Tiger Lily in Into the Forest

Jan 22, 2015 Melanti rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tales-folklore-and-mythology, e-book, young-adult, 2015, library, group-reads

I liked this, but it didn't seem particularly Peter Panish to me... So much was changed! It's more like a very loose adaptation than a retelling, really.

Some of the changes were really clever, but it doesn't really have the same type of charm (or the same type of darkness) as the original book. I can't really compare it to the movie accurately since I only have the vaguest memory of it.

I think I like this book more for its own merits than for its relationship to Peter Pan. Like I mentioned, the ...more

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Jan 20, 2015 Lacey Louwagie rated it liked it

Shelves: youngadult, fantasy, retelling, 100-book-challenge-2015

I wanted to read this book for a long time -- so long that, after I started it and a friend told me it wasn't worth my time, I insisted that I soldier on, anyway. I don't regret finishing it, but it wasn't necessarily worth the wait.

What sticks with me the most is the book's vivid portrayal of Tiger Lily -- I can still call to mind her combination of awkwardness and fierceness; she was flawed and she felt real to me. I also appreciate the author's decision to make Tiger Lily a member of an imagi I wanted to read this book for a long time -- so long that, after I started it and a friend told me it wasn't worth my time, I insisted that I soldier on, anyway. I don't regret finishing it, but it wasn't necessarily worth the wait.

What sticks with me the most is the book's vivid portrayal of Tiger Lily -- I can still call to mind her combination of awkwardness and fierceness; she was flawed and she felt real to me. I also appreciate the author's decision to make Tiger Lily a member of an imaginary tribe, to further distance her from all the racism and complication of the portrayal of Native Americans in the source material and the adaptations that follow. Finally, her story seems so ripe for exploration -- there is a hint that she and Peter have some sort of history in the original story, and I'm glad someone finally picked it up and explored it.

I didn't mind the ways this story deviated from the original -- that is the prerogative of any author writing a retelling. It brought both familiarity and newness to the story of Peter Pan, and it struck a fairly good balance between the two, although I thought it took way too long to get moving; you have to read about 1/3 of the book before Peter shows up, and you only glimpse Wendy in the final chapters.

Ah, the final chapters, where the book goes a bit off the rails and the character of Tiger Lily, so carefully developed up to this point, is allowed to unravel without much thought at all, so much so that it almost ruined the book. This book is unsuccessful in a lot of other ways, too, not the least of which is the writing story. It feels rushed and clunky with an occasional gem of description or insight that is a bit disorienting against the general sloppiness. The choice to tell the story from Tinkerbelle's perspective felt like a cheap trick, too. The author seemed to treat her character as an afterthought, and the "fairy society" she sometimes referenced did not feel believable or real to me at all. Once in a while she would have to intrude with some reminder that she was a fairy, since her ability to "mind read" to a certain extent just made her feel like an omniscient narrator. And if that's what it's going to feel like, why not just have an omniscient narrator?

Unfortunately, this is one of those books that coasts forward more on potential than substance. ...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Katie J Schwartz rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: suspend-reality, young-adult-lit, old-faces-new-tales, library, fairy-tales, underwater-creatures, kickass-ladies, fey-creatures

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Tiger Lily, by Jodi Lynn Anderson, recounts the told and told again story of Peter Pan. Sort of. As you may or may not have deduced by reading the title, this book is about Tiger Lily. In a somewhat unique twist, her story is told by Tinker Bell. Thankfully, Wendy is not in very much of the text.

Tiger Lily was always my favorite Peter Pan character (I find her much more fascinating than the insipid Wendy Darling), so naturally, I was really excited about this book. Having read it, I now have mix Tiger Lily, by Jodi Lynn Anderson, recounts the told and told again story of Peter Pan. Sort of. As you may or may not have deduced by reading the title, this book is about Tiger Lily. In a somewhat unique twist, her story is told by Tinker Bell. Thankfully, Wendy is not in very much of the text.

Tiger Lily was always my favorite Peter Pan character (I find her much more fascinating than the insipid Wendy Darling), so naturally, I was really excited about this book. Having read it, I now have mixed feelings. Here's the breakdown:

What I Liked:

- Anderson's rendering of Tiger Lily herself, as a strong, stoic tomboy. I find this both fitting and fun to read about.
- The way Anderson managed to work around some of the "magical" aspects of the original story (more on this later).
- The depiction of the mermaids as dark and beautiful. Yes, yes, and yes.
- Tinker Bell's narration. Somehow, I don't think this would have worked if had been coming from Tiger Lily herself.
- Some of the lines are beautifully simplistic. Here are a few of my favorites:
-- "Peter loves to make promises. He has the best intentions of keeping them. It makes it worse, somehow, that he doesn't know how to. He thinks he's nice boy, that's the worst part." (p 171)
-- "She was the very picture of feminine mystery. All sharp teeth and soft lips." (p 170)
-- "Maybe I just love some of you. Maybe not enough." Tiger Lily blinked at him, and she didn't understand how anyone could love only a part." (p 277)
-- "Wendy didn't believe in situations she couldn't bend to fit her, so there was no need to be distrustful. She had the blissful confidence of someone who had never been put in a pot of turkey broth to die." (p 237)

What I Did Not Like:

- The exclusion of many of the magical elements. The Lost Boys can't fly? What?
- Wendy. I don't particularly like her to begin with, but she was especially grating here. And since Peter Pan can't actually fly in this retelling, she comes on a boat instead of running away from home with a strange, flying boy. That was her only redeeming quality. ...more

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Apr 01, 2014 Margaryta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing-after-feeling, pleasant-surprise, reality-dramatic, great-fantasy-books, books-you-should-read-at-least-once, worthy-of-being-ny-bestseller, thought-provoking, favourite-books, classical-fairytale-spinoff, action-adventure

There are books that will change you after you finish them. They will take a part of you and keep it, but also give you a new part instead, once you probably hadn't even considered. This book is a shining example of this, but in such an exhilarating way.

When I first came upon this one I read some of the Goodreads reviews to get a taste of what people thought about it, and many I think complained about how it was different from the original tale and that's why they didn't like it, the fact that A There are books that will change you after you finish them. They will take a part of you and keep it, but also give you a new part instead, once you probably hadn't even considered. This book is a shining example of this, but in such an exhilarating way.

When I first came upon this one I read some of the Goodreads reviews to get a taste of what people thought about it, and many I think complained about how it was different from the original tale and that's why they didn't like it, the fact that Anderson changed so many things. For this reason I probably wouldn't recommend it to fans who are painstakingly loyal to the original stories and would find it difficult to open up to another version of the story, because this one takes very few of the original story's aspects, the majority being the original creation of the author.

It's a bittersweet tale, one that shows pain and loss and what it mans to exist in a big world, even if you're living in a "fantasy" place such as Neverland. It tells a story of a girl who very few people noticed in the original story and movie. Many of those who read this book, I noticed, also strongly disliked Wendy, yet I disagree. Wendy was that whirlwind I expected to come into the story and, for lack of a better phrase, wreck everything. It was her role, and in a sense that was somewhat the way she was in the original, I think, since she came between Tink and Peter. And as I watched Peter and Tiger Lily falling apart in several ways it felt logical, and in a way it was right, the way they had taken so much from each other and given so much and loved and lost, it was a relationship that transcended the fairy tale setting and could easily apply to the real world. Peter's character was, I think, spectacularly written. He had both that boyish streak of adventure as well as that potentially mature side that loved Tiger Lily, one that eventually ended up loving Wendy and making the ultimate choice that he did. The Englanders were another part that were a strong message, the way Phillip was trying to tell the Indians about God and the tole it took on Tik Tok. Smee, Hook, the Lost Boys, the way that they got to the island, all of these things are changed, and the story is much more mature and dark. It's what I'd imagine Berry to have written if he lived in the 21st century and wanted to make his story appeal more to teenagers or "new adults".

I was captivated, truly, and hardly put it down over the course of reading it. The narrative by Tink is, perhaps, the only downside, as at times I still felt it was slightly implausible of why she was watching Tiger Lily in the first place, but I guess it's one aspect the reader should just go along with. Otherwise, I'm surprised there isn't as much publicity or talk about this book, for it truly is a new level of storytelling, retelling, and YA fiction. Don't expect this to go along with the original and only have a few tweaks, because then you'll be raging and complaining. Appreciate it for what it is, for the dark beauty Anderson showed that many perhaps didn't consider in the tale of Peter and Wendy, and the quiet wallflower that is Tiger Lily. ...more

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