ARC Review--It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

 

Peter Pan meets Stephen King's It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairytale set during WWI.

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy believes that Peter Pan, the entity that she believed killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

I've always loved the story of Peter and Wendy aka Peter Pan; a magical story about a boy who never wanted to grow up and lived on an island with mermaids and pirates and fairies and could fly! It was always a magical story. Being forced to grow up, I have become quite fond of retellings or different takes on the Peter Pan story and Cynthia Pelayo takes it into a whole different direction with It Came from Neverland!

This version, I feel like, goes in a more horrifying direction! I mean, if you read the blurb it pretty much says it all! Wendy and her brothers ended up leaving Neverland and grew up. But life isn't necessarily the grand adventure that they had hoped for. And lately, Wendy has been noticing odd things happening; hearing voices, seeing shadows, crows that seem to be following her. An eerie kind of suspense builds up and the true story begins to unfold.

Wendy and her brothers did indeed go to Neverland, but it wasn't the grand adventure we all thought it was. It may have started out that way, but then things began to take a darker spin and the horrors of Neverland slowly revealed itself to Wendy. We do get some flashbacks to Wendy's time in Neverland when she was just a child. She's a grown woman now and works at a children's home and volunteers at the hospital at night as well, for the story takes place during WW2.

As a whole, I did find that I enjoyed the story, but at times I felt a sort of disconnect with the book. I'm not sure if it was due to my reading it on my kindle and just not getting a good feel for the formatting. Sometimes it wasn't always easy seeing the flashbacks begin and end and when present time took over. Then it seemed like the story was constantly building up and up and up...and up to the horrors of what was really going on. We can easily get an idea, but getting the actual answers takes a while, but I don't know. I guess I just felt like the buildup was taking a little too long. It was still intriguing and creepy and I kept turning the (proverbial) pages, but at the same time, I kept wondering when would we hit the peak?

We do get to see bits of John and Michael in the story as well, but for the most part this is told from Wendy's point of view. Familiar character names and faces from the classic tale make appearances, all except one, though I felt like it was offhandedly mention but never really named. I was a little forlorn on that front and also wondered about a few other Neverland characters who never made it onto the page. I know not everything can go into a retelling, but the absence always makes me wonder...are they in this version of Neverland or not?

The story is told at a slower pace, but since it's regarding Neverland, I was still pretty invested in it. I guess when you have that connection to the source material, some things like pacing become irrelevant. But if you enjoy darker fairy tale imaginings then this would be the read for you. It's not a retelling per se, but puts a different twist on the story we (may) all know (and love). While it may not have been everything I was hoping for, it was still a quick and enjoyable read that will be marked down as one of the most unique takes on Peter and Wendy that I have read.

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

It Came from Neverland releases June 9, 2026