I think I read this one too soon after Hooked, this didn't quite reach the same level the other one dd and was ultimately just Okay

It isn't fairly clear from the way this book is promoted, but reads very much as a sequel to Wendy, Darling. And I had a very good time with that book, so I was very excited to pick up Hooked. And I have to say I was kinda disappointed. The writing itself is amazingly beautiful, and I really liked how Wise decided to portray James Hook. He is definitely a villain, but you get why and you also get to see his other side. The internal struggles and character development were very interesting to read. And yet I found myself bored. This is a very slow read, but what was worse for me is that it lacked purpose. We got stuck in a constant meandering without goal and it was over halfway through the book when we got some sense of direction. Also, I would have preferred it if we just focussed on James. I get why we might want to see how Wendy and her daughter are doing after the previous book... but I can't say I cared. I honestly think that if their part was cut from the book and we just focussed on James and his monster, this book would have been a lot better for it.

I was initially drawn in by hearing that this was a queer retelling of Peter Pan. While there was some queerness in the story, it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I still enjoyed the story, but in the end I was a bit disappointed.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A new look at the famous character of Hook. A story exploring loss and grief. An enjoyable book that you can finish over the course of a weekend. Enjoyable enough to finish, not enjoyable enough to recommended.

Hooked is a unqiue retelling of Peter Pan which intrigued me after reading Wedny Darling many years ago. [I should of probably re read it before reading this] But it follows Hooks life post Neverland. It definitely wasn't what i thought it was going to be but i still enjoyed it.
This is multiple POV which isnt my favorite thing in books as i feel less connected to characters due to it changing alot, but it can work with books like this where the characters and world are already slightly established with it been a retelling, but i do wish it was fully from Hooks POV, as i think hes a really intresting character and would love to read more about his character. I loved the dark themes around Neverland and how Hooks life and struggles were written about, it made you look back on the classic films in a complete different light.

If you are looking for a mature retelling to heal your inner child then i definitely think you should check this out.

I was really hooked by the trama. The characters felt a little too much. But overall I loved it. I really would recommend this to my friends and followers

”You remember how. Fill up every space in yourself with the knowledge that you can do this, because you’ve done it before. Leave no space for doubt, then aim for the second star to the right and keep on straight until morning.” There is just something about these words that instantly transport me to being a child again watching Peter Pan. This year seemed to be the year for Peter Pan retellings and I think that this book stood out from the rest. I loved the fact that this book had multiple povs, queer romance, it was fantastical and overall just an imaginative experience. I enjoyed the fact that this had a mixture of sober and hopeful and overall just really enjoyed.

<title>Hooked
<author>A.C. Wise
<description>A dark, gorgeous reimagining about what happened to Captain Hook after Neverland from the bestselling author of Wendy, Darling – filled with eerie suspense and heart-breaking anguish

Once invited, always welcome. Once invited, never free.
Captain James Hook, the immortal pirate of Neverland, has died a thousand times. Drowned, stabbed by Peter Pan’s sword, eaten by the beast swimming below the depths, yet James was resurrected every time by one boy’s dark imagination. Until he found a door in the sky, an escape. And he took the chance no matter the cost.
Now in London twenty-two years later, Peter Pan’s monster has found Captain Hook again, intent on revenge. But a chance encounter leads James to another survivor of Neverland. Wendy Darling, now a grown woman, is the only one who knows how dark a shadow Neverland casts, no matter how far you run. To vanquish Pan’s monster once and for all, Hook must play the villain one last time… Exploring themes of grief, survivor's guilt and healing broken bonds, Hooked is a modern-day Peter Pan story, perfect for fans of retellings, Christina Henry and V.E. Schwab. <review in comments>

<review>A story about the character of Captain James Hook and what happened in the time after Neverland?!? That’s such a cool idea and I had heard that the story had an element of queerness to it, however it didn’t live up to my hopes. Objectively the story was very good. It was dark and complex, and the author is certainly a talented storyteller, however the queerness was a footnote to the overall plot and that is what prevented me from becoming invested in the characters. I think if I had known how small the role queerness plays in this tale I would have been able to mentally prepare for that and enjoyed the book independently of that theme. This absolutely is NOT a bad review, and I’d love to know what other readers thought about this book! Hit me up and let me know what you think! Copy provided by @netgalley. #lgbtq #lgbtqia #pride #mlm #queerbookclub #queerbookstagram #queerrepresentationmatters #thriller #suspense #literature #fiction #lgbtqfiction #queerlove #bookclub #captainhook #neverland #fairytale

I loved this Peter Pan retelling! I've read quite a few, and this was certainly on the darker side of things. I really enjoyed the story and the writing, the tone was excellent.

Unfortunately, after struggling with Wendy, Darling, this one just wasn’t for me. I’ve seen a lot of good reviews for these books, but they’re just not for me. I really struggled and just didn’t want to pick them up. I’m sure many people will love these books and I will still recommend them to some people, but unfortunately I did struggle with them.

This was a fantastic retelling of Peter Pan focusing more on captain James hook, a unique take on this fairytale which I really enjoyed

This is dark, this is savage, this is sad, this is everything. What a follow up to Wendy, Darling. I’ve been itching to return to these characters ever since reading it and this didn’t disappoint. The complex relationship between Wendy, Jane and Neverland is extraordinary to explore and the character of James is exceptionally portrayed.

I love updated dark & creepy versions of fairytales and this one definitely fits the bill. Magic mixed with a little murder mystery makes this a captivating read.

DNF at 46%
I just couldn't get into it. Although I quite like introspective characters, the fact that they repeated themselves several times within close paragraphs got a little annoying and I felt like I was being fed the story rather than discovering for myself.
I didn't find the characters very sympathetic and Wendy, especially, was quite bland and dull. The plot seemed to want to be exciting but was bogged down with too much prior history and intrigue.
I hadn't realised that it was the second in a series. It says it can be read alone but, with so many call-backs to the previous tale, I think you really needed to read the first one.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this for most of the book, but I think I’ve come down on the side of ‘intriguing’. It’s not exactly re-telling … perhaps re-working is a better word here … of the whole Peter Pan / Neverland thing - and I’m actually a little vague on the details because there’s a previous book by the same author, called Wendy Darling, in which (as far as I can tell) a grown-up Wendy returns to Neverland to rescue her daughter, Jane. I didn’t feel I needed to have read the previous book (I am here for queer Hook, and queer Hook alone) but I suspect it would have deepened my understanding of the world and helped involve me more in the story of Wendy and her family. Since, um, in all honesty, I didn't care enough about them to allow the full story of Hooked to cohere (which is very much on me, rather than the book).

In any case, the premise here seems to be that Peter Pan (reduced in this book to a piece of himself partly manifested in a crocodile-like monster, as a consequence of Wendy’s actions in the previous story) is some kind of … malicious immortal child spirit thing? For whom Neverland is a personal playground. Hook (or James) was simply someone who had the misfortune to be claimed by Neverland and, once there, was fashioned or re-fashioned by Peter into his perfect antagonist: someone powerful and compelling and frightening against whom Peter would always triumph.

The book has a dreamlike quality, possibly because one of its primary characters is constantly off his head, moving between the past and the present, Neverland and Victorian/Edwardian London, where James is attempting to drown his memories of Neverland and Hook in opium and alcohol, while mourning the death of his lover (an original character, as far as I can tell, the ship’s surgeon, Samuel who Hook/James meets first in Neverland and then escapes with). Hook’s narrative intersects with Wendy and Jane’s when Jane’s friend and roommate is murdered by the monster from Neverland.

This is not what you’d call a happy take on the source material. But it did kind of work for me. Maybe because I’ve never quite been able to resolve what I think about Peter Pan in general. Like most things written for children in the Victorian period, it’s not exactly difficult to make it dark as fuck but there is, I think, still something kind of haunting about it? I think perhaps (Victoria-era racism aside) it’s a text that easily bears the weight of allegory beyond anything that could likely have been intended. I mean, there’s already plenty of scope to think about adulthood, desire, the dangerous appeal of both innocence and corruption, but you can also easily layer queerness, sexuality, identity as a whole over a messed up Victorian dude’s reckoning with mortality.

I also can’t deny that the part of me that has always felt helplessly attracted to? … reflected by? the character of Hook (eaten by a crocodile while worrying if I’ve been ill-mannered strikes me as the kind of demise I may well come to) is secretly looking for a fantastical romp where queer immortal pirates wear red coats and kiss each other against a bloody sunset. But there’s also part of me that understands that such a story doesn’t necessarily flow from the original text. However he was made, Hook is a villain. And while that doesn’t inherently mean he *couldn’t* have a kissy-kissy happy ending … I also feel it would have required a completely different approach to the source material. And I don't want to find Hooked lacking for not being something it was never intended to be.

As a love story with a non-happy ending, I felt it was affecting on a linguistic and thematic level more than in what you might call genre romance terms. Hook’s lover, Samuel, isn’t precisely overflowing with personality: he’s essentially just a good, sweet, compassionate person in all the ways Hook/James isn’t. In some ways, the most interesting part of their relationship—the way it was built in Neverland, despite Hook forgetting himself every time he dies at Pan’s hands, which is often—is the one that is most glossed over, and I would honestly have loved to 'see' this part of their relationship rather than just the fragments of it we get. Nevertheless, I was still invested and I found I did care, mainly because I was caught up in the book’s take on Hook as, ultimately, a man unable to rise above his own worst impulses, half-enthralled to the toxic power of being Hook versus the compromises—the vulnerability—that accompanies being James. I’ve never actually been a fictional pirate (SADLY), but it’s nevertheless a take on identity that speaks to me.

Mainly, though, this …uh … hooked me (apologies) on the strength of the writing, which spins from cruelty to beauty, much as Neverland does:

"Luminous shapes, hundreds of them, glide below the surface of the water. Jellyfish, but they look like rogue stars, streaming across an ocean of night, headed for the distant horizon to spill off the edge of the world."

Basically, even when parts of the story itself didn’t grip me (sorry Jane, sorry Wendy) I stayed for Hook and I stayed for the gorgeous wordings, and that turned out to be more than enough.

Hooked is an unpredictable, creative sequel to Peter Pan imagining the events of what happened to Captain Hook after Peter Pan. The story is brilliant and atmospheric. If you enjoyed Peter Pan or just enjoy a fun reimagining of classic tales, Hooked is a great one to check out. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Hooked today!

Absolutely fabulous read! Some parts horror, some parts romance, and so much imagination! I loved this book from beginning to end - a great follow up to Wendy, Darling. You'll get lost in AC Wise's eloquent prose. Her love of writing comes through beautifully in this novel and I can't wait for more from her!

This was such a well-written book and I loved every minute of it. It was perfectly paced and I could feel that the characters while familiar were also new and exciting.

One of two of my favourite books of all time is Peter Pan, and I love retellings because of this. However, this book falls a little flat. It was enjoyable and a creative take but it was missing something for me.

One of two of my favourite books of all time is Peter Pan, and I love retellings because of this. However, this book falls a little flat. It was enjoyable and a creative take but it was missing something for me.