Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

92 reviews

kerrygibbons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

1 rainbow 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Car accident, Confinement, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Stalking, Bullying, and Addiction

The themes of this book are dark and involve children going missing, emotional abuse, and

child death

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

merc_birb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Child death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Gun violence

tovetott's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Okay, first off, I am always obsessed for anything Peter Pan. Secondly, I got this mainly because it's the same author who wrote Cemetery Boys (a series I've wanted to read for the LONGEST time), and I thought it'd be a good introduction to what their writing is like! 

And because Thomas said it too in a review post on goodreads, yes this is written much like Peter Pan fanfiction. Did I still absolutely DEVOUR this in three days?? YES 

It's got everything that makes fanfiction so fantastic, warm and fuzzy. Everything from the drama to the deep, dark lore turn/twist to the tense and complicated crush-having of two people who have way too much stuff going on and still manage to fall for each other amidst the chaos. It's got the ice cream-parlor moment, it's got the almost-kiss-but-interrupted-moment, it's got the "oh my god he's wonderful with children too" and then the almost too cruel, omnious, mysterious entity that makes everything go to hell. 

I had an amazing time, and the characterization of Peter was WONDERFUL and his banter with Wendy was AMAZING and after hearing that a nearly equally charming character is hiding somewhere in 'Cemetery Boys', I can't wait to read that too. <33

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Child death

Moderate: Torture and Alcoholism

historyoftape's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I struggled to get into this book after having super high expectations for the premise. I'm glad I ended up picking it up again, because the story started picking up a bit just after where I'd stopped. I really enjoyed how it set up my initial suspicions, then made me question them over & over again by

giving what seemed to be clearcut answers that contradicted them, only to have them confirmed in the end

Sometimes I felt the book leaned too much into previous characterizations of Wendy and Peter, but the further on it went the more I could feel the characters becoming the author's own. The ending came about

a little contrived, the fact that all of a sudden she could just decide that now was a good time to remember what happened, but then again, she did just get information that changed what she thought she might remember so I'm not quite sure about how to feel about that

Everything after that point was well thought out, the twist was great, the ending truly bittersweet. And the epilogue was just open enough for me to start spinning my own possibilities.

also, kind of a cool parallel how as a pediatrician Wendy will be helping kids on this side of the afterlife, and Peter will take care of the ones she might not be able to save... A comfort?

One thing I found slightly unrealistic though was that none of the kids spilled the beans on Peter Pan.

The lie of there being a different kidnapper leaves them with a heap of trauma they can't really talk about-at least to their parents. I mean sure, being consistently scared by a shadow to feed it seems hard to explain, but man is that different from mere confinement.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Gun violence, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Addiction

Minor: Stalking and Chronic illness

thecharnelraven's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Alcoholism, and Gun violence

icmcmx's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Absolutely not what I expected from Aiden Thomas story-wise, but this was just as good as their other work, and  heartbreakingly beautiful to boot!

A story about loss, dark thoughts and hope. 

Freakin love Peter Pan shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death and Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol

the6thstorm_hawk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Child death, Alcohol, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Car accident

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Wendy’s life was upended years ago when she and her brothers went missing in the woods, and only she returned (with no memory of what occurred). I enjoyed this Peter Pan-inspired story. It didn’t wow me, but I enjoyed the experience. Wendy’s complicated relationship with Peter, and Peter’s complicated relationship with stories were compelling enough to keep me reading. The ending feels both like a little much and very satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, Death, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Grief, and Kidnapping

Parents lost in grief, missing siblings, missing children, trauma

estellec13's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident