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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A very dark sequel to Peter Pan, but I liked it and found it easily fit well with the original story. I found the writing to be overly descriptive sometimes, and the 2nd half of the book the pacing was better. Great world building. Difficult topics of trauma, and mental health deal with well, and some good splashes of feminine rage.
This really works.
The blurb of this book only covers the opening chapter or two, and what develops after that is much meatier, more absorbing, darker, and altogether more rewarding.
A. C. Wise describes the novel thus: 'The story includes themes of found family, PTSD, queer relationships, mothers and daughter, and just how unsettling the idea of a boy who refuses to grow up is when you really think about it.' [www.acwise.net] But that's just the lure. What Wise has actually achieved is startling. She has taken characters that perhaps could not be *more* familiar to readers, and instead of replicating them for her own work, she has given them new and immaculate voices, vitality through pain, and such compulsive interconnectednesses, the novel really becomes something exceptional.
I hated to finish and put down this book. There are savage touches of horror. Wow! The imagery of what happens in the cave will stay with me. The symbolism of Wendy sewing on Peter Pan's shadow from J. M. Barrie's book shows Wise's skill in transmuting her source material - she has charged these characters with private sufferings, and she casts her action with cinematic effect, describing scenes in Jane or Wendy's storylines in miniscule detail - emotions, vision, a flash of a memory or remembering, infinitesimal gestures, breath, small voicings of words, impressions, interpretations. The effect is gorgeous.
It's been labelled 'feminist' and a 'motherhood' novel, but I don't see that; I see intimate character creation. Barrie's Peter and Wendy have been wholly over-written. What a devastating palimpsest! 'Hooked' is coming in July this year, and it seems to be a continuation of this novel. I can't wait to see what Wise makes of the next J. M. Barrie character.
Mahvesh Murad has written an excellent review of 'Wendy, Darling' on tor.com, and you can sample the first chapter there as well:
https://www.tor.com/2020/12/02/back-to-neverland-revealing-wendy-darling-by-a-c-wise/
The blurb of this book only covers the opening chapter or two, and what develops after that is much meatier, more absorbing, darker, and altogether more rewarding.
A. C. Wise describes the novel thus: 'The story includes themes of found family, PTSD, queer relationships, mothers and daughter, and just how unsettling the idea of a boy who refuses to grow up is when you really think about it.' [www.acwise.net] But that's just the lure. What Wise has actually achieved is startling. She has taken characters that perhaps could not be *more* familiar to readers, and instead of replicating them for her own work, she has given them new and immaculate voices, vitality through pain, and such compulsive interconnectednesses, the novel really becomes something exceptional.
I hated to finish and put down this book. There are savage touches of horror. Wow! The imagery of what happens in the cave will stay with me. The symbolism of Wendy sewing on Peter Pan's shadow from J. M. Barrie's book shows Wise's skill in transmuting her source material - she has charged these characters with private sufferings, and she casts her action with cinematic effect, describing scenes in Jane or Wendy's storylines in miniscule detail - emotions, vision, a flash of a memory or remembering, infinitesimal gestures, breath, small voicings of words, impressions, interpretations. The effect is gorgeous.
It's been labelled 'feminist' and a 'motherhood' novel, but I don't see that; I see intimate character creation. Barrie's Peter and Wendy have been wholly over-written. What a devastating palimpsest! 'Hooked' is coming in July this year, and it seems to be a continuation of this novel. I can't wait to see what Wise makes of the next J. M. Barrie character.
Mahvesh Murad has written an excellent review of 'Wendy, Darling' on tor.com, and you can sample the first chapter there as well:
https://www.tor.com/2020/12/02/back-to-neverland-revealing-wendy-darling-by-a-c-wise/
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book caught my eye on the library shelf and I had no idea what to expect but it swept me away so quickly and I loved the dark and twisted story, a great retelling of a childhood classic which complicates the idea of the wish never to grow up. Loved it
This was such an interesting book! I haven’t read J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, but I’m pretty familiar with the story. This was such a creative, dark take on a (sort of) sequel. I enjoyed the changes in time between Wendy as a mother trying to rescue her daughter and after she left Neverland, involuntarily committed for her insistence on remembering everything. The themes about sexuality and monsters, both literal and figurative were super interesting, especially adding in the context of the time period. There were a few times when there were some internal monologues where I found it harder to focus, but overall I really enjoyed this story! I have a feeling if I ever read the original Peter Pan that I’ll think of it a bit differently.
Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for allowing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!
Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for allowing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Forced institutionalization
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
**This book was provided to me by Titan Books via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
3.5 stars
Peter Pan was one of the most important stories of my formative years. It’s had a lasting impact on me, and is a tale I return to frequently as I puzzle out what my own childhood, and childhood in general, means to me. I have read several re-imaginings, prequels, sequels, and companion pieces to Barrie’s stories, and am always on the lookout for a new and exciting contribution to that world.
*Wendy, Darling* is a worthy such contribution.
The story sets itself up as a kind of sequel, in which Wendy, now a mother, returns to Neverland to retrieve her daughter, who has been taken away by Peter in her stead. Wendy, however, is neither the wide-eyed girl who first went to Neverland nor the uncomplicated Platonic ideal of motherhood she is often expected to be. She carries with her her scars, trauma, fear—and also her strength, love, and friendship.
Some things I love about the book lie around how it engages with Neverland, and how Neverland looks and feels to children and grown-ups. I also love the exploration of the gender dynamics of the story we all remember, and how they are skewed both by the way children are socially conditioned to behave and treat one another and by the fact that in Neverland, things work as Peter expects them to, not as they are. And my very favorite element was the exploration of Wendy’s sewing: the devalued, girlish skill that first endeared her to Peter, which becomes her weapon and defense in adult life and upon her return to Neverland.
There were also some missed opportunities. Although the action takes place in 1931, with flashbacks through the 1910s and ‘20s, Wendy’s adult life seems aesthetically more mired in the early-Edwardian London of her childhood; perhaps this is due to an old-fashioned father-in-law, but the novel seems weirdly out of place in its own setting. London itself is left completely un-sketched-in, odd when Wendy decides for herself that it is as much her home, if not more, as Neverland. And for a feminist re-imagining to completely ignore Tinker Bell, one of the most fascinating female characters in the original story (and fairies in general, who play a hefty role in Peter’s mythology) is strange. Perhaps it is because fairies are so tied in to Peter’s origin story, and Wise wished to craft a new and darker beginning for him—but that could have easily been explained away as his own fiction.
Fans of Peter Pan will certainly recognize their Neverland in this story. Though Wise doesn’t repeat verbatim the darker elements of Barrie’s work (and there are many), she captures the spirit of them that was always lurking around Neverland’s edges, and brings them together to a single darkness for Wendy to confront. Though not my favorite Peter Pan imagined sequel, and it could use some fleshing out, *Wendy, Darling* is a welcome addition to my curated collection of Pan-aphernalia.
3.5 stars
Peter Pan was one of the most important stories of my formative years. It’s had a lasting impact on me, and is a tale I return to frequently as I puzzle out what my own childhood, and childhood in general, means to me. I have read several re-imaginings, prequels, sequels, and companion pieces to Barrie’s stories, and am always on the lookout for a new and exciting contribution to that world.
*Wendy, Darling* is a worthy such contribution.
The story sets itself up as a kind of sequel, in which Wendy, now a mother, returns to Neverland to retrieve her daughter, who has been taken away by Peter in her stead. Wendy, however, is neither the wide-eyed girl who first went to Neverland nor the uncomplicated Platonic ideal of motherhood she is often expected to be. She carries with her her scars, trauma, fear—and also her strength, love, and friendship.
Some things I love about the book lie around how it engages with Neverland, and how Neverland looks and feels to children and grown-ups. I also love the exploration of the gender dynamics of the story we all remember, and how they are skewed both by the way children are socially conditioned to behave and treat one another and by the fact that in Neverland, things work as Peter expects them to, not as they are. And my very favorite element was the exploration of Wendy’s sewing: the devalued, girlish skill that first endeared her to Peter, which becomes her weapon and defense in adult life and upon her return to Neverland.
There were also some missed opportunities. Although the action takes place in 1931, with flashbacks through the 1910s and ‘20s, Wendy’s adult life seems aesthetically more mired in the early-Edwardian London of her childhood; perhaps this is due to an old-fashioned father-in-law, but the novel seems weirdly out of place in its own setting. London itself is left completely un-sketched-in, odd when Wendy decides for herself that it is as much her home, if not more, as Neverland. And for a feminist re-imagining to completely ignore Tinker Bell, one of the most fascinating female characters in the original story (and fairies in general, who play a hefty role in Peter’s mythology) is strange. Perhaps it is because fairies are so tied in to Peter’s origin story, and Wise wished to craft a new and darker beginning for him—but that could have easily been explained away as his own fiction.
Fans of Peter Pan will certainly recognize their Neverland in this story. Though Wise doesn’t repeat verbatim the darker elements of Barrie’s work (and there are many), she captures the spirit of them that was always lurking around Neverland’s edges, and brings them together to a single darkness for Wendy to confront. Though not my favorite Peter Pan imagined sequel, and it could use some fleshing out, *Wendy, Darling* is a welcome addition to my curated collection of Pan-aphernalia.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
did not enjoy this retelling, it just wasn’t fun! all here for a dark version but idk this wasn’t it!!