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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
Darling by K. Ancrum
4.0
My first love will always be Wonderland, but Neverland is a very close second. Mostly because just like Wonderland, the world of Neverland just begs authors to play around with the story, the world and the characters. Although this book is a contemporary, I was quite curious to see what the author would do with it. Especially after I read that the book really tries to follow the original plot scene for scene, I grew more and more curious.
Ancrum has a really great talent here, because even though this story takes place in our world, without the magic, everything still works. I really love how it's quite easy to recognize all the original scenes and to easily make the connection between locations and characters in this retelling and their counterparts in the original tale. Eventually the plot takes a different turn, of course, but considering the story it's a very satisfying one.
What I love about these kind of stories, where Peter Pan is not really a good guy, is that they're not just wishful thinking. The hints that Peter Pan might not be as as amazing as he seems are already in the original tale. Also in this tale Peter has his usual charm and is easy to like, at the beginning. Although what Wendy does seems a little irresponsible, it's also quite easy to understand why she does it, why she craves her escape so incredibly much.
And it's quite important to understand the characters, since this is a very character driven story. There is not much action and since the fantasy element is missing it's all about the family Peter has built and how he's trying to fit in Wendy. The book therefore takes the time to also give the side characters more personality and backstory and I love what the author did to the relationships between all the different characters. Especially Tinkerbell has been written amazingly in this novel.
Somehow I wish there was more, but I guess I'll simply check out the other novels by this author.
Ancrum has a really great talent here, because even though this story takes place in our world, without the magic, everything still works. I really love how it's quite easy to recognize all the original scenes and to easily make the connection between locations and characters in this retelling and their counterparts in the original tale. Eventually the plot takes a different turn, of course, but considering the story it's a very satisfying one.
What I love about these kind of stories, where Peter Pan is not really a good guy, is that they're not just wishful thinking. The hints that Peter Pan might not be as as amazing as he seems are already in the original tale. Also in this tale Peter has his usual charm and is easy to like, at the beginning. Although what Wendy does seems a little irresponsible, it's also quite easy to understand why she does it, why she craves her escape so incredibly much.
And it's quite important to understand the characters, since this is a very character driven story. There is not much action and since the fantasy element is missing it's all about the family Peter has built and how he's trying to fit in Wendy. The book therefore takes the time to also give the side characters more personality and backstory and I love what the author did to the relationships between all the different characters. Especially Tinkerbell has been written amazingly in this novel.
Somehow I wish there was more, but I guess I'll simply check out the other novels by this author.