelling main characters, a sprawling world to go frolic in, gripping sexual tension, and a twisty-turny-timey-whimey ball of peril as the cherry on top. The language is lovely and the descriptions are more than easy to picture. I especially found myself wrapped up in the setting, which is so ...more

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May 17, 2014 Angie Martin rated it really liked it

**I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

“Second on the Right” by Elizabeth Los is an intriguing time travel tale that takes place on the high seas. Eileen Davis works on a cruise ship, where she begins to fall for James Benedict. During this particular tour, she falls into the ocean and through time, where she lands on a pirate ship captained by none other than James’s descendant, Captain Robert Benedict.

This is an interesting time travel tale ...more

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Mar 30, 2014 Everything Marie rated it really liked it

First of all, I'd like to commend the author for taking on such an iconic and well known story. It takes a lot of guts and frankly balls, to take a risk. Overall, this was a great read. It had a lot of action and adventure and even the romance was sweet. I also liked how she incorporates time travel into the whole mix of things. The character development was on point and I could easily figure out which character is which. I also think that the detail incorporated into the story was phenomenal. I ...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Brandon Collier rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Love, pirates, goddesses, twists - this was a unique, fantasy story that is a more sophisticated take of a fairy tale.

I, for one, am not a fan of different time periods in one story, but this story does an okay job with it. James and Eileen are likable characters, and you want to root for them. However, Daria was my favorite character, and her quest for revenge moves the story. Sometimes the pacing of the story is low, especially in the beginning, but there are plenty of juicy parts along the w ...more

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Feb 20, 2014 D.B. rated it it was amazing

‘Second on the Right’ by Elizabeth Los, is a well written tale of the origin of Captain Hook and Peter Pan. The characters are full of personality. The tale takes a genealogical turn, where the main characters discover their ancestor’s were pirates.

Elizabeth Los’ tale takes her main characters back and forth in time, where we meet Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and the Lost Boys in Neverland.

‘Second on the Right’ is an unique tale. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and highly recommend it to those, of ...more

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