Lost Boy by Christina Henry

"From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a familiar story with a dark hook--a tale about Peter Pan and the friend who became his nemesis, a nemesis who may not be the blackhearted villain Peter says he is ..."--

"On an island lives a boy called Peter and his band of merry lost boys, young forever. That is, unless they get sick or killed by pirates or eaten by crocodiles or unless--inexplicably--they grow old. For some of them do grow old, and nobody knows why. One of these boys is called Jamie, and he was the first boy that Peter ever brought to the island. Jamie's lived there for longer than he can remember, and it's not all fun and games. Peter thinks the boys are replaceable, that if one dies or grows up, he can swap in another from the Other Place, the place where he collects new playmates. Jamie looks out for the boys and takes care of them. He does everything Peter does not. Jamie tries to keep them alive because, to him, they matter. When Peter steals a boy who is too young, Jamie takes the boy under his wing. But Peter won't have that, for nobody will ever take Jamie from him. Ever"--

The way they go deeply into Peter as a characte was amazing. I loved the way he was really slowly discovered to be this psychotic child. And how the way he is describe shifted along with the story. I keep comparing it to Lord of the Flies even though its so different. Either way I far preferred this.

I enjoyed it. It's an intriguing, and often violent backstory of Peter Pan and Captain Hook where Pan is described as a psychopath. I wish it was longer, there's a long bloody path to Jamie breaking away from Pan, but you're left without a satisfying resolution. I would be interested to know how exactly Jamie and his other rescued Lost Boys actually manage to become leaders of the Pirates. And of course, a truly satisfying ending would result in Jamie finally taking revenge on Pan.

It's a bit of a slow start, but I really ended up enjoying how the story unfolded. And while I had my suspicions about who Jamie was when I started (it's obvious by the American cover so avoid looking at that too closely, but I have the international one because it's better designed), it was actually a bit of a surprise by the last chapter. All of the retellings of Peter Pan I've read make Peter out to be basically a monster, like this one, which is probably not what [a:JM Barrie 16940170 JM Barrie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] had in mind but it's a lot more of a realistic idea. This is different in that it's from the POV of a Lost Boy that's been on the island for a long time (Jamie mentions hundreds of ‘seasons' have passed, I assume he means years but they're in a temperate climate so there'd only be a slight change between summer and winter) so he knows Peter more than any others and isn't still dazzled by the magic of Neverland. There are some new elements like giant tick-like bugs that seem to have some intelligence and the fact that none of the boys are aware of the fairies or their flying magic dust until later in the story. If you like darker retellings of classic fairy tales, definitely check this one out. And if you like this one, also try [b:The Child Thief 6308379 The Child Thief Brom https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336347513s/6308379.jpg 6493440] - still my favourite retelling of Peter Pan.