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bellebookstitch666's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Body horror
Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
aea_hobbit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Moderate: Child death, Sexism, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Confinement
vi_holmes's review
- 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
5.0
Wise takes the story of the boy who refuses to grow up and found all the places to fill in and add lore and context in the most brilliant fashion!
The story bounces between the view points of Wendy and her daughter, Jane, who has been stolen by Peter from her room believing her to be Wendy. Demanding her to be. Wendy must venture to Neverland to rescue her daughter while battling the PTSD she suffers from her time in Neverland and more so from the aftermath of it.
Wise does an amazing job of depicting Wendy as a feminine heroine, battling mental illness while not letting that illness make her weaker for it, but rather more determined to protect Jane from the same fate. And bring an end to Peter's evil ways.
<spoilers below>
The scenery of the story is beautifully depicted, I felt captivated by the magical and dark world reimagined in this book. And there are so many amazing characters with so much depth, you will certainly fall in love with many, especially Mary and Ned!
I will say that there were parts that felt very slow to get to. However, I very much get the impression that this was intentional. It added so much suspense to the scariest and most mysterious bits of the story and honestly made it so thrilling when the pace suddenly picked up towards the end of the second act.
Also have to mention the LGBTQIA+ representation cause it is so amazing! I was struggling not to cry during those reveal scenes.
Definitely read all the trigger warnings that come with Wendy, Darling -- it is truly very dark and disturbing at times -- but I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys dark fairytale retellings!
Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Blood, Torture, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, and Racism
bookmark3brodi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Gore, and Racism
elena2000rr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Medical trauma, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Racial slurs, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Animal death, Racism, and Torture
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and War
abominablesnowaro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Violence, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
anniereads221's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Minor: War
bookforthought's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Confinement
foreverbookwandering's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The first fifty percent of this felt really similar to Lost Boy by Christina Henry. I think the problem is there are so many Peter Pan retellings (don't get me wrong, I love that there are), that it seems easier to make Peter a dark character to contrast with the J.M Barrie and the Disney versions but it is harder to make him stand out amongst other dark retellings. This is obviously not exactly like the Henry version since for one, that one concentrates on the relationship between Hook and Pan and this one on Wendy and Pan but there are definitely similarities.
This book looks at two timelines, present and the past which focuses on Wendy returning from Neverland with her brothers who promptly 'forget' Neverland and at her insistence of its existence, have her committed. There are definitely trigger warnings for trauma and abuse during her time there and the book follows her journey in refusing to give up Neverland but still lead a 'normal' life and rebuild that relationship with her brothers, one of which has seen the terrors that come with being a soldier during a World War. Whilst there is a minor focus on family, the main focus is on the mother daughter relationship between Wendy and her daughter, Jane.
I am not sure on the Native representation in this as I am not Native but it does feel like their heritage becomes invisible. Wendy's best friend, Mary, is Canadian Indigenous but does not know much about her culture beyond that her name is Mary White Dog.
I didn't really fall in love with any of these characters and always felt a bit distanced from all of them. I am not sure if that's how you are supposed to feel with Wendy, who keeps her secrets close to her chest as they slowly come out throughout the book. I definitely preferred the second half of the book as it then felt different to Lost Boy and the characters came into their own. Whilst I think the ending did wrap everything up, it raised some questions that were never answered and whilst I understand that Wendy and Jane as narrators might not know all the answers there were still one or two things that confused me.
Overall, I think this is a decent book. I do love reading Peter Pan retellings and for that reason, it is hard not to compare them but if you love dark retellings you might like this one, it just wasn't for me.
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, and Violence