Found your blog talking about Twisted tales and feel like if you don't know about A.C.Wise's "Wendy, Darling" and "Hooked" books already, you need to, feel you would like them (or curious what you think) because look at this!!
This eldrich horror Peter Pan literally turning James into Hook, his bones twisting and not pictured but Peter is "making a horrible sound, speaking language spoken by demons and angels before the beginning of the world.", literal goose bumps reading this. :D
Then Hooked made me cry, multiple times and I'm a person who didn't care about Peter Pan before these books! These books deserve more love.
Hey, thanks for thinking of me and sorry for only just now responding. I was offline for a few weeks over the holidays so I’m not sure how long this may have been sitting in my inbox.
I have read both and have been meaning to write some reviews for them. I really liked how the first book explored the psychology of Wendy and how the world perceived her after her return home from the island. It’s one of the few non-Hook-centric retellings I really found myself enjoying. It’s not exactly the adventure story some might prefer in a Peter Pan story but it (and the sequel) focuses largely on the emotional aspect of the characters.
Hooked was admittedly a mixed bag for me. On the one hand (pun intended), I LOVE how seriously the author took Hook’s pain and struggle, how they consider the torture he endures by basically being killed and revived over and over again and all the psychological damage that would do to a man. Also (minor spoilers ahead for the rest of the post) Michael’s PTSD from the war and how the crocodile spirit sort of latches onto the hurt and pain there and “consumes” him in a different sort of way than it does Hook. On the other… I felt like the ending was a little too rushed or something? Something was missing, though I’m not sure how to put my finger on it. And the fact that “Samuel” is pretty clearly meant to be a Smee stand-in but they never call him Smee is weird. Like…why? And what’s with keeping his skull on a shelf in his room? That was…odd… I don’t ship Hook/Smee so I wasn’t a huge fan of the relationship but I did like the author showing that SOMEONE in his life recognized the potential for goodness in Hook and kept that little spark of decency alive in him in his own quiet way.
