Published by Simon Pulse
Fiction / Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance / Retelling
If you know me, then you know that I'm a sucker for fairytale retellings. Like, 'how-many-licks-does-it-take-to-get-to-the-center-of-a-Tootsie-Pop?' sucker. And I love me some Peter Pan. I hadn't read a Peter Pan retelling before Unhooked. Do I love the Disney animated film? Heck yeah I do. Did I weep like a banshee when I watched Finding Neverland? Damn right I did. Am I secretly obsessed with Colin O'Donohue's Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time? Don't tell my husband.
I originally bought this book because it seemed like the only Peter Pan retelling that sounded interesting. It was advertised for people who like OUAT's Captain Hook, so I was sitting there on the floor of the Barnes and Noble reading that review thinking, 'Well, I like OUAT's Captain Hook. This is obviously being advertised to people like me.'
It took me over a year to actually read it, but you know that's just me and my TBR habits. I hadn't read a book in a while so I really wanted to read something light, something I could get through quickly. And this was it! I got through it really quickly, I read it in about a weekend while doing other adult things that needed to be done.
So what did I actually think of the book?
It was okay.
Yeah.
It was just okay. I obviously liked it enough to read it in the span of a weekend. But it also wasn't really that long, and wasn't really that difficult to get through. To be honest, I didn't find anything about it truly remarkable. It was kind of your general YA retelling. Sorry if that hurt anyone's feels. But after reading it, I had a few things to say about the marketing. But I'll start it off with just a general synopsis and my thoughts on it overall.
Unhooked follows Gwendolyn Allister and her best friend, Olivia (I almost forgot her name) as Gwen and her mother move to a rundown flat in London after her mother is convinced (yet again) that monsters are chasing them. Gwen and Olivia are soon kidnapped by dark creatures and taken to Neverland where they end up separated; Gwen with Captain Hook and the pirates, and Olivia with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Gwen is torn between Pan's and Hook's narratives and lies as she struggles with why she and Olivia have been brought to Neverland, learning that she has a connection to the Fae and the realm of Neverland.
That's it for no spoilers. Everything beyond this point is fair game. You have been warned.
Characters
All of the characters seemed more two-dimensional than anything. Given, there were a few that I thought were more fleshed out than others. But what was more disappointing was that the fleshed-out characters weren't even the protagonists.
I'll dedicate a whole paragraph to the protagonist, Gwendolyn, or Gwen. First of all, there was no consistency with her name. She's nicknamed Gwen on the back of the book, but was only called Gwen maybe three times. Everyone else called her Gwendolyn. Why even bother with giving her that nickname if close to no one is going to call her that? But I digress. I just really wanted to get that off my chest. Moving on. I thought her character was super bland. I couldn't tell you any particular character trait, except, maybe... empathy? She was like flavorless yogurt, Greek yogurt; not even vanilla yogurt because I actually like vanilla yogurt. Not much going for her. Barely any physical descriptions and we don't know much about her and her likes. We know about her history, and we know she likes running. I don't know what a lot of writers are thinking, but NEWS FLASH a hobby is not a character trait. It contributes to maybe certain character traits, but it is not an actual character/personality trait. Other than that, we have another case of a missing parental figure, aka her father, and she is the mature one between her and her mother. Her mother doesn't take care of her, she takes care of her mother. Just another cliche to deal with. And this was published in 2016. Why was this cliche still around? She seemed like a self-insert for the reader. Just another Bella Swan. Someone so bland that the reader can just imagine themselves in her place. Also, not to mention, not as attractive as her friend, Olivia, but manages to have the attention of both Pan and Hook. 'Kay, moving on from that cliche.
Gwendolyn's relationship with her mother is strained, I get it. We only really get to see how paranoid her mother is, and then learn she's not crazy. Then there's nothing more with her until the end of the book and she's perfectly fine.
Olivia was your average privileged wealthy girl, but not spoiled or bratty. She was manipulated by Peter Pan throughout most of the book and became annoying to read. Not to mention the girl-on-girl hate/jealousy for Peter's affections, but the author managed to make this different by making Olivia magically manipulated by Peter to feel this way. But Olivia did have her moments that I liked. I felt a little bad for her in the end when she essentially crumbled into dust, which I was not expecting. Though, it didn't tug on the heartstrings and make me shed a tear.
I'm not sorry.
The character of Peter Pan was handled uniquely. You always seemed to question what he was up to: If he actually liked Gwendolyn, if he was just scheming. There were a few surprises that I was not expecting. Some of his cons were clever. He was puckish, and in a destructive, chaotic way that made me want to see him as the bad guy. But part of me wanted something deeper with him. I wanted more conflict rather than just 'he's the obvious bad guy'. Especially since we're painted such distinct pictures of him compared to Hook. Added conflict would have made the story longer and more intriguing. His ending was weak though. He was taken out too easily, and it made me wonder why the faeries hadn't thought to kill him sooner once they had Gwendolyn.
Now, I shall move on to Hook. Oh, Hook. After whom the book is named. He was very clearly an important character, however, after reading this book, I felt very strongly that I shouldn't be reading YA for much longer. This is where my beef with the advertising stems. I don't know why, but when I was told that as a fan of OUAT I would like this book, I guess I didn't full know what I expected. I think I really wanted this to be a New Adult book rather than what I got.
But then I was reminded that I was reading YA.
He wasn't even remotely the same character. Which I can understand. An author wants some sort of originality with their interpretation of a beloved character. But I was essentially stuck with Colin O'Donohue minus 10 years and a dash of awkward.
I'm getting too old for this.
So I just kept reading it for the enjoyment or whatever. He was the most three-dimensional character in the book. What made his character unique to this book as a retelling, was his magically mechanical arm. He lost his arm in his life before Neverland and it was replaced by this cool clockwork arm. I really lived for this detail even if it wasn't a traditional hook. So good work there. He had a very clear past, there were stakes for him. He had people he cared about. He struggled with his past and his responsibilities in the present. He was essentially from a different time period, Great War Era to be precise, and his mannerisms for the most part reflected that. There were the small inconsistencies where he seemed like he had that mysterious smoldering thing going for him where Gwendolyn was sure he was trying to use how attractive he was to make her feel uncomfortable, but it just didn't seem right for his character the more we got to learn about him, and it may have just been Gwendolyn being a lusty teenager or something.
But again, I'm getting too old for YA at this point. Will I still read it? Yes. But maybe try to find the mature ones. Or just strictly New Adult.
Story
I appreciated the retelling aspect of this, as simple as it was. I thought it was solid for a YA. Gwendolyn being half-Fae made an interesting twist that I didn't completely expect, and the Fae being destructive was another twist I didn't mind.
The one thing I thought could have been truly expanded on was J.M. Barrie and his involvement. That's right, J.M. Barrie has a place in this. In this book he does exist and is referenced as having either been to Neverland and writing a story about it. Or something? You see, it was mentioned once and I already forgot it. It could have been omitted and nothing would have changed, but as soon as he's mentioned I want to know more about him and why he's involved and to the extent he is involved. But it was obviously not important since he was mentioned once at the end of the story. That was the one aspect I wanted to know more about, but alas that would have made the plot more interesting or complex and we can't have that for a YA.
The retelling additions that made the book unique to itself were beneficial to the story. The Lost Boys were murderous little heathens, but if anything they just reassured the reader that Peter was the villain. The Fae being angry with Peter and feeling used for their magic was a good addition as well and made the conflict interesting.
With how many theories about what Neverland is and who Peter is, I thought these particular aspects were interesting.
The romance was subtle and cute, but nothing remarkable. It kind of just happened, so I guess it being seamless is a good thing. The only thing that seemed out of the blue was when Hook came to rescue Gwnedolyn from Peter and the Lost Boys (it was unasked for by the way, just a duty he felt he needed to do) he said to her he thought she "was pretty and all, but..." and she was taken aback about as much as I was because I was like
But you know, it's YA and you have to get the romance in there somehow.
The ending was... kind of disappointing from a female perspective. Gwendolyn and Hook manage to get back to London together, without Olivia because she's dust now, and Hook being from a different time period is obviously terrified of this new world he's been thrust into. That lasted about 2 pages, and then he's fine. All Gwendolyn got at the end was a guy. That's it. No mention of going to college, obviously mourned her friend for a page, and she and Hook visit a WW1 cemetery to mourn his lost time and his brother (?) I think that's what happened. Magic came back at the end when he was in the hospital, because of course, and his clockwork arm that stopped working because he was no longer in Neverland started working again because...
Writing
The writing was simple. Which isn't a bad thing. It was good for an easy YA read and concise enough for everything to be appropriately descriptive and make the pacing quick and enjoyable to get through the book quickly. If anything I just wish that the story was longer so we could really explore the world more and how everything truly ties together.
Again, with how many theories there are for Peter Pan, I thought more could be done but were thrown to the wayside for the sake of a simpler story.
Overall
This was honestly just a simple, unremarkable book in a pleasant, but also boring kind of way. It could have been explored more and the characters could have been more interesting if they were fleshed out more and if the older tropes were thrown out.
Overall, I give this book:
⭐⭐⭐
Just three stars. Nothing extraordinary but made for a light read to get me back into the reading mood. For being published in 2016, some of the older tropes and cliches were disappointing to read about and made me a little tired.
I wish Gwendolyn got more in the end than a guy. Maybe a sense of direction of what to do with her life, or anything!
This book is obviously made for younger teens, maybe 14-16. It's the YA type of book that is just not made for readers of YA that are my age. People older than teens just wouldn't be able to relate to the situations, or the characters, in this book because they're just too old to find any of it consequential anymore.
I often run into stories like this and I finish it saying, "Wow... I could write that so much better."
Not saying this was bad or I'm a better writer, but I often read stories with an expectation of what it will be about and when I'm disappointed that it was a different story, I come out of it with the desire to write the story that I wanted to read. You know, like that one saying. Either way, expect a Peter Pan retelling at some point in the future.
Thanks guys!
