Cory Doctorow reviewed this book on his Pluralistic blog recently, and since I typically enjoy the books he recommends (well, the ones I try, anyway), I gave it a try. The writing style is not my favorite, and I don’t know that it needed to be one of those books that is written by an in-universe character, but both of those fit really well into the themes of the book, so I shouldn’t complain.

The plot and purpose of the book are also fantastic. It imagines the mother of the children from Peter Pan as the niece of John Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame, bringing those universes together in an interesting way. More importantly, it recasts Peter Pan as a creepy, semi-eldritch being and Holmes as an epistemologically rigid misogynist. The book takes on sexism, colonialism, and racism in a satisfying way that also makes for a fun plot!

One of the things that Doctorow mentioned in his review that really caught my attention was the seeming influence of David Graeber’s Pirate Enlightenment on this book. I didn’t know I needed Captain Hook fleshed out in the same way other characters were, but it’s a great addition. (It also makes me want to reread Pirate Enlightenment, but that may take me a while to get to).

It’s an amazing book and well worth the read!

• The Adventures of Mary Darling
• Pat Murphy
• pirates
• David Graeber
• racism
• sexism
• colonialism