I was never able to download this book, or if I did it was before I knew how to get books to my kindle. Sorry

Fourteen year old Madge Darling has been living with her grandmother Wendy for the last ten years since her mother’s death. But Madge doesn’t believe that her mother actually died fourteen years ago, she believes that her mother is alive and well and living in Chicago. Madge has the idea to try to run away to find her mother but gets caught and brought back to her grandmother.

Grandma Wendy however ends up having a heart attack and staying in the hospital. While her grandmother is away Madge again tries to head to the Windy City to find her mother but ends up meeting a boy named Peter Pan who lures her to a place called Neverland. While in Neverland Madge uncovers some disturbing secrets about the place, the family and Peter Pan.

All Darling Children is a twisted retelling of the classic story of Peter Pan. This version is a bit more horror and as some others before it centers around a more evil version of Peter than the one in the original tale. There are all the characters that you are used to knowing from Peter Pan but with a more horror twist to the story.

I have to say I’m a sucker for anything Peter Pan and have read quite a lot of different versions. While a more evil Peter isn’t new the author did an OK job coming up with her own story in this version. However I didn’t rate this one very high due to it having a lot of inconsistencies involved with not only the characters descriptions/personalites but even some of the action in the story. If a huge fan of retellings or Peter Pan I’d still say give it a shot but don’t pay too close attention to the details or it may leave you scratching your head.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Overall, I really liked this novel and how it played with the well-known story of Peter Pan, but unfortunately the characters don't really get enough development to really make me care. Peter Pan is rather one-dimensional and it's pretty obvious from the start that he is the main villain.

I have never before thought of Peter Pan as terrifying but have fun trying to sleep easy after reading this one. For people who love the original, I'm not sure how well you'll take this retelling but I promise, it's so good (though really creepy). Monroe has redefined Pan as a psychopath and the terrors he inflicts on the people of Neverland will make you see this magical world in a whole new light. Rather than innocently enticing children to fly away with him, Pan has created a life for himself that depends on these newcomers to support his, often violent, habits.

There are still recognizable traits from the Neverland we all know that makes this story so inviting (before it sinks its teeth in!). The imagery especially was incredible! The author has so much creativity at her disposal in imagining this setting, and despite the dark content she created a really beautiful world.

The issues around aging are also at the heart of this novel, though with a much darker twist. While in the children's book this is a playful aspect of Pan, the boy who never ages, the dark Pan is obsessed with staying young and will do anything to retain his youth.

I do want to mention that the content may be too much for some. While I don't believe there were any particularly gory scenes, there is a lot of violence, even if just hinted at, and themes of abuse and sexual assault underlie much of the story's background.

One of the perhaps less important aspects of the book, but which really improved my reading of it, was how the different perspectives were broken up. I don't want to give away who we heard from as that might be too spoilery but each was introduced with their own font and a tagline of sorts so it was easy to keep track of who was speaking.

The original aspects of the story are all still there, but in a different context. I really don't know that I can ever think of Peter Pan again without Monroe's version creeping in, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

All the Darling Children
Imagine if Peter Pan were real. Imagine All the Darling Children had been abducted by a boy who refuse to grow up. Imagine a very dark place called Neverland where you can only leave if Peter lets you, and that never happens.
The grim new novel about the eternal child will make you feel very differently and very non-Disney about the land where pirates, lost boys and Red Indians roam.
Madge is fourteen. She very definitely wants to grow up. Living with her repressive Grandmother she seizes every chance to run away and find her mother in the city. She is caught every time until one day her grandmother has a heart -attack. Madge is brought home by her Uncle Michael but he’s got a few problems of her own and she escapes his custody only to be taken by Pan to Neverland. Peter Pan tells her that her mother jane is there so how can Madge resist the fairy dust and flight to another world.
All is not well in the land where no one ever grows up or changes. Madge quickly realises the horror of the Lost Boys existence and how Pan orders their lives or deaths. The once proud pirate Captain Hook has been reduced to a shadow of his former self, a mourning spirit with little chance to influence the world and only accompanied by First mate Smee. Proud Tiger Lily tries to keep the Red Men safe from Pan’s desire for complete dominance.
This ain’t no fairy tale.
All the Darling Children is a great, focused story on the helplessness of being a child where the grownups are in charge just because they are older not wiser. When Madge escapes, she is running into growing up and making decisions over life and death. She becomes the grown up and must deal with the consequences. Peter has no redeeming features and the depiction of Neverland is as a harsh and unforgiving place. There is no joy in this eternal childhood. Much more lord of the Flies than a delightful island escape. With quite powerful themes this book is an intense look at the inherent dangers of the man-child and a good adventure story. I can see why Peter’s mum locked the window now.

The author and I must’ve had very similar thoughts while reading Peter Pan because this book was exactly what I have been wanting from a Peter Pan inspired story. To be fair, this was the first book inspired by the original that I’ve ever read, but to also be fair, most of the ones I’ve come across are all “Peter is awesome!” and seem to be based on the Disney version, and that’s not what I want to read.

See, I was shocked when I read Peter Pan for the first time by how terrifying Peter’s character was. The original story has a lot of darkness in it, and Peter does horrible things, like maim and kill his own boys, so I loved that Katrina Monroe actually used the darker side of Peter’s character for her version of him and referenced a lot of those horrifying things.

Also awesome was that Hook was a good guy! Well, kind of. He was still a pirate who probably did plenty of bad things in his time, but even he didn’t condone the slaughter of innocents just for fun. I loved his character in the original, so it made me happy to see he wasn’t villainized, even though he didn’t play very much of a part this time. I also liked how the author stayed true to the story by *SPOILER ALERT (not for this book, but for the original)* making Hook a ghost, since this one took place after he was killed. *END SPOILER ALERT*

Another great thing, Madge had a much more realistic and suitable reaction to a strange boy showing up and talking about flying and pixie dust and Neverland than Wendy did. She thought he was just a whackadoo and wanted him to leave her alone. And then her happy thoughts (since you need to think happy thoughts to fly) were about punching him lol.

Madge was, however, a little too mature, jaded, and street-smart for her age. It’s not entirely impossible for a 14-year-old to already know things about the horrors of the world, depending on their life, but I’m not sure her strictly sheltered life with her grandma would’ve given her that kind of knowledge. I also felt like the depths of the characters were never really explored, but that was something I could overlook since I don’t think that was really the point. It was more of a plot-driven book.

One other issue I had was that I noticed a few logic flaws. *SPOILER ALERT* (How did Hook help Madge get off of Skull Rock if he was incorporeal and incapable of touching anything? How did no one in the city notice a flying ship above their heads? How did the ship fly period, since Madge replaced Peter’s pixie dust with shell powder? Why did Jane go back and abandon Madge when she was the one who refused to let Wendy send her to an orphanage?) *END SPOILER ALERT*

One last thing to note, the author really didn’t romanticize anything in this book. Everything was very gritty and realistically disgusting and disturbing. Even though the protagonist is 14, this is not something I’d consider a YA book (and it’s not listed as one). That’s not a bad thing at all though, just something to take into consideration.

So to summarize, a dark story based on the original rather than the Disney version was what I wanted, and I’m happy to say that was exactly what I got!

All darling children by Katrina Monroe is a horror and sci-fi and fantasy read.
All boys grow up, except one.
On the tenth anniversary of her mother's death, fourteen-year-old Madge Darling’s grandmother suffers a heart attack. With the overbearing Grandma Wendy in the hospital, Madge runs away to Chicago, intent on tracking down a woman she believes is actually her mother.
On her way to the Windy City, a boy named Peter Pan lures Madge to Neverland, a magical place where children can remain young forever. While Pan plays puppet master in a twisted game only he understands, Madge discovers the disturbing price of Peter Pan's eternal youth.
Very enjoyable read with great characters. I loved Made. She was my favourite character. Little slow in places. 4*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

This book was not to my liking so therefore I will not post a review.

(Lengthened review to come shortly... Stay tuned...)

Reading this book, I alternated in equal parts between enthusiasm, surprise, boredom and disappointment. The original concept of the story immediately got me 'hooked': what if Peter Pan was not really such a nice guy, but a boy with a very malignant streak?

What surprised me was that the main character, Peter Pan, remained flat as a pancake throughout the whole novel. While Madge was just OK, Slightly, kind of Pan's second in command, was so beautifully and vividly portrayed that I immediately fell in love with him. But my absolute favorite was Captain Hook, who was not at all the villain he used to be originally.

The island was described with enough detail to make it come to life before my mind's eye, and the story had enough twists to hold my attention, but there were several passages that felt unnecessary and dragging along. However, the ending managed to placate me for any weak parts.