Review: Peter Darling, by Austin Chant

 

Ten years ago, Peter Pan left Neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as Wendy Darling. Growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.
But when he returns to Neverland, everything has changed: the Lost Boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. Even more shocking is the attraction Peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, Captain Hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

Sometimes you see a book's premise and you just know that you have to read it. Peter Darling by Austin Chant is a dazzling novel that takes your hands and asks you to believe in fairies once more. I've never been particularly taken with Peter Pan, but this retelling and sequel manages to strike a chord deep within oneself. If you ever felt you couldn't belong, this is the book for you. It's a heartfelt tale about finding oneself and growing up and finding companionship despite all adversity.

The book starts in medias res, the past slowly unraveling as we witness Peter's return to Neverland, his first meeting with Hook after many years, as we sense the attraction between the two grow from swordfighting to more and more. Theirs is a pairing I can honestly say has never crossed my mind, especially given their respective ages in the original novels, but Austin Chant makes it work perfectly. Peter, grown up and terribly unhappy with the shackles he was forced to don once more when he returned to his family, finally decides he can't take it anymore and returns to Neverland with the help of an aged-up Tinkerbell, always nonchalant in her cruelty and terribly fond and protective of Peter. Neverland isn't as it once was, and Peter falls easily into old schemes, unable to change. But it's not his fault, at least not consciously: the island is a haven, and as such clouds memories. It's only with the help of the Fairy Queen that Peter is able to unveil his past.

It's a past he doesn't want to relive, nor return to. And yet it's him that awakens in Hook the man's own lost memories, lost to decades spent on the island. James Hook, once he remembers who he was and too his own trials, is a softie. He just wants to protect Peter, and take him back home, save them both from the danger of losing oneself in a fantasy. Peter doesn't want to, not when only in Neverland he can truly be himself, but with the help of Hook he realizes he can be himself even in the real world, or rather, he can be himself with Hook and the world is none the wiser.

Peter is transgender; his life before Neverland, and when he bent back home before the beginning of the novel, is described with infinite kindess. His parents are blinded by society's expectations, and can't see how they are harming him. His brothers, too, are blind to it, but we don't really see how they act in the years leading to his decision to leave again.

One thing I would have liked to see more is a deeper exploration of Neverland and the way it works. The fairies are eerie creatures, not the ones we know from folklore; a kraken inhabits the waters. The island is elsewhere and exerts a certain kind of control over its denizens, but Hook often mentions known pirates, and there's a treasure buried on land. The island creates illusions to keep happy those who find themselves there. I wouldn't have minded a longer work, if it meant to flesh out more these aspects.

As it stands, the book is a lovely tale, heartwarming and profound, that will leave you giddy.

✨ 4 stars