What a strange modernization/retelling of Peter Pan! But I should expect nothing less from K. Ancrum, who gave us the weird and intense Wicker King. I did not expect this to go where it did and stayed up all night with it.

Content warnings at end of review.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Fierce Reads for an arc of this book!

Wendy Darling's parents won't let her meet up with an online friend when she first moves to Chicago, but they will let her stay at home alone with a broken lock on her window? Okay, sure. So is it really that much of a surprise when she sneaks out with the charming and charismatic stranger that comes through her window? Wendy has no idea that the party she is promised will turn into the scariest night of her life. Darling takes the classic Peter Pan and turns it into a heart-stopping and insidious contemporary thriller set in modern-day Chicago!

I was immediately hooked when I started reading this book. It flew by so fast and I could hardly put it down. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what would happen to Wendy, Tinkerbelle, and the rest of the characters! I was so surprised by the directions that this book went into, but I absolutely loved it. The characters are amazing and I absolutely loved all the different side-characters. This is such a great book!

Pub Date: June 22, 2021

Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Gun violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, Child abuse, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

This was a very interesting retelling! I was not sure what I was getting myself into when I started the book but I did like how it was a darker story. I knew that Peter was not going to be a good guy but I was still shocked by the big reveal at the end. Overall it was a pretty good read.

Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the story of Peter Pan, whether that's through the animated 1953 Disney movie (which has many glaring issues) or the 1954 musical production. (Or another version I've simply forgotten now.) However, all of those are versions that stick pretty closely to Barrie's classic story, and there are only so many times you can watch Peter's story as-is and still be entertained. But Ancrum does an absolutely amazing job of taking the classic story of Peter Pan and turning it on its head.

First, we have a diverse cast, which is immensely refreshing, given that the Disney movie is notorious for its racist depictions of Native Americans and their culture. Ancrum treats us to strong female protagonists in the form of Wendy Darling as well as Ominotago (who is far better than Disney's Tiger Lily) and Tinkerbelle (who is far better than the jealous faerie we see in other depictions). She also does what seems like shouldn't be possible and pulls the story of Peter Pan - one involving magic, flying, far-off worlds, and staying young forever - into the real world. She makes all the characters real, and just draws on the good parts of the classic story to make her modern retelling superior to the original. We still have the Lost Boys, the Mermaid's Lagoon, the found family - but with a distinctly dark side. That shouldn't come as a surprise if you've read the original book, but both Disney and the musical left out some pretty clear dark habits of Peter's that Ancrum does not shy away from.

There was so much about this book that is an utter delight. It's thrilling and has its funny moments, as well as sweet ones, too. It'll keep you on the edge of your seat and it's so fast-paced you won't want to put it down for a second. It's legitimately one of the best books I've read this year, and I highly recommend for anyone who's a fan of retellings and strong characters fighting back.

This gritty re-telling of Peter Pan will appeal to fans of modern fairy tales and it is obvious that the author has really spent a lot of time with the original text. But setting all the action in one night was hard to believe and even though the setting was supposed to be modern, my brain pictured everything happening in an earlier decade.

I loved parts of this so much, particularly the set of teens at the center of the novel (Wendy may be a bit clueless, but Tinkerbelle, Ominotago, many of the boys [lost and otherwise], and even Wendy's online bff Eleanor) were so gorgeously well-developed, and their level of care and tenderness for one another was so amazing. I loved the casual queerness of so many of the characters (though, seemingly, Wendy is straight) and the way the book adapted and responded to the racism in the source material. However, I was frustrated with some plot points/worldbuilding elements of the novel. First (and this is petty, so), Wendy's parents were both extremely over-protective and at the same time extremely cavalier with their daughter's safety. The plot engine can only kick off if Peter can get into Wendy's room, so I understand that there needs to be a mechanism for this, but her parents simultaneously forbidding her seeing a friend/leaving the house AND being fine with leaving her alone in a bedroom with no lock on its window (when their dog Nana has already ripped the clothes of a would-be intruder) was a lot to handle. Much more frustrating was the back-third of the novel, once a set of major reveals happens (some of which I think the reader is very much meant to see coming). I can't say much without spoiling, but I didn't find some of the roles the teens take on to be realistic, even within the world built by the narrative. Also, the way the cop presence was handled in this back third (after a very solid, terrifyingly realistic portrayal in the first 2/3) was a bit problematic to me.

A retelling of Peter Pan that is unexpected. Wendy and her parents move into a new house where one night she encounters Peter Pan breaking into her house. Fascinated by him, she agrees to sneak out and spend the night in Chicago meeting other familiar fairy tale characters including Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and even Detective Hook. The twisted retelling is interesting but I found it to be a bit slow since it is primarily set during one evening in Chicago's underground. An interesting book for those who really like the retelling of fairy tales in a modern setting. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy Darling and her family are new to Chicago. When she finds a handsome, mysterious boy named Peter who broke into her house, Wendy accepts his invitation for a night out. Wendy descends into a madcap Chicago underground, meeting Peter's family of lost children and running from the police. But then Wendy learns who she really should be running from…

Lots of good things here. Queer representation and a diverse cast (a breath of much needed fresh air given the source material) are top of the list. LOVED the mermaid grotto transforming into a drag queen show. Women are not fighting over Peter Pan, hurray! There's an abrupt twist about 90% that, while hinted throughout the book, still surprised me. I'm showing my age here (hah!), but this has a bit of the feel of Vivian Vande Velde's Companions of the Night-- a book focused on a single night that spins wildly out of control and that leaves the reader with a sense of disquiet.

I have some structural quibbles that knock my rating down a star. There were far too many characters and trying to give them all a presence took screen time that I would have much rather seen devoted to further fleshing out Ominotago (the book's Tiger Lily stand-in) or others. Wendy's alarm bells should have gone off far earlier, and I really wish, if the book stuck with this, it would have lingered on why women are so rarely empowered to extract themselves from uncomfortable or even dangerous situations.

That said, hats off to K. Ancrum for doing something really interesting with a contemporary retelling of Peter Pan. We've all read saccharine-sweet retellings of fairy tales and the like, and Darling is not one of those. It engages with the source material to show us how flawed Barrie's creation is.

Many elements of JM Barrie's Peter Pan have not aged well, but the mythical boy who wouldn't grow up permeates modern nomenclature. K. Ancrum imagines the present-day Peter who would walk around Chicago during the here and now, and this has me asking if this is some kind of comment on killing the literary canon, but I also tend to read into things. The white man is really the bad guy kind of thing - which is really a fascinating way to present the idea, so kudos for that. The story is fun, colorful, and engaging. It is one part thriller, one part coming of age, and a whole lot of whimsical costume changes. Details from the original play are used to develop characters and scenes and those familiar with the story will appreciate the connections. You still get a sort of happy ending, but it doesn't leave you feeling at ease. But then again, the purpose of reading isn't to make you feel comfy, but rather to get you thinking.

A dark twist on a classic tale... that simply wasn't for me.

First and foremost, the rep in this book was overwhelmingly positive, though it sometimes felt like some of the characters were labeled in one way or another to fill a quota. Maybe had the story focused more on the 'lost boys,' or even Wendy, then it may have been more enjoyable for me. It's always been the histories of these children, including Peter Pan himself, that drew me to the overall story. That's probably why the ultimate truth about this Peter (aka Child Predator & serial killer) was so disengaging for me. Yes, the narrative was plotted in a way that supported Peter being that in the end - you knew he was bad news from the second Wendy's mom shared her story, and credit to the author for taking it to that place. It's timely and terrifying because it's such a real world threat. It all made sense in the most unsettling way. And everything up until the last 1/4 of the book was really just a lot of filler to stress the point that 'bad men do bad things.'

This realistic (read: non-magical) retelling of Peter Pan gets a little slow in the middle but has an explosive ending worthy of the read.

I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone because it is DARK (major shoutout to K. Ancrum for the comprehensive list The story started to lag a bit in the middle, but otherwise, I was on the edge of my seat the enter time. There were some fun plays on familiar elements from the original, and I thought Ancrum did a good job of building the tension. It got more compelling as the stakes got higher and the plot became fast-paced and then it got real dark, real fast. The found family, band of misfits element at the end is really what sealed the deal for me. My mind is still a little blown, so I'll write a more coherent review when I can think straight, but WOW, this was such a wild ride.

Darling isn’t SFF, but with how much I adored Ancrum’s The Wicker King, I was curious to see where she’d take a modern Peter Pan retelling. Having read Darling, I can easily say Ancrum’s now on my author auto-buy list.

Darling follows the perspective of Wendy Darling, a young teenage black girl whose family has recent moved into the suburbs of Chicago chasing better schooling for their child. She’s personally looking forward to finally meeting face-to-face with her girlfriend Eleanor, who she first met online. All of this gets up-ended the night Peter crashes through her window and whisks her off through Chicago nightlife, determined to take her to a party in the city underground. Slowly, we meet Peter’s ex-girlfriend Tinkerbelle, his found family of teenage boys dubbed the Lost Boys, and the detective hunting Peter, Detective Hook.

I enjoyed the concise scope of this novel, a single night in the Chicago underground and how vivid a story Ancrum manages to tell with just that. From start to finish, the events of Darling are rapid and chaotic. Much like Wendy, we bounce from event to event, rarely with enough pause to catch a break before it’s on to the next adventure. It’s messy, chaotic storytelling and I loved that we the reader weren’t really given time to collect our thoughts and really process what’s happened. As the night progresses, there was a slow feeling of unease that gets built, mainly from the character interactions. Something’s clearly not right yet it’s hard to tell what. I won’t say more beyond that, but the plot twist in this book is really one of the best I’ve ever read. Truly a ‘holy shit!’ moment exclaimed out loud.

I was surprised by how much I liked these characters. Usually I’m not big on the ‘naive character getting led around’ archetype but Wendy has a strong resilience despite being in a totally foreign environment to the life she’s led up to now and I really liked that about her. Tinkerbelle is very cool and very badass and definitely one of my faves through this series. I also loved the rep in this series. Tons of queer characters, lots of racial diversity, and there’s even an ace guy! It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book where a character straight up says they’re asexual and it was really refreshing.

Overall, I rate this a 4/5. While I’m not usually a contemp reader, Darling was a fantastic, fast-paced Peter Pan retelling with one hell of a plot twist!

Review will go live on my blog 11 June

Stop it with the drop dead gorgeous covers already. (Please don't.) I click request/buy way too often without reading the synopsis or reviews. It might be a problem but I don't care because *heart eyes*.

So I've come to the conclusion I'm never going to find the Peter Pan retelling I'm looking for. I was never a big fan of the Disney version anyway, but I keep trying the retellings because they always sound so amazing. And Darling is no exception. Darling is a bit of thriller with loads of lovely diversity. And I know people are going to absolutely love it. I'm just a little confused and disappointed that we didn't get Queer Wendy. I swear, when the community first started talking about Darling, I remember a reference to Wendy and Tink being a thing? Maybe it was another book. Maybe my mind made it up. But if you like Peter Pan and retellings then you should definitely check Darling out.

I think K. Ancrum does a brilliant job of toeing the line between magical and creepy--The Wicker King is a fantastic example of that, and Darling is as well. For me, this could have been a little longer to really play up the twist, but overall it was super super good.

Thank you Macmillian Children’s Publishing Group for this arc from Netgalley.

*Dnfed at around 85 percent.

Wendy Darling is set to have a quiet night in until a boy suddenly appears in her bedroom. Wendy is captivated by the mysterious intruder from the start. When the boy, Peter, asks her to come away with him for the night she agrees. What could go wrong?

So much.

Wendy soon realizes that this night is not going to be the promised party she has been told about. Peter soon becomes a different person than the persona that Wendy was first met with. Peter is not alway sweet, kind, and caring; Peter can be cruel, vindictive, and dangerous. Wendy soon realizes that she will have to fight through tonight if she wants to be safe and get home.

This book is a Peter Pan retelling set in a modern world as characters go through dangerous situations on this night. For those who are not familiar with the original Peter Pan, it is actually a very dark tale. Peter Pan is not a hero in this classic, nor is he in this retelling.

However, was Peter as cruel and dangerous as presented in this novel? I would say no. The reader sees some of this to an extent, but for all the buildup with characters explaining how Peter really is, I just do not fully see it. Peter was kind of dumb honestly. There is so much telling in this book unsupported with a lack of showing it actually playing out. Setting changes occur frequently throughout the night and it all just seemed a bit much and ironically uneventful.

Overall this book was very slow and boring. I did not really feel anything for the characters. I did not feel like things were high stakes. The plot was uneventful and even seemed a little messy at times. I just did not care for this at all.

5/5 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian for the opportunity to read this book
To be released June 2021.

Darling is a retelling of the traditional Peter Pan story but with amazing modernization and awesome twist. Wendy Darling has just moved to Chicago when a mysterious person named Peter literally breaks into her home. He convinces her to go to a party with some friends and she decides to go with this stranger. She meets the 'lost boys', Detective Hook, and a variety of other characters as the night definitely does not go to plan and a dark secret begins to unravel.

There were a lot of actions that Wendy does that I couldn't fathom - like leaving your house with a stranger that broke in?? Not just going home when things start to be suspicious? The way little bits of the original story were (Peter's shadow, the Mermaid Lagoon, etc.) were very clever. This is not your happy go lucky Peter Pan story. It is dark, with real issues, and wow, the twist was awesome. The middle was hard to get through just because I wanted to scream at Wendy to 'just go home!' but well worth it when you realize exactly what is going on. If you love retellings, this is for you. If you love suspense, this is for you. Even if you are not a fan of Peter Pan - trust me, this is for you.

A little slow at parts, but it definitely helped build the suspense about Peter. And what a twist it was! I really enjoyed this retelling and I think that it ended well!

While the premise of this book as a thriller retelling of Peter Pan is intriguing, the pacing and relationships often fall flat. Wendy is often passive, and her decisions seem unrealistic in many places. Her relationships with her family, Eleanor and even Peter fall a little flat. The diversity is much needed, but the exposition of this story could use a little more attention to make Wendy and her plights relatable.

Darling is so freaking good! I read it in one sitting because I just could not put it down and needed to know what was going on! The writing and characters are top notch. The diversity of the characters is amazing. The twists and turns will leave you breathless and wanting more. It’s a really fast paced and easy read that will keep you on your toes! I highly recommend this book.