Reviews with content warning for Torture - Lost in the Never Woods

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

10 reviews

kerrygibbons's review against another edition

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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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tovetott's review against another edition

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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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tea_coffee_sam's review against another edition

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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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the_ash37's review against another edition

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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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saltylane's review against another edition

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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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allygator's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was such a unique Peter Pan adaptation. Aiden Thomas is a genius for making such a classic story into a YA horror/mystery -- it works so well. I couldn't put this down, it was so engaging and fast-paced and I was so invested in how the story was going to end. I loved the characters, and I was so tense trying to figure out what was happening to them. I was so nervous to pick this up after loving Cemetery Boys so much, but I was not disappointed. This has definitely cemented Thomas as an auto-buy author for me, and I can't wait to read what he puts out next.
I loved how well this book touched on trauma and PTSD, it felt very authentic and it made Wendy a much more compelling character than she was in the original story. I wasn't sure how much I would love her romance with Peter, but it wasn't overwhelming in the story and I honestly kind of enjoyed it. The trauma within Wendy's parents was really well-written and had me crying at some points.

When Peter speaks to Mrs. Darling in John and Michael's voices when she sleep talks??? I had a whole crisis.

I also really enjoyed Jordan's character, though I wish she had more page time. In general, this was a lot less diverse than Thomas' debut, but it didn't really detract from the story for me. The ending had me shaking it was so good, it was so bold and scary because it definitely could happen in today's world.
All in all, this was such a good retelling; I highly recommend picking it up.

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theespressoedition's review

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

"I think people are more frightening than the dark," he said. "A person can stand right in front of you and be dangerous without you even knowing it."

I was only 36% of the way through this book when I determined that it would be going on my favorites list. What a story!!!

Honestly, I picked this up because it was talked about pretty frequently on bookstagram and I hadn't read many Peter Pan "retellings" (which - this isn't so much a retelling as it is a magical realism that happens to include Peter Pan in it). It blew me away!

At the beginning of the book, I thought I would be spending my time rolling my eyes at the silly youth and their silly flirting or something like that - but instead, I was completely sucked into a creative story with a wicked twist and a whole lot of imagination.

There were moments that gave me goosebumps, which was unexpected in the best way. It wasn't "scary" so much as it had a creepy factor to it (there were parts of it that reminded me of The Near Witch by VE Schwab, since it had children disappearing/being kidnapped and taken to the woods).

I loved the fact that while Peter was heroic, he was also flawed, and throughout the book, he had much more character development than I initially expected from a children's fairytale being that is already so well-known. It made him relatable.

The romance was really well done because it was minimal and sweet. Rather than trying to make you feel all swoony over a children's character (who is usually depicted as a child himself), you look at him through the eyes of Wendy, who has literally been crushing on him since she was actually a child. It almost felt like a "celebrity crush" in a way. It was her meeting someone that she had treasured as a story for so long and then realizing they were tangible and reciprocated feelings as well. I digress. It was sweet.

The twist at the end was one I did not see coming at all. And let me tell you, I can usually sniff out a twist from a mile away, so if you were to go to my kindle right now, you'd literally see that I annotated "OH.MY.GOSH" when everything went down because I literally didn't know how to process it. I was so emotional and I absolutely love how Wendy handled everything.

I do wish that this had a sequel. I know that it's silly because it "wrapped up" at the end, but I became so enveloped in this story that I never wanted it to end. So much love!

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

The ending of this book is what saves it. I was going to rate this read two stars before the resolution came about and I saw what Thomas was trying to do with the story. But for the most part, I didn't really enjoy reading this book. The pacing was not it - there was no sense of mystery, tension or urgency despite the high stakes because those stakes were relegated to the background. Most of the plot ended up being Peter and Wendy essentially going on dates. Yet I couldn't feel invested in the romance because Peter is this kind of immortal being and Wendy is 18. Finally, I thought that the book lacked the magic and whimsy which made the original story so memorable.

But like I said, the ending saved this book. It provided a satisfying resolution. Apart from this I also liked Wendy as a narrator and I enjoyed the detail Thomas put into their description. I'm still going to keep reading their books as they always have intriguing and original premises, I just hope I can click more with their books in the future!

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bedtimesandbooks's review

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dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I’m going to be 100% honest with you.

The ONLY reason I picked up this book is because it was written by Aiden Thomas.

I LOVED Cemetery Boys. It is by far, one of my favorite reads this year.

I’m not a Peter Pan fan. But, I trusted Aiden and picked up this book anyways.

And as I was reading it I thought it was fine. It didn’t engage me in quite the same way that Cemetery Boys did. I know that this is a YA, and as I was reading it I definitely felt like this was made for a younger reader, which I didn’t feel like with Cemetery Boys. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not the intended reader. A book can be good and not my cup of tea all at the same time.

But then... as I got closer to the end I stayed up WAY too late finishing this, and ended up bawling my eyes out. So yeah. Maybe it is for me? I don’t 100% know where I stand yet, but any book that makes me ugly cry AUTOMATICALLY gets stars.

I will say that if you are even remotely familiar with the Peter Pan story, then you will probably be able to easily identify some of the upcoming twists and storylines. Aiden has described this as “basically fanfic”, and I agree with that descriptions (albeit with the racist stereotypes removed which made this much better than the original story)

Also, this cover is 💯

Will I read Aiden’s next book? 100%. I can’t wait.

This one was hard to rate, but I’m going with 4 Stars

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stardustandrockets's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I did NOT see that ending coming. Talk about your dark take on Peter Pan. Hot damn. I'll hopefully have my thoughts collected and a more cohesive review up soon!

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