A review by armontheroad
God of Neverland by Gama Ray Martinez

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

1.0

I was given an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an utter disappointment to me. To be very blunt, the best part about this book is the beautiful cover. After doing some research, it appears this is Gama Ray Martinez’s Adult debut, and BOY can you tell! I would say this read like a teenager trying to play Adult but that’s an insult to teenagers! Not only was the writing juvenile (derogatory), but the entire structure of the novel is solely for nostalgic reasons. “I need to speak to *insert character from Peter Pan*” is not a plotline, sorry to break it to you. It’s repetitive, unoriginal, and boring as all hell. Not to mention, Martinez does not challenge the original source material. You think a book published in 2022 would add some depth into Tiger Lily’s character instead of playing into the racist stereotypes Peter Pan had, but nope. I believe Martinez had a good concept, truly, but the execution was poorly done. The idea that the Knights of the Round Table are the protectors of magical worlds was an interesting take, but again, not done well. I truly wish Gama Ray Martinez all the best in his future Adult publications. I hope this one was so off due to his history with only writing Young Adult and the fact this was a retelling. Overall, I cannot say I enjoyed this or that I would recommend it to anyone I know. Highly disappointing since I (as a Latino reviewer) was very much looking to a Peter Pan retelling from a Latino lens.