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Everyone loves Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up. He is a symbol of childlike innocence. But what if he has a darker side? PH low explores the dark side of Peter Pan and Neverland, the JM Barrie hinted at in his debut novel These immortal shoreswill be released this July.
(Note: Although I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it was provided to me by Orbit for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of These immortal shores contains some Spoiler!)
The island will change you forever in These immortal shores
Jordan is a lost girl. For ten years she has battled her addiction to dust. Not some new, trendy drug, but the dust that allows Peter Pan and his lost boys to fly. As a little girl, she convinced Peter that she was a boy and joined his gang of lost boys on the island. She thought she could stay there forever, never grow up, never get old. But eventually everyone grows up (except Peter, of course), and when Jordan gets too old, she learns the hard way what happens to those who get tired of Peter.
Luckily, Jordan and her best friend Baron manage to escape the island alive, but the incident has left its mark on both of them. Jordan developed a crippling addiction to Dust during her time on the island. Now she has replaced Dust with Karsa. Between the drug and the illegal battles she fights to afford the drug, Jordan is doomed. So she hatches a plan to find the island, confront Peter, and put an end to it all, one way or another.
But the island is even more brutal than she remembers, and if she wants to defeat Peter, she’ll have to become as vicious and cold-hearted as Peter himself. Does that make her a hero or a villain? Even Jordan isn’t sure, but she doesn’t care.
Author PH Low brings us a horror story version of Peter Pan
Most of us only know Peter’s story from the Disney animated film. Although it portrays Peter as selfish and a little mean, it glosses over the violence that Barrie in his novel. Of course Barrie isn’t particularly explicit in his story either. Peter’s dark side is more hinted at than anything else. But most people agree that when Peter “thinns” the ranks of the lost boys, he does so by killing those who have grown too old.
Low, but it is very explicitly in These immortal shores. Peter (and the Lost Boys) delight in the gruesome killing and torturing of the adults on the island. They also mutilate the bodies of everyone they kill and remove the bones to make the dust that allows them to fly (apparently it takes more than faith, trust, and fairy dust after all).
While Peter leads the lost boys and their Ama (the girl who pretends to be their mother) to believe that he returns the lost boys who have grown too old to the real world, that is not always the truth. Some of them are brought back, but Peter is too selfish and lazy to do that routinely. So most of the time they are led away by Peter and simply have their throats slit (if they are lucky) before he removes their bones and forgets about them.
The extent of the bloodshed in These immortal shores is extreme. It’s definitely not a book for the faint of stomach. And if you’re looking for a light-hearted fantasy full of childlike wonder, keep looking, because this isn’t it.
The title is a little ironic, because although it suggests a land without death, the truth is that everyone allexcept Peter dies. Usually sooner than expected, and always brutally. The one thing that makes the shores of the island immortal is that no one there truly believes they’re going to die. Despite facing death daily, they all seem to believe they’ll be the ones to beat the odds, and every character seems genuinely shocked when they meet their end.
A very dark picture of the child psyche
Peter Pan is often seen as the epitome of childhood. He is more than a little selfish and just wants to play and have fun all the time. Low seems to think that children are extremely wild creatures too. The level of violence that Peter and the Lost Boys commit and even feed off of is extreme. Having spent most of my life caring for and raising countless children, I have certainly seen the violence and selfishness that they can harbor. But usually this comes from a lack of experience and not from the malice that Low suggests.
And Low completely ignores the tremendous amounts of empathy and love that I have seen in countless children since early childhood. Low suggests that what sets Peter apart from adults is the ability to love, which he will never develop. Children, on the other hand, are capable of intense love from a very young age.
I think that Low The way he views children and their emotions is a little one-dimensional and sad. Even the excuse he uses that if Peter “was ever a child, he’s not one anymore” doesn’t really make it any better, because he’s still meant to represent that ideal image of childhood; both good and bad, just with an untamed intensity that really scares us adults.
Peter Pan’s fascination with certain families
Another inclination of Peter from Barries original story, the Low holds in These deadly coasts is his family fetish. Barrie has Peter return to the Darling family again and again. Not only does he visit Wendy, even though she wants to return home, but he also takes her daughter and granddaughter to Neverland. He most likely took later generations of the family with him as well, but the novel only covers a limited period of time.
Low The Darling family has not These deadly coasts (Although I guess we can’t rule out a blood relationship, but if there is one, it’s not revealed to readers). But he does have Peter return to Jordan’s family several times. First he takes Jordan and her best friend, then a few years later he takes her little sister Chay. If Jordan or Chay had returned to a “normal” life after their stay on the island, Peter might have returned to their children too.
I wonder why he seems to fixate on certain families. Perhaps some bloodlines are better able to adapt to the magic of the island. Or perhaps certain families have greater imaginations (whether by nature or nurture), making them better playmates for Peter. Neither Low still Barrie I don’t know if anyone has ever commented on this, but there must be a reason Peter likes to curse families.
These immortal shores is a Peter Pan story for adults
In total, Low offers us a Peter Pan story for adults. The childish adventures of Barries Pan is expanded and made into an adult adventure (which is pretty ironic, isn’t it?). I can’t say it’s my favorite version of Peter Pan, but it’s an interesting one. It’s interesting to see the island in a more realistic and modern way. Dust isn’t just something you throw around, it’s an addictive substance. Fighting isn’t just pretend, it’s a real matter of life and death. Growing up isn’t just scary, it’s downright dangerous.
People who cling to the idea of Peter Pan as the epitome of childlike innocence will not like Low version very much. But people who are open to different interpretations of popular characters will These immortal shores very fascinating. Just be prepared for a lot of blood and disillusionment.
Rating: 7/10
These immortal shores from PH low is now available at most places where books are sold. Will you be checking out this book? Or have you already read it? Let us know what you think on social media at @mycosmiccircus!
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