BOOK REPORT for Darling by K. Ancrum

Cover Story: Flames of Passion
BFF Charms: Big Sister
Swoonworthy Scale: 0*
Talky Talk: Contemporary Retelling
Bonus Factor: Strong Female Characters, Twists
Anti-Bonus Factor: [REDACTED]
Relationship Status: Second Guessing that Swipe Right

Content Warning: Darling features suggestions of both physical and emotional violence.

Cover Story: Flames of Passion
I don't exactly know why this cover makes me think of the word passion, but perhaps it's the elements—the rose, the flame—that often indicate such an emotion. In this case, it's not a good thing, however; this passion feels dangerous and out of control.

The Deal:
Wendy Darling has just moved to Chicago with her parents. She knows no one, other than her online friend Eleanor, who she still has yet to meet—thanks to her overly concerned and strict mother and father. But then a boy, a very charming and attractive boy, literally stumbles in through her bedroom window with promises of parties and exciting people to meet. Wendy knows she shouldn't follow him out into the night, but there's something about Peter Pan that makes him nearly impossible to resist.

BFF Charm: Big Sister
Wendy is a confident, daring individual with a level head on her shoulders, but even the smartest of folk can make rash decisions. And following Peter Pan, she quickly finds out, is one of the worst decisions she's ever made. With every reveal of this book, I got more and more concerned for her safety, and I would have loved to be there to help her through it.

Swoonworthy Scale: 0*
When Wendy and Peter first meet, she's immediately taken by his rakish good looks and winning smile. But the more she gets to know him—the real him—she sees behind the curtain and realizes that his facade is just that, and the truth of him is terrifying.

Talky Talk: Contemporary Retelling
I love a good retelling, particularly when an author takes the familiar story and really makes it their own. Ancrum does exactly that with Darling; this is definitely not the sweet Peter Pan story we're all most familiar with. But it also never feels completely at odds with the original, even though it takes such different (and dark) turns. Ancrum also excels at writing compelling characters. From Wendy to the Lost Boys she meets, each of the characters stands out, even if we only meet them for a short passage. They're all so realized and dynamic.

It took me a minute to get into the book, but as soon as the sinister notes ramped up, I couldn't put it down. I think my heartbeat sped up with every chapter.

Bonus Factor: Strong Female Characters
Wendy is impressive, yes, but the other two main female characters—Tinkerbelle and an indigenous young woman named Ominotago (there's a small passage about Peter giving her a nickname that she hated before the story began … I'm sure we can all figure that one out)—are equally impressive in their own right. And the relationship they have with each other, once first impressions are moved past, is truly powerful.

Bonus Factor: Twists
Ancrum truly surprised me with the twists in this book. Perhaps I didn't read the synopsis carefully enough, or I just wasn't expecting a Peter Pan book to go there, but the twists really did surprise me. In both delightful and creeps-inducing ways.

Anti-Bonus Factor: [REDACTED]
I can't exactly say what the biggest anti-bonus factor of this book is, because spoilers, but I can say that there's something about Peter that comes as quite a shock.

Relationship Status: Second Guessing that Swipe Right
You were quite fascinating. Book, and nothing like I expected. You have some great characteristics, but there's a massive red flag that has me thinking I should have brought a friend along on our date, or at least made more concrete plans for an escape route.

5 stars! K. Ancrum does it again! I have yet to be disappointed by any of her works! She will continue to be an auto buy author for me! Can't wait for more!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was my first K. Ancrum novel, and it did not disappoint! It was a marvelous retelling, and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The retelling aspects were well done, with callbacks to the original story but not relying on Peter Pan too much to propel the story.

Peter Pan retellings usually are a home run for me, but this one, while I liked it for the most part, didn't sit well with me. Let me start with what I liked: I enjoyed the grittiness, this retelling of Peter Pan superimposed onto a contemporary setting. I loved the dark twist on Peter and who he really was and I thought that the latter half of the book was fantastic with all the turns and dark themes inherent to it. I loved seeing the homages to the original tale and the inclusion of POC characters in this tale in a respectful way. The friendship that blossomed between Ominotago, Tinkerbelle and Wendy, as well as between Wendy and Eleanor, was spectacularly well done. I love seeing young women going out of their way to protect and support each other without any sort of trivial rivalries, and this didn't disappoint. I know that Wendy's story is supposed to be one of a naïve girl getting lost in Peter Pan's twisted and dark world, but I really took issue with her deciding to go off with a random stranger when she's set up to be a responsible and smart young lady. That decision didn't sit well with me, and while I get that I'm an adult and she's supposed to be a teenager, I thought it was so foolish. I will say she learns her lesson and the author doesn't condone those decisions, so that was good. Honestly, Eleanor seemed to be the only one with a lick of good sense at the beginning of the book. There were also plot threads introduced that were just left unresolved. For instance, the book starts off with Wendy interviewing to get into prep school, but we never find out if she got in! I felt like the school was going to play a bigger part in the plot but that scene is mentioned and then it is never brought up again so what is the point? Also, I wanted to see more Nana. Another thing brought up, perhaps for nostalgia's sake, but then we never see it again. Finally. it really bothered me that Detective Hook didn't call Wendy's parents when he essentially coerces her to be a part of an investigation to bring Peter down. That wouldn't happen in real life and is totally inappropriate. The author does stress that point, but it still was one of those things that didn't sit well with me. So maybe if you suspend your belief in reality a little bit, you'll like this one more than me, but these things just nagged at me while I was reading and caused my enjoyment of this one to be less than I anticipated.

Such a creepy update of JM Barrie's Peter Pan and also so accurate. Really well done and I couldn't put it down.

<i>"I hate growing up,' he said to Wendy quietly. 'I don't want to change into someone who doesn't care about my family. I just want things to stay the same."</i>

TL;DR: Meh. A <i>fine</i> retelling of <i>Peter Pan</i>. On the one hand, this one may be better suited for people who aren't as familiar with the J. M. Barrie original, as the "shock value" might be higher for people who are more familiar with Disney's characterization of Peter Pan. But, on the other hand, much of this retelling relies on the characters and plot events of the original story, so if you aren't familiar with some version, it may seem disjointed and erratic as Ancrum tries to twist the fantasy plot to fit a modern-day setting.

Vibes: J. M. Barrie's <i>Peter Pan</i> in a contemporary setting + Law & Order.

Genre: YA Fairy-tale Retelling.

Character MVP: Probably Tink. (No surprise there.) Wendy, our protagonist, was very passive for about 80% of the book, and kept going along with what was clearly a very bad situation as well as accepting that she didn't know anything until the info-dump at the end.

Verdict: A fast-paced read, but not my favorite retelling of <i>Peter Pan</i>, a story I deeply love. I appreciate what Ancrum was doing with the story/retelling, it ultimately just didn't work for me.

✔︎ -- Female Friendships.
Perhaps my favorite twist/addition to the story was Ancrum's decision to amplify the female friendships. In both Barrie's original story and the Disney version, the female characters are reduced to caricatures and stereotypes: Wendy is the maternal figure, the mermaids are the vapid, shallow, pretty girls; Tink is the jealous best friend; and Tiger Lily is the Exotic & Sexualized Other -- and they're all competing with each other for Peter's attention. So I definitely appreciate that Ancrum updated this aspect and strengthened those bonds.

✔︎ -- Nods to the Original.
If you're familiar with the original story, you can basically map out the plot (up to a point) here and see how it lines up with Barrie's original story. From the Mermaid's Lagoon, to the ever-evolving nature of Peter's hideaway, to the Never Bird, the references and allusions were there.
They felt a bit clunky at times -- like Ancrum was forcing the plot to line up with Barrie's story as when Wendy was "kidnapped" by the Lost Boys. Some were more successful than others. *shrug*

✔︎ -- Less Caricature/Stereotyping of Native Americans.
The portrayal of Indians/Native Americans is something a lot of Peter Pan retellings struggle with (see: casting Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily). It's partly because Neverland is a fantasy world imagined by a British author (at the height of the British Empire), and partly because subsequent American adaptations don't make the effort to move beyond Barrie's awful stereotypes.
But here, Ancrum purposely avoids the name Tiger Lily, and even adds in a conversation (albeit a brief one) between the characters where it seems as Peter tried to call Ominotago 'Tiger Lily' and pretty much got shut down. There are Native American characters -- from the Chippewa tribe -- and Ominotago is the strongest, smartest character in the story, one of the only ones who sees through Peter.

So, yeah. All of this is good. But here's where the story broke down a bit for me.

✘ -- Overall Plot Structure.
This connects back to Wendy's passivity -- the entire story takes place in one night, and Wendy just gets swept up in the action, going along with the flow and occasionally asking questions, but for about 75% of the book, she's in the dark about Something Everyone Else Knows. Then, the last 25% is like an episode of Law & Order with a sting to take down Peter Pan and there's a lot of info dumping and Big Reveals. I kinda liked The Twist, but if it had been less "big reveal" at the end and more "slow and steady burn" it might have been more effective.

✘ -- Peter Pan & his cruelty (SPOILERY)
This is the big one for me. If you only know Disney's animated version -- or even any of the stage versions, like the Mary Martin one I grew up with -- this might have been a more effective reveal. But anyone who's read Barrie's original story is never in any doubt that Peter can be sadistic and cruel -- and that's Barrie's point. Because he never grows up, and never matures, he's trapped in this state of perpetual almost-manhood, which gives his cruelty a particular callous edge. But the point is -- he's still a child. He's stunted and not-fully-developed. Peter's cruelty is that of a child -- partly because he can't see ahead to the consequences of his actions, and he doesn't care to.
So that 'shock-and-awe' factor didn't land for me as hard as it may have been meant to, because *of course* Peter is cruel.
And I get what Ancrum was trying to do with the twist that Peter wasn't actually a child, but was actually a man in his 30s but...that kinda ruined it for me. The difference (one of them) between Peter Pan and, say, Hook is that Hook is an adult and Peter is a child, and their conflict partly stems from that disconnect. (Also, Hook is a man of "manners" and ceremony, and Peter doesn't give two flips about the right or correct thing to do. Again, because he's a child.) So...yeah. Revealing that Peter was a man in his 30s also just gave the whole story a sketchy AF vibe that I was not a fan of. In my mind, he's just eternally 17, and Chicago was the latest city in a long line of cities where he's been sadistically manipulating disenfranchised kids. It doesn't make it a lot better, but it makes him hanging out with 16/17 year old girls a little less squishy -- even if Ancrum does (a little awkwardly) insist that he didn't get physical with any of them. Just...ick.

✘ -- Eleanor.
I kinda don't get what purpose she served? She was like Wendy's conscience, but she didn't interact with any of the other characters until the end, and basically just served as (1) the Voice of Reason (like a disclaimer in this book of bad choices, "don't do what Wendy does, she's making spectacularly poor decisions like not charging her phone or removing herself from a dangerous situation") and (2) clunky exposition/plot rehashing. Like, Wendy would call her and they'd spend a few pages going over what just happened. Which...? Not quite sure what the point was. I liked her, and she was right about everything she said, but...IDK. If you removed her from the story, I'm not sure how much would change.

What a wild, modernized version of Peter Pan! I found it interesting how the author wove together the characters into a modern setting and story line and the truth about who Peter Pan is and what he is doing in this story. A crazy, wild ride.

I'm a really big fan of K. Ancrum. I absolutely adored The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars, but unfortunately, Darling just fell short for me.

My main issue is that the story felt really rushed. The two books mentioned above were significantly longer and really had time in the stories for character development, whereas Darling skipped over a lot of that or would tell us about how the characters were rather than show us. And for me at least, Ancrum's strength is in her characters. That was one of the main reasons I loved the other two books so much and it was really just lacking here. We were introduced to so many characters and the book was short enough that there wasn't really time to get to know them in a significant way.

It also just felt like a stretch that Wendy would sneak out the house with someone who had just broken in through her window. That also goes back to the rushed feeling of the book. If there had been more of a time for her to get to know Peter, it would have been a little more understandable, but taking the magic elements out of the story made that harder to believe, especially since the book took place in one night.

All in all, I think that this book would have benefited from being a bit longer and allowing us to spend more time with the characters, which would have made some of what happened feel more real.

I would consider myself a Peter Pan stan. I adore the original story and it’s creepy vibe, and I love, love, love reading/watching/listening to any sort of reimagining of it from the Disney Peter Pan to the more unique and darker Pans. So, when I first read the synopsis of “Darling” by K. Ancrum, I knew I had to check it out, and oh am I glad I did.

One thing I loved from the start about “Darling,” was the representation we got of these characters who are typically portrayed as cis white people (aside from Tiger Lily, obvi). We have many characters who are people of color, Wendy herself being Black. And there is so much LGBTQ+ rep. Tinkerbelle and Ominotago (K. Ancrum’s Tiger Lilly replacement) are bi, Eleanor (Wendy’s best friend) is a lesbian, Fyodor is a biromantic asexual, and Curly is “questioning.”

At its core, this book is about found family. But it is also about the vulnerabilities kids, especially BIPOC queer kids, face when they feel like they don’t have a place they belong and thus go out and try to find a place they do. It’s about the abuse many of these kids with these backgrounds face and accept, disguised as kindness and the family they seek.

The way K. Ancrum parallel’s the original story of Peter Pan with this twisty modern thriller is incredible. You sort of go into the book and the first few chapters almost feel childish, and are so close to the story of Peter Pan, that you begin to wonder if someone is going to start throwing around pixie dust and start flying. But ever so slowly and carefully, the layers are peeled back. For the entire book, we’re aware that something is off about Peter, and that everyone is keeping some sort of secret from Wendy. And when the big reveal happens, it’s downright chilling.

I, for some reason, decided to finish reading what I had left of “Darling” well past midnight, in my pitch black bedroom, the only light coming from my Kindle screen. When I finally got to the twist of the story, I felt so creeped out that I literally had to sit up in bed and move so my back was against the wall. K. Ancrum absolutely smashed the reveal, and once I finally learned everything, the entire book fell into place in my brain. It was incredible.

“Darling” comes at my highest recommendation for any fellow Peter Pan stans, or for anyone who loves a dark YA thriller with a good twist.

I was really disappointed with this. This book was one of my most anticipated books for this year and it really fell short for me.

I LOVE re-tellings and I love modern re-tellings and I love dark twisted Peter Pan re-tellings. So I was really excited for this.

Unfortunately it didn't work for me. The writing wasn't great, the pacing was WAY off and I was really quite bored. Overall the story felt like it was trying WAY TOO HARD. Rather than creating a world that was based of Peter Pan or using elements from Peter Pan, it was just shoving things into Peter Pan shaped holes... wether they fit or not.

I really wish that the narrator hadn't been kept in the dark until the end. If there had been more of what was really going on mixed in with the beginning, it would have worked a lot better for me. Instead, I just kept thinking how stupid the narrator was and why didn't anyone tell her anything and just WHY was any of this happening?

I liked the "twist", but it didn't need to be a twist. It should have been... the actual plot.

Content Warnings: Murder (off page), child grooming, what appears at the time to be a kidnapping scene.

This is not the Peter Pan story that you know. Leave whatever wholesome memories you have of the Disney adaptation behind you, or you're going to be sorely disappointed.

(Though, can we talk about that? Can we talk about how problematic the Disney version is? Can we talk about the racism shown to Tiger Lily? Can we talk about how all the girls in the story just swoon over Peter immediately and fight over him? Disney's version has issues, and I'm sort of appalled at how little I realized that growing up. And this is coming from someone who was wildly obsessed with the Cathy Rigby version of the Peter Pan musical. I'm talking 'had to buy multiple versions of the VHS tape of the musical because I watched it so often I wore out the tapes' level obsessed. I think I can talk along with most of it. And I never really sat and gave much thought to what a messed up story it was.)

Anyway, now that that's behind me... I love that Ancrum went into this just being like "Yeah, all that stuff that's wrong with the old version? We're fixing that. Peter sucks, and it's time you all realize." And fix it she did. She somehow managed to take a story full of magic, suspended aging, flying, floating islands off in the sky, etc. and bring it all to the real world - in a chapter by chapter direct adaptation, mind you! - and not only make it work, but fix it. Color me impressed.

Our "Tiger Lily" character, who mostly is there to swoon over Peter in previous versions of the story, here is the strongest female character in the book. Ominotago is the only person who - from the moment we meet her - we see standing up to Peter. Others on more than one occasion point out that she's too strong to be manipulated by him, and because of that resounding strength, she's one of the people who ends up holding Wendy's hand throughout the wild night that this book covers. Whenever Wendy is uncertain or scared or angry, Ominotago is the one who grabs her by the hand, lends her her strength, and talks her through it. It was so, so lovely to see, especially when the girls of Peter Pan stories are usually at each other's throats over him.

Following on that same line of thought, the relationship between Ominotago and our Tinkerbell was equally refreshing. Again, it was nice to see that Peter's two ex-girlfriends ultimately found strength and love through each other, rather than fighting each other over him. And they seemed really good for each other. You could tell from the moment the gang all rescued Ominotago that her relationship with Tink was something real; their reunion scene was so sweet and honestly a bit overwhelming. There's some throwaway line that Wendy thinks about how it felt like she was intruding on a private moment, watching the two of them come together again, and those heightened emotions really came across the page for the reader as well. Tink and Omi are almost constantly holding hands, relying on each other to get through their situation.

Overall, the characters are really the highlight of this book. This book has such a diverse cast of characters, including: bi rep, lesbian rep, asexuality rep, disability rep (one hard of hearing character and one character with an amputated limb), and many characters of varying ethnicities (Black, Korean, Russian, Australian, and Ojibwe characters). And never fear, the lost boys are still heartwarming characters that you want to protect - perhaps even moreso than in the Disney adaptation. You felt bad for them in previous versions because they were all lost children, separated from their parents and left behind, but uhh. They're all in much more danger now. That's all I can say without giving the twist away.

Also, we all know I'm a serious sucker for found family, and this book did a really good job in providing that feeling in such a short period of time. This book takes place over a single evening (not including the epilogue), but you can really feel the bond staring to develop between everyone. It's not fully there yet, but you can tell it will be after what they all went through, and the epilogue confirms that.

The characters are also where my one little complaint came in: There were just so many of them that I couldn't keep track of them all. This isn't a long book, and it moves incredibly fast, meaning we also meet everyone very fast. This might be easier to handle if you read a physical copy, but listening to an audiobook, I kept getting characters confused. I'd have to rewind a minute or two to catch back up on who was talking, who was where, who was doing what, etc. It's a complex, interwoven plot with a laaaarge cast of characters, and it just lost me a couple of times, to be honest.

This review is way too long, so I'm going to wrap it up here, but I thoroughly enjoyed this ride. This is a really well-crafted adaptation of Peter Pan, taking it from a whimsical childhood story we all grew up watching Disney's version of and warping it into something dark and twisted and mysterious, all based off what seems like a couple individual quotes from the original Barrie story - one of which starts out the very beginning of this book. When I first heard that when I started the audiobook, I was like, "Huh, that's a weird implication to make about Peter. I sure don't remember that from any version I ever saw." And Ancrum took that and <i>ran</i> with it, creating something truly unique and memorable. I feel like this retelling is going to stick with me for quite a while. If you love a good mystery, pick this one up. It's worth every second.

I refuse to believe K. Ancrum wrote this. I’ve come to the conclusion that I love the concept of retelling as but I don’t like them, they just come off a little lame. Another dissapointment. Great representation though.

K. Ancrum has done it again. This is one hell of a Peter Pan retelling that left me with so many emotions and I cannot believe the amazing story K. Ancrum has crafted.

<i>Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I thought this was entertaining, but the quality was just okay. I gave K. Ancrum's book <i>The Wicker King</i> a similar rating when I read it a few months ago--I thought the writing was fantastic, but the plot was a bit confusing. For <i>Darling</i> though, it was the writing that disappointed me. Something about it felt a bit too simple and surface-level. The plot and atmosphere were intriguing, but I felt distanced from the characters. I'm having a hard time putting a finger on what exactly felt like it was missing from this book. It was as if this book was trying to tackle some really heavy and dark themes...expect is just didn't feel that heavy and dark. The dialogue isn't very realistic and I think a lot of choices that Wendy made weren't very realistic either; this is of course fiction--fantasy even--so I wasn't expecting this to be 100% true to life, but something about the characters felt a bit artificial.

Even though this wasn't my favorite, I would still recommend it. It's a quick, easy read and I loved the contemporary twist on this retelling. I especially loved that it took place close by to where I've lived all my life because it was fun seeing familiar places referenced. There are definitely some flaws with the writing, but nonetheless this is an interesting, enjoyable read.

Darling is a deeply unsettling examination of the predatory nature of Peter Pan. Ancrum says what we have all been thinking about the classic tale of child abduction and grooming. While this book was well written, the plot itself wasn’t entirely that exciting. I am not entirely sure the “thriller” categorization works, since the Peter Pan plot (and it’s inherent creepiness) is well known. Ancrum calls it out, sure… but we already knew Pan to be a creep. I also had a difficult time suspending my disbelief about minors [being used in a sting operation to bring in a pedophile child murderer???
Detective Hook: i have teenage daughters.
Also Detective Hook: i will send teenage girls into a dangerous situation with a serial killer (hide spoiler)].
LOL WUT.

Darling definitely works as a true young adult novel, replete with slang and realistic characterization of teenagers. It was definitely a worthwhile read, but not something I would go back for seconds. I unfortunately also found that this book did feel a little bit draft-like. More editing, and even some more fleshing out would have been great. The storytelling wasn't that engaging and felt vaguely rushed, which is possibly because the entire book took place in one night. Also, the characters (apart from Wendy and Peter) felt sadly underdeveloped.

This is a story about lost boys & the girls caught up with them.

This was something. The author’s writing pulled it together effectively, in a way that I think definitely speaks to her talent. I love retellings, and I can appreciate that this explored the original source material-but I think it just wasn’t for me thematically.

Thank you Netgalley & Imprint for this eArc!

The representation of Chicago throughout this book was unbelievable and so true to the nature of the city. I loved the characters and the interpretation of peter pan through this contemporary retelling. Kayla Ancrum had never missed the mark. Amazing.

Set in contemporary Chicago, DARLING by K. Ancrum retells the tale of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy Darling in a way that readers will not expect. Wendy, just finishing high school, moves into the city and is surprised one night by a boy climbing in her window. Peter convinces her to join him and his punk ex-girlfriend Tinkerbelle as they head to a party. It turns into a wild night, with explosions, kidnapping, police chase, a drag bar, disguises, warehouse raid and much more. Wendy feels less and less safe as the night goes on, struggling to decide whom to trust. She meets several "lost boys," (Curly, Nibs, and Fyodor, plus twins called First and Second) and another faction led by a brave girl named Ominotago who is Ojibwe and now in a relationship with Tink. Detective Hook is after Peter and there is a definite crescendo of fear and sinister happenings. As the publicity materials say, "you've heard this story before, but this time it won't end the way you think ..."

On this episode of Everything is Canon, Steve talks to Kayla Ancrum all about her incredible new book Darling, which is being descried as, “A teen girl finds herself lost on a dangerous adventure in this YA thriller, reimagining Peter Pan for today’s world. Kayla has re-envisioned Peter Pan with a central twist that will send all your previous memories of J. M. Barrie’s classic permanently off to Neverland.”

While all of that is most definitely true, the summary doesn’t even begin to encapsulate the reading experience you’re about to have. Told in what feels like real-time, Darling is now the definitive Peter Pan retelling and all others will be judged according to Kayla’s incredible vision which is dark, beautiful, and spellbinding.

Steve and Kayla talk about some current hot topics including the issue of Trigger Warnings, fabulism, what Darling gets right about the subtext, and literal meaning of Barrie’s original Peter Pan story, the book of course, and much, much more.

For the full author interview, click the link below...

https://www.cinelinx.com/off-beat/shows/everything-is-canon-darling/