The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe – An Erotica Book Review
This book is dark, twisted, and hot as fuck! If devilish depravity is your thing, this book is for you!
Erotica review by Dr. Tiffany “K.”
Series:
(Vicious Lost Boys — Book 1)
Publisher:
Blackwell House LLC
Published:
2/24/2022
Read:
Nov. 2023
Genres:
Fairytale Retelling, Fantasy, Dark Paranormal Erotica, Reverse Harem, M/F/Group
Formats:
eBook, Paperback, Hardback, & Audio
Get your copy here:
Pages:
192
Publisher’s Description:
The stories were all wrong — Hook was never the villain
For two centuries, all of the Darling women have disappeared on their 18th birthday. Sometimes they’re gone for only a day, some a week or a month. But they always return broken.
Now, on the afternoon of my 18th birthday, my mother is running around the house making sure all the windows are barred and the doors locked.
But it’s pointless.
Because when night falls, he comes for me. And this time, the Never King and the Lost Boys aren’t willing to let me go.
Note From the Publisher:
The Never King is a dark retelling of Peter and Wendy. If you like your enemies to lovers romance with hot, ruthless, morally gray love interests, you’ll enjoy The Never King and the Lost Boys. You can expect hate kissing, fighting, bickering, and ‘touch her and I’ll unalive you’ vibes.
Explicit Rating:
X (Violence, Murder, Kidnapping, Torture, Fear Play, Explicit Sexual Behavior, Group Action, Male Fae Twins in Group Action, Morally Grey Romance) — intended for 18+
Trigger(s)/Content Warning(s): (These are taken directly from Nikki St. Crowe’s website) Graphic, rough sex, sex in public, group sex, DubCon, graphic violence, graphic language, suicide and talk of suicide, captive/captivity, attempted sexual assault, degradation, submission, bondage, blood play, spanking/punishment, CNC
Perspective:
First-person, multiple POVs.
Characters:
The characters in this story consist of Peter Pan, his Lost Boys, the Fae twins Ras & Bash (sons of Tinker Bell), Vane (A deeply dark magical male), Winnie Darling (a modern-day descendant of Wendy Darling), among other side characters such as Tilly (Tinker Bell’s daughter and sister to Ras & Bash), Mary Darling(Winnie’s mother), Cherry (a runaway pirate female), and Brownie (a betrayer of Peter Pan).
Taboos/Kinks/Fetishes:
My personal favorite genre is taboo fairytale retellings with sexual explicitness, and that might be pretty kinky to some readers (I find it kinky anyway). This story contains edge play, group action, fae prince twin action (no swords crossing), CNC, humiliation, a little praise kink, fear play, and more.
Character Age Range:
18+
Ending Type:
Total cliffhanger. The ending clearly sets the plot up for the next book.
A Brief Overview of the Down & Dirty Bits:
This book is an adult retelling of Peter Pan that is filled to the brim with dark and delicious taboo scenes. Winnie (the descendent of Wendy Darling) is kidnapped but finds the experience to be hot in every sense. Neverland is filled with depravity, sculpted and tattooed Lost Boys, and magic. There are scenes depicting praise kink, humiliation, fear play, exhibitionism, voyeurism, reverse harem group sex, and delicious filth (if that’s your thing… no shame here!). If you are looking for dark kinky fuckery, it’s here.
My Thoughts on the Book (SERIOUS SPOILER ALERT! There are a LOT of spoilers in this next section. I’ve never been good at keeping secrets.):
Here is some very vulnerable honesty… I JUST started reading reverse harem erotica and I feel like I’ve been living under a rock my entire adult life. I’ve been knee-deep in BDSM, M/F, and F/F erotica for as long as I can remember with the occasional short story involving hotwifing and swinging thrown in the mix. But, if you are on TikTok and found yourself deep into the spicy side of BookTok, you have likely run across recommendations for The Never King which often give hints in coded phrases as to what the book was about.
I’ve personally found the BookTok “smut” recommendations to be really hit or miss, which doesn’t surprise me. The fact is, the view of “smut,” “erotic,” “romance,” and “porn” is highly subjective. Even the Supreme Court has trouble identifying it, with a Supreme Court Justice stating on record during a pornography trial in 1964, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Given my preference for the dirtiest, descriptive, juicy stories I can find, and have been let down by past recommendations on BookTok when someone says “smut” and I find it to be as tame as a lazy house cat, I wasn’t sure what to expect with The Never King. Boy was I in for one hell of a ride!
If you haven’t read the book yet, let me give you some background (and fair warning right now, there will be spoilers in this review! If it isn’t your thing, stop reading this review immediately and set aside the next few hours to read the book… you’ll either thank me or curse me out later. If you enjoy some filthy spoilers, keep reading… then read the book.) The book is based on Peter Pan, Winnie (Wendy’s modern-day descendent), and the Lost Boys in a way that no other published book has touched. I love dark and twisted fairytale retellings more than any other genre, and this book is FAR from the version you read as a kid. Warning: Everything about this book is for the 18+ audience.
The book starts with Winnie Darling’s perspective and every chapter is from the perspective of a different character. For two centuries, every Darling woman is taken by Peter Pan on their 18th birthday and is “broken” mentally (later you find out this mental breaking is actually done by Tinker Bell’s daughter, not the Lost Boys… although they get rough in *other* ways.) Winnie is told her entire life that “he” is coming for her on her 18th birthday, but she doesn’t believe it until that day comes (pun intended). Her mother does everything to try and prevent it, but nothing will stop Peter Pan from finding Winnie.
Once Winnie Darling is in Neverland, she meets the Lost Boys; specifically the delicious Fae twins, Kas and Bash first. Vane is another character who seems more like a dark dick who enjoys a humiliation kink far too much, but in the end seems to have a depraved, yet sincere heart. The twins, Kas and Bash are more curious than anything, but Vane starts off by simply wanting to evoke fear in Winnie. Peter Pan makes it clear that “no one fucks the Darling” but that doesn’t last too long.
Here is where this book follows the older tale: Peter Pan was initially looking for his shadow and in this retelling, it’s the same thing. What makes this one different is the shadow is the source of Peter’s powers and to keep his seat as “King,” he needs to find it. He believes Winnie, the descendent of Wendy who was believed to have taken the shadow so long ago, could help him reclaim it once more. Winnie had no idea this was the reason every Darling female had been taken on their 18th birthday… to find out if they would be the one to help Peter find his shadow. But, every Darling comes home mad as a hatter and no one knows why. Winnie is the last hope for Peter.
Now to the dirty parts… when I picked up the book initially, I knew it would be dirty, but had no idea just HOW dirty it would be. Winnie is kidnapped yes, but every sexual encounter is made clear that she wants it, owns it, and relishes in it (hence the CNC aspect). My favorite scene of the entire book, hands-down, is the group scene where there is twin action by the Fae Princes, Ras and Bash with Winnie (don’t worry, there are no swords crossing). Peter clearly enjoys himself and Vane makes an appearance to give a little humiliation and denial in the process… you will need a cold shower or a fully charged toy to read this chapter. I needed both.
The characters in this book I found to be multidimensional. I identified with Winnie in more ways than I’d like to admit, and the male characters I loved more often than not. However, now and again, I found moments where I wanted to reach into the book and yell at them (which I think was likely the intended result). Vane got under my skin the most because he was so resistant to Winnie, but his kinks I found to be spot on and clear. I have a strong feeling he will resonate with specific taboo kinks for some people (spoiler here… at one point, he spits in Winnie’s mouth and clearly has a humiliation kink that riles Winnie up. I fully note that humiliation is not something that everyone likes, and it’s actually not a kink of mine, but because I recognize it and understand it from a kink educator and sexology perspective, I don’t judge or shame it.) But, once the story continues, he ends up the biggest protector and I fell in love with his actions more than his kinks.
The Fae twins were my favorite next to Peter. Ras and Bash were pure bliss in more ways than one for me. One nice, the other devilishly naughty and Winnie knew how to work her own brand of magic to get them into bed. The group scene with them and Peter was *chef’s kiss* pure gold. I also relished in seeing how sweet they were after the scene, giving serious aftercare vibes, and Winnie getting the glorious night of cuddling up with both of them in an enchanted room. *sigh*.
Peter is everything. He is dark, protective, has a primal streak, and enjoys watching Winnie get fucked by his Lost Boys… Maybe it’s just me, but what’s not to love about this? At first, I actually wondered if he was being painted as a vampire, but later in the story, I understood why he was written this way. I have to stop here and give some serious kudos to Nikki St. Crowe for this one. Peter is a sculpted, tattooed bad boy with some edge kinks that left me in full shock and awe.
I have to admit, I wasn’t ready for this book to end, but instantly grateful I had book 2 ready and waiting for me to dive into it. I was left wanting more after a roller coaster ride into depravity and can’t wait to see what happens next!
Overall, I gave this book 4.5 stars
I REALLY wanted to give it a full 5, but the fact is…as I write this, I’m also knee-deep in book 3 of the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series, and the world-building, descriptive writing, and visual imagery is better than anything I’ve read since Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but with steamy scenes woven in! If I could weave ACOTAR’s writing style with the pure twisted smut of The Never King… Goddess help me, I’d never leave my bed again.
My Final Word:
This book is my latest obsession. I can’t get enough of it and want this debauchery to continue for as long as it can. But, I also recognize it’s A LOT for some readers. It’s not a slow burn, and it certainly isn’t “romance” in the traditional sense. It’s morally grey with one woman at the center of 5 highly sexual, rough, tattooed, primal, sculpted magical males. There is no softness, vanilla, or monogamy here… but you will find pure fantasy of the most twisted kind. I will be rereading this over and over for years to come (pun intended).
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