The Child Thief

The Child Thief by Brom

Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Eos; Reprint (August 17, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0061671347

(my 3rd read for RIP. and no, it was not on my original list)

From Publishers Weekly

Chesley-winning illustrator Brom (The Plucker) weaves together gloomy prose and horrifying adventures in this macabre fairy tale inspired by J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Born of faerie blood, Peter hunts abandoned children, runaways and the hopeless, recruiting for his Devils in Avalon and promising them a place where you never have to grow up. He conveniently fails to mention that Avalon's monsters are very real, and the Devils must practice their war games or risk being tortured to death, eaten or worse. While early chapters are promising, this gothic fantasy stumbles on its own darkness. The devilishly amusing flashbacks to Peter's origins don't make up for the heavy-handed bloodshed, rampant violence and two-dimensional characters. It's all fiendish monsters and desperate battles in this twisted, dark Neverland; the Disney Peter's mirth and good humor are nowhere to be found.

This is a perfect read for RIP... and nothing (nothing!) that you'd read to small children ready for bed!

Having read the first 50 pages I thought to myself.. ummm nope, this isn't for me.  First off I don't like "retold fairytales" , secondly I don't like books written in "now time".. I want to escape to somewhere else!

But there was something that made me keep reading. (This certainly is not the Peter Pan that I knew about!) I think I kept expecting some big change to happen.. It didn't.  But it did get bloody and the "F" word was in "overkill"..but the story... the story was keeping me hooked. The lost boys were lost in more ways than one. I wondered where this story was to go?  Boy did I ever find out!  Not only was I hooked on this book, but it kept me reading every minute that my butt was in the chair!  My mind was in overdrive.  But.. I don't want to give anything away! I think I enjoyed this because I knew nothing about it.

I can see where many people would even enjoy this more than I did. The the whole book, to me, was a "love/ hate" relationship.  But it did win out in the end.  The book is a keeper for the art alone, but to be honest I have to say I know Brom was trying to stay faithful to modern day "gangs" with the language.  I just had a hard time because I left hearing that in "real life" not that long ago and had already had my fill. 

It was a definite.. right book.. for RIP!!  It was DARK. 

It was Gruesome.

It was NOT a dream come true! 

But it was a read I never expected to enjoy... but I did, yes indeed I did!