A long time ago I started Christina Henry's Black Wings series so I knew I already enjoyed her writing. In fact, I should probably pick those books back up soon. I also own her Alice duology. However, none of this prepared me for how much I would love "Lost Boy."

As anyone would imagine from the title and cover, this is a sort of Peter Pan retelling. I've never read the original story, and on the whole, never cared much for Peter Pan, but I was drawn to the idea of a dark imagining of the tale - one where the reader might find out who the actual bad guy of the story is - Peter or Jamie (who eventually becomes Captain Hook). Peter and his lost boys inhabit the tropical island and Jamie, whom he rescued from abuse as a young lad, has been his best and longest companion. The boys on the island don't always live long lives despite never growing up so Peter ends up adding to the group on a pretty regular basis. He eventually brings a 5 year-old Charlie to the island and that's where the problems start. Charlie is very young and is not the playmate Peter expected. Jamie takes Charlie under his wing and protects him, as he does many of the boys and Peter's jealous side starts to show more and more. He doesn't want anyone else to have Jamie's attention and the reader soon discovers he'll do whatever it takes to keep Jamie to himself.

This book has a little of everything one comes to expect from a Peter Pan tale. There are giant spiders, pirates, fairies, crocodiles and mermaids. Although I've seen some people feel the tale started out slowly, it immediately swept me in and was just the dark tale my soul was craving. Henry creates deep and complex characters and her imagination takes Neverland to a whole new level. I've always been taken by Captain Hook and this book solidifies him as one of my favorite heroes - and yes, I mean hero (not villain).

If you love dark tales and especially if you've never been a huge fan or Peter, definitely consider picking up "Lost Boy" and losing yourself in her tale. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

*Book provided by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review*

3 star.
I liked this book. Somethings more, somethings less.
I like how this book sound more "Lord of the Flies" than Peter Pan.
I always love Hook, maybe Once Upon a Time, in the last few years made me love him too much but I always wonder why he hate Peter so much.
I love Jaimie, maybe he's the things I like most in this book but sometimes the book was too much boring, nothing special happens until the end.
It remind me a lot "Tiger Lily", maybe because Peter act like an as***le in both of them..
I really want to read a book about "adult" Hook right now!

Lost Boy is the origin story of Captain Hook. The story takes us back to Peter Pan’s island and his band of lost boys. It is told from the point of view of Peter’s very first and most favorite lost boy and the story takes quite a darker turn than the original Peter Pan.
I enjoyed this book so much! While I didn’t feel much of a connection with any of the side characters, I still really loved this read. It was definitely more story driven, but it worked for me.
I’m also a huge fan of darkness, and wow, Lost Boy had plenty of that! This is not a fluffy Peter Pan retelling, but rather one in which the villain we all thought we knew might actually be the good guy. If you love villain backstories, you absolutely need to read this one!

This book was good. Not super great, but still enjoyable. I really liked reading about the backstory of Captain Hook because I don't like it is a story that is every really told, and it was really interesting. This book shines a whole new light on Peter Pan. Some fans may not appreciate it at all, but I thought it was a nice twist. I would still recommend this one for anyone interested in reading about a twist in a childhood favorite, and how a villain came to be.

This review and others posted over at <a href="http://milliebotreads.wordpress.com/"><b>my blog.</b></a>

I don’t know what to say about this book. I was incredibly bored the whole time and none of the characters or events had any impact on me.

I wanted to love this book – I love Hook-centric stories and the idea that he was once one of Peter’s playmates until their friendship turned sour is an intriguing one. Unfortunately, the execution didn’t do it for me. James was bland – he was a nice orphan boy who’d grown up idolizing Peter but quickly realized the monster he’d become. He’s the mother hen to all the other lost boys and he’s tough enough to stand up for himself. His love for Peter fades fast and I think had he clung to that childhood friendship they’d once had, maybe it would have been more interesting?

None of the other lost boys made any impact on me. There was a pair of twins, a five-year-old, a girl, the mean one, and a handful of others that were quickly killed so as not to take too much time away from the Peter/James plot.

Peter was dry and underdeveloped. I think he was what anyone might imagine as the playful boy who never wants to grow up gone a little sinister. I didn’t really dislike him (don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like him either), so if he was supposed to be the true villain, I wasn’t feeling it.

The island was dull too. There was pirates cove, which the gang didn’t really venture into, the tree where the boys lived and some field where the “Many-Eyed” dwelled (giant spiders? I guess???), oh and the rock where the boys kill each other for sport. Maybe that bit sounds interesting, but when it actually happened I was just as bored there as I was throughout the story.

I thought I’d love this story, but it just didn’t do it for me. I just want to go read Alias Hook again instead. If you’re looking for a dark Hook origin story like I was, I would consider looking elsewhere. I do enjoy the minimalist cover art though!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The nitty-gritty: A dark retelling of Peter Pan, steeped in loss and heartbreak, with thrilling action and lots of surprises.

I'm not usually a fast reader, but I literally DEVOURED this book in a 24-hour period! Most of us are familiar with the original story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, who loved adventure and was mortal enemies with Captain James Hook. Christina Henry takes the familiar characters and gives everything a twist. In Lost Boy, Peter Pan is the villain and Hook—or Jamie as he’s known in this story—is the innocent, lured to the island with promises that he will stay young forever, promises that turn out to be nothing but prettily disguised lies. There are lots of Peter Pan retellings out there, and a fair amount of those tell the story of Hook, but this is going to be a hard one to beat.

The story is told by Jamie, who was lured away from home by a boy named Peter many, many years ago. Now Jamie lives with Peter and the other boys on an island, and he’s still the same age he was when he arrived, even though “one hundred and fifty seasons” have passed. Peter and his boys spend their days playing and going on adventures, including raiding the pirates in the nearby cove. But it isn’t all fun and games. Peter has an unhealthy love of blood sport, and has created an event called Battle, where boys can settle their disagreements in a “fight to the death” match, a sport that Peter loves to watch, but never participates in himself.

Jamie has taken on the role of protector of a very young boy named Charlie, taken from his mum on one of Peter’s excursions to the Other Place. One of the biggest threats on the island are the giant spider-like monsters called the Many-Eyed, who mostly keep to the forest, but on occasion venture too close to the boys. Peter has many rules, but the most important one is that no one is allowed to hurt or kill a Many-Eyed. Jamie has never understood this rule, until one day he is forced to break it in order to save Charlie.

In an instant, all their lives are changed. And even worse, Jamie realizes that Peter has been keeping secrets from him. And telling lies…

There is so much that I loved about this story! First, this is ALL about the characters and their motivations. Yes, the familiar trappings of Peter Pan are present, but they are mostly off-stage. We all know that Jamie will eventually become Captain Hook, and so pirates do play a part in this story. However, we never actually get to meet the pirates, or even take part in the raids. The reader only hears about these things after the fact, and I was actually OK with that. Likewise, there are mermaids in the story, and even Tinkerbell makes a quick appearance, but these elements are only discussed in an off-hand way. Some readers may wish that the pirates and mermaids were bigger parts of the story, but then it wouldn’t have been THIS story.

Instead, Henry focuses on her characters, especially Peter and Jamie, who are as opposite as can be. Peter is a wonderfully drawn character with psychopathic tendencies, a boy whose sole happiness lies in the amount of mischief and mayhem he can create. He is by turns cruel and charismatic, dangerous and happy-go-lucky, petulant and cunning. He has spent his life on the island literally kidnapping young boys and bringing them back to serve as entertainment. This is at times a bloody and violent tale, and Peter revels in that violence. When a boy dies, he simply shrugs his shoulders and sets out to the Other Place to find a new boy. He terrified me, and I hated him, so kudos to the author for making me feel that way!

On the other side of the coin is Jamie, who feels protective of the other boys and has learned how to read Peter’s various mood swings. In other words, he keeps the peace, which is especially hard as he’s starting to see past the shiny veneer Peter wears and into his true heart. Jamie is a particularly effective fighter, especially when it comes to the pirates. He’s even come up with a signature “move” whenever he beats one of the pirates in a skirmish, a story element that delighted me, since it cleverly ties into story behind Hook’s missing hand (and also relates to the book cover).

I wasn’t surprised to find the theme of childhood and growing up part of Lost Boy, since this is, after all, a Peter Pan story. Henry did a great job of showing us the carefree moments of childhood, the irresistible idea of staying a child forever, and then tempering that idea with the realities of growing up and having to shoulder responsibility. I loved when Jamie realizes that indeed he is growing up (although very slowly). He sometimes feels his bones stretch, and he even wakes up one day with stubble on his chin. Henry even explains to some extent why the boys don’t grow any older, and so when Jamie starts to change it was both heartbreaking and inevitable.

And because this story is character driven, there are lots of emotional moments. In a very short number of pages, Henry manages to make the reader care deeply for the “lost boys.” In fact, I felt bad for every creature that had to deal with Peter, even the monstrous ones! My only negative is that the last part of Lost Boy felt rushed. Henry introduces a new character named Sal late in the story—a character with some very cool surprises—and I honestly wanted more. But by the end, Henry has brought us full circle to the familiar beginning of the original tale, and for me, it felt just right.

For any reader who loves great storytelling, this dark tale is a highly additive treat.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

I have to beg your forgiveness, lovelies. This is the first review I have actually written up in a while, and I am a little bit rusty. However, I couldn’t have picked a better book to be my first after a bit of a hiatus from reviewing due to health issues. Lost Boy by Christina Henry is a real gem!

So, a bit of a disclaimer. I have never actually read the J.M. Barrie original. I know, I know! Bad bookworm. But I find that I get a little overwhelmed when I read classics and originals. So, for now I have skipped it. But, I really love fairy tales, and I have a lot of fond memories of spending time at my grandparents’ house, reading many different treasuries of classic fairy tales. Back when Christina Henry wrote Alice and Red Queen, I jumped on the opportunity to read a dark re-imagining of the stories I loved as a kid. And when I saw she was writing Lost Boy, I had to read it, too! Not to mention, look how amazing that cover is. And the UK version is even more so.

Because all I know of Peter Pan is the Disney story, and a little bit of the stage musical, I had no serious attachments to the story or the characters as they were. If you do, and you don’t want those attachments ruined, I recommend steering clear of Lost Boy. You won’t feel the same about Peter and his boys after you read it!

Characters:

We see some real growth and change in a few of the characters. While the main characters (namely Jamie and Peter) are very well fleshed out, the other characters were a little one-dimensional for me. I love sweeping casts, and especially with how things went in Part III onward, I would have loved to know a little bit more about the supporting cast of boys.

Plot and Pacing:

Lost Boy started out a little slow for me, but by Part II (of IV), it was really picking up, and I didn’t want to put it down. The core plot of Lost Boy is really magnificent, as it tells a story that isn’t often explored – the origin of the villain. And if the villain has just cause for becoming a villain, is he truly a villain?

Lost Boy was billed as a horror story on NetGalley, but I feel like it sits more comfortably in the dark fantasy genre. Where Henry’s previous two retellings had a very prevalent core of fear and suspense, I feel like Lost Boy was lacking in that department. However, it did keep the graphic violence that Henry writes so very well.

Setting and Worldbuilding:

The interesting thing about derivative works is that some of the work is done for you, while you get to reinterpret other aspects completely. While Henry’s Neverland (or as she calls it, Peter’s island) is not as lush and full as the world she created in Alice and Red Queen, it was still a lovely setting for the story. The one thing I was really missing was any mention of Tiger Lily and her “Picaninny” tribe. It would have infused some much-needed diversity into the story, as all of the boys Peter brings to his island (as well as the pirates) were described as being white.

I would also love to have seen a little more description of the Other Place, maybe via what the boys were wearing when they were brought to the island. We know Jamie has been there a long time, but if the new boys were wearing jeans and neon windbreakers as opposed to Jamie’s more 1800’s inspired wear, it would give a better sense of time passing. I understand why she didn’t do so, as it might have damaged the fantasy aspects of the book… but it would still have been interesting.

Final Notes:

Christina Henry is a glorious wordsmith, and Lost Boy is no exception. My few beefs with it are that it lacks a diverse narrative, the supporting characters could have used some extra love, and the worldbuilding was not as striking as in her previous work. That said, this re-telling of Peter Pan is sure to stand the test of time as a dark fantasy favorite.

Content/Trigger Warnings:

Lost Boy contains some graphic violence and gore, specifically against children. As such, it may be triggering to some readers.
Furthermore, this is not a Young Adult book, though the main cast is of a younger age.

Who Should Read This Book:

Readers who are a fan of bloody battles, fairy tale re-imaginings, and dark fantasy are likely to love Lost Boy by Christina Henry.

We all desire to be someone's "best" or "the favorite". But what if being that person comes at a cost of the person that you could have been? While forever casting a shadow of villainy on the person that you have been forced to become.

Such has been the case for Captain Hook for as long as there has been a story of Peter Pan.
But who was Captain Hook before?
How did he come to be a part of Peter's often told tale?
Is he really the villain of this story? Or could there be another story here?
A story left to languish unheard. A story that if told forever change the way that we view everything that we ever thought we knew about the legendary Peter Pan.

Classic literature will never be the same, at least not if authoress Christina Henry has anything to say about it.
And...
Her retelling of the classic Peter Pan, from the vantage point of its resident evil, Captain Hook, more than proves that Miss Henry has a lot to say indeed.

Readers are introduced not to the man that is Captain Hook. But to Jamie, the boy he was before.
And...
The shadowy memory of a murder.
A murder that took place far away from Neverland.
A murder that works to bring Jamie face to face with his end, and Hook's forever.
A murder that serves as one of the many penances paid by a boy whose only sin was that he dared to grow up.
Get ready to question everything that you thought you knew about Peter Pan, Neverland, and the legend of Captain Hook.
As you discover the untold truth.

WRITTEN IN BLOOD!

Wildly imaginative and wonderfully inventive, Lost Boy twisted the long-standing characters of Pan and Hook from the classic tale to give a new origin story, one of how two friends became the life-long enemies they're famously known as. With skill and finesse, Henry's storytelling easily transported me to a wild island where boys never aged, one where they could never leave, and where the true side of the boy that led them all shone through.

Henry brilliantly wove a tale with an underlying of darkness, expertly showing the slow progression of insanity that was Peter Pan and the depravities of the island. With rich detail and vivid characters, there was no fear in showing the unbridled side to boys when left to their own devices and how susceptible they were to attention. It was poignantly bloodied, but incredibly moving and emotional. Every moment of the story carried with it a deeper meaning, crossing reality with make believe and jealousy with love. And Jamie, before he took to his famous moniker, was at the center of it all as Pan's favorite token from the Other Land, the longest on the island. His character was deeply rooted and clearly written, flickering between his devotion to the Lost Boys and his love for the boy who brought him there. It became impossible to not be wrapped up in him.

Lost Boy was darkly clever, intricate in every way, and so different from any version before it, but brilliant nonetheless. Words cannot express how much I adored this version, how easily it fit into the character we've always known, and how its effect alludes explanation. If you're looking to be thrilled and charmed and twisted, I can not recommend this tale enough.

After Christina Henry’s masterful retelling of Alice in Wonderland, she brings her talent to J.M. Barres’ story of Peter Pan, subverting the tale into a darker frame as we see Peter Pan through the eyes of his greatest enemy and former best friend…Captain Hook.

“Peter will say I’m a villain, that I wronged him, that I never was his friend. But I told you already. Peter lies. This is what really happened.”

Jamie, the narrator of the story, is one of the first Lost Boys and Peter Pan’s best friend. Though he looks to be between eight and twelve, he is in reality 100 plus years old and he has slowly grown disillusioned with his endless childhood and the burdens placed on him by Peter’s callousness, irresponsibility, and perpetually need for adoration.

“I had been with Peter longer than I’d been in the Other Place, longer than I could count, anyway.”

Jamie assumes responsibility for the boys Peter brings over from the Other Place though Peter insults him by frequently comparing him to the dreaded grown up for babying and mothering the boys. It doesn’t take long for Jamie and the others to realize that never growing up doesn’t mean immortality. Neverland is an island of adventure of unseen dangers with pirates, crocodiles, sharks, mermaids, and other vicious beings inhabiting the landscape.

“The island takes them and chews them up.“

And when the boys succumb to death one by one (through illness or other methods), Jamie is the one who buries and mourns him. When Peter lures an orphaned five-year-old to the island against Jamie’s advice, Jamie finds himself in the role of protector when Peter grows jealous of Charlie and seeks to permanently get rid of him.

“I stared after him, felt the familiar mix of love and worship and frustration that I often felt with Peter. You couldn’t change him. He didn’t want to be changed. That was why he lived on the island in the first place.”

Fans of Disney’s or Barres’ versions of Peter Pan will be hard pressed to conjure up the usual feeling of nostalgia over their childhood favorite with this version. Though this is a story filled with the magic and mayhem of childhood fantasies, it is also a story of murder, madness, and violence. Henry keeps the story fresh and energetic with diabolical twists and turns to keep us guessing. Dynamic characterization and narration bring the story to life as Henry shows us how Captain Hook came to be and why.

“Peter needed to be the hero, so somebody needed to be a villain.”

In here, Peter Pan is a narcissistic sociopath who uses the island of Neverland and the fear of growing old to entice children into joining him in his never ending quest for adventure and excitement. But as always, promises from the devil come at a high price.

“To Peter, all children were replaceable (except for himself). When he lost one here on the island he would go get a new one, preferable an unwanted one, because then the boy didn’t miss the Other Place so much and he was happy to be here and to do what Peter wanted.”

There is a Lord of the Flies feeling in here as Jamie gives voice to the rot and anger festering underneath the surface of Peter and the island. Peter encourages the violence and bloodshed of the their games and it’s only after Jamie rips aside the last remaining vestiges of his childhood does he learn exactly why. Peter’s final and most brutal betrayal of Jamie combined with Henry’s subtle nods towards Wendy and Tinkerbell floods the story with anticipation and sorrow as Henry prepares us for the end.

“Peter will never let me go. If I’m not to be his playmate and friend, then I am to be his playmate and enemy. He brought me to this island and he swore I would never leave and so I haven’t.”

Once again, Henry takes readers on an adventure of epic and horrific proportions as she reinvents a childhood classic using our own fears and desires. Her smooth prose and firm writing hooked me up instantly and held me hostage to the very end. I am firmly team Captain Hook and I hope there will be a sequel.

Grade: B+

Experience Unexpected Darkness in Neverland with Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook
Anissa Gooch

Captain Hook is a bad guy. Peter Pan is a good guy. This is what we know, whether our education comes from Disney’s beloved Peter Pan of 1953; 1991’s Hook, in which the title character is played with dastardly relish by Dustin Hoffman; or J. M. Barrie’s plays and novels of the early 20th century, in which the character of Peter Pan was created. Regardless of the origin of our knowledge, this is what we all know.

Or, should I say, that is what we knew. Christina Henry’s novel Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook turns that basic knowledge on its head in the most compelling and darkly delightful way.

Who were the Lost Boys, the boys that were already established in Peter’s Neverland before he brought Wendy, John, and Michael Darling to visit? How did they get there, how did they live, and why don’t they ever grow up? Henry takes on these questions and more as she weaves a tale of darkness and suspense in which the reader both knows the outcome and also cannot possibly know the outcome, drawing out the anticipation right up until the very last page.

Though Lost Boy shares a setting with a beloved children’s classic, one thing should be made abundantly clear: this is not a children’s novel. It is, in fact, a psychological thriller, horror story, and fantasy tale that digs deep into the nature of Neverland, a wild and often terrifying island where the established rules of life and death are turned on their heads and the dominant personality is that of a little boy who refuses to grow up and is unable to experience love. Just describing it in that way will make many readers wonder how they ever could have missed what Henry’s novel makes so obvious: Neverland is a dark place where dark things happen to people.

Lost Boy is not the first time that Christina Henry has put a dark spin on a children’s classic. In her Chronicles of Alice series—which has two installments so far, Alice and Red Queen—Alice’s adventures in Wonderland get a similar gritty treatment. However, the author’s current endeavor features an exploration of an established literary villain that forays into a world previously dominated by Gregory Maguire, who has written many such novels (most notably Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Broadway musical). But where Maguire’s story lines sometimes meander and become mired in political minutiae, Lost Boy is focused and action driven while simultaneously delving deep into the sometimes painful realizations that accompany a boy’s unwilling maturity into adulthood.

Henry’s island of Neverland and boasts most of the features that readers will remember from other versions of the Peter Pan story; the pirates, the mermaids, and even the Lost Boys’ tree are all there. One notable absence, however, is the culturally problematic tribe of “Red Indians,” a feature of the original Peter Pan story that is full of deeply racist stereotypes. They are thankfully replaced with a much more universally acceptable enemy: giant, many-legged, bloodthirsty creatures that are never quite identified as giant spiders, though that is certainly where my imagination took me (to my somewhat shivering and delicious horror).

We experience the world through the eyes of Jamie, Peter Pan’s first and favorite companion in Neverland and the self-proclaimed protector of the Lost Boys. While Peter starts fights with pirates and takes the boys on dangerous adventures, it’s Jamie who makes sure they are fed and taken care of as best he can, considering Peter’s love for violent play. As the novel unfolds and Peter spirals further out of control, Jamie attempts to mitigate the dangers the situation, ultimately facing down Peter in a final confrontation that leads to a transformation into Captain Hook.

Though that may sound like a major spoiler, it’s not—the reader knows from the beginning (from the title page, even) how Jamie’s story will ultimately lead into the events of the Peter Pan mythology. But Christina Henry keeps readers guessing about other facets of the story by weaving other vibrant personalities into the world she’s imagined. She uses these personalities to maintain the sense of mystery as the reader cannot be sure of the fate of these other endearing characters once the story has concluded. Indeed, she manages to keep up the suspense right up until the last chapter, with twists and turns that kept this reader glued to the pages.

One thing I can promise: once you experience Lost Boy, you will never view the singing, flying, happy-go-lucky Peter Pan of stage and screen in the quite the same way ever again.

I am always a fan of a re-telling. I love seeing how an author can manipulate a most loved story and turn it into something completely different. I am familiar with and have read plenty of retellings, but, for the most part, had read them for use in my classroom. I was very excited to read one for fun. Enter, Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry. A story that gives a twist on the classic Peter Pan tale and shows Peter as a villainous, evil mastermind who manipulates the lost boys and eventually creates his greatest enemy.

Told through the perspective of James, who eventually becomes Captain Hook, we see how Peter’s world of make believe and magic was a farce and the island (known as The Other Place) was truly filled with darkness and danger. The Lost Boys were not a family, but really waiting for their turn to be Peter’s favourite. This one really gave off a Lord of the Flies vibe, which I felt was really interesting.

There were a few things that I didn’t particularly love about this retelling, but I felt they were quite minor. I felt like Christina Henry really relied heavily on violence to push the plot (which is why I felt like it was very Lord of the Flies). I don’t usually enjoy this tactic and I especially did not love it since all the characters are children.
I also did struggle a little bit with the pacing; I found parts to drag significantly which was strange since the book was quite short. I also did not agree with finding this book in the "horror" category. Some parts were dark, yes, but I didn’t find anything to be quite scary.

Aside from those issues, I felt like Henry did a great job, overall, at bringing a different side to the Peter Pan story. If you are a fan of retellings, think Wicked, then you may enjoy this one!

First of all, this book upset me in a way that most books are never capable of doing. I know a lot of reviewers who will immediately up their rating for a book if it hits them hard, because they consider it a sign of a talented author, and while I can understand that point of view, I don't agree with it for my own reviews. I DNF'd this at 60% but my general rule of thumb is that panning a book at 30%-onward warrants a review.

WHAT I LIKED ➳➳
Lost Boy has an interesting premise (the origins story of Captain Hook), and Christina's writing style itself is very lovely and captivating.

WHAT I DISLIKED ➳➳
First of all, let me preface this by saying that, if this book were an adult fantasy novel, my problems with it wouldn't be so easy to justify, and I'd probably just throw it on the DNF shelf, type up a few quick lines for NetGalley, and leave it alone. That said, while I love macabre retellings and the excerpts of Christina's Alice retellings delighted me entirely, this was too much for me, and I can't personally fathom marketing this to the younger end of the YA crowd.

The book starts off right from the beginning with nonstop death and violence regarding young boys, but what really bothered me the most was the wicked vendetta that Peter and some of the other boys had against Charlie, a 5-year-old the group had recently added to the crew. [(*SPOILER* they stole him from his loving family, rather than "saving" him from an abusive household or orphanage *END SPOILER*) (hide spoiler)]While I can appreciate the thought process that writing this horrifically dreadful narrative about how terrified Jamie (Hook) is for Charlie's life may just be another creepy horror subplot, I felt like Christina took it way too far.

I will absolutely still read Christina's Alice retellings and give her other work a chance, and if you aren't bothered by child abuse, child death, children murdering other children, etc., then have at it. I personally couldn't stomach it and would probably not ever be willing to finish this title in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the kind people at Berkley Books for providing me with an ARC. All thoughts in this review are my own honest opinions.

Despite not being a huge fan of Peter Pan (the Disney version, anyway) growing up, I've grown really fond of Peter Pan-inspired retellings/reboots/etc. in the past few years, and I was so excited to see Lost Boy on NetGalley - even more so when I got the email telling me that I was approved to read it. It did not let me down at all! This is a dark, brutal story that is everything I crave in retellings like these. Some of my favorite retellings are those that are dark and twisty and take classic stories, lands, and characters into new territories that retain the magic of the original, but add in so much more. This was why I loved Heartless by Marissa Meyer and Tiger Lily so much - they took the classic stories and just completely flipped them. Lost Boy did very much the same, as it is quite a divergence from the ever-popular Disney version and even the original by J.M. Barrie.

Captain Hook has always been one of the main characters from Peter Pan that has most fascinated (Tinkerbell and the mermaids being the others), and Jamie was such a fascinating rendition of this character. He was very real and flawed. He wanted to do good and as a protector to the boys, but he had his own temper and his own tendency towards violence. And there's the fact that as much as he hated Peter, there he was however many years later, still caving to his every request and whim - of course, there are reasons he is trapped under Peter's 'rule,' but it does bring an interesting angle to the story.

The description of Peter was also fantastic and so fitting for some of the images I've had of Peter in my own interpretations. He's this completely unsympathetic 'villain' that is just so true to his character: a boy that insists on staying young forever, living on an island where only young boys and absolutely no girls or adults are allowed, wanting to play and fight all the time? Yeah, I don't think that's someone many of us would want to be around. Peter is awful, but also rather clever and mysterious, and he was developed wonderfully.

The remaining characters were no less developed or interesting than Peter or Jamie. Sal, Nod, Fog, and Charlie my favorites of the children and were all also uniquely developed. Nod and Fog are twins and, to me, the quintessential fit for a place like Neverland. They're just boys who never want to grow and don't mind having a leader like Peter Pan to take care of them. The rest of the boys seem okay with the situation at times, but there does seem to be a bit of lingering suspicion among them regarding the entire situation.

Lost Boy is very much focused on specific character relationships and developments. There are major events that occur, but they aren't really the focus -- it's more about how the characters react and how each event changes the dynamics, even if only ever so slightly. There is meaning in every glance, every touch, every movement - whether it is realized or not, not one action is meaningless.

I also thought the backstory of Jamie and Peter's friendship was really well-written, especially with how slowly the truth of their relationship was revealed and the impact it had. I liked how Neverland and the Other Place (aka, where we all live) existed in relation to one another, as I'm always interested in how alternate places are developed in stories.

Overall, I've given Lost Boy five stars. I'm a huge fan of these types of stories and this one was everything I wanted.

What if you took the well known story of Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, and started asking questions. What if you thought about what a society composed entirely of young boys would be like? What if you took the old myths of magic and blood, youth and paradise, and applied their rules to Neverland?

The answer would be: you get Lost Boy by Christina Henry. A fantastic, dark retelling of Peter Pan told from the point of view of Jamie, Peter's second in command, who has lived on the island longer than any boy except Peter. Jamie, who Peter convinced to go to Neverland where they would be young and free and happy forever. As Peter brings new boys to join them he promises them fun adventures raiding pirates, swimming with mermaids, playing what they want, eating when they want, with no one to tell them what to do. But someone has to teach the boys to defend themselves in pirate raids, how to hunt food, how to tend wounds. This is what Jamie does. He becomes the one who looks after them, who protects them, who shoulders the grief when they die. Because staying young forever doesn't mean you can't die. There are pirates, accidents, and wild animals, but there are also Battles- because what do young boys like better than to fight?

We watch Jamie go from disappointed to disillusioned with Peter as Jamie tries to keep the group safe and Peter considers them replaceable. Things degenerate (or maybe were always like this and Jamie finally realizes it?) into more Lord of the Flies than happy adventures. Jamie begins to discover the island has secrets even he did not know, although Peter did. And Peter, finally fed up with the fact that Jamie looks after the other boys, decides the only way to regain Jamie's love and friendship is to destroy everyone that might get between them.

Lost Boy is a compelling, haunting, and at times chilling story: fast-paced and well-written, you can't put it down once you've started. Your heart aches for Jamie as he begins to realize the truth, and remember truths he had forgotten from the world before the island. Lost Boy is both a twist of an old classic, and a brilliant story of self discovery, loyalty, and identity that shakes up all your preconceived ideas and invites you to take a new look at Peter Pan and the boy who became Captain Hook.

Fans of ABC's Once Upon a Time will love Lost Boy, as it reminds us that a villain is only someone who's story hasn't been told yet.

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

Imagine meeting a young boy with promises of an island where you will never grow up. Oh the fun you could have, leaving the world you know to have adventures. Imagine if the world you did know was one where you were unhappy, afraid, alone. Then this island and this boy, Peter, would have everything you could ever want. That was Jamie. He left the land he knew to follow Peter many, many seasons ago. He was the first boy Peter had ever brought to the island. They were best friends and they would never grow old. But as the seasons passed more boys would come. When those boys died either in Battle, during a raid against the pirates, from sickness or the Many-eyes, Peter would go back to the Other Place to get other boys. Jamie would be the one to bury the bodies. He was also the one that made sure the boys were taken care of, looked after, and while everyone had fun, Jamie kept them safe. This is the story of Captain Hook, the boy once known as Jamie, and how he went from being Peter Pan’s right hand to losing his.

Jamie is the narrator throughout Lost Boy and he is nothing at all like the villain I remember. He is Peter’s best friend, his favorite and the fiercest fighter that leaves his mark on pirates by taking their right hand by their own sword. But he is also caring, thoughtful and a fierce protector. Even though he is a child, he holds a certain maturity that you would expect from someone older. Henry did an amazing job developing his character and his voice. Through his eyes I learned of the other boys and the truth of Peter, who is a brutal, uncaring child that feeds off violence and parades it off as fun. All of the characters jumped off the page so well developed it was almost frightening. And the island they lived on was full of a certain mysticism where monsters roamed and secrets were hidden.

I’m a sucker for anything Peter Pan. I fell in love with Disney’s version as a child, loved “Hook” and even watched the short run cartoon show that ran in my childhood. But I didn’t read the novel Peter Pan until I was an adult. I was able to see in Peter Pan the things I wouldn’t have noticed if I read it as a child. Like how Peter “took care of” the boys if they started to grow up. Or what an extremely arrogant trickster he was. I felt bamboozled by the reality of who Peter really was and honestly my opinion of a character I truly loved changed dramatically. Henry’s novel about Captain Hook takes this image of Peter Pan a step further. This novel is dark and brutal with amazing world and character development. I lost myself in this story both horrified an amazed by the lengths that Peter was willing to go to keep Jamie by his side. This is the perfect prequel to Peter Pan and an extremely fascinating background for Captain Hook. It’s easy to feel sympathy for the man that would become Hook and see the cruelty of Peter. The clues were left in Peter Pan that there was more to the boy who would never grow up, something much darker and sinister. Henry exposed all of that in Lost Boy.

"Peter will say I'm a villain, that I wronged him, that I never was his friend. But I told you already, Peter lies."

Oh what a dark delight this book was! I really love diving deep into the psyche of a villain and reading how they were made. But this book is so deliciously different.

The thing with a villain retelling is that you still know who the villain is. Or at least, who they will become. Lost Boy is a richly complex story where villains and heroes are much harder to discern.

In the stories, Peter Pan is always the hero. The cheerful young boy who refuses to grow up, and only wants to bring joy and happiness to children by bringing them to Neverland. Captain Hook we know as the pirate determined to destroy Peter Pan. But what if the story was a bit more complicated than that?

Jamie is a young boy, Peter's right hand, his best friend.  "I was the first and best and last and always." He was the first boy chosen and will always be the one by Peter's side. They have a friendship that outshines everything, because deep down Jamie knows he is special. That's what he thinks, anyway.

Things with Peter aren't always what they seem. First, Peter tries to hurt the littlest Lost Boy because he just isn't any fun. Boys dying and getting hurt on the island has always been part of the deal. Peter only has time and patience for the games he plays. And Jamie has always accepted this. Because that's the way it's always been and that's the way it will always be. Then Jamie begins to discover that Peter hasn't been telling him everything. Peter keeps secrets. Peter lies.

Suddenly the magic of the Island takes on more sinister tones. With each lie discovered, each secret revealed, Jamie finds his unconditional love for Peter diminishing a little more. Questions Jamie had never bothered asking begin to surface in his mind. What happens when a boy who is kept forever young by magic begins to grow up?

I will admit to having a thing for the Dark Side. I tend to fall for the bad guy, and usually think that villains are victims of circumstance. Misunderstood. But that's usually because we don't see real villains very often.

Henry dives deep into the mind of a villain. She plays in the playground of actual evil. In Peter she has created a young, cheerful, psychopath. He is happy and delighted in whatever game he's come up with. But only when things are going his way. When they don't, he simply fixes the problem. Except, fixing a problem could mean killing a boy.

Peter doesn't think what he's doing is wrong. He doesn't feel bad, or feel regret, or care about consequences. He has no morals. He lives only by the rules he has created in his head, and even those are flexible. Really, Peter cares only about having fun. He also really enjoys being the center of attention. Everyone else is simply along for his amusement. Everyone expect Jamie.

Anytime he is confronted with his actions, or his behavior, or even his attitude, he doesn't see the problem, or even acknowledge the concern. For Peter, a dead boy is no never mind. As long as the games can go on. There is no reason to concern himself with one boy, when he can simply go to the Other Place and get a new one.

Peter does genuinely love Jamie. In the way that only a psychopath can. With utter devotion and obsession. It isn't so much that the other boys aren't of consequence, but that they take Jamie away from Peter. This is the one thing that drives Peter throughout the book. He only wants to be the focus of Jamie's attention and affection. Every decision and action is made in this light.

We rarely get to see such a spot on depiction of a psychopath. Rarer still is to see this portrayal in such an accessible story. For all the darkness in this story, you are still lulled into believing you are reading a fairy tale. When the shock of violence hits you, and it is a shock, and it is grotesquely violent, the reality of the Island floods in. Reading is a constant ebb and flow of delight and horror, again and again and again.

The chilling part about Peter isn't that he is cold, or calculating, although you could make an argument for either. It is more he isn't. He really doesn't have time to care. We are used to our villains being passionate, or vengeful. Full of anger and denial. Peter is just Peter. Concerned only with his fun, his games and himself.

And that's what makes this book so, so good. Because we have a true villain in Peter. We have someone who is clearly wrong, and violent, and bad. But we also have the making of a different sort of villain. Jamie. Because Jamie does become Captain Hook, who is solely focused on revenge. He is full of anger and vengeance. He is passionate in his hatred for Peter. He is the definition of the villain we have come to know.

Peter wronged him. Peter lied to him. Peter made him. And yet, Jamie isn't the villain. But, also, he is. "If I am a villain, it's because Peter made me one, because Peter needs to be the shining sun that all the world turns around. Peter needed to be a hero, so somebody needed to be a villain."

Henry has created a world full of magic, and somehow made it real. Because in life, villains aren't all bad, and heroes aren't all good. Sometimes good and evil is simply a matter of perspective. Life in the real world is much more complex, and things like villains and heroes are harder to discern.

I loved this book! Loved it! It is dark and twisty and full of things that make you gasp. It is full of treachery and violence. Sometimes villains are born. Sometimes villains are made. This book explores both of those ideas and creates a very dark adventure. If you also dabble in the Dark Side, and enjoy reading more complicated story, and aren't afraid of things that go bump in the night, this book is definitely for you!

Lost Boy comes out July 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for approving me to read this ARC!

Christina Henry, who took on Alice in Wonderland in her own unique way and managed to knock it out of the ball park, returns with a new take on Peter Pan in Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook. Before reading Lost Boy, do yourself a favor and pretend that you've never read J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Pretend that Lost Boy is instead the prequel to Barrie's novel, or if you must, a re-imaging of the tale that puts the focus on how one boy, best friend of Peter Pan once, became the diabolical Captain Hook who hasn't been given a real chance to tell his own side of things. 

The key character is Jamie. Jamie, at 8 years old, was the first boy that Peter Pan brought with him to Neverland. Peter promised him that he would never grow up, that he would always have adventures, and that they would be together forever. All he had to do is love Peter, and be his playmate always. Jamie worshiped Peter once, but he has seen the toll that Peter's games have taken on the Lost Boys. Jamie is the best fighter on the island. Boy are both scared of him, and respect him because he, in turn, teaches them how to survive, and he knows where all the bodies have been buried. 

As the years have dragged on, Jamie realizes that Peter isn't the boy he thought he knew. Especially when he takes on being a mentor for a boy named Charlie, and later a new arrival name Sal who is more than I can say. Peter truly believes that the boys are replaceable, and if he loses one, he can always steal another one. Just as long as that boy is presumed to be unwanted. Would I consider this story to be a villain redeemed by alternative facts never heard of before? Quite so.

So, I ask you to do yourself a favor. Open your mind to the possibility that everything that you've been told about Captain Hook is a lie written by Peter and even Disney. Captain Hook is the perfect fall guy for Peter to blame for his truly bizarre behaviors. Pick up and read this story with an open mind and a willingness to extend reality to the possibility that everything that you've heard about Peter Pan is just plain wrong, and that Peter wasn't a nice boy at all. If you can do that, you will enjoy a truly fantastical ride with plenty of action, suspense, and most of all, adventure the likes that we expect from Christina Henry.

I've never liked Peter Pan.

It's one of those stories that just didn't capture my attention and no matter how it's spun, Peter strikes me as an awful little boy. So I was very excited to read of Captain Hook's origins, fully expecting Peter to be the villain and I wasn't disappointed.

I was hesitant to read Lost Boy at first as I wasn't a huge fan of Henry's Alice or Red Queen (then again, I've yet to fine a re-telling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that I really like).

The book opens with Jamie (Hook before he was Hook) as "second-in-command" of Peter's boys as they run rampant across the island. But things are changing. Jamie is changing. And that change packed a punch. Despite the writing style not grabbing my attention for some time, Jamie did. Jamie, the boy who cares for everyone else before himself, who wants to see the best in the boys, in Peter, and who is disappointed time and again. My heart went out to him.

Though the story is told from Jamie's perspective, it still provided insight into each of the other boys as, one by one, they reached their limits. This book is not for the faint of heart and features a lot of violence toward and involving children. Henry didn't hold back on that front and every detail is blasted across the pages. The more Jamie realizes that Peter isn't the boy he thought he was, the more gruesome the story becomes.

Especially the big reveal near the end. I felt like I should have expected it, given the way the story was leading up to it, but WHAM it hit me like a semi flying down the highway. I hadn't realized how attached I became to the characters until that moment. It had been a subtle thing, the pull on the heartstrings as Jamie began to lose everything he loved, to become the so-called villain of Peter's island.

I think Henry excelled here to capture the story as some might remember it but also put a horrific spin on it. Though I found the pacing to be a bit sluggish at times, it soon picked up into the shock-and-awe horror I've come to expect from this author.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure how I got through this book. The sheer amount of gore, especially toward the second half of the book, and with children (yes, I know, it's Peter Pan Take 2 but doesn't make it easier to handle)... It made me uncomfortable. And perhaps that was the point, because Jamie was realizing it too and you could feel the shift in his thoughts, his actions. It was all very well done. Just... bloody.

Overall, a horrific origin story for the infamous Captain Hook, but I wouldn't say he's really the villain anymore. If the violence doesn't bother you, then I'd certainly recommend this book. Good writing. Well-developed characters. A darker Peter Pan re-telling, I've never read.