Scan barcode
A review by crowsandprose
The Child Thief by Brom
1.0
I really wanted to like this book. I has faeries! Peter Pan! An adult spin! But really, it was a hollow echo of a much better work, and I was severely disappointed.
Brom's writing is choppy, his editor ought to be spanked for not taking a firmer hand in the formatting. It was a huge turn off. That alone shaves a star off the rating. Miserable set up makes for unhappy reading.
The characters were shallow and lacked much personality. The mishmash of religion, abuse, myth was hamhanded. Worst of all, the complete lack of resolution of the central character's conflict - that'd be Nick, not Peter - is terrible storytelling and I can't believe that this is a third novel, instead of a 'could have used a stronger editor' first attempt!
It is a book to avoid unless you are REALLY that desperate for a new take on Peter Pan. Brom's a fantastic artist, but his fiction is not, sadly, worth reading. Maybe his other works are better -- but this one is a total pass unless you like poorly formatted stories wherein the protagonist does whatever he wants, and only the people around him suffer for it -- and somehow, you're supposed to be happy at his personal validation of all the horrible things he did at the end of the book.
Sorry, just not interested.
Brom's writing is choppy, his editor ought to be spanked for not taking a firmer hand in the formatting. It was a huge turn off. That alone shaves a star off the rating. Miserable set up makes for unhappy reading.
The characters were shallow and lacked much personality. The mishmash of religion, abuse, myth was hamhanded. Worst of all, the complete lack of resolution of the central character's conflict - that'd be Nick, not Peter - is terrible storytelling and I can't believe that this is a third novel, instead of a 'could have used a stronger editor' first attempt!
It is a book to avoid unless you are REALLY that desperate for a new take on Peter Pan. Brom's a fantastic artist, but his fiction is not, sadly, worth reading. Maybe his other works are better -- but this one is a total pass unless you like poorly formatted stories wherein the protagonist does whatever he wants, and only the people around him suffer for it -- and somehow, you're supposed to be happy at his personal validation of all the horrible things he did at the end of the book.
Sorry, just not interested.