The Child Thief by Brom

The Child Thief is a novel written by Brom, the commercial illustrator of Gothic (if you will) art. It can be considered a twisted version of Peter Pan. In this version, Peter hunts the cities for children to bring to Avalon, a land where children will never grow up. To many, it sounds awesome, but Peter fails to mention several things. His band of stolen children names themselves the Devils, and they must fight in a war against Avalon's monsters or risk being tortured or gruesomely slaughtered.


Brom does an excellent job with his novel. He paints in words to create this twisted tale of Peter Pan, based after the real Peter Pan written by JM Barrie and not the Disney-fied version. If you're thinking of purchasing this book for your child because it's a Peter Pan story, think again! This book is filled with gruesome violence, sexual intercourse, and profanities. However, while many authors use these in an attempt to cover up the fact that there's no real storyline, Brom masterfully weaves these elements into his story to better emphasize the dark nature of Peter's world. Not only that, but it also shows us why so many children would want to runaway into the mysterious (and dangerous) world of Avalon: because their lives back at home just aren't filled with happy sunshine and colorful rainbows. But everything comes with a price as the children soon find themselves in a world where monsters plague the land. It's either killed or be killed. And all to protect the Lady of Avalon, who has used her magic to seduce Peter. Meanwhile, a group of Puritans from long ago that were trapped in the Mist (a magical barrier that the Lady uses to protect Avalon and it's filled with horrors of all sorts) are still alive after hundreds of years and are seeking revenge. Peter, alone with his Devil children must fight for their lives in order to protect Avalon. They follow Peter because Peter's laugh is a "most contagious thing", but some just want to go home to humanity and find their mothers.


If you like dark fantasy and want to read a new rendition of the classic Peter Pan, then I highly suggest that you read this book, for Brom has created a dark and richly beautiful tale that will leave you hanging onto the edge of your seat throughout! On the bright side, it's illustrated too!