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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
kb_sherman's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, and Violence
booknerd_therapist's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug use, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Cursing, Misogyny, and Sexism
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
alisaurus_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Shoutout to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!!
I really have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I think the writing was beautiful and the imagery made me feel as though I were right there with the characters. HoWeVeRrRrRrrrr I found the plot to be a bit boring and overall a pretty slow pace. Personally, I haven’t read any Peter Pan retellings before and I was never a huge fan of it in the first place. But after hearing about a queer Peter Pan retelling, of course I had to jump on that instantly.
As someone who hasn’t read this author's previous work, Wendy Darling (2021), I thought that this story was super easy to follow and never once left me in the dark. Jane’s relationship with Timothy and Wendy’s journey back to Neverland 8 years ago was spelled out for me and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything. That being said, the plot itself of Hooked just did not interest me. I found as I was reading that the only part of the story I was actually interested in was James and Samuel’s relationship. Everything with Jane and Wendy was likely there more so for fans of the original Peter Pan (this is just a guess, I don’t exactly know what about it didn’t interest me).
With the plot itself aside, I did love the characters. James/Hook’s story about PTSD, addition, and falling in love later in life stuck with me the most after reading. I loved every part about his experience with leaving Neverland, weaning off his addiction from the flowers, and being haunted by the tick tock crocodile (clockodile?) while trying to be a good man for Samuel. I also admired the character development between Jane and her mother, Wendy. I was so happy that they were able to mend their relationship and finally understand each other in a way they never had before.
Pointers!!! :
PTSD rep
Addiction rep
Falling in love later in life
MLM romance
Mother/daughter strife
Beautiful writing.
I really have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I think the writing was beautiful and the imagery made me feel as though I were right there with the characters. HoWeVeRrRrRrrrr I found the plot to be a bit boring and overall a pretty slow pace. Personally, I haven’t read any Peter Pan retellings before and I was never a huge fan of it in the first place. But after hearing about a queer Peter Pan retelling, of course I had to jump on that instantly.
As someone who hasn’t read this author's previous work, Wendy Darling (2021), I thought that this story was super easy to follow and never once left me in the dark. Jane’s relationship with Timothy and Wendy’s journey back to Neverland 8 years ago was spelled out for me and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything. That being said, the plot itself of Hooked just did not interest me. I found as I was reading that the only part of the story I was actually interested in was James and Samuel’s relationship. Everything with Jane and Wendy was likely there more so for fans of the original Peter Pan (this is just a guess, I don’t exactly know what about it didn’t interest me).
With the plot itself aside, I did love the characters. James/Hook’s story about PTSD, addition, and falling in love later in life stuck with me the most after reading. I loved every part about his experience with leaving Neverland, weaning off his addiction from the flowers, and being haunted by the tick tock crocodile (clockodile?) while trying to be a good man for Samuel. I also admired the character development between Jane and her mother, Wendy. I was so happy that they were able to mend their relationship and finally understand each other in a way they never had before.
Pointers!!! :
PTSD rep
Addiction rep
Falling in love later in life
MLM romance
Mother/daughter strife
Beautiful writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
Moderate: Child death and Kidnapping
carysbeesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Homophobia
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