Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

46 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

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

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

tea_coffee_sam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Child death, Death, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Medical content, Alcoholism, and Cancer

navyredrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I hated the audiobook narrator. The cadence and voices were grating to me and I think drastically impacted my enjoyment of this book. 

The pace only picked up at 86% of the way through. The show & then tell method of storytelling was not great and just made me frustrated with the main character who was a bit slow on the uptake. 

Would not read or recommend but the last 24% really came on to have save the book (hence the 2.5 vs 1 star rating)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, and Death

rainbowkamiya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

dragonwriter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wendy, John, and Michael Darling disappeared from the woods behind their Oregon home just before Christmas, and six months later, Wendy was the only one to return, her brother’s blood crusted under her nails. Wendy is unable to tell the police what happened; her memory of the last six months are gone, but she’s terrified of the woods. Five years pass, and still, no one knows what happened to John and Michael, but Wendy keeps drawing pictures of a twisted tree and a boy from her stories, Peter Pan. On her eighteenth birthday, her past finally start to catch up to her when she finds a boy on the side of the road—a boy who knows her name and looks EXACTLY like her pictures of Peter Pan. The boy claims to be that self-same Peter, and he begs her for help to find and reattach his shadow, who has gone rogue and been kidnapping local children. Realizing this could lead to her lost memories and even bring her brothers home, Wendy agrees to help, coming face to face with the horrible truth she tried to forget.

I really liked this interpretation of Peter Pan—though I don’t really understand why it takes place in OREGON, of all places. It deals very heavily with the effects of grief and loss on a family, as well as childhood trauma. The explanations of Peter’s purpose, fairy dust, the shadow, and Neverland itself are all excellent and I enjoyed how they played into the story.

My biggest complaint is: WHAT HAPPENED TO NANA??? I don’t know how I missed it. I kept listening for what happened to the dog, but I don’t think they ever said. Nana came out of the woods with blood on her muzzle, then disappeared from the story, and I NEED to know what happened to her 🥺

CW: child death, grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Child death, and Grief

the_ash37's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

*the plot twist*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Stalking

be aware of the plot twist

lastcomment314's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.25

A haunting story, Lost in the Never Woods tells the story of one girl coming to terms with a party she has forgotten while the world around her tries to save the children who have recently gone missing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Death, and Gun violence

saltylane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked the book okay, but the “final battle” ending felt… idk, like it didn’t really make sense?  I don’t know why, but even when things were going on—like action/fighting—I would sometimes get bored. I’ve noticed this author tends to describe things excessively with interiority, sometimes repeating the information in slightly different ways multiple times… I don’t know if it counts as “telling” rather than showing, though, since it can be important to get a character’s feelings on what’s happening. 
The author also often includes a “best friend” who would be great to get to know more about and get to interact with in the story… but then gives them very little “screen time” and focuses on the two characters with a romantic connection. Maybe they have a hard time juggling multiple character interactions at once? 
Overall, I think this book has a very interesting and unique spin on the “Peter Pan” story. I feel like the author struggled to find a believable way to end the main conflict, which is a shame because the surrounding plot seemed pretty solid. The writing style wasn’t for me, but I’m sure others can easily enjoy the book regardless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Child death

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Medical content, Stalking, Vomit, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts