From the book:

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life. He appears to lonely, lost children—the broken, hopeless, and sexually abused—promising to take them to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive, and you never grow old. But his promised land is not Neverland. . . .
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With this haunting, provocative, relentlessly thrilling reconsideration of a timeless children's classic, the acclaimed artist Brom dramatically displays another side of his extraordinary talent. Exploring the stygian blackness that gathers at the root of the beloved Peter Pan legend, he carries readers into a faerieland at once magically wondrous and deeply disturbing.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would be lying dead in a Brooklyn park—murdered by drug dealers­—had Peter not sprung out of the trees to save him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him into a strange and unsettling mist swirling around the bay. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, nowhere in New York City is safe for him now. And what more can he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries. He must learn to fight or die as he struggles to fit in with the "Devils"—Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.
Here, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised, tormented, and hunted, Peter moves between the worlds of faerie and man, struggling to understand what he is and where he belongs. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to kill the dreaded Captain and stop his murderous crew of "Flesh-eaters" before they blight every trace of magic left in this dying land.


The book is much darker than the classic Peter Pan and makes you question is the real villain is - the Lady, who bewitches Peter; the Reverend, who tortures children in the name of God; the Captain, who just wants to leave Avalon; or Peter, who 'saves' children and take them through the Mist to Avalon?

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone of this site has read the book, too, and what they thought of it.

 

I fucking love this book. It feels like Lord of the Flies as written by Stephen King - very creepy, very surreal. If DLP had a must-read list, I'd put this book close to the top.

This guy has some kick-ass artwork too. Twisted, but brilliant. If you like this book, you should definitely check out The Plucker as well. It's more of an illustrated storybook, but it has that same feeling of whimsical horror and "Grimm" fairy tale.

 

I'll be sure to check that out.

I loved all of the artwork; the seven colored pictures were the best. The Reverend looked kickass.

Brom is like Edgar Allan Poe: he could be either a successful artist or a successful writer.

 

Damn this book sounds awesome. Totally going on my must read list.

 

I got this for Christmas and I'm only about half-way through it right now, but I'm loving every moment of it. In fact, whenever I get done, I hope to write a fanfic about it.

Also, I had a few questions about the book and was wondering if anyone could answer them for me?

1-Are there any plans on making a movie of this? Seems like something Sci-Fi would make into a mini-series like they did Tinman. (Of course they'd probably edit a LOT of the swearing, gore, etc. if they made it.)

2-How mature would you say Peter is, equivalent to normal humans? I know he's like centuries old, literally, but in Brom's artwork he looks to be the equivalent of a 14-17 year-old boy. In the book it says he hasn't grown any facial hair so I don't think he's reached puberty per-say, but he's obviously aroused by Ginny Greenteeth the first time he meets her. (When she's rubbing up against him in her lair.) So does that mean - excluding the war with the Flesh-Eaters, the elves, and Mondron - he's interested in girls, dating, kissing, etc.?

3-Does Peter see The Lady as strictly as a maternal figure, or is he romantically attracted to her? While it's obvious to me that he's obsessed with her, but at times it seems hard to tell what kind of attraction he has for her. I think perhaps that he only sees her a mother figure. Thus his obsession would be for the motherly love, a sense of familial bonding, he's always craved and has repeatedly been torn away from over the years and not wanting to be her lover. But like I said it's hard to tell at times and I was just wondering how it came across to everyone else.

 

Welcome to the forums Otaku

There is a vigorous fan movement for getting this made into a film so I wouldn't be surprised to see that someone has snatched up the movie rights. I dunno about you, but I'd be annoyed if the syphilis channel got their grubby fingers on this. Best bet is HBO or sho time ;b

 

I hated most of the characters in this book. The setting was pretty fun, and the story wasn't bad overall, but there's a supreme lack of likable characters for me.

 

Just read this in one sitting. My verdict? Pretty fucking awesome.

Although I was able to predict a great deal of what happened, the book more than made up for it in tone, characterization and pure, unfiltered horror.

Seriously, if you like traditional fairy lore, Peter Pan or Lord of the Flies levels of bat shit crazy kids, get this book.

Anyway, off to bed for me. It's 9am here and I'm tired as hell.

 

Thanks DLP for putting this on my radar. It was a really great fucking read.

I love the idea of traditional fairy tales being twisted and corrupted into something dark and monstrous. Any other good reads that work on the same concept?