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anna_hepworth's review
dark
emotional
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
4.0
I accidentally read this series out of order; this book does not suffer from being read before book 1 (Wendy, Darling) but I've not yet read book one, so don't know whether the reverse is true.
There are many inexplicable happenings, and the story carefully steps around explaining many things. One can make assumptions about how the story got from here to there, but there is also the possibility that the author has another book planned in the set. Although, as there is a somewhat happilly ever after epilogue, this might not be the case.
James/Captain Hook is never redeemed in the 'real' world, and I like that. Getting out of Neverland and the malign influence of Peter Pan did not make James a nice person. And he never quite gets out of the trauma responses.
Setting this in London in 1939, and including a character who came back from The Great War very damaged allowed the author to draw some fascinating parallels between war and Neverland, and explore themes of trauma and maladaptive responses. All five of the characters who get significant plot time are dealing with past events that impact negativelyon their present.
This is not a hopeful book, and despite the epilogue, I would say it does not end in a happy way.
There are many inexplicable happenings, and the story carefully steps around explaining many things. One can make assumptions about how the story got from here to there, but there is also the possibility that the author has another book planned in the set. Although, as there is a somewhat happilly ever after epilogue, this might not be the case.
James/Captain Hook is never redeemed in the 'real' world, and I like that. Getting out of Neverland and the malign influence of Peter Pan did not make James a nice person. And he never quite gets out of the trauma responses.
Setting this in London in 1939, and including a character who came back from The Great War very damaged allowed the author to draw some fascinating parallels between war and Neverland, and explore themes of trauma and maladaptive responses. All five of the characters who get significant plot time are dealing with past events that impact negativelyon their present.
This is not a hopeful book, and despite the epilogue, I would say it does not end in a happy way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction
Moderate: Death, Violence, Mental illness, War, Body horror, and Ableism
tifftastic87's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I started out really not liking this book. It genuinely took until the third act for me to enjoy it. But once that did happen, it was quick and exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
All in all this story is about family, found or blood and their complications. Its about addiction and mental illness and how they shape and change our lives. There's a redemption story here in that you may not be able to choose how you respond in the moment but you can choose how you respond to the consequences.
There are typos and grammatical errors, but those lessen as the book goes on.
I tend to love retellings and re-imaginings especially when the previous hero is a villain. Hooked does a good job with some creative ideas, but others are kind of left ignored.
For example, Wise comes up with a great idea for mermaids being more hive minded and somewhat simple spooky creatures of the deep. More could have been done with that idea and in fact, if she does another focusing on them I would happily follow her to Neverland to read it. Another issue is the pre-WWII setting. Its grossly underused. Why set it then if you're not going to take advantage of it.
Mild spoilers after here.
Making Hook -James- an opium addict kind of seems unnecessary but I also get it. I do however think it could have been done better. I would have liked to see more about his relationship with Samuel. I dont know if there was enough for me to care about Samuel but I like the idea. I also found the implication that there were other gay men in the crew to be interesting because, I mean it kind of makes sense.
I also really like the exploration of the relationship between Wendy and Jane and Wendy and Michael. It was really good to see different family dynamics and how people worked through problems.
In the end Hook did something selfless to fix a selfish choice. Whether or not his initial selfish choice was valid can be debated, but he took responsibility in the end. </spoiler
All in all this story is about family, found or blood and their complications. Its about addiction and mental illness and how they shape and change our lives. There's a redemption story here in that you may not be able to choose how you respond in the moment but you can choose how you respond to the consequences.
There are typos and grammatical errors, but those lessen as the book goes on.
I tend to love retellings and re-imaginings especially when the previous hero is a villain. Hooked does a good job with some creative ideas, but others are kind of left ignored.
For example, Wise comes up with a great idea for mermaids being more hive minded and somewhat simple spooky creatures of the deep. More could have been done with that idea and in fact, if she does another focusing on them I would happily follow her to Neverland to read it. Another issue is the pre-WWII setting. Its grossly underused. Why set it then if you're not going to take advantage of it.
Mild spoilers after here.
I also really like the exploration of the relationship between Wendy and Jane and Wendy and Michael. It was really good to see different family dynamics and how people worked through problems.
In the end Hook did something selfless to fix a selfish choice. Whether or not his initial selfish choice was valid can be debated, but he took responsibility in the end. </spoiler
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Death, Blood, and Child death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexism, and Alcoholism
Minor: War and Suicidal thoughts
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