The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe Book Review

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Ratings

Content Warning: Mental Illness, Smoking, Graphic/Rough Sex, Group Sex, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Captive/Captivity, Degradation, Submission

Review

The Never King is an entertaining dark spin on Peter Pan. It was enjoyable and a quick read— only took me 5 hours. I was honestly surprised at how small of a book it was. I do think it could have had about 100 extra pages just for descriptions and more depth, but it was still good.

Pros

>Quick read

Cons

>No map

>No real detail besides sex scenes

Plot

I’m not too familiar with the plot of the original Peter Pan, but from what I remember this book is on par with it, give or take. I feel like there could have been more explanations of what was going on instead of relying on the reader’s knowledge of the film. Regardless, the book was fast-paced, but not in a bad way.

Of course, the main focus of the book was the sex scenes and the plot was more on the back burner, but it still balanced the two well. And honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised.

Characters

Winnie

When thinking of Peter Pan and reading the back of the book, I was not expecting Winnie to be the way she was. I was expecting someone a little more innocent, but with the way the book is written, Winnie fits right in. She went through some shit and survived it all, to which I’m glad St. Crowe added in. Otherwise, Winnie would just seem like a flat character who only enjoyed sex. Not someone who was worried about belonging, her mother, and enjoying the freedom of being a “kid” with no responsibilities.

I actually liked Winnie and I’m curious to see how she grows and develops in the next book.

Pan

I was surprised we didn’t see a lot of Pan in the first half of the book. It was mainly focused on the twins with his POV coming in every now and then. But you can definitely tell he is a man at wit's end and edged with anxiety about his shadow. It was subtle, and mainly showed in his monologs, but it was there. Which I enjoyed. Pan is a man in pain, his heart broken, and his world spiraling.

Will he grow softer towards Winnie in the next book? Will he dig into those roots he had with the original Darling?

The Lost Boys

Man oh man, these Lost Boys were something. I loved the twins and their relationship with Winnie. They definitely had that balance between caring for Winnie, enjoying her company, and falling into their normal ways (meaning sex is on the brain). These two took up a majority of the book, which I was fine with.

Vane was interesting and honestly portrayed as more of the “love interest” than Pan was. I’m very interested in him and his story because I don’t recall a character like him in the original film (correct me if I’m wrong).

Writing

The writing is very vulgar and offensive (I personally didn’t like some of the words used), but it did fit the tone and characters of the story. Switching between POVs was also well done and a joy to read. Each character had their own tone and style, too, so it was easier to pick up what kind of person they were.

Even though the book is short and the writing simple, St. Crowe did a damn good job at portraying the characters and their depth. The only thing lacking was descriptions of the world and events. I would have liked more detail, especially about how each character looked, the room Winne was in, and the general atmosphere of Neverland.

I liked how St. Crowe included a URL to the content warnings of her book beforehand, too.

Conclusion

The Never King was fun, enthralling, and steamy! I enjoyed the more mature and dark side of the story. The characters were well developed, even if the book was less than 200 pages, and the build-up for the next book was there.

Even though the scenes and language were quite vulgar (even for my tastes), I’m still interested in reading the next book and seeing where the story goes.

Cover Art

I really like the cover of this book. It gives off very dark vibes, which sums up the book pretty well.

Regardless of how much I looked, I was unable to find the artist for this cover. So, if you know who it is, please let me know! I’d like to like their page.

What did you think of the book? Do you have anything to add, good or bad? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

If you want a more brief review, view my "to-read" list, or what I’ve read before 2022, you can follow my Goodreads page by clicking the link below.

My Goodreads Page | Nikki St. Crowe’s Website

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