Peter Darlin’ Book Review
When I learned that Peter Darlin was a queer retelling of Peter Pan, I was so excited. Especially when I learned that Peter was a trans boy, I felt that this story had so much potential. Even the dedication was exciting.
“This book is for every villain who ever inspired a queer awakening, and for every queer child who ever saw a piece of themself in the enemy.” -Chant, Austin. Peter Darling
However, by the time I was a few pages in, I knew that I was not going to love this book as much as I had hoped. As I said, Peter is a trans boy who runs away to Neverland to be free to be who he is. Hook is a gay man who ran away to Neverland after losing the love of his life to war. The plot, world-building, and especially the romance between Peter and Hook felt extremely undeveloped. What hurt the most was seeing the bones of this story and knowing it could have been so good.
We start the story from Hook’s point of view. He is watching his men dig for treasure, particularly admiring one of the men, Samue,l clearing his lover. When Peter Pan shows up. At first, Hook doesn’t remember him. Establishing that he himself has been in Neverland before Peter, so long as Peter’s stay was just a blip in his experience. As Peter taunts him, Hook remembers him. They fight as they do, and Peter runs off to find his lost boys. Peter arrives to find the lost boys have a new leader, Ernest.
This boy has made peace with Hook and the land, as clearly found a balance without Peter. This anger’s Peter, because he craves the chaos and violence, reflecting his internal struggle. He views masculinity as violent and antagonistic. In order to be the boy he wants to be, this is how he has to act. He quickly breaks the truce and balance that existed in Neverland. “It’s just a game.”
We see that the new leader of the lost boys is level-headed and clearly has a crush on Peter, and they sorta kinda not really form a bond. This boy is also used to establishing that people come and go from Neverland when they’re running from something in our world. But in my opinion, we don’t get enough about him. We don’t even know what he was running from or even understand what makes him want to go back, since we don’t know what’s waiting for him in our world.
This book really falls apart for me when it comes to the relationships. This book hinges on the relationships Peter has with this boy and Hook, but there isn’t enough for me to be invested in them. With this boy, at least they spent nights together sleeping in the same bed. With Hook, there’s just the journey through the caves, but it’s mostly Hook explaining to Peter what Neverland is and who they are. That exposition takes the place of any real connection that can be built upon. Not to mention that their previous time together was when Peter was a child. There’s no time for them to really bond; it’s all rushed, and the ending of Hook, waiting and fighting for Peter, doesn’t feel earned.
Hook’s story is also rushed and only covered in dialogue, not leaving us time to understand him and what it is that attracts him to Peter, other than because he does for plot reasons. I love a good Peter Pan retelling, but everything about this novella was too rushed. I really wish it were a little longer, and the author spent more time building the world and the relationships. There are really interesting concepts here, and it could have been so good.
