Tired of seeing the original Peter Pan watered down by “Disney movies and peanut butter commercials,” fantasy artist Brom has penned a novel that returns the character to his level of menace … and then pushes him way beyond that. (Unless J.M. Barrie used the word “fucktard” and I just hadn’t noticed.)
In THE CHILD THIEF, the elfin Peter — son of a forest spirit — fills the title role, saving ghetto kids from lives of drugs and prostitution by snatching them up and leading through the mist to a neverland known as Avalon, where they can train to become “devils,” meaning children of Faerie with immortal youth.
It’s not all golden; this is a world where even the pixies have sharp teeth. Peter and his drafted Avalon army encounter a witch, poisonous bugs, were-beasts, a “Captain” and one spooky reverend. There’s lots of murder to be had, and even a little vomiting.
Drawing from Welsh, Celtic, Finnish and Scottish folklore, Brom creates as imaginative a reboot of PETER PAN as Frank Beddor did to ALICE IN WONDERLAND with his LOOKING GLASS WARS trilogy. In this case, however, the material is all for the adults, hence the all-caps cursing.
Although known primarily for his illustrations, Brom proves himself a more than capable novelist. His approach to the material is fresh and brimming with ideas; he imbues the proceedings with menace and danger, and Peter’s inherent mischievousness is most welcome. But he also takes the plot further than it should have, with the war of Avalon played out to the point of tiring the reader.
Back on the plus side, his artwork graces the opening of each chapter, helping your mind sync visually with the prose action, further enhanced by a color section of character profiles in the middle. THE CHILD THIEF is certainly good, but I wanted it to be great. It gets close enough to steal your time. —Rod Lott
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Fascinating! I’d run across the cover art somewhere, but it sounds quite intriguing.
I love this book and cried about one zillion time. Peters smile is truely contagious even to the reader! When he put his hands on his hips and said “Oh joy! It’s time to play.” I giggled because when Peter plays he always wins with a sword. This 500 page master piece is full of adventure betrayel and the ever bewitching Lady.