Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Lost in the Never Woods

Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

39 reviews

jazzyjbox's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

The descriptions were repetitive, but the climax and ending were worth it.

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emfass's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.25

Read this book in anticipation of Aiden Thomas coming to visit the Bad Bitch Book Club - they were an utter delight and I also now have a huge crush on them. Aiden told us during their visit that although Cemetery Boys was published first, Lost in the Never Woods was written first, as their thesis project for their MFA in Creative Writing.

I haven't yet read Cemetery Boys, but was so excited for this one because Peter Pan is probably my favorite story, and I absolutely love retellings. I think this story does some very interesting things with exploring the psychological connections to the Peter Pan story, and in the way it explores grief and trauma and memory. It was much darker than I expected, but I really liked the fresh take on the story of Peter Pan and Wendy.

There were a few times I struggled with the pacing and staying engaged. The reveals at the end are a great payoff and make perfect sense for the story, but parts of the plot leading up to that felt a little slow...though on the flip side, that also allowed for slowing down enough to sit with some of the after-effects of trauma. (Also I just seem to be in a grumpy reading slump in general right now, and am having trouble getting swept away in books like I was just a couple months ago.)

CW:

Kidnapping, grief, death, gun violence, child death

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ashleycmms's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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invioletshadows's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

this book left me an absolute wreck, and i'm going to be thinking about it forever. i already miss wendy and peter. i think i just wanted a little more from the side characters

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kharlan3's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

3.25

i wanted to like this book. i liked the author's other book. i.... did not like this book.

(YA, fairy tale retelling). Honestly, this one didn't super work for me. The protagonist felt immature (but like she was supposed to seem mature) and the story felt fairly predictable. Usually I like YA but this felt... too YA. I didn't like that the MC cut herself off from her best friend for the whole book and that that was portrayed as the right choice, and though most of the characters in the book didn't like/are scared of cops, it still felt like the BOOK likes cops.

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anyepagan's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-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

3.75

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

LOST IN THE NEVER WOODS retells Peter Pan to create a story of trauma, repression, and helplessness. Five years after Wendy's temporary absence and her brothers' ongoing disappearance, kids start going missing.

As a Peter Pan retelling, this fits into a sweet spot between “the story you remember happened a long time ago” and “the story you’ve been told was wrong”. Wendy doesn’t remember what happened when, five years ago, she was missing for six months, then suddenly reappeared without her brothers. There’s a sense of frustration running throughout the story as it becomes more and more apparent that Wendy’s missing memories are important, but she doesn’t know if she’ll ever get them back. It meant that when the book finally gives some answers almost at the very end there’s an enormous catharsis. I wasn’t frustrated at the book, I was frustrated for the characters, and so watching them (particularly Wendy) get answers and closure was immensely satisfying. I spent the first 80% liking it but not sure what the twist was going to be... and then the twist/reveal happened and I loved it. It's a take on Neverland that I haven't seen before and it works extremely well.

I wish Wendy’s friend Jordan had more of a positive presence, it seemed like she mostly existed as part of the crowd of well-meaning but currently unhelpful figures in Wendy’s life (though the epilogue makes up for a lot of the earlier lack). On the other hand, the feeling of being surrounded by a crowd of people who mean well but literally can't help worked really well to support the themes of trauma, repression, and helplessness which are integral to the story.

I liked this and it showed a new side of Wendy, Peter, and Neverland, which is the best part of any retelling. I'm very glad I read it.

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