The Child Thief: A Novel
By Brom
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. . . .
- Amazon Sales Rank: #9361 in Books
- Published on: 2009-09-01
- Released on: 2009-08-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 496 pages
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. (Sept.)
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Review
"A gruesome and darkly fantastical twist on a classic tale. Brom injects pure horror into fantasy." (Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of Ironside and The Spiderwick Chronicles )
"Brom has always been an artist who gave us his nightmares fully realized, but with THE CHILD THIEF, he paints in words. A wonderfully nasty Peter Pan reboot that stands on its own as a dark, twisted adventure." (Christopher Golden )
"Ancient magics combine with feral logic to culminate in Brom's The Child Thief. A retelling of Peter Pan spanning America's earliest, magically rich beginnings to today's bare whispers of belief. Wickedly poetic, The Child Thief makes me want to believe." (Kim Harrison )
About the Author
Brom first won acclaim illustrating for TSR's Dark Sun role-playing world. He has since lent his distinctive vision to all facets of the creative industries, working on such notable titles as World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering, Diablo, Doom, Batman comics, Galaxy Quest, and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. He is the author of two award-winning illustrated horror novels, The Plucker and The Devil's Rose. Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar somewhere just outside of Seattle.
Incredibly Dark, Incredibly Compelling
The Child Thief / 978-0-061-67133-3
I usually save the 'parental warnings' in my reviews until the end, but "The Child Thief", as compelling and fascinating as it is, nonetheless requires some upfront warnings. If you are thinking of buying this novel for a child, perhaps on the grounds that it is a Peter Pan story and therefore child-friendly, be warned that this is an incredibly dark and violent novel. I'm not exaggerating when I say that nine out of every ten pages contains a depiction of rape, child molestation, violence, murder, torture, or several instances of the F-word. I certainly wouldn't say that no child or teenager on earth would be able to appreciate this novel, but I do strongly advise that you read this book yourself, beforehand, to determine whether this level of violence will be disturbing to the intended recipient.
With that out of the way, let me say that I am quick to condemn books that rely on violence, sex, and profanity in an attempt to divert the reader's attention from the fact that there is no actual plot. "The Child Thief" is not one such novel - every incidence of violence within this novel acts in service to the plot, and the end result is an incredibly compelling story that is both a re-imagining of the classic Peter Pan tale, but also remarkably true to the original in many of the details (lest we forget that Barrie's version contained quite a bit of death and murder behind the scenes).
"The Child Thief" is already being compared to novels like Maguire's Wicked, but the comparison is somewhat flimsy to my mind. Where Maguire took an evil character and re-imagined her as good (or at least 'misunderstood'), Brom has taken a traditionally good character and re-imagined him not as 'evil', but rather as 'complex'. Although Peter Pan is still an enigmatic mystery, as always, Brom has brought a humanity and complexity to the character that will haunt any reader.
Brom has taken the premise that Peter Pan steals children away to Neverland and has expanded the concept to fit within our dark reality. Here, Peter Pan does not steal away babies who fall out of their prams - he steals away children who are victims of abuse, neglect, molestation, and all the other such evils of our world that children should never have to endure. But the Neverland that Peter promises to lead these victimized children to is not an escape in the classic sense - it is supremely dangerous, and no longer in the exciting "but-we-always-escape-in-the-end" kind of danger that the Disneyesque Neverland fostered. The neglected children (here "Devils" instead of "Lost Boys", since girls are just as welcome here) are given a family and an emotionally safe haven, but every moment of their days are spent in training, in the hopes that once they leave the confines of their home they will not die immediately in this hostile world.
Along with the native monsters of Neverland, the pirates and the Captain are here, transformed by the magic of Neverland into monstrous perversions of humanity, yet Brom does not merely rely on a good-versus-evil trite tale, and here is what sets "The Child Thief" apart from the usual "re-imagining a classic character" stories. Every person and entity in "The Child Thief" is a complex character, full of good and evil impulses. The pirates capture, torture, and murder the lost children, yes, but they genuinely do not wish to be in Neverland and hope that their efforts will lead them to an escape of some kind. Peter does rescue lost and frightened children, and most of them are abjectly grateful for it, but he is recruiting children with lies and trickery to serve as cannon fodder for a war that has waged hundreds of years. There is no doubt that Peter loves the children he recruits, yet his love for them does not stop him from using them until their deaths.
Brom has woven a masterful tale here, with both the real world and the Neverland/Albion world realistically rendered, with both the good and the bad. There is not a single character in this novel which could be described as flat or two-dimensional; even the most minor and ancillary characters are vivid, complex, and contain their own unique mix of perspectives and motivations. I would label "The Child Thief" as a masterpiece for this careful characterization alone, but it is worth repeating, again, that this novel is probably the definition of a morally ambiguous novel and I don't think everyone will derive the same enjoyment out of it. For that reason, if I had to compare "The Child Thief" to another contemporary novel, I would compare it to Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy, for I was equally entranced with Pullman's ability to bring moral complexity to his fictional universe, and with his ability to humanize two child-murdering villains as nevertheless loving parents, in spite of their monstrous evil.
In summary, I would deeply recommend "The Child Thief" to anyone who enjoys morally ambiguous tales with complex, three-dimensional characters. If you won't be offended by the incredibly violent and profane nature of the writing, and if you won't be upset by the characterization of a beloved childhood story character as something much less perfect and much more human, then "The Child Thief" is definitely worth looking into.
A Masterpiece
The Child Thief is brilliant. It's a dark and artistic masterpiece. Not for the faint of heart, or for anyone looking for something to "kill a few hours." While it does not appear long, it is deep, and the subject matter is not exactly something you can blaze through in a day.
That's not to say, however, that the writing is thick. Actually, the prose is clear, effective, and fresh. It's powerful, compelling, and gorgeous too, in its own way. It's rare that I stop to reread and savor a passage again--my idea of poetry is the blunt, short, Stephen Crane sort--but I did. Brom, the author and illustrator, can truly write.
He can also truly tell a story. It's not his story, no. This is the story of Peter Pan, brought back from the damage done by one "too many Disney films and peanut butter commercials," as Brom states in his afterword. It's Barrie's classic masterpiece given a new chance to live.
Neverland is Avalon (yes, Arthurian legend lovers, you read that right). The Lost Boys are the Devils. Peter Pan is just Peter...well, Peter the Child Thief. He is the title character of the novel; the novel is undoubtedly about him. And in fact, the characterization Brom brings to Peter is perhaps what makes this novel as brilliant as it is... the depth comes from the understanding the reader gains of Peter's past, fears, desires, motives. It's truly an artistic look at one of the most beloved literary characters.
Also among the novel's many strengths is Brom's understanding of children and the magic in both Avalon and the `real world.' His understanding and portrayal of relationships, of emotion and pain, of love--it's something deeply poetic, extremely artistic.
And so again, that is what this novel is: an artistic masterpiece, which shouldn't be so surprising, given the author's background in nothing other than art. Yet, even so, as another reviewer stated before me, it isn't for everyone. It's for a niche of people. While we the niche can hope that everyone will see this novel the same way we do, it's unlikely.
Thus, some warnings:
1. If cussing and swearing bothers you, don't even bother reading this book. It's not overdone--if it were overdone, I wouldn't have liked the book as much, but there is a surprising number of F-bombs cropping up most likely on every page.
2. This book is NOT for children, even though most of the characters are.
3. While the comparison to Gregory MacQuire (Wicked, Mirror Mirror) is completely off base in my estimation, because MacQuire's retellings are disgusting rather than artistic, this book does deal with topics such as rape and incest. Nothing is ever shown, but most of the children are victims of all sorts of abuse. Again, not for the faint of heart or for kids.
4. If you are a commercial fiction person, used to all fantasy being of the commercial realm, the more a-traditional plot line and the lack of a clear villain and clear hero might be a bit annoying. This novel is all gray shades, baby.
There are other reasons I could probably list why you wouldn't like this novel, but listing them would be a waste of both your time and mine. It would also be a disgrace to this masterpiece of a work. It was an honor and pleasure to read.
I was completely, thoroughly, and entirely impressed with The Child Thief. It deserves every point of its five stars, and any award that may come its way, as they definitely should.
NOT-- I repeat-- NOT for children.....unique but extremely violent
A very fascinating retelling of the Peter Pan story. Key to Brom's vision is the evil, utterly amoral character of Peter (a stone-cold serial killer of those he sees as being cruel to the children he wants to steal). Peter relates to the suffering of lost, abused, and broken children, but is incapable of truly caring about them; instead, he tricks them into fighting for their lives in a terrifying war in Avalon. The story revolves largely around Nick, a child who has been neglected by his mother and terrorized by the drug dealer who lives with them and his cronies. Facing death in the real world, Nick follows Peter as a savior and Pied Piper of sorts, yet as soon as he has willingly followed Peter into the Mist of Avalon Nick realizes that the magical world he has entered is far, far more horrifying than the world he left behind.
I cannot overly stress my view that this is an adult novel. Killings are ugly, brutality is constant, profanity and torture and/or death can be found on most pages. The initial chapter sets a realistic tone for the book; when a father is on top of his young daughter, raping her, Peter bursts into the room and ends up murdering the father after a brief struggle. The young girl then follows Peter, hoping to escape the horror of her life, not realizing that what is to come will be even more terrifying and hopeless than what she has endured.
"The Child Thief" is highly original, dramatic, brutal, intriguing, and full of richly imagined characters. The illustrations are truly gorgeous (not too many in my advance review copy-- I would be interested to know if color illustrations or additional illustrations are found in the hardcover version to be released soon). Fans of Brom will appreciate many aspects of "The Child Thief"; however, those with low appetites for mayhem and violence may feel tired before the final chapters. While I was intrigued by the imagination Brom brought to the Peter Pan tale, I was eventually sickened by the violence of the story.
I would recommend this book to adults who are interested in a dark, unique tale; on the other hand, I feel very strongly that this would be an absolutely terrible choice for a child.
