Dust by Kara Swanson

I have so many feelings right now!

*deep breath*

First of all I am going to disclose that my DNF list is littered with YA and fantasy. 

I have even written in some reviews that the characters were too "YA" for me.

That being said I chose to read this book because I wanted to join in on a book club experience. 

I got a bit caught up in it and blew through it in just a couple days while juggling other books.

I will also say that Peter Pan has never been one of my favorite stories (perhaps that is why I liked Clair so much). I never really liked his self centered attitude. 

So now that all of the negativity is out in the open I am going to share why I enjoyed this book so much!

It is deeply layered- I loved that there wasn't needless drama or a plethora of extra characters,  everyone mentioned serves a purpose and a key roll into how the story plays out. 

We get a very interesting version of Peter- as mentioned earlier I never liked Peter as a character.  This book tackles his weaknesses, it gives us just a tiny glimpse into the backstory to intrigue me. I liked how the author didn't try to justify his actions or attitude, she has them as obstacles to his growth as a character.

This version has a dark edge to it- this isn't the Disney version,  and I like that about it! I was worried that the characters would be too childish,  but they are fighting a battle that is real, the perils are there. And their is a real darkness that they face that makes this book that much better in my opinion.

I loved that the secondary characters were well drawn (especially Tiger Lilly ).

The only fault I can find in this story is there is no specific spiritual message.  I guess in part the reference to dark vs. Light is in there but I had hoped because this was from a Christian publisher, I had hoped for a bit more.

That however does not discourage me from quickly putting Shadow on my list for one of my most anticipated book to come in 2021!

Because that ending has me wishing I had a time machine!