Tigerheart

Rating NR Genre fantasy Author Peter David Publisher Del Rey

Two parts adventure, one part coming of age story and one part philosophical discourse, Peter David's Tigerheart is a Victorian bedtime story for modern times. Written more for adults than children, the story revisits the world of Sir James Barrie's Peter Pan, but on this visit all is not as it seems. The Anyplace, as Neverland is called here, still holds many adventures but of a darker shade. The carefree, flying boy has lost his way; Peter no longer fights pirates, instead he's become their leader. In these pages he is known only as The Boy, an appellation signifying both his legendary status and loss of identity. Once the hero, The Boy himself now needs to be rescued.

Outside the Anyplace, in London, young Paul Dear lives with his loving parents. His father tells him tall tales and fairy stories, many involving The Boy, while his mother tempers them with common sense. Neither is aware Paul has the ability to see and talk with the pixies and other magical folk who inhabit nearby Kensington Gardens. Paul seems to have the best of both worlds. Then his life changes with two astounding discoveries: he will soon have a baby sister and at night his reflection in the bedroom mirror talks back to him and mocks him. Paul suspects this reflection is really The Boy, although it looks so like him, he sometimes wonders if he is The Boy. When tragedy strikes the family, Paul sets off to the Anyplace on a quest he hopes will restore their happiness. Through experiences both wondrous and all too real, Paul finds the truth about himself and the ageless youth of his father's stories. 

Pirates, evil villains, lost boys, and magical creatures abound in Tigerheart just as in Barrie's original. However, while the book flap says this is a “modern fable--for readers of any age,” adults may want to read it first before letting children read it themselves.

Many old and new characters in the Anyplace have taken a step toward adulthood, which may be disconcerting or even disturbing for young readers. Tinkerbelle, here called Fiddlefix, swears up a blue streak--all in untranslated pixie language, so the book still gets a PG rating--and obsesses over The Boy like a jealous first wife. An almost pubescent Wendy, called Gwenny, is relatively tame in her fascination with The Boy, but Princess Picca takes him into her wigwam to help him in “Indian way” one night. “Boy complain that he not boy. That he man. That, as a man, he useless now....Princess Picca show him otherwise,” she says. That's as far as the subplot goes, but it still leaves some uncomfortable speculation in the reader's mind.

Advice from the self-conscious narrator, so intrusive he must be counted among the main characters, might also cause consternation. His asides can be amusing, but often seem as meddlesome and annoying as a pissed-off pixie in the Anyplace. He interrupts the story--sometimes at the height of an adventure--to warn readers what will and won't happen. He also finds it imperative at every turn to explore the nature of fact versus fiction, explain how dreams affect reality or insert observations on the behavior patterns of girls, boys and adults. Many of these remarks boil down to stereotypical “boys will be boys” and “girls will be girls” holdovers from the last millennium. Also, in this politically correct age, such phrases as “Indians of the Picca tribe” and “redskins” will not sit well with many readers.

Halfway through the book a character says, “There's no scents in dreams.” While there is much sense in Tigerheart, do not expect an abundance of comfort. It is written in true fairytale style with harsh lessons underlying even the most enchanting parts of the story. Paul Dear's coming of age is memorable, but brought about by painful events. The magical snow tiger, who Paul first meets in his dreams and then later in the Anyplace, will definitely win a place in any reader's heart, but its fate is bittersweet at best. Older children who have read through the Harry Potter series should be able to handle this. The ending, while not happily-ever-after for all, arises logically from previous events. Patient adults, who don't mind a narrator speaking directly to them, will find Tigerheart predictable in places but it does raise many points to reconsider in the original story of Peter Pan.