Alias Hook

Are you tired of retellings of classic stories yet? Yes? Me too. Alias Hook wants to be a story about shedding childish things and moving out of the fantasy of Neverland as an adult woman steps foot in Neverland and hook begins to realize there's more to life than a futile war. It was an okay book and I know people who will like it, but for me it replicated a lot of the problems that the original Peter Pan has in terms of the sexist treatment of the female characters (where even Stella, the character who was supposed to be the co-star was really just there to move Hook along in the story). And all the women were mothers or mothering archetypes (or “Wendys”, but “Wendys are always “mothers” to the boys according to this book) which gave it a really frustratingly binarist/cissexist tone. And that doesn't touch the totally unironic Magical Savage thing– Alias Hook replicated the racist treatment of the Native Americans instead of actually considering the implications of an entire aboriginal tribe out of time and space. Still, there is something to be said for a love story about Hook finally growing the fuck up, so for someone who doesn't get deeply frustrated by stagnant roles for women and people of color, it's not a BAD book. It's just not great either.