Peter Darling

By: Austin Chant

Narrated by: Mark B. Knight

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Ten years ago, Peter Pan left Neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as Wendy Darling. Growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.

But when he returns to Neverland, everything has changed: the Lost Boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. Even more shocking is the attraction Peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, Captain Hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

©2017 Austin Chant (P)2017 Less Than Three Press, LLC

Seriously Fantastic

At first, I was wary of the age difference and how they would go from enemies to lovers, but it's actually perfectly and beautifully done. Chant's trans rep is also 100000% spot on, and it felt so good to be represented correctly. Then, of course, the plot which was fantastic and kept me thoroughly engaged. I love this and already bought a hardcopy of it. This is a book I know I'll read and listen to a million times over.

All I knew about this book was it was a Peter Pan retelling

And Oh My God it’s so much more and so amazing. The narrator is perfect. The story telling is heart breaking/ warming. I couldn’t ask for more.

A Creative and Compelling Story

i very much enjoyed this story! My only critique is that I felt it could be longer!

Completely Charming

Fantastic narrator! His Hook voice was my favorite! I absolutely love retellings, especially of Peter Pan. In this one, no one is the villain, everyone has a past they're trying to escape and everyone has room to grow. Perfect LGBTQ+ read. Will be recommending this one and looking into Austin Chant's other books.

Slow start, but so worth it!

I paused this one and had it as a "not right now" book for so long, and boy do I feel silly about doing that.

This has a bit of a slow start to understand what is going on and where Peter has been, but once it starts unraveling, I was invested. This is both a Peter Pan retelling, but also a little love letter to trans folks, and how dare Chant make me shed a tear over Captain Hook!

The Peter Pan retelling was whimsical, with the lost boys and pirates doing their fighting thing, and fairies begrudgingly helping out when necessary. But the pièce de résistance in this is exploring Peter, his past, giving him the space to understand himself, and how he continues on with his life.

We learn the significance of neverland, how it's real and also not, and we get to watch the characters come to terms with things they've ran from, things they're avoiding. Neverland is the place you can go to take a break from what troubles you in the real world, and I loved that it existed. I also loved that there were essentially NPCs, and other real lost boys who needed somewhere to go. Getting into Hook's brain also hit me hard in the feelings, and the HEA was so precious. .

This was such a great retelling of Peter Pan, and such a nice exploration into transness, dysphoria, and mental health.

The narration was also excellent!

This book right here

Everything about it, became my favorite book half way through and the ending did not disappoint.

From the very first chapter

I was looked from the very first chapter. It’s so rare for me to be swept away in a book so I was pleasantly surprised. I found myself recommending it to all my friends not even a quarter of the way through. Beautiful book

*crying*

HELLO THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT PETER PAN AS A TRANS MAN AND AS A TRANS MAN MYSELF LET ME TELL YOU I AM *EMOTIONAL*
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED A FULLY SATISFYING ADULT RETELLING OF NEVERLAND
HAVE YOU WISHED IT WAS QUEERER
HAVE YOU WANTED COMPLETE VALIDATION OF GENDER IDENTITY REGARDLESS OF "MEDICAL TRANSITION"
THEN BUDDY, IS THIS THE BOOK FOR YOU!
This is the representation we deserve. Mild Content Warning: Discussion of familial transphobia, dysphoria

A solid narrative but...Not for everyone

possible vague spoilers ahead...First off, I want to say that this did have what amounts to good trans masc rep - and GAY trans masc rep at that, which the world seriously lacks. It's a completely sensible reimagining of the character of Peter Pan and, as someone who absolutely projected onto Peter Pan as a kid, I was delighted by the premise.

That being said, I think this will really do it for a lot of trans folks, but it just didn't land with me in the end, despite that I'm a trans man. I think it boils down to the different experiences we have. I was initially excited to read this, but it left me aching and wanting in a lot of ways. Raw maybe. The biggest issue was the ending almost made me dissociate it triggered my dysphoria so bad. I've always felt like my dysphoria comes from a very fundamental, internal place, and physically transitioning and my body functioning a certain way was really important to me, even without a partner, and even with the presence of people who affirmed me before I transitioned. The protagonist's dysphoria seems to come more from other people perceiving him incorrectly. That's completely valid and I think this will make a lot of trans people feel validated, but it didn't resonate with me at all. If I ended up with the experience Peter has in the end of the book, I wouldn't have been able to keep living, even with an affirming partner. It would have been too painful. If your experience of being trans is like mine, this book might be a really hard read and it might feel less like the happy ending it's going for. I was just miserable reading the ending. It's no fault of the author...It just definitely is the opposite of what I needed to see in a narrative.

I think my other issue with the book and why it didn't hit home as hard is that I really resonated a LOT with Hook actually. I think it might be because I'm quite a bit older than the target audience, I relate to the character who's been through a lot and is in a position to try and get younger people to feel the affirmation they don't know how to give themselves, while still learning where I can grow from them.

I desperately wanted him to be trans masc too. I know that's not at all where the book was going, but I was still a tiny bit disappointed. There's a dynamic here that feels faintly like a trans man feeling valid because of a cis partner not taking issue with his body. And it's great for there to be relationships where a cis partner is affirming. But I do feel like it's an issue in our community where we only see each other as valid if a cis gay man approves of us, and it would have been nice to not skirt the edge of that. A t4t relationship could have pulled a dysphoria discussion into the open, or would not have necessarily had trappings of the same dynamic.

but I would say like....If you don't mind these things, just read it. Or buy it anyway just to support it. Regardless of the things I didn't like, I think it's good rep in many ways and publishers should be shown people will buy these stories so more can be made for all of us with our varied experiences.

An Enchanting Story

I read Peter Darling before listening to the audio book version as I often do with stories I want to revisit again. I found it just as enchanting as it was in print. Hearing my favorite passages voiced gave me the same goosebumps the second time around. My issue with audio books is, as I enjoy reading aloud, I have a set pacing and inflection for certain passages that the narrator doesn't always interpret as I would. This can draw me out of the story as I debate with myself about the correct delivery. However, not being an expert on London dialects or pirates, let alone fairies, I will defer to this narrator and all in all I enjoyed his performance.