Scan barcode
strawbeb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Christina Henry is an addictive writer. Whether I was in love with what I was reading, or if I felt it was lacking, regardless I always turned the page. And I ended up finishing the entire book in two days (would've been one, but it arrived in the mail late in the evening.)
On "one hand", Lost Boy accomplishes exactly what it promises. It's a dark twisted version of the original tale. Heroes are the villains, and villains are the heroes. There is A LOT of death, blood, violence, psychological abuse, and then some. And none of it feels gratuitous. There's always a narrative purpose for the dark deeds that are done. Christina Henry writes "darkness" excellently.
Alongside this, the plot is intense and keeps you engaged.
On the "other hook", there were flaws I noticed. For one, while Jamie is an endearing character that you can't help but root for, at times he felt a bit like a Gary Stu. Perfect and amazing at everything, with everyone looking up to him all the time, and complimenting him at practically every turn.
The pacing also felt disjointed at times. Peter wastes nearly five (5) ENTIRE pages going on about a story about a crocodile. I did understand the significance of the tale, but I truly doubt it needed that many pages and details to get across. This was the worst time the pacing felt terribly slow.
But towards the later half of the story, a vital character suddenly switches sides. It's incredibly abrupt and feels like it comes out of nowhere. And then, barely even 3 pages later, the character returns back to their original side again. It felt like this might've been a scene Henry brainstormed early into production, then got further into writing only to realize she couldn't fit it in, but out of sheer determination, crammed the scene into the plot anyways.
All in all, the book definitely has flaws and is far from perfect. But what it does well, it does really well and it will keep you on the edge of your seat regardless of what chapter you're on. Flaws aside, I do wish Christina Henry would return to this world and these characters again. For a sequel sounds like it would be a wonderfully grand adventure.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and War
Warning to readers that have arachnophobia.aely's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Alcohol
rosenau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Characters
I loved Jamie as a main character. He is sweet caring, but also morally grey. I would do anything to protect his boys even if that means killing others. I like that he is softhearted but still strong.
Worldbuilding
Neverland is Neverland, it’s magical ik all kind of different ways and I’m
Thankful Christina Henry updated the story. She took out some of the racist elements of the story and she found a way to still stay true to the world Disney put onto screens worldwide.
Story
The story is set before the Disney movie, like i said multiple times before, and has a lot of darker elements. I’ve loved the way this
Books has been written so much! I recommend this book to anyone!
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War
morganish's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Lost Boy is a Peter Pan prequel from Hook's perspective, where Peter Pan is a monstrous, manipulative sociopath. It's a really fantastic metaphor for how abuse, especially abuse of minors, works psychologically by pitting victims against each other, explored in a variety of ways that absolutely pull no punches. If you can hang with that kind of content, I can't really recommend it highly enough, and definitely sets this book at least at 4 stars for me.
But as deeply entrenched as I was in the narrative, there's a particular plot direction somewhere vaguely in the middle of the book that really, really didn't work for me. From a queer lens in specific, it felt like a bit of an oversight how it's handled, though I'm not sure straight/cis readers will notice or think much of it. It soured a lot of the rest of the story in overall enjoyability for me personally. And then, ultimately, the ending felt like it was trying to wrap up and intersect with the canonical version of Peter Pan. This focus on intersection felt like it undermined the story's powerful themes, trying to hit a checklist of events instead of giving Lost Boy the emotional/psychological ending it deserved. For me, these two negative aspects stood out enough to take what was initially a really gripping story and put it in the category of enjoyable for the moment, but not making it into a new favorite.
If you like retellings or tie-in stories about classic children's tales, especially if they shed a new, more adult, darker light on the original, you should seriously consider picking this up. From what I've seen so far, it succeeds at this more than any other retelling I've encountered. However if you're triggered by stories that realistically explore how abuse works, I definitely would advise proceeding with caution. And I'd also say if you have no tolerance for stories that don't consider/make space for queer interpretations of certain kinds of plot devices or storylines, this might not be the story for you.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Grief, and War
Minor: Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Additional content warnings: *