Search - The Child Thief: A Novel

I absolutely loved this dark retelling of the classic Peter Pan fairy tale. It's a clever mix of King Arthur's Avalon and Lady of the Lake myths interspersed with the mythical land of Faerie. This mythical land sits parallel to NYC and the actions slips back and forth between the two places with a whole cast of creatures including centaurs, elves, trolls, faeries, and of course humans. Avalon is divided in war and Peter is the leader of a group of kids "stolen" off the streets of New York and Boston to be warriors in the war against the flesh-eaters. Peter convinces the lost, beaten or abused runaways to follow him to another world where things will be better for them. What Peter doesn't tell them is that Avalon is at war and they will be the warriors defending the Lady.

I read this in two sittings...granted each sitting was about 5-6 hours. It truly is unputdownable. I couldn't wait to see what Peter and the Devils were going to do next. The book is very dark, violent and bloody as there was always someone or something trying to kill them.

For those of you easily offended by cursing, you might want to skip this book. All the "Devils" are young teenagers with potty mouths. It doesn't bother me but I know some people are put off by this.

This is the best book I have ever read. Hands down, the creativity, the ambiguous morality, the action, the real world involved with this mystery world. Great book! Looking forward to other works by Brom.