Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic read, let's have a sequel!
Review: I loved this book and read most of it in one sitting. I loved the "Stand By Me" characterizations and the blending of Celtic mythology was fantastic! If there is one thing negative I have to say, it was that Mr. Golden should have left the ending open for a sequel. I wasn't quite as happy with the way things turned out when the children grew up and what happened to them, but that's how real life is anyway, isn't it? I still say that there should definitely be a sequel. There is so much more material in the Neverland world of the Tuatha Da Dannen.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly Lost, Boys!
Review: I loved this book so much. The characters reminded me quite a bit of most of my friends as a teenager. Christopher Golden really captures those long ago summers hanging out with your friends, getting in fights with the older kids and the infatuation of your first real love. It goes from this to an odyssey into another land halfway through the book. The atmosphere is perfect especially when they follow the directions overheard when one of the characters was kidnapped. As they journey into this strange yet dangerous world, you find yourself in a frightening sort of fairy land that is at war.Its a new spin on the Peter Pan tale but with a dark side. The fierce battles that take place and the way the book unfolds is fascinating. I found myself unable to put it down. To me, it never disappointed. It kept me hooked to the very end and I was sad when it was over. To those fascinated by fairy stories and dark fantasy, this is the book for you. Its pure magic from beginning to end. Absolutely wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Frightening flight of fantasy!
Review: I loved this book so much. The characters reminded me quite a bit of most of my friends as a teenager. Christopher Golden really captures those long ago summers hanging out with your friends, getting in fights with the older kids and the infatuation of your first real love. It goes from this to an odyssey into another land halfway through the book. The atmosphere is perfect especially when they follow the directions overheard when one of the characters was kidnapped. As they journey into this strange yet dangerous world, you find yourself in a frightening sort of fairy land that is at war. Its a new spin on the Peter Pan tale but with a dark side. The fierce battles that take place and the way the book unfolds is fascinating. I found myself unable to put it down. To me, it never disappointed. It kept me hooked to the very end and I was sad when it was over. To those fascinated by fairy stories and dark fantasy, this is the book for you. Its pure magic from beginning to end. Absolutely wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Teenagers?
Review: I see the word teenagers popping up in the other customer reviews and I must admit that I find it puzzling. I enjoyed the book well enough but am I the only person who felt that these 13 and 14 year olds were a little too advanced for their age? I don't know, maybe it's just me but I think it would have read more realistically had they been high schoolers celebrating their last summer before college.
Rating:
Summary: Teenagers?
Review: I see the word teenagers popping up in the other customer reviews and I must admit that I find it puzzling. I enjoyed the book well enough but am I the only person who felt that these 13 and 14 year olds were a little too advanced for their age? I don't know, maybe it's just me but I think it would have read more realistically had they been high schoolers celebrating their last summer before college.
Rating: 
Summary: Good up 'til ending
Review: I started this book liking it a lot. It pulled me right in, and I wanted Kevin to be with Nikki, and the group to grow, and all that. I liked the addition of Pete Starling, and his brother and friends, and I thought the tension was well done. In fact, the whole story was well done, right up until the kids got to Neverland. I loved the rifts that the kidnapping created, and how a couple of his closest friends, and even his best, didn't believe Kevin. I loved the journey, and walking, and getting upset, and nearly giving up. I hated Never Never Land, though. There was so much potential in this book, so far for it to go, and go well, and it could have, even in Never Never Land, until the Tuatha de Danaan and the Trows were introduced. Honestly, had the Neverland aspect been handled better, this book could have easily been a hundred more pages long and held my interest, because I cared so much about the characters and was thoroughly intrigued by Peter Pan. I really could have loved the story, but I don't think that STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING is quite the story that was trying to be told. It was close, and I wanted to give it more stars, but, in the end, the end hurt it far more than anything helped it. There could have been some real sorrow here, some real emotion, what with children growing up and sons fighting fathers, but in the end all we get is some pseudo-battle with bells as the main weapon, and it just all collapsed.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Lost, Boys!
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book. The descriptions I had read were leading me to the adventure of a lifetime. That didn't happen. What happened was I read an okay book about some high school friends who suddenly find themselves in a real-life, twisted Neverland. The adolescent angst story was good but when they found themselves in Neverland, it went too crazy too fast. There should have been a bit of reality that follows them into the Neverland. Or perhaps there wasn't enough of a buildup of fantasy to make us truly believe we've plunged into a violent, bloody Oz. If the transition had been smoother, the book would have been more enjoyable. As for Golden, his style is very readable and I plan to give him another chance. I've started the "Shadows Saga" and I hope it lives up to it's hype. "Straight On 'Til Morning" did not.
Rating:
Summary: Effectively straddles the line between fantasy and horror
Review: I'm primarily a horror fan, though some of my favorite writers (Jonathan Carroll, Graham Joyce, and now Christopher Golden) venture into the realm of fantasy. "Straight on Til' Morning" is one of those rare finds that has you biting your nails with suspense while your eyes widen with horror and your imagination floats with fantasy. The characters are the people we grew up with. Everyone knew a Nikki French and a Kevin Murphy. Children of the 80's will love the references to the times, and be brought back there through their own memories. It was a great read. I highly recommend this book and his previous novel, "Strangewood."
Rating:
Summary: Effectively straddles the line between fantasy and horror
Review: I'm primarily a horror fan, though some of my favorite writers (Jonathan Carroll, Graham Joyce, and now Christopher Golden) venture into the realm of fantasy. "Straight on Til' Morning" is one of those rare finds that has you biting your nails with suspense while your eyes widen with horror and your imagination floats with fantasy. The characters are the people we grew up with. Everyone knew a Nikki French and a Kevin Murphy. Children of the 80's will love the references to the times, and be brought back there through their own memories. It was a great read. I highly recommend this book and his previous novel, "Strangewood."
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth your time
Review: Most of the reviews here already provide a good summary of the storyline for this book. What amazes me is that there seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it relationship to this novel.
Count me in on the "love it" side. Golden creates some very likeable, some not so likeable, and some amazingly creepy characters. I really liked Kevin, and I found his devotion to Nikki to be touching and genuine. Who hasn't had that overwhelming first love experience as a teen? This novel definitely takes on a dream-like quality in the last quarter, but Golden's writing is believable--I could picture these sequences in my head.
Yes, these teens seem to have much more freedom than I did at that age in the 80s. Yes, some of the other worldly creatures are a bit difficult to imagine at first. But somehow all these elements come together quite well. There are some elements of the story that didn't quite click for me, but the good aspects of this story make it well worth the reading time.
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