I have read SO MANY peter pan retellings and I will read many more. But this one was incredibly fun, and fast paced and I loved the characterization.

As others have noted, there’s a lot of context missing that makes this feel more like it’s a later book in a series. As a result, it felt hard to invest in, and I had to DNF early on.

This was an utter disappointment to me. To be very blunt, the best part about this book is the beautiful cover. After doing some research, it appears this is Gama Ray Martinez’s Adult debut, and BOY can you tell! I would say this read like a teenager trying to play Adult but that’s an insult to teenagers! Not only was the writing juvenile (derogatory), but the entire structure of the novel is solely for nostalgic reasons. “I need to speak to *insert character from Peter Pan*” is not a plotline, sorry to break it to you. It’s repetitive, unoriginal, and boring as all hell. Not to mention, Martinez does not challenge the original source material. You think a book published in 2022 would add some depth into Tiger Lily’s character instead of playing into the racist stereotypes Peter Pan had, but nope. I believe Martinez had a good concept, truly, but the execution was poorly done. The idea that the Knights of the Round Table are the protectors of magical worlds was an interesting take, but again, not done well. I truly wish Gama Ray Martinez all the best in his future Adult publications. I hope this one was so off due to his history with only writing Young Adult and the fact this was a retelling. Overall, I cannot say I enjoyed this or that I would recommend it to anyone I know. Highly disappointing since I (as a Latino reviewer) was very much looking to a Peter Pan retelling from a Latino lens.

Overall not what I was expecting which left me a little disappointed but I think that’s on me for not fully understanding what this one was about. I think the writing style was great and had good flow and it was an interesting continuation of petter pan but I think this one just didn’t connect with me.

God of Neverland is a re-imagining of the Peter Pan story picking up with the Darling children as adults. Michael is called back as Pan is missing and Neverland is in danger. I love fantasy retellings and was excited to read this book!

However. I'll admit at the onset that Peter Pan has never been my cup of tea, particularly the Disney movie. Looking back on it I'm not even sure that I have seen all of it. I had to look up which brother Michael was and I kept forgetting if some of the characters we met were part of the original story or added.

All that being said... this book read very fanfic-y to me. Not that there is anything wrong with that! I was just expecting a darker retelling and wasn't prepared for what felt like a self-insert character, a general lack of explanation regarding the world, and pretty basic writing. There was a lot of exchanging glances, hissing breath, and crying out. The chapters were very episodic encountering different characters from the story. It overall didn't feel like the adult re-imagining I was expecting. This book lost me after depicting the indigenous people from the story in much the same way as they were originally written without any nuance or a newer perspective. The next chapter then covered gremlins. Really? Indigenous people to gremlins? This made me feel like they were depicted as mythical people like fairies or mermaids. Or gremlins, I guess.

I thought that explaining Pan as an incarnation of an actual god was a cool interpretation and it's a fun idea to have the adult children revisit Neverland. However, this book wasn't for me. If you're a die hard Pan fan, definitely give it a try! 2 stars. Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book!

I really don't know how to go about this. Ended up dnfing this one. I just couldn't get into this. That may be on me. So please don't take this review to heart and not give this a try. What I do t like you may love! I'm giving it a 3 simply because it's a good concept!

This is a fun adventure into the imagination. Michael Darling was a Knight of the Round table, a group responsible for monitoring and policing the world of magical and supernatural beings and objects. Michael quit that life when a mission didn't end well. Now the Knights want to pull him back in for a special mission...the god of Youth, Maponos, is missing. Better known as Peter Pan and Michael Darling is the only one within the Knights organization who has been to the god's world of Neverland.
I really enjoyed this story, which is a promising start of a series. I look forward to seeing what the next adventure will be. This is a fun story for all ages...you are never to old to indulge in imagination.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon; Harper Voyager, for the opportunity to enjoy this fun e-ARC.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to review this copy.

I usually post will not review if I DNF a book and this is the first time I've ever actually left a review for a book that I DNF'd at about 27% . Please note that my feedback is only based on the book itself and is not meant to reflect on the author or anyone else at this company. I would hope that in 2022 people that are clearly a reference for indigenous or native people of Western Americas would be maybe not progressive, but at least not continue on with the same harmful stereotypes of when Peter Pan first came out decades ago. There might be better representation in the latter half of the book, I know that this was not really the focus of the book.

Now onto the actual story elements so the people don't think it was just because of that, there were parts of the pacing that kind of dragged for me and I had a little trouble paying attention. I really like how creatively they went with trying to include some Celtic and other deities as part of the Peter Pan mythos. I think that with some sensitivity reading and some rewrites that this could be a solid book. I don't think that all Peter Pan retellings are bad or the same, this one was just not for me.

DNF at 31%

I was really excited about the premise of this book. I love Peter Pan retellings and Peter Pan adjacent stories. However, this one fell flat for me for a few reasons.

Most notably was the pacing. It was much too fast; at only 15% or so, so much had happened. There was hardly any time to process and regroup, let alone get to know the characters. We do finally get that for a moment when Michael visits Wendy. (I actually think that point would have been a much stronger opening to the book.)

I felt like there was too much dialogue. This is part of what I mean when it needed to be slowed down. I needed more description, more backstory.

Overall, it felt like reading a script of a video game or TV show. I can see other readers really enjoying this book, but it simply wasn't for me.

This book was difficult to get through. The premise was great, but the delivery was very clunky. I’m usually a fan of mixed myth and legend, but this book took too many of them and pushed them into the same space. Instead of selecting one or two and making them shine within the confines of the Peter Pan cannon, the author tried to mention every story he’d ever heard. It was too much.

** I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. **

DNF at 24%. I thought I would really like this one, but overall I've just felt "meh" and I am letting myself not push through books I'm not loving. The writing is good, the characters are fun, but this is much more of a quest novel than I (stupidly) anticipated and that is something I don't vibe with. I think a wonderful book is here for the right person, but that person is not me. If I were to rate this, it would be 3 stars. Solid but not my vibe.

This one was a DNF for me @ 20%. Just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and that is probably more my fault than the Authors!

I started this book feeling like I'd accidentally stumbled into a sequel or prequel, which is never a good sign. The first chapters are overwhelmingly infodumping, taking "telling not showing" to a whole new level. This novel would have been better served by drawing out the first few chapters and giving us a better idea of Michael's life and situation beyond immediately throwing us into hard concept. This is also NOT an adult novel, regardless of the marketing. The writing style is somewhere between middle grade and YA, as is the speed of the plot and depth of character development. The idea of Peter Pan as an ancient god of youth was a cool starting point, as was the choice to tell the story from Michael's perspective, but the substance of the novel simply did not live up to what was promised.

As far as PP retellings go, this was good. The author jumps into the plot and the book just keeps on going. I liked this coming from Michael's POV and really enjoyed this perspective on the classic tale we all know and we all love.

This was so magical. I loved it so much. Can’t wait to read more! The characters were so well written.

I love Peter Pan and most adaptations but couldn't finish this one. More YA based then adult that it's marketed for.

This was quite a different take on the continuing story of the Peter Pan. ​It took the story of Peter Pan and made it more myth like. Peter Pan was not just boy in Neverland, but rather a trickster god and bringing the myth element made the story was interesting and I liked that unique spin to the idea. The story's main focus is about Michael, Wendy's brother, who had joined an organization that dealt with the unseen world before he left it to live a life as a normal person. Expect nothing ever really goes to plan and sometimes one cannot simply leave everything behind them in the past. It read more like a YA book rather than Adult Fantasy. I still enjoyed it. Overall it was a good read.

Interesting premise, but did not hold my interest like I thought it would. Michael Darling is all grown up and has left everything related to Neverland behind. But then Peter Pan is captured and Michael rejoins a secret society to launch a rescue mission.

This book is part Kingsman, part Fantastic Beasts, and part Peter Pan; it seems to be a mashup of fan favorites across multiple genres, with mentions of D’Artangan, Merlin, Gawain, Wendy, and several other characters from different stories.

However, I could never get into the story deeply enough to be invested. Michael is interesting, but still a flat character to me, and he had the most depth. Not my cup of tea, unfortunately. Good for a light read, but wasn’t one to keep me up at night turning pages. Did not finish

Rated PG
—no language
—no sexual content (did not finish, however)
—some violence

I received this ebook free from NetGalley. My opinions are freely given.

Peter Pan retelling? SAY NO MORE. The cover and title alone had me sold as an avid Peter Pan fan. Captain Hook fighting a main dressed in regular clothing? SOLD.

The premise of God of Neverland is that an adult Michael, eldest Darling, must return to Neverland when Peter Pan goes missing. From the beginning, the reader is informed that Peter is a god known as Maponos who is an actual mythological being. While this is a creative spin on the Peter Pan story it works against itself by leading us into believing that other gods also exist since Peter himself is a God. I wish there were more backstory and details for the reader to fully understand what this world entails.

I didn't know what to expect as I began but reading about Michael being a jaded ex-member of a secret society dedicated to fighting magical threats from all around the world. My main reason for such a low rating is the missing details behind Michael's past. The reader never fully understands Michael's past trauma, which leaves more questions than answers. I wish there was more character description and backstory because some of the characters introduced are so vague that all you know is their name. I think overall, this story fell short for me because I kept wanting more.

Thank you, NetGalley for an eARC for my honest review.

God of Neverland is a good read for those of us who haven’t grown up fully and want the chance to re-visit Neverland.