This was such a fun read!

Okay, so, in all honesty, the first book I saw in The Immortal Warriors series was Hades, surprise surprise, but when I saw the recommendation to read the Neverland Fae duology first, I went for it. Peter Pan was one of my favourite fairytales when I was younger, and, if you don't count all the Cinderella retellings I seem to have picked up this year, I'd say that the biggest amount of fairytale retellings I have on my bookshelf are for Peter Pan, including a book with the exact same name as this one. Once Upon a Time really did me dirty with their version of Peter Pan, so I obviously went to books for a solution.

In short, I was ready to give this a go, and Kenney really did deliver. It was such an interesting interpretation that was written fantastically. You have Wendy who, ten years later, is still yearning to return to the world of Neverland after having a week there when she was fifteen. It was just so fascinating to see Wendy, the one who was desperate to leave and adamant to grow up, shape her future in the realm of fantasy going to Renaissance faires, getting trained in sword fighting and generally developing as much of a detachment to reality as she can in the hopes of being able to return to Neverland in the future.

The tension between Peter and Wendy is honestly something you could have cut through with a knife — or a sword, in Wendy's case, but the angst and the tension just captures you and makes you unable to put the book down. Last night, I was firm on myself and said 'y'know, I'm just going to read a couple more chapters and then go to sleep because I sat there reading degree stuff earlier and I'm all booked out.' But no, I was up reading until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore because everything about the plot and the characters just drew me in. I think what I love about retellings like this so much is that the authors that execute them well leave you with the sense of nostalgia of something you loved when you were younger, yet manage to spin it into something that still absolutely captivates you as a reader now, and Kenney definitely did that.

There were a few characteristics in the plot that were predictable, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I'm glad that my suspicions surrounding were true because, well, said 'plot' point was infuriating me anyway and I needed said 'plot' gone. I feel like if you've read the book, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Something that I also thought was fantastic about this series is that you've got so much lore and so much fantasy merged together under different realms, but it's not overwhelming, either? You kind of drabble into the other realms, but I'm sure in the future, as with Jack Frost and the Hades books, they'll be explored within their own rights and it enables you to get a taster of them. Apollo especially had me really excited and I'd love to read more about his story from his own perspective in the future.

Anyway, I would highly recommend Wendy, Darling. I was planning on reading this book and then getting to the others in the new year, but I truly am hooked (that's not even a pun) and need to find out what happens next!