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Brom
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The Child Thief: A Novel Hardcover – August 25, 2009

by Brom (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,626 ratings
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The acclaimed artist Brom brilliantly displays his multiple extraordinary talents in The Child Thief—a spellbinding re-imagining of the beloved Peter Pan story that carries readers through the perilous mist separating our world from the realm of Faerie. As Gregory Maguire did with his New York Times bestselling Wicked novels, Brom takes a classic children’s tale and turns it inside-out, painting a Neverland that, like Maguire’s Oz, is darker, richer, more complex than innocent world J.M. Barrie originally conceived. An ingeniously executed literary feat, illustrated with Brom’s sumptuous artwork, The Child Thief is contemporary fantasy at its finest—casting Peter Pan, the Lost Boys, even Captain Hook and his crew in a breathtaking new light.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    496 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Voyager
  4. Publication date
    August 25, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 1.49 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0061671339
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061671333
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chesley-winning illustrator Brom (The Plucker) weaves together gloomy prose and horrifying adventures in this macabre fairy tale inspired by J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Born of faerie blood, Peter hunts abandoned children, runaways and the hopeless, recruiting for his Devils in Avalon and promising them a place where you never have to grow up. He conveniently fails to mention that Avalon's monsters are very real, and the Devils must practice their war games or risk being tortured to death, eaten or worse. While early chapters are promising, this gothic fantasy stumbles on its own darkness. The devilishly amusing flashbacks to Peter's origins don't make up for the heavy-handed bloodshed, rampant violence and two-dimensional characters. It's all fiendish monsters and desperate battles in this twisted, dark Neverland; the Disney Peter's mirth and good humor are nowhere to be found. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Ancient magics combine with feral logic to culminate in Brom’s The Child Thief. A retelling of Peter Pan spanning America’s earliest, magically rich beginnings to today’s bare whispers of belief. Wickedly poetic, The Child Thief makes me want to believe.” — Kim Harrison

“Brom has always been an artist who gave us his nightmares fully realized, but with THE CHILD THIEF, he paints in words. A wonderfully nasty Peter Pan reboot that stands on its own as a dark, twisted adventure.” — Christopher Golden

“A gruesome and darkly fantastical twist on a classic tale. Brom injects pure horror into fantasy.” — Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of Ironside and The Spiderwick Chronicles

“Beautiful and authentically dark.” — Sci-Fi

” [A] fascinating work of dark epic fantasy that blends elements of the Peter Pan story with characters from Celtic and Norse mythologies.” — Tulsa World

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Voyager (August 25, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061671339
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061671333
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.09 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.49 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,626 ratings

About the author

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Brom

Brom

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Over the past decades, Brom has lent his distinctive visions and artwork to all facets of the creative industries, from novels and games, to comics and film. He is also the author of a series of award-winning illustrated horror novels: Lost Gods, Krampus the Yule Lord, The Child Thief, The Plucker, and The Devil’s Rose. Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar somewhere just outside of Seattle. Visit him at www.bromart.com.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
1,626 global ratings
Extremely gripping and dark. In the best way possible.
5 Stars
Extremely gripping and dark. In the best way possible.
My tattoo artist caught me reading the island of dr moroue and recommended Brom to me. I loooove horror /fantasy /thriller fiction novels and have had a hard time finding some lately. This has so far exceeded expectations. And the illustrations... to die for. Major artistic inspiration.
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Top reviews from the United States

B Greenwood
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book and Incredible Customer Service
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
The five star rating is as much for the book as it is the customer service I received.

I received a copy of the book where the condition was not as expected. I reached out to the seller, Samsusel, and they were beyond pleasant and accommodating going above and beyond to make sure I was happy with the product. I would HIGHLY recommend them as a re-seller and hope to purchase from them again.

As for The Child Thief, it is a haunting and evocative piece of literature, veering away from conventional fantasy into a realm immersed in dark folk elements. Brom's narrative technique is unique and imaginative blending the eerily familiar and the profoundly mysterious. The characters are intricately designed, with backstories that weave through the narrative adding a rich complexity to the unfolding story. Brom's artistic flair is evident in his vivid descriptions painting each scene in the reader's mind. I enjoyed the darker waters than some may not prefer, but it’s a testament to Brom's ability to craft an unsettling and compelling. The pacing is thoughtfully calibrated, ensuring a gripping journey throughout, with unexpected twists that defy predictability. It’s Brom at his best.
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Alexandra C
5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, delicious retelling of Peter Pan
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
Thoughtfully crafted, intricate storytelling that depicts a reasonable theory of how a half-faerie baby left to die in the woods by his human family survives and develops into a charismatic, cunning, and vicious cult of personality who uses his persuasive powers of violence and persuasion to kidnap troubled children, who unwittingly enter a dangerous world from which they can not turn back to become child soldiers for a deceptively charming warlord. Somehow the author is able to create a narrative that allows each of the characters, who are embroiled in overlapping centuries of conflicts to be viewed through an empathetic lens, no matter the atrocities they commit. The novel, while fiction, serves as a useful social commentary on the destructive power of xenophobia, religious extremism and hypocrisy, persecution of the other, rage of the persecuted as a motive for violence, and the effects of short-sided environment and agricultural practices that harm the biological diversity and homeostasis of a system. Much food for thought in this beautifully written and illustrated novel.
One person found this helpful
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Shawn T. King (stk_kreations)
4.0 out of 5 stars Great novel from a great artist
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
I've always been a fan of Brom's gritty and twisted imagination by way of his art, but I just never thought to try his writing…and now I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I only wish he had more novels out!

If you're fond of Disney's version of Peter Pan then buckle up. The Child Thief is an expanded and gloriously exaggerated take on J.M. Barrie's original stories of Peter (before Disney got their hands on things). Barrie's stories were already dark, but Brom has twisted the world even more, combining several mythologies to really flesh out Peter's world, Avalon.

The characters are great, storytelling is great, imagery is great and sometimes dark, dialogue is great and believable…it's just pretty much great all around.
The only thing I would have liked to see more of was the "real world" where Peter was coming over to recruit/steal children for his army. The book starts off in the real world and instantly hooked me, and went back once or twice but then stopped altogether and I found myself missing that balance between urban and fairy worlds that hooked me early on.

If you like dark fairy tales with a lot of background, I highly recommend this.
One person found this helpful
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Chrissy B
5.0 out of 5 stars A Dar,k Action-Adventure Retelling of Peter Pan
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
I read Brom’s book “Krampus” and was greatly entertained by his story. Once again I can say that that I was thoroughly entertained by the imagination of Brom. If you liked “Krampus”, you will like “The Child Thief” even more. I sure did. Brom rewrites the story of “Peter Pan” on a mature level. Peter is just like the immature Peter you know, but on a more dark and violent level. Peter takes children off to a magical land, called Avalon. Avalon is filled with magic, beasts, elves, fairies, witches and yes, pirates.
He picks only certain children. The damaged and the lost. A lot of the children’s backstories dive into serious/extreme cases of child abuse. If you are sensitive to these subjects, then I do not suggest this book. I have read reviews where the subject matter of the children did bother them and disapproved of this as a good read. I can see why. But that is the point of Peter’s past as well. He too was an unwanted child and wanted to create a family of his own in Avalon. But Avalon is not what the children think it to be like. There is a large amount of descriptive action-violence. Like a hack n slash movie. This is Brom’s style of writing, and Avalon is at war in which the children partake in. The Queen is at war with the pirates, the Queen’s nephew is at war with Peter, and Peter is at war with the Pirates. A lot of room for intrigue, politics, and backstabbing.
The magic in Avalon creates children to never age and adults to go mad. Brom intertwines a lot of Scottish, Irish and Welsh pagan lore weaved into the characters and their adventure. I thought that it was a very creative way to retell stories that have been told over generations.
I loved how this story is a complete tragedy. Do not expect it to end in sunshine and rainbows, depending on who you are rooting for. I felt that the ending was not a total loss.
This book is physically large, which did make it difficult to hold sometimes. It is not in a large font format. 482 Pages. I was intimidated by the size of this book. Brom is not too over descriptive so I was able to speed read through a lot of the book and still be able to retain the information. The artwork in the book is great. Makes it feel like a child's fairy tale. This is a book I love and am glad to have in my collection. For mature audiences only.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cindy
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! Best Prer Pan re-imagine
Reviewed in Canada on June 16, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is my favorite re-imagine Peter Pan story. Brom captured Peter so well! He's exactly how I imagined him. It reads very well. Alot of detail without taking you out of the story or the action. A true masterpiece in my eyes.
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Jared Díaz Rosado
1.0 out of 5 stars Libro maltratado y abierto.
Reviewed in Mexico on August 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
Amazon es excelente en productos, sin embargo en cuestión de libros, su servicio apesta. No puede ser que compres un libro nuevo y todos lleguen abiertos y maltratados. O peor aún, las portadas de los libros publicados no coinciden, algo engañoso y fraudulento por cierto( por parte de quien pública). El libro de Brom me llegó abierto e incluso parece usado, cuando en la publicación decía nuevo.
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Jared Díaz Rosado
1.0 out of 5 stars Libro maltratado y abierto.
Reviewed in Mexico on August 23, 2021
Amazon es excelente en productos, sin embargo en cuestión de libros, su servicio apesta. No puede ser que compres un libro nuevo y todos lleguen abiertos y maltratados. O peor aún, las portadas de los libros publicados no coinciden, algo engañoso y fraudulento por cierto( por parte de quien pública). El libro de Brom me llegó abierto e incluso parece usado, cuando en la publicación decía nuevo.
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Booklover
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in India on February 24, 2024
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This is a dark retelling of Peter Pan and the lost boys. Though I feel the author has balanced it well with keeping it light at some places while dark at some parts of the story. A young girl wanted to escape from her abusive father. She was rescued by a boy with golden eyes known as Peter Pan. She willingly go with him. And After that Peter meets fourteen years old Nick, he is trying to escape from drug dealers as they have taken over his grandmother’s home. Nick has not only abandoned his past but also his mother and grandmother. There is a land called Avalon which is both perilous and adventurous. The book is infused with Celtic and scottish mythology.

The book is adventurous, dark and fascinating because the author has also shared about Peter’s past and how the past events have shaped him. Lady Avalon’s character was so lovely. Her magic is keeping alive Avalon. While Lord Ulfger is her nephew who is doing the opposite. I loved the description of Avalon and the devil tree. I found the characters very interesting and the dark characters like Flesh Eaters, Monsters, Wolf, Witch and Captain were intriguing. The description of magic was engrossing. The description of war and battle was dark and intense. I liked the description of mist, blood and gore. The ending was heartbreaking. There were plot twists I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed this retelling of Peter Pan and the lost boys and I would recommend it. I love the illustrations and Artwork. Love the map too.
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Mr. F. I. Dudaniec
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good work, don't know why author doesn't go for YA audience
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2023
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I initially started this to see if it would be something I could read to my kids who love YA novels but quickly realised there were some elements that put this piece firmly into the adult world. As an aside, I don't know why the author didn't soften these handful of instances to keep this within the scope of YA because that's a huge audience who would devour this. I love the dark side of Pan and the mythology it touches upon so was delighted to find this story really drew upon those sources and fleshed out the characters and themes into a tale far superior to any other version. This book deserves the highest praise, a real hidden gem.
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Lorenzo Benatti
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have read.
Reviewed in Italy on April 15, 2023
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As in the Krampus, the main trope of this novel is the blurred line between Evil and Good. BROM is extremly skilled at building an entire world and its characters in less than 500 pages. I wasn't able to put down the novel until it was over.
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