“These Deathless Shores” is an adult fantasy novel written by P.H Low, which constitutes a sort of retelling of the origin of Captain Hook. A dark book with extremely interesting premises and spellbinding prose, which unfortunately did not convince me in its development. The story proceeds between repetitions and chaotic situations, with events, even important ones, mentioned and then dropped without any additional explanation. Some actions or decisions made by characters seem to come out of nowhere, so much so that on more than one occasion I had the impression that pieces were missing. The characters, main and secondary, seemed to me superficial and poorly delineated, with no real evolution. I was unable to bond with them, to understand them, and this prevented me from becoming interested in their affairs. I'm disappointed because the idea was full of potential and the writing intriguing, but the rest unfortunately did not convince me.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very dark but interesting take on the classic, These Deathless Shores was a brutal read - not least because of my closeness to some topics raised in the story - that I honestly feel compliments the original tale more perfectly than Disney's Peter Pan ever could.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I just wish this hit for me. The writing was very hard for me to get into. I wanted to like the moody and dark tone, but I found it very hard to focus. It wasn’t bad, too many elements just didn’t work for me. I think it wasn’t quite descriptive enough, I think it was a little too repetitive, I think it had pacing issues, confusing world building... I liked the representation in this, I just wish the character had been a little more vibrant.

Yeah, this is an unfortunate miss for me.

2⭐️

"In stories, as in life, girls who let their hunger consume them did not get what they desired."
These Deathless Shores cannot be summed up in any meaningful way that doesn't involve the above quote. A story of love and hate, of self-loathing and narcissism, of the cruelty of children, and the cruelty of adults who were never allowed to be children. A story of murderous children who grow up to be child murderers, there are no heroes in this book. No good guys. There are survivors, living among the broken shards of themselves and the strictures placed upon them by society - whether that is Peter's society or the wider one.
A story of all the ways people who are perceived as female are forced to shrink and mould themselves into the stories of others as support, comfort, help-meet, mother. And a story of all the ways people are perceived as male are found wanting if they act or speak or breathe wrong.
The book is a shard of glass to the throat; and PH Low is going to go on to do marvellous things.

3.5/5 stars. I loved the premise of These Deathless Shores, and it had amazing potential as a retelling of the origins of Captain Hook. P. H. Low's writing is beautiful and lyrical throughout the book, and builds up the world of the Island and its moody undertones incredibly well. The issues that characters dealt with were portrayed in a thoughtful and sensitive manner, and I felt for many of the characters, particularly Baron with his struggle to fit back in to "the real world" and Chay with her desperation to stay in Peter's good graces and not make her sister's mistakes. I also adored the passages towards the beginning and end that were from the perspective of the Island.

While I loved immersing myself into the world of the Island, I began to lose interest at around 50% - the fights between the pirates and the Lost Boys became predictable, and the ending felt too easy for everyone involved. The action fell flat for me and was dragged out for a little too long to keep my attention. I would have loved to learn more about Tink as well, and perhaps hear Tink's perspective on things. Despite this, I'm intrigued by P. H. Low's writing as it was absolutely gorgeous and incredible at setting the scene and mood, so I look forward to reading their future work.

To the grown-ups still finding their way.

Dark, riveting, enthralling. Absolutely incredible.

On the Island, Jordan disguised herself as a boy, so she could fight and play among the Lost Boys instead of being regulated to the role of Ama. However, she was outed by the coming of her period and was forced to flee the Island or face death by Peter and his Boys.

Baron followed Jordan soon after, trying to get through school despite being hopelessly behind, desperate to make something of his life. He wanted to be someone. Feel something. But it was the Outside world that was supposed to beat them down now. The slow march of days, and cubicles like lit coffins. They had grown up, after all.

This deals with many dark and triggering topics, but it’s so unique as it’s in a whimsical fairytale fantasy setting we all know and love.
How does a girl stave off growing up? By malnourished body through hunger.
What does the cravings of Dust do to you? Give you drug addiction.
How do you cope with being thrown back into the real world? Suicidal thoughts and anxiety.

She would rather die a quick death than a slow one. Would rather go up in flames while she was ahead than shrivel in a slow decay of consequences.

There’s also extremely good representation (good and depressing)!
- Jordan has a prosthetic arm.
- Alcoholism, dependency, addiction
- Anorexia
- Baron is severely visually impaired.
- There’s a transgender Pirate.
- One of the characters has a stutter.
- LGBTQ+

I think the start and middle of the book was definitely the strongest and I was flying through the book, riveted. However, the latter part felt repetitive with many skirmishes between the Pirates and Boys and a lot of rehashing of emotions and arguments.

Not to mention, the actual ending felt rushed and there were certain inconsistencies as well as a troupe used that I personally don’t like as it almost feels like a plot cheat.

Despite this, it has a strong message throughout (screw capitalism, long love stories and magic). Not to mention, the last few pages pay homage to the many books Low derived inspiration from and I am not surprised to learn they are all some of my favourites!!

But she could not confess the ugly things she had done to keep herself special, chosen; could nor speak of the price she'd paid, to stay the only heroine in a story not merciful to girls.

I am obsessed. Strong four stars, almost five stars! 🌟

Thank you to Angry Robotfor providing a physical arc proof in exchange for a review!

Unfortunately not for me. I could not connect with the story and writing style. Awesome premise that had the ability to make a great story. It was just lacking in execution.