The Stardust Pirates Book Review: A Queer YA Horror That Feels Like a Sunset You Cannot Look Away From

Rating: ★★★★★

"The Stardust Pirates" Book Review:

Different book, different rules. This one is not a memoir and it is not part of The Warboy Chronicles. The Stardust Pirates is a queer YA horror novel loosely inspired by Peter Pan, set on a Philippine island where the magic is ancient and the grief is fresh. I wrote it. Early readers on Goodreads and NetGalley had things to say. Here is what they said.

The Stardust Pirates follows Jack, a teenager who has taken on far too much responsibility far too young, and his best friend Baby Boy. Their relationship is the spine of the book — heartfelt and deeply complicated, the kind of bond that forms when two people have spent their whole lives protecting each other from things kids should not have to face. The story is built around a system of siren lore and magic that operates on its own logic, and it is set against the landscape of a Philippine island rendered in enough sensory detail that multiple readers said they could see it.

One Goodreads reviewer described the book as taking "coming-of-age and queer YA horror and twists them together in an unforgettable whirlwind." They praised how Jack and Baby Boy's families are woven into the larger story, saying I do "an excellent job of bringing their characters to life and integrating their families into their overall stories." They also appreciated that the Peter Pan connection stays loose — no forced character-to-character mapping — and felt "the story was stronger on its own for that reason." The siren mythology landed for them too: "complex without delving too deep into the nitty gritty of their civilization, and keeping the energy in the moment with Jack as our main point-of-view character."

Another reader called it "only loosely connected to the original Peter Pan, and for me all the better for it." They described the writing as "lush descriptions of Philippine islands" and said the balance between Jack's premature responsibility and what might look like an idyllic life to an outsider is "beautifully and intensely told." Their closing line: "Just lovely, and I will be looking out for the next book."

A third reviewer zeroed in on the imagery: "the descriptions of the islands and the sunsets and water were stunning and I could picture everything in my head." They called the ending "interesting" with "very tragic gay representation" — which, if you know the kind of stories I write, means I did not flinch.

Here is the thing about The Stardust Pirates. It is a book about kids who were never allowed to be kids, set in a place colonizers tried to strip of its stories, held together by a friendship that refuses to be simple. The Peter Pan bones are there if you want to find them — lost boys, a hook, a refusal to grow up — but the book is not interested in retelling someone else's fairy tale. It is interested in what happens when the magic that was always yours gets taken, and what it costs to take it back.

The Stardust Pirates is the first book in the series. You can find it at thestardustpirates.com

If You Liked The Stardust Pirates, Try:

• Out of Air by Rachel Reiss — Myth-inspired YA with real stakes and a refusal to let its characters off easy. Same energy of ancient stories pressing against modern grief.

• Six of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier — Dark, atmospheric, and built on the bones of folklore. If the siren lore in Stardust Pirates hooked you, this will too.

• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas — A trans Latinx teen who summons the wrong ghost. Same blend of queer identity, cultural mythology, and a magic system that feels lived-in rather than explained.

From Luke Stoffel's Bookshelf

The Stardust Pirates is the beginning of a new series set in its own world. If you want to see where my other stories live, check out The Warboy Chronicles — memoir, sci-fi, and the space between human and artificial consciousness. thewarboychronicles.com

The Third Person by Luke Stoffel: Book 1 The Warboy Chronicles