Reviews with content warning for Child death - Wendy, Darling

Gothy Peter Pan sequel. Picked it up at the library and was hooked (no pun intended) within the first few pages. Was incredibly dark so do note the content warnings, but sensitively written so there is a lot of bravery and hope woven in there.

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thebooksanctum's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

A brilliant take on Peter Pan, I loved how creepy the whole thing felt, and the twist around the original tale! Wendy was a badass of a character, and I loved seeing her daughter's POV too!
I'm not entirely sure I understood what Peter was in the end, but such a good book!

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epellicci's review

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adventurous dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Unfortunately, I couldn't get along with Wendy. I found her very meek, her constant two-ing and fro-ing on Peter, her relationships with everyone in her family except Mary, and the repetitiveness of this process left me feeling very uninvested. The Victorian setting and the asylum was a massive missed opportunity to make the whole book much more sinister, and I found Wendy's eventual return to Neverland quite rushed after so much build up.

It was ultimately quite an easy read, but the familiarity of the original tale is what I think kept me going to the end.

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oceanwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

2.75

I’ve never actually read Peter Pan and have only seen the play and Disney versions a couple of times, however, I enjoy Peter Pan retellings for some reason. Wendy, Darling has been on my TBR since reading Darling Girl. I can see that this is where some inspiration might have come from for that book, but it didn’t hit me quite the same.

Past her days in Neverland and now a mother to Jane, Wendy is shocked to find Peter Pan looming over her daughter’s bed and watches horrified as Peter whisks her away to be ‘the new Wendy’. Wendy now must return to Neverland to save Jane. As she does so, shadows of the past come back to haunt her.

There was a lot I enjoyed about the book, such as the writing/prose and real-world interpretations. I also liked the mother/daughter aspect. Despite this, I found myself struggling to get into the story past the first few chapters. I don’t think I was in the right mindset, so I would like to try this book again at another time.

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nirima's review

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Started strong, but after the first 80 pages I lost interest. Finishing it became a chore.

The writing style wasn't my taste, the characters felt a bit flat and although I enjoyed the flashbacks quite a bit, they took away from the main story. Although the rescue sounded like a big adventure, nothing substantial seems to happen at the present. And the ending left me hollow, only happy I finally finished the book.

It's just not my cup of tea, darling.

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