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A review by egbella
Dust by Kara Swanson
4.0
First off, I've been wanting to read this book for AGES. I love retellings, especially ones that take extra care in adding layers and deeper backstories to the familiar original characters/plot. So needless to say, a Peter Pan retelling by a young Christian author, especially one with a seemingly kind of angsty Peter (I'm kind of a sucker for those kinds of characters, haha) sounded awesome.
And I'm so glad I finally read this! I found the plot very well-developed and layered, the characters interesting and likeable (mostly - more on this later), and the J. M. Barrie's original story both honored and expanded in a great balance. Pretty much every character felt nuanced and real, and the plot really kept me guessing as Swanson wove backstory hints in. Why weren't Peter and Tiger Lily still in Neverland? What happened to Connor? Where's Tinkerbell? So many questions throughout the entire story that kept me reading. Oh, and yes, Peter was adorable and angsty and relatable, and even though I went back and forth between wanting to slug him and wanting to hug him, he's my absolute favorite character. So well-written.
Caveat: I never like when reviewers dock a star off their review and never address why, so I will quick mention the couple of things that made this a 4-star instead of 5 to me (and only because Goodreads has such a high rating system. If this was an Amazon review, I'd rate it 5. I just can't honestly say I found it AMAZING). Mostly, it just came down to the writing style, which felt a little juvenile/overly dramatic at points to me, and a few ways that the characters felt lacking. I had a hard time relating to Claire and would have liked to see a bit more of her personality/get to know her better. The pacing also felt off sometimes. It makes sense that it'd be slower since it's a duology, but it felt like most the entire first book was setup for the second one. And the romance aspect went a little too fast for my tastes, though I'm not usually a romance reader so I wouldn't change my rating due to that. I'm sure it's very enjoyable to people who like romance in stories!
Really though, those things were all very minor to me. I wasn't completely sucked in, but I did want to keep reading and find out what happened, and there were plenty of moments where I wanted to laugh/cry/grin/all the feels. Even as someone who doesn't seek out romance in the books I read, I still had to 'aww' at a few of the very sweet moments. They truly do make a great couple, and I'd like to see where there relationship progresses too. I also greatly admire Kara's creativity with the plotline and love the direction she took the original story. And of course, that theme! Such a beautiful message about finding where you belong and learning who you are. What a blessing to have such a talented Christian author creating and sharing such powerful stories. I'm extremely excited to read 'Shadow', as well as Kara's future works. Definitely recommend this one, whether you're familiar with the original Peter Pan story or not. It's worth the read!
And I'm so glad I finally read this! I found the plot very well-developed and layered, the characters interesting and likeable (mostly - more on this later), and the J. M. Barrie's original story both honored and expanded in a great balance. Pretty much every character felt nuanced and real, and the plot really kept me guessing as Swanson wove backstory hints in. Why weren't Peter and Tiger Lily still in Neverland? What happened to Connor? Where's Tinkerbell? So many questions throughout the entire story that kept me reading. Oh, and yes, Peter was adorable and angsty and relatable, and even though I went back and forth between wanting to slug him and wanting to hug him, he's my absolute favorite character. So well-written.
Caveat: I never like when reviewers dock a star off their review and never address why, so I will quick mention the couple of things that made this a 4-star instead of 5 to me (and only because Goodreads has such a high rating system. If this was an Amazon review, I'd rate it 5. I just can't honestly say I found it AMAZING). Mostly, it just came down to the writing style, which felt a little juvenile/overly dramatic at points to me, and a few ways that the characters felt lacking. I had a hard time relating to Claire and would have liked to see a bit more of her personality/get to know her better. The pacing also felt off sometimes. It makes sense that it'd be slower since it's a duology, but it felt like most the entire first book was setup for the second one. And the romance aspect went a little too fast for my tastes, though I'm not usually a romance reader so I wouldn't change my rating due to that. I'm sure it's very enjoyable to people who like romance in stories!
Really though, those things were all very minor to me. I wasn't completely sucked in, but I did want to keep reading and find out what happened, and there were plenty of moments where I wanted to laugh/cry/grin/all the feels. Even as someone who doesn't seek out romance in the books I read, I still had to 'aww' at a few of the very sweet moments. They truly do make a great couple, and I'd like to see where there relationship progresses too. I also greatly admire Kara's creativity with the plotline and love the direction she took the original story. And of course, that theme! Such a beautiful message about finding where you belong and learning who you are. What a blessing to have such a talented Christian author creating and sharing such powerful stories. I'm extremely excited to read 'Shadow', as well as Kara's future works. Definitely recommend this one, whether you're familiar with the original Peter Pan story or not. It's worth the read!