Review Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this book in a day — a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon. It was an escape from the stress of finals week during a lull in the grading. It was a great read — much better than Henry’s Alice books. While those were horror, this was more dark fantasy. Peter almost reminded me of one of Holly Black’s faeries: cruel, failing to understand love, and not quite aware of the havok his selfishness wrecks.
I’ve read a few different Peter Pan retellings, and this one was definitely my favorite. Part origin story, part coming of age narrative, Lost Boy told the story of how Captain Hook came to never land, learned to see through Peter’s shallow lies, learn what it really means to love and to hate.
There was conflict, emotion, and a neverland finally as fey as I’d always imagined it.
This was the kind of story where I knew what the end was going to be before I started reading, but the fun was in figuring out how Jamie became Captain Hook, how he grew from being a lost boy to a cursed “pirate.”
It may not be the happiest story ever, but there was truth in it. There was a compelling voice and an antihero I could root for.
I recommend this to anyone who likes the flavor of dark that shows up in Holly Black’s books, but craves a more “adult” narrator and can do without the angsty teen romance.