Blitzo Being Protective Of Moxxie Is Extremely Important Actually.

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[Lucemond Multiverse]

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Heirs of Neverland Books: Dust & Shadow by Kara Swanson

The Heirs of Neverland duology by Kara Swanson is a fairly recent addition to the list of Peter Pan retellings out there, and while there are many older takes on the story I’m itching to review, I thought it best to go ahead and get my thoughts down on this one while they’re fresh in my mind. Because this is a review of multiple books in a mini-series, there really isn’t a good way around revealing some major plot points, so be forewarned that the summary WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS. If you don’t want to read any spoilers but would still like my overall take on the books, please skip down to the “What I Liked” section.

Summary/Overview:

Rather than being a straightforward retelling of Peter Pan, the Heirs of Neverland books are a sort of sequel mini-series, taking place in modern times, a generation or two after the main events of the book. (Not to worry, though, my fellow Hook fans–our favorite captain is still alive and well…though admittedly we don’t get much of an explanation as to how.)

The main character of the two books is a girl named Claire. She and her twin brother, Connor, grew up in the foster system. Connor, who loved Peter Pan stories growing up as a sort of escape, went missing years ago. Most people have long given up on finding Connor, but Claire believes he’s still out there and spends years trying to find him because he’s the only real family she has, and she has a hard time fitting in. She has what the doctors have called an unknown skin disorder (because they can’t find any good medical explanation)… When she is feeling something strongly, her skin sort of…flakes off into little dust particles. And this sort of extreme skin flaking isn’t just embarrassing…it can actually be dangerous for those around her when she’s upset because those “angry” dust particles burn. Much like Elsa in Frozen, Claire fears the damage she may do and learns to conceal her more tumultuous emotions.

Meanwhile, while Claire is looking for Connor, Peter is looking for Claire. Peter has come to the real world and gotten stuck there long enough to grow up a bit. Neverland is a mess, and he thinks Claire may be the key to fixing it. What Claire doesn’t know (and only finds out slowly through Peter and others) is that she and Connor were born on Neverland and have magic in their veins. Hook—who has also been living in the real world for awhile and has teamed up with many former Lost Boys who started growing up in Peter’s absence—also knows about Claire and had been seeking her out for his own means, which aren’t readily apparent to begin with. But he ends up promising to take her to Connor, and she ultimately ends up trusting him more than Peter and uses her pixie dust to fly the ship to the island.

What she doesn’t realize is that Connor is the REASON Neverland is so messed up, his negative emotions slowly poisoning the island. Peter, Claire, and Connor all have an equally strong bond with the island that can affect the health/weather of the island, etc. But Connor wants all the power for himself and has teamed up with Hook and a mysterious woman named Paige. It becomes clearer as the story goes on that Hook isn’t entirely on board with what Connor and Paige are up to. He’s honestly a bit afraid of Connor’s powers and what they are doing to the island and seems to recognize that what they’re trying to do is going too far. He seems to have genuinely gotten attached to the boys and recognizes in Claire something he once saw in Paige that has since become dark and twisted.

We eventually learn that Paige is actually Peter’s sister…but he doesn’t initially remember her because of how the island works. She helped him create the island when they were both children who ran away from home after their mother died and their father became abusive and neglectful. Hook was one of the oldest and first Lost Boys. He and Paige started to grow up when they began to fall in love with each other, but Peter wasn’t happy that his two closest friends were leaving him. A fight broke out that ultimately resulted in the hand loss and Hook being tossed into the water. Paige, knowing he wasn’t a great swimmer, dove in after him and managed to save him…but she herself drowned in the process. The island brought her back to life, but because its magic is what’s keeping her alive, she can’t leave. Anytime she goes too far away, she starts to drown again. So she was stuck there without Peter even remembering who she was and with Hook probably assuming she was dead for a long time. She wanted to use Connor to take over Neverland and help her rewrite the “rules” so she could leave and finally be free. But needless to say, things don’t go according to plan. Peter has grown up enough to be selfless and take responsibility for his past mistakes, and with some help from Claire and Peter, Connor is able to let go of the darkness within him that Paige has taken and turned into a literal monster. Hook finally comes around to their side when Paige is clearly out of control and just won’t give up. He realizes, sadly, that the part of her he loved is pretty much gone and that Peter has changed and matured. He makes a final attempt to smooth things over and offers that she can stay with him on the Roger and they can start over, even if they’re stuck on the island…at least they’d be together. But she’s too far gone and ultimately chooses to leave the island one way or another, presumably dying in the process. The island is restored. Claire and Connor are able to stay on the island and finally have a place where they feel like they belong and have a family. Peter, too, stays on the island with Claire, who he has been falling in love with, and periodically continues to bring the children who need it most to the island…but is more responsible and less selfish now. The previous Lost Boys seem to go in a few different ways…Tootles stays with Tiger Lily, who he has fallen in love with, and most of the others seem to stick around as well but are on good terms with both Hook and Peter, who are now at peace with one another. 

What I Liked:

The message–or rather messages–of these books are deep, especially for YA novels. Emotional/mental pain is explored with genuineness and compassion in a way that few authors manage. All of the characters are messed up in some way from past traumas and hurts, though how they manage that pain and how their responses affect the people around them differ greatly. Peter tries to forget anything bad ever happened and so, for a long time, never matures and ends up forgetting some important people in his life and good things along with the bad. Claire tries to shut out her negative emotions, terrified that she will hurt someone if she allows herself to feel everything, and hurts herself more than anyone in the process. Connor allows his pain to entirely consume him and anyone who gets in his way. Paige grows so bitter and comes to love wallowing in her pain so much that she won’t allow even the one person she loves to drag her out of it…and destroys herself in the process. And Hook allows himself to do terrible things in the name of love for someone who he can’t see cares more about herself than him. It’s a story of loss, redemption, forgiveness, and healing. And the author doesn’t gloss over things. Not everyone is saved, even when others attempt to make amends…and those who do come out better in the end only do so after great sacrifice and confronting their own personal darkness. Some characters die and stay dead. Some require extensive emotional healing that only time, patience, and love will fix. Magic isn’t a cure-all even in a world where flying and eternal youth are possible. It isn’t always pretty, but there is a lot of truth to it.

What I Didn’t Like:

The first book in the series, Dust, starts out a bit slow. We don’t actually reach Neverland until the second book, and it was hard for me to really feel like I was reading a Peter Pan story when all the characters were in the present-day real world. Claire’s “dust” is about the only magical thing we get, and it’s hard not to want to hurry things along so we can get to the island. It’s necessary for the storyline, I suppose, as the author has to take the time to properly introduce us to her original characters…but I did start to lost interest a bit at times. 

As with many leading lady OC’s in young adult fiction, Claire can sometimes come across as a bit of a Mary Sue. For most of the first book, she seems to only see her own flaws…but by the end of the second book, she is clearly a hero–the bringer of light in the midst of darkness and the only girl to ever really make Peter want to grow up. That said, she does have moments of weakness, and she is arguably her own worst enemy. Not the best original character, but also not the worst. 

My only other real complaint is that I miss some of the original characters. Wendy and her brothers don’t show up in the story–not even in flashbacks–and Tink is dead by the time we meet Peter in the first book. Mr. Smee and the pirate crew are nowhere to be seen. The crocodile does show up briefly but has no major interactions with Hook…and Hook himself, though intriguing and complex in the moments we DO get with him, doesn’t get as much “screen time” as I would have liked. 

Would I recommend it?

Despite the fact that it took awhile for me to get into and was a bit OC heavy for my taste, I would still recommend this book series. It’s clear the author is a deep thinker willing to tackle some heavy issues…and she does so with grace, humility, and honesty. On the surface, this mini-series may just be a Peter Pan-themed story about a girl finding herself and her place in the world, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a story about pain and how our response to it can break not only ourselves but those around us. It’s a story about forgiveness and growth and how sometimes even when we try to reconcile with others, they choose to walk away. And it’s a story about healing in all its messy, difficult beauty. 

Overall Rating:

3.5/5 stars

Angel? 👻🌹

A speedpaint video of this will be available at my Patreon on march 1st!

Sketch of Rum Tum Tugger from Cats

House of the Dragon + in memoriam: Lucerys Velaryon

too lazy to clean this up. too lazy to be accurate.  but if you know you know.

posted on twitter 

Headcanon that Mistofelees pulls a Cheshire Cat every now and then for maximum tease the Tugger effect. 

Bonus: