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unicornofblue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Rape
bcsylve's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
josoko's review
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gaslighting, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
aely's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Stalking, War, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Alcohol, Cursing, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
viselik's review against another edition
I will be giving this book another shot eventually! I do adore what they did do with Jamie and his backstory, I just kinda got too annoyed at Peter by the end of it.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Child death, and Gore
Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Terminal illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
lixxin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexism
storyorc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Pan lore purists, this is not for you. Works best as a prequel to the Disney or with only a faint memory the original.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Abandonment and Sexism
Minor: Bullying and Rape
desiderium_incarnate's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
morganish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Lost Boy is a Peter Pan prequel from Hook's perspective, where Peter Pan is a monstrous, manipulative sociopath. It's a really fantastic metaphor for how abuse, especially abuse of minors, works psychologically by pitting victims against each other, explored in a variety of ways that absolutely pull no punches. If you can hang with that kind of content, I can't really recommend it highly enough, and definitely sets this book at least at 4 stars for me.
But as deeply entrenched as I was in the narrative, there's a particular plot direction somewhere vaguely in the middle of the book that really, really didn't work for me. From a queer lens in specific, it felt like a bit of an oversight how it's handled, though I'm not sure straight/cis readers will notice or think much of it. It soured a lot of the rest of the story in overall enjoyability for me personally. And then, ultimately, the ending felt like it was trying to wrap up and intersect with the canonical version of Peter Pan. This focus on intersection felt like it undermined the story's powerful themes, trying to hit a checklist of events instead of giving Lost Boy the emotional/psychological ending it deserved. For me, these two negative aspects stood out enough to take what was initially a really gripping story and put it in the category of enjoyable for the moment, but not making it into a new favorite.
If you like retellings or tie-in stories about classic children's tales, especially if they shed a new, more adult, darker light on the original, you should seriously consider picking this up. From what I've seen so far, it succeeds at this more than any other retelling I've encountered. However if you're triggered by stories that realistically explore how abuse works, I definitely would advise proceeding with caution. And I'd also say if you have no tolerance for stories that don't consider/make space for queer interpretations of certain kinds of plot devices or storylines, this might not be the story for you.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Xenophobia
Additional content warnings: *