2.5 Stars

This book was a bit of a mixed bag. While I loved Mary as a determined mom and a detective sharper than Sherlock, the heavy reliance on corrected Peter Pan plot points just didn't quite click for me. The SherlockxPeter Pan mashup never fully landed, and I think I was really craving more banter and a whimsy tone throughout. Ultimately, I can see the appeal for others, but it just wasn't the right fit for my reading taste.

Thanks to Tachyon Publications for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I love everything Peter Pan, and this flipped perspective of the classic story did such an amazing job at weaving in Sherlock Holmes elements. I loved the plot, the characters, and the end message, and the lush worldbuilding. A really fun read.

5 stars

What would happen if the world's greatest detective matched wits with the world's most adventurous mother protecting her children from the boy who would never go up? You'd get this book. I had no idea that a mashup of characters from both Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan could turn into such a fun story! It's honestly not that big a stretch either, considering the place and time both universes are set in - Victorian England.

Mary Darling was a swashbuckling, independent woman growing up because she had the (mis)fortune of meeting Peter Pan and flying to Neverland when she was a young girl. Once she returned home however, society made her conform and to all appearances, become a perfect Victorian mother and housewife. But when her own children, Wendy, John, and Michael, go missing from their beds with no apparent means of egress, she knows immediately what's happened. Her uncle, Dr. John Watson, thinks that his comrade, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, can help the Darling family retrieve their lost children, but Mary knows better. So off she goes to find Neverland again and rescue her children back from the clutches of Peter Pan, a perpetually prepubescent and rather petulant sprite.

I don't want to give away any of the other surrounding plot points because I found delightful nods to various aspects of both existing IPs that made me go, "ah-ha, so that's how that character fits here in this world". I had a lot of fun reading and finding the through lines to stories I was already familiar with in another context. If you are a fan of either or both of these existing domains then I think you will readily enjoy them in this new mashup.

Thanks to NetGalley, author Pat Murphy, and Tachyon Publications for granting me access to a free digital ARC of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

I found I was not a fan of this novel, largely due to stylistic choices. The short, simple, often emotion-free sentence structure felt more appropriate to a book intended for young readers, but the content of the work made it clear the intended audience was adults. I found I was mostly bored throughout, more-so by the characters themselves than the story. Mary feels flat and two dimensional and despite the constant assertions of multiple characters that she is passionate and extraordinary, she felt perpetually tepid. Watson is affable but bland, Holmes politely ignores anything that is not logical, George is easily the most passionate but is so overcome by his emotions that he responds by not showing any, and even Wendy responds to the unexpected arrival of her mother, in drag, on a mystical island with a polite "it's good to see you, Mother." Even Sam, who the author bends over backwards to not stereotype as the silent wise native, is mostly silent and unmoved, speaking only to calmly provide some pearl of native wisdom before disappearing once more into the background. It was just...odd,

When Mary Darling's children go missing, she sets about to find them. Her husband retreats into the doghouse. Her uncle, John Watson, and his friend Sherlock Holmes help to look for the missing children. Mary is practical and cunning; although she would like her husband's help, she can rescue their children without him.

In this book, Peter Pan is an elemental force of chaos and violence. It focuses on the fates of the Lost Boys by centering the women in the tale. It explores trauma and how class and social privilege affects how different people can deal with it. Lots of themes of rigidity and performance. Holmes remains a side character and does not take over the narrative. His tragedy is that he is too rigid to consider that magic might be real. Watson's character is given depth.

Narrative written by Mary's granchild. And you do find out why Mary was ever interested in George, much less marry him.

There are far too many Peter Pan retellings out there, yet authors keep trying despite the fact that it doesn’t usually go all that well. There are exceptions of course (Hook’s perspective novels seem to work the best) but unfortunately this book isn’t one of them.

A lot of this feels like an attempt to wash Barrie’s original novel of its problematic elements. While we all have to acknowledge (whether we love the original or not) that the Barrie novel has some significant issues for a modern reader, I don’t think this is the right approach to take to educate readers about that. A lot of the problem is that this particular aspect of this book is all tell, no show, and that’s a shame because some of Murphy’s ideas for how to do this were quite good and might have been successful had they been more subtly deployed.

Another problem here is that so much of this book is essentially just the exact same plot points from Peter Pan but “corrected” for modern readers. It’s a tedious way to reimagine this world, and it also prompts very direct comparisons between the author’s writing and Barrie’s. Though Murphy is, for the most part, an objectively good writer, she can’t touch Barrie and she’s made that all too apparent by building plot this way.

Also a tough hang: Literary mash-ups, both in general and in this particular instance. It’s a bit ham-fisted plot-wise how Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan are melded here, and I’m not sure the Holmesean elements added anything at all to the story. As the blurb suggests, Mary is both more likable and in many ways a better detective than the bombastic, eye roll-inducing Holmes, and she didn’t really need a foil in this regard.

The best moments of this are those with Sam or on the pirate ship, where Murphy finds some originality and some very compelling moments. I wish we had gotten more like this and less of the rest, which caused the book to drag more often than not.

All of that said, the book does have bright spots, and I loved the tone. And while I didn’t find the attempt successful, I appreciate the intent of what Murphy was trying to do here in attempting to create a Peter Pan tale that is truly for everyone.

I must say I was surprised by this book, in a good way. The more I knew Mary the more I loved her. Sadly, the more I loved her, the more I despised her husband. I can't help thinking he's a coward, and what he wanted to do to his wife before her escape was just unforgivable for me. However, even if I'm a bit disappointed by George, all the cast is great and very on point. I love how Sherlock is way out of his depths and how Watson becomes pro active.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER***

One thing keeps bothering me though, after all that happened I feel like the evil creature who's Peter Pan escaped too easily. So... as much as I liked the book, I closed it with a feeling of unachievement, and as a mother, I would have never let that flying monstrosity live...

Peter Pan: We’ve all read the book, seen the play, or watched the animated film, so we know the drill: In Victorian London, three children are swept away to Neverland by PeterPanSpiritOfYouth, where they have many adventures battling pirates led by the dastardly Captain Hook. They leave behind a frantic, ineffectual mother, a bombastic, equally ineffective father, and a drooling dog nanny. Author Pat Murphy asks, Is that really what happened? What if Mary Darling had once been spirited away to be a “Mother” to the Lost Boys, despite her insistence that she is not a Mother? What if she understands all too well the deception and peril of the place and its capricious leader?

In Murphy’s retelling, after emerging from the first horrific shock of finding her children missing, with only one place they could have gone, Mary Darling determines to rescue them herself. Under the innocuous facade of a Victorian wife lies a powerful woman who has fought her way free of Neverland with considerable piratical skills. Of course, she encounters opposition, first in her husband, George, who is loving but befuddled by her “independent ways.” A more significant barrier comes from her uncle, Doctor John Watson, who enlists his friend, Sherlock Holmes, in determining what ails her. Holmes decides that Mary is the prime suspect in the disappearance of her children.

As Mary embarks on her quest to rescue her children before they either starve to death in Neverland or fall prey to Pan’s careless disregard for human life, her past reveals itself in layers. In past and present, we meet old friends and allies, people whose lives have been forever altered by their contact with Neverland. We also discover the reality behind J. M. Barrie’s imperialistic misrepresentation of indigenous peoples, the role and power of women, and the importance of memory.

The Adventures of Mary Darling is a brilliant re-imagining of a familiar tale, laying bare its folly and portraying the ingenuity, skill, and heroism of Mary and a host of other characters, invented and glossed-over. My favorite was James, a sweet gay boy, one of a series of Pan’s “Toodles,” and who later as Captain Hook proves to be one of Mary’s staunchest and most able supporters. It should come as neither surprise nor spoiler that Mr. Holmes never appreciates his loss in insisting that logic is the only reality.

Highly recommended.

This is a very creative look behind the scenes of the disappearance of Wendy, Michael, and John on an otherwise quiet night in London. The book focuses on the reaction of Mary Darling. The fact that she was born Mary Watson becomes crucial when she immediately decides to call the man who raised her after her parents died: Dr. John Watson. The good doctor together with his good friend, Sherlock Holmes, rush to the Darling residence and begin a careful investigation.

The book includes all of the pertinent images from the James M. Barrie. This includes the fact that the children's father, George, takes up residence in Nana's dog house because he feels responsible for their disappearance. While Holmes begins the typical Holmes-like investigation, Dr. Watson works together with his niece, Mary, to follow other leads. This leads to a shady dock-side character named Sam. Eventually Mary, assisted by Sam, sets off on a sea voyage to the rarely visited island of Neverland. Finding his wife missing, George Darling and Dr. Watson set off after Mary in another ship. Along the way We are told about Mary Watson's own trip to Neverland when she was Wendy's age.

The author did a wonderful job at creating characters as well as a truly unique plot. My only real problem with the book was the number of threads that weave their way through the novel. Add to that the multiple timelines between Mary's childhood adventure with Peter Pan and her adult search for Neverland and there was a great deal of hopping around in the storyline.

Nevertheless, this is a good retelling of the familiar Peter Pan story from another perspective, but this time with the great detective, Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. John Watson included for the fun. I appreciate NetGalley giving me the opportunity to read and offer a fair and honest review.

As a Peter Pan aficionado, I jumped on the chance to read The Adventures of Mary Darling. Featuring a mashup of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Mary Darling, this novel is a retelling of Peter Pan from Mary Darling's perspective. Mary is a woman ahead of her time in Victorian England. When her three children disappear during a dinner party, with beloved Nana (the Newfoundland nanny), barking in the yard and the windows to the nursery wide open-she knows. Her uncle, Dr. Watson, and his colleague, Mr. Holmes, are quickly on the case but begin to make odd discoveries. The novel delves in to Mary's upbringing and ties her origin story with Peter Pan's in unique ways. Beloved characters emerge from some unlikely places and villains become heroes. This story is a joy of historical fiction featuring strong women, combined with the magic of Peter Pan and just a little fairy dust. It is a travel adventure (aptly titled) from the perspective often missing in early fiction. 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

This is a crossover between Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes, with Mary Darling (the children's mother) being Watson's niece. When the children disappear, Mary takes off to find them. I only read about half of this and just couldn't get into it. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just was not for me.

Mary Darling disguises herself as a young man ("Marty") and embarks on a quest to retrieve her three children from Neverland. Wendy, John, and Michael were lured there by, of course, Peter Pan who in this novel is not the wondrous being of stage and screen. Mary' uncle, Dr. John Watson (yes, THAT Dr, Watson) follows here along with a differently depicted Sherlock Holmes. This novel is a brilliant counternarrative of both the Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes mythos, where both "heroes" are seen in a less flattering perspective. Peter is a selfish being who cares little for the well-being and lives of the Lost Boys. Sherlock Holmes is a prisoner of his logical mind, and incapable of accepting the existence of magic in the world around him. Mary emerges as a kick ass hero with a secret past.
The novel follows two timelines, both fascinating: The first is the quest for the Darling children. The second is how Mary's past connects her to Neverland (and pirates).
The counternarrative extends to other familiar characters as well: Captain Hook, Tiger Lilly, and George Darling. Only Nana, the loyal family dog (so much more than that) remains the same: brave and loving essential member of the family.
Pat Murphy's reimagining of a familiar set of tales invites readers to question the stories they thought they knew-and to discover for a new feminst icon in Mary Darling.

When the Darling children are whisked off to Neverland by Peter Pan, Mary Darling evades the questionably well-meaning attempts to secure her in a mental institution and uses her best "unladylike" skills to find her offspring and assist them in returning from Neverland. Murphy's update empowers other previously underserved and poorly represented characters from Barrie's original work. She also presents an opportunity to poke gentle fun at Arthur Conan Doyle's detective's determination that all mysteries can be solved by intellect and logic, a stance he maintains even in the face of the improbable. A delightful Venn diagram of historical mystery and Victorian fantasy.

I really enjoyed this twist on the Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes stories. We get a much deeper understanding of the events of the classic fairytale through the eyes of Mary Darling who, we learn, has her own secret connection to Neverland.

The story starts with the disappearance of Mary's three children, Wendy, John and Michael. While we've seen and heard the children's story from here, few people stop to think about what happened back home. George, Mary's husband, quickly contacts her uncle, John Watson, and this is where the true story begins.

I wasn't sure how a magical, fantastic world of fairies and pirates would blend with the more logical, deductive-reasoning world of Sherlock Holmes. Pat Murphy was able to blend the two pretty well, complete with a cast of characters that were at once familiar and new to us, though Sherlock spent of the time looking in the wrong direction. The conclusion felt rushed, but didn't detract from the overall adventure.

The "Is it History?" part of the author's note was really interesting to read! Pat Murphy's comments reflect the research and modern knowledge that she used to piece her story together, while doing her best to remain true to the stories and characters we know and love.

Much like the 1991 film, Hook, The Adventures of Mary Darling is a re-framing of James Barrie’s Peter Pan which expands the legend into additional generations of the Darling family. The story is framed as Mary Darling’s (mother to Wendy, Peter, and Michael) version of events, although the tale is shared from an omnipotent POV, shifting from one character to another, giving readers a better understanding of each character.

Mary, upset with the disappearance of her three children, sets out to save them because she knows who has taken them. Murphy weaves a tale of multiple generations of Watson/Darling children taken by Peter to Neverland, most of whom eventually return home. Mary dresses as a man and sets forth on a long boat journey to Neverland. Following her a week or so later is her husband, adopted brother, and her uncle John Watson, who brings his partner, Sherlock Holmes, to rescue Mary and the children.

The story is an expanded fairytale, sharing the adventures with a female twist. Rather than seeing children who adore Peter, we learn that the boys didn’t enjoy being given new names and wanted to go home. The young girls were not enamored with Peter and didn’t want to be mothers. We learn that Peter, a spirit boy who never ages, is selfish and immature. He sees no consequences to his actions, choosing instead to forget the bad and move on. It is an interesting and exciting version, and I enjoyed the strong female characters.

The travels aboard the ships are broken up with large backstory sections, which allows the author to provide the necessary histories that ultimately lead to Barrie’s Peter Pan. It also gives the reader an idea of how long the trip is without detailing the mundane. It’s interesting to see how Murphy weaves connections across time to ultimately meet up with the story we all know. The origins of Captain Hook, Mary and George Darling, and Peter Pan are not straightforward as we’ve all been told.

Overall, I enjoyed the adventures, but question the need to include Sherlock Holmes. He is a superfluous side character used to model a man with a lack of imagination and an inability to think outside the box. Why the author chose to pick on this literary character rather than create her own character for a punching bag, I’m not sure. Honestly, I would have preferred it not be the famous detective, because knowing he was involved in the story set expectations for a crime-solving mystery, which this story is not.

If you enjoy fairytale retellings similar to Wicked, I think you will find The Adventures of Mary Darling to be right up your alley. It’s creative and inventive, bringing a new spin on this old tale.

My rating: B/B-

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this book but sadly it didn’t live us to those for me. The idea of merging Sherlock and Peter Pan into a single storyline was fascinating but it really just didn’t sit terribly well. Sherlock ended up being a total throwaway character who was completely unnecessary for the book. I liked seeing Mary as a strong woman but the dichotomy between her “wild Australian child” past and her dutiful housewife personas was just way too different and didn’t blend well. My biggest pet peeve though was the structure of the book- it’s essentially just a bunch of little side stories woven together using one really boring and uneventful main plot. If you stripped out all of the side stories of the individual characters’ backstories you’d be left with essentially nothing.

This book perfectly blended the Victorian worlds of the Darling family and Dr. Watson/ Sherlock Holmes. I liked the juxtaposition of Sherlock Holmes being presented with a magical world, with magical beings, but still keeping his character logical and realistic. I also enjoyed that Dr. Watson wasn't just a foolish sidekick, as he so often is cast. Mary Darling was a phenomenal protagonist, and while I did find the story's ending easy to guess, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Mary Darling's three children have been kidnapped. Due to the event of being John Watson's niece, the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, gets involved. His investigation is going down a dangerous path. As to not be locked away as mad, and to save her family, she travels far and away, making allies of people from lands Britain has claimed, even Captain Hook himself.

We could call this another side to the Peter Pan story, as we experience and ultimately enjoy the adventure of the mother left behind. And blending it with a healthy dose of Sherlock Holmes is a master stroke. I relished seeing the famous detective at work, the staples of the J.M. Barrie story that are included here, and the twists on both. I will not say more so as not to spoil. But I will mention how the antithesis between Holmes's almost obsessive reliance on logic and the fairytaleness of things to do with Neverland add to the story. It smells of the internal battle of adulthood against our inner child.

The narrative has the feel of someone sharing the story with us in confidant-oriented conversation, colored with child-at-heart wonder. Its directness — tender, not strict — and delightful wit result in us breezing through the story. Descriptions here are lively and full of flair, details that spark our curiosity and imagination, transport us to the era and fantastical endeavors. While humor spirits through the storyline there is an endearing quality, but also a blunt edge that provokes our thoughts and what we believe to know. I really like how we peek into the mind of even minor or unexpected characters.

I love that Mary is a woman of fortitude, way ahead of her time. Other characters will astonish you with those same exact qualities, their extraordinary stories helping you get an idea of how their people fared in that time period. Through amicable storytelling and the musings of characters we witness the workings of the world, in some ways similar to our time. Discrimination and social inequality unfortunately still exist today, do they not?

Sometimes the switch between past and present or different characters and their tales is a bit jarring. Momentarily you may be lost. Some of those tales seem out of place or time, and the book has tangled its story threads. I do wish it had been done somewhat differently because the story is engaging. You cannot deny that the different storylines are always interesting and be wholly entertained by how they connect.

This novel is also about how your world can shift in an instant and the powerful feeling of home. Adventurous, endlessly surprising and a lot more dangerous than expected, this is a fun & contemplative team up of 2 legacies of the reading world.

One look at the cover and at the glowing advance reviews, and I knew I needed to read Pat Murphy’s latest book. The premise – that Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate when the three children of George and Mary Darling vanish from their London home overnight – is just that irresistible. At the same time, those same reviews set off a number of my internal alarm bells – promising, as they do, a narrative sharply critical of the colonialist and Victorian sensibilities woven deep into J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

As it turns out, my literary Spidey-sense was right; <i>The Adventures of Mary Darling</i> reads – to me, at least – like a textbook example of how not to approach a literary mashup.

Let me be clear here: I have no inherent objections to either the book’s literary form or to an honest critique of Peter Pan’s problematic elements. As to the latter, Pat Murphy has done more than sufficient homework to justify that aspect of the project. But as a mashup – or crossover, the term used most often by modern fanfic writers – Murphy’s novel falls short on almost every count.

Broadly speaking, I have three major issues with the book. First, the title and cover art are misleading on multiple levels. Mary Darling doesn’t get nearly enough time onstage in what’s ostensibly her own book, Sherlock Holmes is at best a minor presence throughout, and far too little of the story can be accurately described as “adventure”.

Second, Murphy makes a very strange narrative choice by presenting the entire tale as a manuscript written not by her title character, but rather by Mary’s adult daughter Jane. The result is to severely distance readers from both the action (such as it is) and the characters. This is especially frustrating in the case of Sherlock Holmes, whose portrayal borders on caricature to a degree that Holmes’ fans are likely to find annoying. Watson (whom Murphy makes Mary’s uncle) comes across somewhat better – and gets one key scene that should have more impact on the story than it actually does – but is otherwise mostly a peripheral presence.

Third, the novel fails to deal adequately with the elephant in its chosen room. Murphy’s (or Jane’s) narrative acknowledges that genuine magic exists in its version of the world – but almost completely refuses to explore the consequences of that choice. Two examples stand out.

First, Peter Pan’s origin and nature are given scant and contradictory attention. On one hand, according to Jane’s narrative, he’s led three generations of children out the nursery window of the family house in London – Mary first, then Wendy and her brothers, and most recently Jane herself. Yet what we see of Peter in and around “Neverland” is a being with only a child’s memory, easily distracted or overcome either by a more promising adventure or a mother’s threat of bedtime without supper. It’s an inconsistent portrayal, and as a result Peter never emerges as a well-realized character.

Second, the story goes out of its way to avoid confronting Sherlock Holmes with the reality of magic. He’s otherwise occupied at one key moment when Dr. Watson finds himself airborne due to an accident involving fairy dust – and he’s deliberately left out of a planned “rescue” of Jane Darling from the supposed clutches of Captain Hook, likewise aided by a supply of fairy dust. This Holmes, we’re told, would disbelieve in magic even if given the chance to see it at work. That’s flatly unfair, particularly in light of the oft-quoted Holmesian axiom: “whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” after one has eliminated the impossible.

Yet as badly as the novel fails on a narrative level, those early trade reviews are not entirely wrong. Ironically, the best parts of the book are those focusing on the secondary characters – sometime pirates Sam Smalls and the eventual James Hook (whose true identity is an ingenious and admirably subtle twist), Chief Laughing Bear’s family of Wild West showrunners, and Jane’s fascinating assortment of female allies. Even George Darling has his moments – and indeed, possibly the strongest character arc in the novel, not excluding Mary’s. One almost doesn’t need the authorial afterword to discern that Murphy has indeed done an excellent job of replacing J. M. Barrie’s ethnically stereotyped players with well-rounded, fascinating individuals.

At the end of the day, <i>The Adventures of Mary Darling</i> is a profoundly schizophrenic book. I can’t recommend it as a mashup or crossover – indeed, I suspect fans of both the original Peter Pan and the Sherlock Holmes canon will find it disappointing at best.

That said, I can and do recommend the book as what it’s been praised for: a well-crafted re-imagining of the Neverland setting with a more historically reliable and relatable eye. If Tachyon had put a full-cast illustration on the cover, titled it accurately (perhaps as <i>The Mostly True History of Neverland by Jane Darling</i>) and perhaps persuaded Pat Murphy to excise Sherlock Holmes from a story in which he really doesn’t belong, I would be a much happier reviewer.

𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐲
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡

- - -

Read this book if you like:
□ sherlock holmes x Peter Pan
□ retelling with a dark twist
□ mystery
□ multi POV

Thank you, Netgalley, and Tachyon Publications for the ARC.

Sherlock Holmes meets Peter Pan. Literally. Mary Watson, the mother of Wendy, John and Michael, is the niece of the well-known doctor, John Watson.

Mary's children are kidnapped, so she returns to Neverland to get her children back from the famed Peter Pan. But this Peter Pan is like the one we read in fairytales. This story is much darker, more grim. The mermaids and fairies are vile creatures. The pirates are gentle and kind.

I am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and fairytales, so I was really happy when I received this ARC. The connections between these characters are really unique and fresh. It was for sure an interesting story. I just thought that it was sometimes too much information, too many POV from various characters. My brain couldn't handle it. It was a bit chaotic. But overall, this was an enjoyable read!