Dust (Heirs of Neverland | Book One) by Kara Swanson —A Bookish Review
Book Love | Book Review
Hello, my friend!
Today I am going to share with you one of my recent favorite books. I am reviewing Dust (Heirs of Neverland | Book One) by Kara Swanson!
This is a fairytale retelling of the beloved Peter Pan.
The Disney movie is one of my favorites, and if you are a Disney fan, you will love the Disney references scattered throughout the book!
So without further adieu on to the book review!
Summery
Clair Kenton struggles with a strange skin condition. Dust. It pours out of her. No one knows what it is. She tries to keep it under control, but it is hard. When her emotions are high, it floods out of her. Her brother, Conner, would say it was magical. But it isn't. Her dust is dangerous. It hurts people.
Then one day, her twin brother was stolen away as a child. She searches for her brother for six years. All the clues line up, pointing to London, and a boy who should not exist.
Peter Pan is having a beastly time. Stuck in London with no way to fly, he tries desperately to get back to his Neverland which is slowly falling apart. His Lost Boys are against him. Worst of all, he is aging. Growing up. What can be worse than growing up? Peter goes in search of his last hope, a girl with magic.
Their fates collide. The girl who is afraid of her destiny, and the boy who is afraid to grow up. The truth of the fairy tale unravels and with it, everything Clair thinks about herself and Peter Pan.
My Thoughts (the review)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cleanness: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️*
O MY NEVERLAND! This book is incredible.
I love fairy-tale retelling and this one definitely makes my favorites list.
There is an adventure, magic, finding yourself, pixie dust, pirates, mystery, and so much more.
The story took unexpected turns and surprised me in places (which if you know me, I always try to guess the ending before the ending, this one I did not expect).
My favorite thing was Peter. I love his story and the backstory Swanson gave him. I got to see WHY Peter never wanted to grow up, why he hates adults, and why he made Neverland in the first place. Swanson gave his character so much more depth than I was expecting which made me love his character even more than before.
I also loved that you get to see him struggling with growing up, but at the same time, learning about growing up and the good that can happen.
(If you couldn't tell, he was my favorite character.)
Clair was wonderfully written too. Her backstory (I LOVE backstory) and her character felt real. Like a person, I could know and would be friends with.
I love how much she loves her brother and will do anything for him. How she never gives up.
Having siblings, I can relate to her love for her brother and how she doesn't give up. I know if one of my siblings were taken, I would never give up, even if that meant chasing fairytales.
I ten-ten recommend you read this book! You will not regret it!
Parent Guide:
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some name calling (ninny).
This, in my opinion, is a clean book. Now there are 'curse words' but it is dated. Think, "beastly" "blasted" "blithering" and "hang it all". The context makes it a 'bad word' but in my opinion, they aren't bad and make me laugh. If this old language style bad words are uncomfortable for you then you might not want to read it, but in my opinion, you should read this. This isn't a big thing, but I wanted to be thorough.
Sexual Content
Talk of attraction.
Some kissing (one scene).
Spiritual Content
Tiger Lily believes in the Ever One. The one who creates and paints the stars. Who sees all, who names you, who tells you who you are.
The Ever One is a picture of Jesus (the author being a Christian)
Violence/frightening scenes
There is a lot of fighting, chasing, attacking, and punching in the book (from Peter and the Lost Boys).
Claire’s Dust has hurt people before and that scares her.
Peter talks of needing to cut off his shadow.
Peter experiences lots of pain, with ‘episodes’ where he has memories that hurt him.
Drug Content
There is a pub but otherwise there is no drug content.
Sensitive Subjects
(Spoiler) There is a memory when Claire remembers jumping off of a building. It almost kills her and she has the scars to remember. This may be a sensitive subject for some, so know that it is coming if you read this.
(Spoiler) In a flashback, Peter remembers his father being abusive to his mum. This can be triggering.
Other posts you may like…
Discussion Time
Thank you so much for reading this post! I hoped you liked this book review!
I want to hear from you! Tell me what you liked about this post. Do you think you will read Dust? What Is one of your recent favorite books? I would love to chat!
Also, check out the My Links tab to see my Pinterest & Instagram!
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to stay in the know because I post new content here every week.
XOXO Moriyah 💛
Comments
Post a Comment
Leave a reply 💛
I would LOVE to hear from you!