The Child Thief was a trip into the sort of fairy tale fantasy world so common in countless kid’s fantasy adventure stories, except this is not your typical children’s fantasy. The story is told through such a raw, unfliching style, which never shies away from showing brutal tragedy as brutal tragedy and terrible violence in all its terrible detail.
At its heart it is the story of Peter Pan, a Peter Pan which is in some ways more true to the original works by J. M. Barrie than the Peter Pan headlining in all the child friendly movies, records, and cartoons which most people are so familiar with. At least it is more true to the Peter Pan which was implied by Barrie’s works, and more true to the mythologies which inspired Barrie as well. Though even the original works by J. M. Barrie often glossed over death and violence without ever focusing on any sort of realistic psycholigical effects among the children invloved.
The Child Thief re-imagines Peter as a lost soul, outcast from both the world of the fae and the world of men, he fights for his survival among men and he fights for his place among the fae. Throughout the ages he develops a savage bloodlust and keen survival insticts, becoming both a cold strategist and a savage warrior as a reaction to the harrowing times and persecutions he lives through. Forever young, he eventually finds that he can bring others with him into the world of fairy, but only children, for only they still retain some degree of purity and magic which allows them to pass between the worlds, with Peter’s guidance.
So in order to fight against a great threat which looms over all he holds dear in the realm of fairy, Peter is driven to gather an army of children from the world of men. Children to fight and die in his war against a nightmare threat. Peter is often torn between his own noble ideals and the reality of bringing innocent kids into his war to bleed in battle and die for his cause, but the fact that he himself is still only a boy, combined with the very importance of all that is at stake, make it somehow justifiable in his mind.
The other children are mostly filled with a deep loyalty for Peter. They are children who were lost and alone when he found them. The unwanted, the enslaved, the abused, and doomed to die. He saved each one of them from something, he gave them a life, a family, and taught them to kill and die after giving them something to believe in, something worth killing and dying for. Of course they loved him for it. Except for those few that didn’t, the ones that resented him, hated him, feared him, and saw the insanity and cruelty of involving children in his personal war – of teaching them to enjoy it. Then there were those that never even made it to the land of fairy, those who Peter had saved only to be lost to the terrors and trials of the trip between worlds, lost to a fate worse than death – they had no idea what they were agreeing to, until it was far too late. And worse still, were those children who were just a bit too old, the magic of fairy would corrupt them, twisting them into vile, deformed, bloodthirsty shadows of themselves.
Peter is a troubled child, with an uncertain past and an uncertain future, in world frought with insidious bewitchments, on the brink of disaster. His deadly grim band of devil kids are troubled children too. Each with their own tragic tales to tell. And the whole magical fairy tale is delivered with such a ruthless clarity that it succeeds in really bringing the horror to life, and breathing real purpose into the rich tapestry of characters which B has assembled so flawlessly for us.
One thing which really impressed me about this book was that the writing itself was quite nearly perfect. I enjoy a great many books because they are good stories or present interesting or original concepts, but I often find the prose itself lacking. Not here. I did not find Brom’s prose lacking in the least, his writing compliments his imagination perfectly.
Many authors writing today seem to have either forgotten, discarded, or simply failed to learn many basic tenets of good story telling and writing. Some of the issues which seem rampant in today’s novels are long, exhaustive descriptions (one of the first things writers learn is to show, not tell – but many writers today either fail to understand this or fail to see the value of it). Lack of active prose. Poor research. Tedious disertations on fictional histories in order to create some degree of internal consistency, or just failing to achieve internal consistency at all. Predictable outcomes, or unpredictable outcomes which are poorly executed and are obviously just for the sake of unpredictability. Gaping plot holes. Excessive repetition of tired cliches. Easy solutions that materialize virtually out of thin air. Etc.. Etc..
Not Brom. In The Child Thief I found his writing to be more impeccable than anything I have read in quite some time. He was not lazy about researching his subject and his keen attention to most of the tenets of good writing really pay off. He also doesn’t ever really take the easy path with this story, sometimes accomplishing spectacular feats of skillful writing and imagination in order to bring together a more difficult to compose, but infinitely more engaging and well thought out tale. Sometimes it may begin to feel a little predictable, but it seldom really is, once you turn the page. Truly a masterfully crafted tale by a truly multi-talented artist.
Brom takes a wonderful, classic children’s story to whole new levels of brilliance and poetry which is not for the kids anymore, or even the feint of heart. The Child Thief is certainly a page turner, and not likely to disapoint. Many stories I read are excellent right up until the last couple of chapters at which point the story falls into one of a small handful of overused and cliched outcomes and/or simply tie up the story with a quick, convenient and often internally inconsistent reckoning, which for me kind of spoils the whole story. Again, Brom has avoided this pitfall, and delivered a darkly poetic saga which maintains its appeal from beginning to end. Some may take issue with how the story concludes, but from a critical standpoint the ending was flawless, though I’ll refrain from saying any more about that, lest I give anything away.
In summary: a masterpiece.
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