The Child Thief - Brom (Book Review)

The Child Thief by Brom is a wonderfully illustrated modern telling of a fairy tale we all know. Or thought we knew, for like many of Disney's incarnations of myth and lore, the tale of Peter Pan is anything but an effeminate young boy in green tights flying across the room cackling and jousting. No Peter Pan, from the wood god Pan is exactly what the title infers; The Child Thief.

...The boy came and knelt beside her. While she cried into her hands he told her of an enchanted island where no grown-ups were allowed. Where there were other kids like her, who loved to laugh and play. Where there were great adventures to be had.
She wiped her eyes and managed to smile as she shook her head at his silly story, but when he invited her to come along she found herself believing. And even though a voice deep within her warned her to stay away from this strange boy, she wanted nothing more at that moment than to follow along after him.
She glanced around the tiny room where the man had stolen so much from her. There was nothing left but painful memories. What else did she have to lose?
This time when the boy stood to go, she dressed quickly, following him out onto the fire escape, down the street, and into the night.
If the girl could only have spoken to the other boys and girls, the ones that had followed the golden-eyed boy before her, she would have known that there is always something left to lose...

The abused. The forgotten. The beaten and raped. The children without hope. These are the ones the Child Thief comes for. To offer them an escape. A hope. A new life.

..."Don't you get it?" Peter said. "You're free now. You don't have to live by their rules anymore." Peter pointed into the inky blackness of the basement. "The darkness is calling. A little danger, a little risk. Feel your heart race. Listen to it. That's the sound of being alive. It's your time, Nick. Your one chance to have fun before it's all stolen by them, the adults, with their cruelty and endless rules, their can't-do-this, and can't-do-that's, their have-tos, and better-dos, their little boxes and cages all designed to break your spirit, to kill your magic."
Nick stared down into the dark basement.
"What are you waiting for?" Peter said, giving him a devilish grin before disappearing through the window...

Nick, whose home has been invaded by hardcore drug dealers. Nick who wears a brand burnt into his skin by the same drug dealers to keep him quiet. Nick who is hunted and needs to escape. Nick follows Peter into the mist, to a mystical land, to a hidden island in the heart of New York City. Here Nick joins a band of ageless children known as the Devils.
But even here there is danger and Nick soon learns that he was brought here by Peter to be part of an army. Defenders of the Lady. Amongst the mystical creatures that live on the island. The witches, the sprites, the fairies and the elves. And the invaders. The flesh eaters who followed the creatures of the island across the seas. Who invaded their homeland and killed the people who once loved them. The flesh eaters who follow the one God.

...Tanngnost let out a sigh. "These are ill times, my Lady."
"The men-kind?"
"Christians. They're determined to rid the land of any who worship the Horned One. Murdering all the druids, burning the temples, sometimes whole villages, and knocking over the standing stones."
The Lady's face hardened. "This god of peace and love certainly likes to bathe the land in blood."...

Nick must learn to battle. To stand by Peter's side on this island of Avalon to save the Lady and the enchanted land from the flesh eaters. The men who have come to destroy all that once was sacred in the name of their one God. Killing even the children, the ones called by them and Peter; the Devils.
But Nick learns quickly that Peter is not all he seems. That he is more than just a Child Thief and his ties to Avalon and the Lady run deeper than just duty. That for all his promise of friendship, there is in Peter a danger and bloodlust that rivals that of the flesh eaters themselves.

..."You don't deserve this mercy," Peter spat. He yanked the blade free and let Leroy drop to the dirt.
"Oh, God," Nick whispered as he watched the blood pool beneath the dead boy.
Peter walked past Nick. "Let's go."
"You're insane!" Nick yelled.
Peter kept walking.
"Madness," Nick called. "That's all I've found here. Does Avalon breed insanity? Is that the nature of magic, to drive everyone out of their minds?"...

In The Child Thief; Brom has brought the telling of the origin and purpose of Peter Pan to a new level. Truer to the original tales of Barrie and a far cry from the sanitized Disney version. This is not a child's book. There is rape and murder and carnage. Heads of young children paraded about on pikes.
A well told modern bed time story for adults.