This is a hard book to talk about because there just wasn't much there to review. This short story tries to hit every box of a good action-packed book but didn't seem to grip my attention. It relies on the fact you already know the characters instead of giving them details and motivation. It was two dimensional with no connection between the plot points. While I don't have a problem with shorter books, this story could have served better with simply more pages. It needed more time with each character to understand why you should care for them.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this retelling of Peter Pan. This book had all of the magical and fantasy twists to it while also being a more up to date model of more current culture, which was refreshing! This story definitely gave me all the nostalgic vibes from my childhood, would absolutely recommend!

A Land of Never After is a dark, adult retelling of Peter Pan. Wendy is 16 and is now too old to remain at the orphanage. Hoping to put some distance between herself and a place she doesn't hold dear, Wendy sets out to catch sail on a ship. But just as her rash and stubborn efforts are about to land her a spot, Wendy's pulled away by none other than Peter Pan.

She soon finds herself in the Forest of Never, where many have entered, but from which none have returned. This is not your average forest. Everything in it is dying. Leaving is not an option. And you must either kill or be killed.

A Land of Never After is probably the most unique retelling I've had the pleasure to read. Dare I say it falls somewhere in the realm of fantasy horror? The incorporation of a curse on all who inhabit the land really takes this twist on Peter Pan to a whole new level. It serves to add more depth to each main character. Compared to the classic children's tale, the characters in this rendition are more cunning and ruthless. They have to be if they want to live. I also really liked that the curse means more time with Hook and pirate life.

As the synopsis indicates, there is an LGBTQ+ twist. However, the author makes a point to include a brief scene depicting gender dysphoria. Though the "twist" has nothing to do with the overall plot, it's important to mention in case someone is looking for an inclusive read.

Davennor's writing is easy to read, clean, and to the point. A novella in length, Davennor makes succinct use of the page count to convey important plot points and nuanced emotions of the main characters. There is some world-building, but it's not extensive, mainly, I think, because of the book length. Perhaps my only critique is that Wendy seems a bit too rash and naive at the beginning. I find it a little difficult to imagine a female orphan walking up to a small group of intimidating men at a bar in the evening to ask if they've seen Peter.

Overall, I enjoyed A Land of Never After. It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that this tale is perfect for those who chase retellings, adore bloodthirsty curses, and get weak in the knees for pirates.

This book is definitely a new twist on the story of Peter Pan. You immediately recognize the characters, but the added plot points of the curse and the forest lend a fresh change to this classic. I will say that Wendy annoyed me several times. I simply did not connect with her the way I wanted to and her constant lashing out in anger became tiresome. BUT! Her willingness to end the curse no matter the cost made up for most of our personality disagreement. I was drawn into this story world and the beautiful portrayal of the landscape. The creepy vibes were spot on, and I did not want to miss a word of the tale, except for the cursing. Personal choice. I could do without that. Otherwise, this was a delightfully creepy retelling of Peter Pan that is complete with the characters we love and just twisted enough to induce goosebumps.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A Disney retelling. Yes please. I've always loved Peter Pan so to see this dark, twisted version was a new dimension for me and i loved reading it

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

When Wendy must leave the orphanage she calls home due to aging out, she tries to find a ship to take her to sail the high seas. Instead she meets Peter Pan, a thief, and ends up stuck in a dark version of the Neverland we know and love. Unsure if Peter is trustworthy, Wendy must do all she can to survive this creepy place filled with magic, monsters, and curses.

This dark Peter Pan retelling had a much darker take than the original. The eerie atmosphere added to the overall tone of the book. This is definitely NOT your typical Neverland! I found this book to be a unique retelling of a classic story. The song suggestions included added a fun touch to make the story a little more interactive. I found there to be a great deal of action in this book, making it quite a page turner with plenty of twists and betrayals. I did enjoy the take on the characters, however I would have liked them to be a bit more fleshed out.

If you enjoy action-packed stories that take place in magical worlds, you should definitely give this a shot. I think this was a pretty great retelling of a classic Fairytale.

Rating: 3.5/5
🧚This book is a dark Peter Pan retelling, full of death and magic. Wendy has just turned 16 and has left the orphanage for good. She heads straight to the docks and gets herself into trouble right away, but luckily is rescued by Peter.
🧚At only 174 pages, this was a quick and easy read. I finished it in one day. It was dark and twisted, and I loved it. The new take on Neverland was brilliant, cursed so that everything in Neverland is dying a slow and painful death. This perpetual death can only be slowed down by more death. I liked that Captain Hook was less of a villain in this story and more easy to relate with that in the original fairy tale, still a villain though.
🧚I do wish that the story between Peter and Wendy was more fleshed out. I felt like it was rather rushed and missing a lot of the story. I wish this book had gone a bit slower and explained a lot more.
🧚I LOVED the LQBTQA+ plot twist. It makes so much sense and fits perfectly with the original Pan story. I’m so glad the representation for young trans individuals and also the lesbian representation. However, it was included in the plot and then barely mentioned again, and the plot line was never explored which was disappointing.
🧚When the second story, a Little Mermaid retelling comes out, I will definitely be reading it. I hope it is longer and more detailed.

Peter Pan retelling? SIGN ME UP! I love retellings and this one was such a dark and twisted take on Peter Pan and I loved it so much!! I can't express enough how much I enjoyed this, it's definitely not the story from your childhood!

Dark, delicious, and utterly captivating, A Land of Never After: A Peter Pan Retelling will have you up all night turning pages as you keep up with Wendy and Peter's story.

R.L. Davennor did a wonderful job creating a darker Peter Pan story and giving it an adult touch.

Dark Peter Pan? I'm in. This was beautiful and gave me exactly what I was wanting from it! I love a dark retelling and this may just be one of my new favorites.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was fast paced and well written, and I liked the twists in the story, I didn't find it scary though.. There were some things I missed, like I wanted to know more about Peter Pan and his dark side, there will be another book so I hope we will learn more about that in that book.

A Land of Never After is the first part in the Curses of Never series, and is also a retelling of Peter Pan with a hint of Pirates of the Carribean. I’ve never read a peter pan retelling before. How will this experience be?

In this book Wendy is trapped in Neverland where she meets Peter. Danger lurks around every corner, and she doesn’t even know if she can trust Peter. Soon she finds out she is the one who must stop a deadly curse. But what is this curse about? What must she do to stop it? What secrets lie behind this curse?

A Land of Never After is a book full of secrets which all are revealed one by one making this book a really exciting read. R.L. Davennor has a really nice writing style, and has managed to turn the peter pan fairytale into a dark story. Neverland has turned into a land full of monsters, while captain Hook turned out to be a nice charachter in this book. I really like how Wendy turned bad-ass. This makes this story a really unique one. All in all I enjoyed this book.

This was a dark but lovely Peter Pan retelling that grabs you from the very beginning of the story. The reader is immediately immersed in Wendy's story, and it isn't the happy one we know. Peter is a scoundrel as always! Fans of dark fairytale retellings won't regret adding this to their list.

This is sold as a Peter Pan retelling, but honestly it's more just inspired by the characters. There isn't really a common plot thread between Peter Pan and this book. I was very intrigued by the concept of a darker Peter Pan story, but I could not get behind this. There were so many cliches, the writing. felt so clunky and the trans representation felt like a box to be checked off, like "yep, I've got diversity in here".
The characters all felt very 2 dimensional and it was almost as if the author had a really good idea, but then didn't flesh the story out. This book could have been served better had it been a full length novel, or at least pressing on the boundary of a novella. But we jumped from point A to point B so quickly, I was confused and never really got a sense of what was going on or why I was supposed to care...

Ok so let me just say the Peter Pan is one of my all time favorite movies/stories. That being said this was a hard one to get into and finish. I did enjoy what I read about Neverland and how dark and twisted it was compared to the Disney stuff, but idk I just couldn't get really into it. 3 ⭐

At first it was a little different to get into the book, it’s a bit slow & doesn’t capture your attention. But the more you read & really when Wendy goes into Neverland is when this start to happen.
The author is really good at describing the backdrop of Neverland & how different it is from the Disney version of fairytales. It’s a bit darker & sinister. Then sending leaves you wanting to read the next book to see what happens next.
Overall I did enjoy reading the book once I could get into it.

I haven’t read a Disney retelling story before so when I stumbled upon this on Netgalley, I wanted to give this a go. I used to watch Peter Pan on VCR when I was very young, and I always loved the scene where Peter taught Wendy and her siblings to fly! But in this one, it was all quite dark and has none of the fluff.

The story follows sixteen year old Wendy Maynard who is looking for an adventure aboard a ship. Instead, she stumbled upon Peter Pan who disappeared on her upon the first meeting. She traced his steps to Neverland, a dark and sinister forest filled with monsters and curses. Legend has it that Hook has a play at causing the forest to be cursed and yet…someone holds the key to break the curse once and for all. Peter? Wendy? Wendy is overwhelmed by all that she saw and she struggle to understand the curse of Neverland. Can Peter be trusted? What secrets will Wendy uncover?

This was a rather short story, and it definitely is an interesting spin to the fluffy Peter Pan. Peter and Wendy were originally very child-like and playful but here, they are broody, dark and even a little sinister. Peter’s desire to stay young forever is still there but his reason is completely different now. I find Wendy quite stubborn and hot-headed here. She refused to listen to others and has occasionally brought trouble upon herself. I don’t find her very likeable in the beginning. I love Tink in this one! She is still her same, sassy self who is absolutely devoted to Peter!

I also love how the setting was written. It’s no longer the Neverland we come to know and love but I definitely love how eerie the atmosphere is. That aside, I didn’t feel very much for the characters. The plot and setting was great but everything happened so fast that there isn’t much character development in the story. Hopefully, all my queries will be answered in the second book as Peter and Wendy continue their quest.

Overall, the plot is definitely thrilling and I enjoyed some of the twists Davennor has added in there. Thank you Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the arc.

this is the first arc i ever got approved for and also the first one i ever read, so i’m really glad i liked this book! the writing is very easy to read and i had no trouble visualising the places and the creatures.

i really liked that this is a dark, scary peter pan retelling. however, i wish peter’s darker side had been explored more, especially since i half expected it to be after it was hinted at that he isn’t quite as he seems. if this series gets continued, i really hope the next book focuses on that.

the book was very short, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room for character development. that also might be explored in the next book, though.

the one thing i didn’t like was that the epilogue felt like the start of the second book to me, and not at all like an epilogue. it honestly felt like the start of something instead of the end of something to me. i think it would’ve been better to have ended the book with the last chapter or a different epilogue.

overall it was a nice and fast read and i’d definitely read the second book!

This was a fast-paced, dark adventure into Neverland right from the very beginning.

The world of Neverland is expanded into a haunting oasis. Brimming with suspense. I love that books are now adding soundtracks, it adds a whole other layer to the reading experience, and the songs chosen in this were well suited and helped paint the story.

I liked the fact that Tinkerbell had an actual voice in the story and how Wendy is able to understand her speech, very clever! The character backstories were so intriguing and a real testament to the author's imagination.

These characters are so beloved to me that it was hard to read them as being dark or corrupt. The story is not fully fleshed out but there is opportunity to do so in the next book. The character diversity could have been executed better..

All in all this is a fascinating warped and dark tale of story we all know so well. I am interested to see where the author takes us next!

A short and captivating read which sheds new light in the classic 0eter Pan story. This is an enjoyable read that will be a huge success in the hands of the right audience.