Free Country: A Tale of The Children’s Crusade by Neil Gaiman, Alisa Kwitney, Peter Snejbjerg (Illustrator)

A fantastic tale about two dead detectives, who are trying to solve a missing person case. It sounds macabre but it’s actually a fairy tale.

Neil Gaiman includes this in his introduction: “I asked Alisa Kwitney, who cowrote much of the second half of The Children’s Crusade, if there was anything she wanted me to point out and she said yes. I should tell people that in the double-page spread with the mermaids and the magic, she had instructed artist Peter Snejbjerg to draw a very young Nail Gaiman reading a book, oblivious to the wonders around him.”

I made sure to check on that page- and there he was. If you read this too, make sure to look for Neil in the full-page spread depicting Free Country.

The premise of this tale is like Peter Pan, but with a twist. There’s a land where children can live in peace and harmony and never grow old… but at what cost.

“Look at them, who call themselves adult- they eat, they work, they sleep. Their pleasures are gross and ugly, their lives are squalid and dark. They no longer feel, or hurt, or dream. And they hurt us. They say every adult has successfully killed at least one child, heh? Free Country is the refuge. In the past, it was the refuge only for the most fortunate of the few. But those days are ending. It will soon be the home of every living child.”

If I had known the catalog of Vertigo comics, I may have enjoyed this more. But, you don’t need to be an aficionado of comics to enjoy Free Country. It can be a stand-alone graphic novel with plenty of chills and thrills along the way.

It was for me.

Recommended for adults to like twisted tales with a fairy-tale flavor or for 16+ because of the potentially disturbing content.

Thanks for reading!

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

Christina Henry, author of the chilling Alice, which is a brilliant re-telling of Alice in Wonderland, has shifted focus to a new fairytale. In Lost Boy, readers get to experience the story of the boy-who-never-grew-up through the origin story of his arch-nemesis. And what a story it is.

“Peter will say I’m a villain, that I wronged him, that I never was his friend. But I told you already. Peter lies. This is what really happened.” loc 85, ebook. Goosebumps? Yeah.

Fans of the original tale will need to prepare themselves for having beloved characters shown in a new and sinister light. Think Longbourn, but worse, much worse. “I had been with Peter longer than I’d been in the Other Place, longer than I could count, anyway. The seasons did not pass here and the days had no meaning. I would be here forever. I would never grow up.” loc 146, ebook. The others in Peter’s group call the narrator, Jamie.

He is a fierce fighter- the best. And he protects the younger and weaker members of those lucky few that Peter brings back from the real world or in this tale, the Other Place. This protective instinct is sneered at by Peter who accuses Jamie of “babying” or “mothering” the boys. In truth, there is no worse insult in Peter’s arsenal. Grown ups either abuse you or take your stuff or both. They’re pirates.

“(Peter) had invited us there, had promised us we would be young and happy forever. So we were. Unless we got sick, or died, or were taken by the pirates.” loc 257, ebook. So, Neverland is not the paradise that it is portrayed as in the original tale. There are also monsters called Many-Eyed that eat the boys alive, if they catch them.

“Was this, I wondered, what it felt like to be a grown-up? Did you always feel the weight of things on you, your cares pressing you down like a burden you could never shake? No wonder Peter could fly. He had no worries to weight him to the earth.” loc 1971, ebook.

The stage is set. Love and hate intertwine with magic, blood and, of course, a little bit of fairy dust.

If you enjoyed this tale, you may also want to explore some other Peter Pan re-tellings like Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson or All Darling Children by Katrina Monroe. The last, a horror-filled offering, may really appeal to those who want to delve more into the potential shadows of Neverland. There’s a price to pay for never growing up. In that tale, as in this, Peter pays it without a qualm.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for a free advance reader’s copy of this book. Reminder: the short quotations I cited in this review may vary in the final published version.

Thanks for reading!

Splintered by A.G. Howard

Alyssa is a descendant of Alice Liddell- the Alice who inspired Carroll to write his tale of white rabbits and fantastical creatures. But, Alyssa has a family secret: the women of her bloodline go insane when they come of age.

She tries to look on the positive side of this: At least one good thing has come out of my inherited insanity. Without the delusions, I might never have found my artistic medium.” pg 10, ebook.

Alyssa is in love with Jeb, a dark and brooding young man with a penchant for grunge clothing and a lip piercing (that she talks about all the time). But, he is dating the most popular girl in Alyssa’s high school class, Taelor (of course).

Things get really exciting when Alyssa starts to hear voices coming from the bugs and plants.

After a brief introduction where the reader learns that Jeb is freakishly controlling and Alyssa’s mother is in an insane asylum, she falls through a mirror and after some trials, finds her way into Wonderland.

I thought this could have been a potentially interesting re-telling of the classic Alice in Wonderland story, but Splintered‘s uniqueness is stifled under a bunch of teen angst and a love triangle.

Granted, I’m not the target audience for this book, but I’d been on a roll lately with awesome fairy tale re-tellings and I thought I’d give it a shot. Oh well.

I actually enjoyed A.G. Howard’s interpretation of Wonderland itself. The characters were familiar but twisted slightly.

Here’s a passage from the tea party- my favorite part: “Now we need to get back to our world. Like yesterday.” “Yesterday, you say?” the hatmaker warbles in his bouncing timbre. “Yesterday is doable.” Guffawing, the hare slaps a knee and adds, “Although two yesterdays would be impossible.” The Door Mouse snickers, slipping back into his uniform. “No, no! You can retrogress as many yesterdays as you please. Simply walk backward the rest of your life.” pg 187, ebook.

See? Howard nailed the classic characterizations, but Carroll’s original creations were far superior to Alyssa, Jeb, and Morpheus, who were her main contributions to the story.

Disregard my opinions on this book if you simply must read any and all fairy tale re-tellings because, at the very least, it is that.

Just be aware what you’re picking up- a young adult romance/coming of age- and if that’s what you’re in the mood for, you may really enjoy it.

I find that my expectations shape my opinion of a book almost as much as the text itself. For example, I think if I had been warned that Alice in Zombieland had really very little to do with the Wonderland story, I may not have disliked it as much as I did.

Splintered actually has a lot of the original Wonderland in it and, if I had to choose between Alice in Zombieland or Splintered, I’d pick this in a heartbeat.

Some highly recommended horror/fairy tale re-tellings (for adults): Alice or All Darling Children.

Thanks for reading!

All Darling Children by Katrina Monroe

All Darling Children asks the question: what if something corrupted the ‘boy-who-never-grew-up’?

Peter Pan is one of my favorite fairy tales and it has featured in quite a few beautiful re-tellings. (Tiger Lily is one.)

All Darling Children is a masterful, twisted take on a literary classic. I loved this for its horror filled examination of the spiritual cost of eternal youth and the strong female lead.

From her first moments in Neverland, Madge, the grandaughter of Wendy, can tell that something isn’t right: “Neverland. It seemed a hodgepodge of landscape ripped from a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. On one side, lush forest grew dense with heat and energy. Flowers bloomed in a rainbow of colors. They shuddered as Madge gazed at them, and then, as Pan looked in their direction, shriveled to pale, dry nothings.” loc 525, ebook.

This is not Disney’s version of Neverland.

Peter and his Lost Boys are dangerous in this world. Immature and wild, they try to force the traditional gender role of ‘mother’ on Madge (because they don’t know how to handle girls otherwise) and she resists: “Outsiders aren’t supposed to know how to find the tree house until they’ve been initiated.” “Initiated?” Madge’s stomach fell. “What’s that mean?” “It means you’re in the club, not that you’d ever get in, being a girl and all.” loc 692.

I never questioned the ‘Father’/’Mother’ roles of Peter and Wendy from the original book but, if the authority of the position was abused… it gets so creepy very quickly.

Madge’s story is told in-between entries from Wendy’s old diary. Here’s one of the passages: “I’ve learned much about (Peter), and while he is erratic and inconsistent in most ways, in one he is steadfast. Predictable. Peter must always be forced to try harder. If one gives in, he loses interest. I will never give in.”loc 921.

The back and forth from the story that the reader thinks she knows that is presented in Wendy’s diary, to the new story that Monroe is weaving with Madge, is awesome. There are enough similar elements drawn in from the original that the whole thing feels chillingly familiar- a mirror version of the classic.

Peter’s bragging about his exploits is presented as charming in Barrie’s version- Monroe takes a far more modern view: “Who wants to hear the story of how I cut off Captain Hook’s hand?” The boys whooped and smacked the table. Madge paled. He’d cut off someone’s hand? What was worse, he was bragging about it? Psycho.” loc 973

If you like twisted fairy tale re-tellings, you may love All Darling Children. I did. Another one that you’ve got to pick up if you liked this is Alice by Christina Henry. It’s an incredible, dark re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland and it’s also amazing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Adept Publishing for a free, digital ARC.

Also thank you to my Goodreads friend, Rosemarie Short, for writing a fantastic review that convinced me that I just had to read All Darling Children. You can see her review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…

And, thank you for reading!

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

This book is an absolutely magical re-telling of the story of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. The narrator is the fairy, Tinker Bell.

I’ve always had a soft place in my heart for J. M.Barrie’s masterwork. Who among us hasn’t wanted to go to a place where you could remain young forever and never grow up?

Jodi Lynn Anderson writes that “never aging” magic of Neverland quite well: “Englanders had come to Neverland before. … The Englanders had the aging disease. As time went on they turned gray, and shrank, and, inexplicably, they died. It wasn’t that Neverlanders didn’t know anything about death, but not as a slow giving in, and certainly not an inevitability.” pg 13 (ebook)

Tiger Lily’s tribe may age, but how old they appear is contingent on something other than time. It’s curious and magical.

The lost boys come alive in this book with a wildness and unpredictability that I loved: “There was a joyfulness and- at the same time- a fragility about each of them. They were sloppy and uncared for and wildly alert and full of energy.” pg 61, ebook.

Despite their untamed natures, they are still children: “Straw beds had been separated haphazardly into different areas of the burrow, as if the boys hadn’t counted on wanting to live separately when they’d first built it, and only recently pushed themselves as far apart from each other as possible. Still, on one of the beds there was a worn home-sewn toy in the shape of a rabbit, and lying on a pillow, as if it had just been played with, a model of a ship.” pg 61, ebook.

Peter is the boy who has emotions but doesn’t understand them- perpetually young yet always on the verge of growing up.

He’s fiercely admired by his lost boys and, eventually, Tiger Lily: “Peter picked at his hangnail again. “Actually, I never get sad. It’s a waste of time, don’t you think?” Tiger Lily didn’t answer. She was impressed by the idea of deciding not to be sad. His words made him seem very strong. Impervious.” pg 67, ebook

Peter is still Peter in this tale. As far as girls go, he can be charming but also rude and aloof: “I think we could be good friends,” he said, falling into step with her. “It’s perfect because I wouldn’t fall in love with you, like I do with the mermaids. Girls always seem so exotic. But it would be okay with you, because you’re more like… you know. Not like a girl.” pg 77, ebook.

Tinker Bell was a sympathetic character in this book, rather than the spoiled, jealous creature that she is portrayed as in Peter Pan: “A faerie heart is different from a human heart. Human hearts are elastic. They have room for all sorts of passions, and they can break and heal and love again and again. Faerie hearts are evolutionarily less sophisticated…. Our hearts are too small to love more than one person in a lifetime. … I tried to talk sense into my hard little heart. But it had landed on Peter, a creature two hundred times my size and barely aware of me, and there was no prying it loose.” pg 77-78, ebook.

Hook is extra creepy and villainous: “Neverland had called to him out of legends. A green place. A wild place. And most of all, a place where he’d never grow old. Most people in London hadn’t believed it existed, but some still insisted it did, and Hook had cast his lot with them. To get to the island, he’d begged, stolen, and eventually murdered.” pg 89-90, ebook.

And so is Mr. Smee. But, I’ll let Anderson tell you his story. She does a wonderful job of it.

The relationship between Tiger Lily, Peter, and Wendy makes a lot more sense in this story. It is less about any potential failings by the girls. The main source of conflict seems to be Peter’s emotional immaturity: “As you may have guessed already, Peter had a soul that was always telling itself lies. When he was frightened, his soul told itself, “I’m not frightened.” And when something mattered that he couldn’t control, Peter’s soul told itself, “It doesn’t matter.” pg 169, ebook.

The ending of this book was totally satisfying as well for all of the characters, even little Tinker Bell. I can’t say enough good things about it.

It’s easy to see why fairy tell retellings are so popular with books like Tiger Lily out there, waiting to be discovered.

Thanks for reading!

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Boy, Snow, Bird is beautiful, haunting, modern and loose re-telling of the fairy tale of Snow White. The ending made me so mad that I almost chucked the e-reader across the room.

The story is about Boy Novak moving to a new place and starting her life over again. She meets a man named Arturo who has a beautiful daughter named Snow.

Their relationship changes when she gives birth to a child named Bird. The interactions between Boy, Snow and Bird are what to watch for in this well-described tale.

I loved the characters and the huge twists in this book so much. I was reminded of the major twist in The Life of Pi. Oyeyemi was able to flip the narrative over and make it something else by unveiling a rather large surprise towards the end.

Still though, that ending. I can’t make up my mind whether it was awesome or infuriating.

At any rate, this is a book that captured my attention and held it mercilessly until it was done.

Oyeyemi can write.

Check out this passage: “The town should really have been called Flax Hills, since it was huddled up between two of them, but maybe that was the locals’ way of instructing one of the hills to scram. The hills are ringed round with old, dark, thick-trunked trees. They’re so tall you feel a false stillness standing under them; when you look all the way up, you see the wind crashing through the topmost branches, but you hear all the commotion only distantly, if at all…” pg 26.

Much of this story deals with gender politics and the balance of power between the sexes. Oyeyemi drives right to the heart of the issue with her descriptions.

“I watched wealthy men and their wives and dates dancing and playing cards and making deals: I will admire you exactly as much, no more or less, as you admire me. I will love you in the strictest moderation. Some couples seemed pleased with their negotiations and others were in despair.” pg 31

I loved Oyeyemi’s descriptive writing. She makes you feel what the characters are feeling and it’s beautiful.

For example, here’s the beginning of a love story in three lines: “Because he says he can’t stand you and you act like you can’t stand him, and whenever a man and woman behave like that toward each other, it usually means something’s going on. There’s a precious metal kind of gleam about you, and the man’s a jeweler, you know. So look out.” pg 33

I really liked Oyeyemi’s character development. She writes flawed characters that readers can see themselves in. It makes for an engaging and emotional read.

In this passage, she takes a stab at describing the small things that we look for in each other: “…he knew how to lean in and light a girl’s cigarette with a look and a smile that had me stubbing my cigarette out whenever his attention was elsewhere, just so he’d light up another one for me. It could have been the way he guarded the flame with his palm, the unexpected care with which he carried it up toward your lips; who knows what makes a man’s gesture attractive?” pg 56-57

Finally, I enjoyed Oyeyemi’s interpretation of the magic that exists in every day life. Because I believe it is there, if we only knew how to look for it.

“…a whole lot of technically impossible things are always trying to happen to us, appear to us, talk to us, show us pictures, or just say hi, and you can’t pay attention to all of it, so I just pick the nearest technically impossible thing and I let it happen. Let me know how it goes if you try it.” pg 177

I’m off to try the “nearest technically impossible thing.” Thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Category: Fairy tale re-telling

Free Country: A Tale of The Children’s Crusade by Neil Gaiman, Alisa Kwitney, Peter Snejbjerg (Illustrator)

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

Splintered by A.G. Howard

All Darling Children by Katrina Monroe

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

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