Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

38 reviews

purrson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I was surprised at how quickly I got sucked into this book, as I’m not a fan of Peter Pan stories—I came to this after loving Cemetery Boys. A lot of this book is about trauma, and choosing to move forward and choosing your own survival. The small town setting feels a bit static, but Thomas really captured that feeling of the last gasp of childhood well, as well as the excited energy adolescent love can bring. The MC’s trauma, grief, anxiety, and loss, is all handled with care, and it pays off. I definitely rooted for the love interests here, even though the choices made make sense for the story, I love where the epilogue leaves things. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Confinement and Animal cruelty

ka_ke's review against another edition

Too triggering. As an oldest sibling/child myself I found Wendy’s character to be too real. The anxiety, and the panic attacks all caused by her overwhelming sense of shame, failure and guilt hit too close to home. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Mental illness

chemicalcain's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Once again, Aiden Thomas has managed to write a book I couldn't put down. I don't normally blaze through print books this fast! There were a few things that disappointed me about this book, mostly because of how much I loved Cemetery Boys. I didn't vibe with Wendy as a protagonist; her firmly internalized guilt and need to fill every waking moment of her time are trauma responses that hit a little too close to home for me. (She was written quite well, though.) I also wish we could have explored the ending twist in a little more detail!

I'm absolutely fascinated by the idea of Neverland as a world of the dead, and the visible collapse of the place when a living person stays too long. I would have loved to see some more scenes within Neverland itself.

Music to listen to while reading: "Astoria" and "End of an Era" by Marianas Trench

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Child death, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Medical content

allygator's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Medical content, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I didn't know much about this book before reading it. I didn't even realise that it is a Peter Pan retelling.
I'm glad that I didn't know that before though because I have read the Original last year and didn't really like it. But this book was really good! It is a quite dark retelling of Peter Pan and Wendy is a grown up in this one (well ..she is 18).

The story was really immersive and I didn't want to stop reading. It is also a kind of mystery because you learn throughout the book what really happens to children and what happened to Wendy and her brothers all those years ago.

It is a quite gruesome story but I liked that twist to this children's tale.
I definitely want to read more books by this author!

My biggest problem with this story was the romance aspect of it. Don't get me wrong, I actually quite liked Peter in this book (I didn't like him in the Original), but having him fall in love with Wendy just seemed so strange.
 

I mean yeah he is technically way older than her and his body is also aging during their time together but he is still so childlike and idk it just felt really weird.

What I did like though was the twist to Peter's story. Him being a guide to murdered children is actually quite interesting. It explains his story so much better. He is compassionate and helps them move on. I liked this Death version of him.

All in all I would definitely recommend this book! Even if you don't particularly like the story of Peter Pan like me, you might still like this book. Also if you like mystery mixed with paranormal stuff this is for you :)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Car accident, Death, and Murder

ali_k0's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment

lipstickitotheman's review

adventurous emotional 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

2.5

It's not a bad book; I just didn't particularly enjoy it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Child death, and Death

writewithapendragon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book starts off mega slow but the last third or last quarter is really exquisite.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders

anniereads221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I am so glad i was able to reread this a year later, this book still means so much to me, i loved this peter pan retelling that gives such a fresh take on the tale, but a take that i even thought about before this book and when i realised where this one was going i knew it would have such a special place in my heart

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Child death, Alcohol, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Grief