Scan barcode
A review by bisexualwentworth
Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked this book a lot overall, but I did have a couple of issues with certain aspects of it.
I really enjoy Aiden Thomas's writing style. It's beautifully descriptive and always delivers just the right amount of information.
The plot structure and a lot of the relationships are actually very similar to Cemetery Boys. I felt like Cemetery Boys had stronger characters and Lost in the Never Woods had stronger plotting, but the details of the two books are very different and other readers might not agree with me on that. Both books explore grief, but they do so in very different ways.
The actual Peter Pan adaptational choices are creative and interesting. I don't want to spoil anything, but there were some choices and twists that really worked and made this old story feel new. Peter and Wendy felt like the same characters but reinterpreted in an intentional and interesting way. The take on the shadow was particularly compelling. The cops, especially a particular detective, felt like a new take on the pirates, which I thought was a fantastic choice. I also think it was wise of Aiden Thomas to fully write out Tiger Lily et al and create a new best friend character for Wendy named Jordan. I liked Jordan a lot and would have liked to see more of her.
I listened to the audiobook, and I highly recommend it. Avi Roque narrates both of Aiden Thomas's books, and they're fantastic. I will listen to any book they narrate.
I want to preface this critique with a disclaimer: I don't think that authors from marginalized backgrounds owe us diversity. They don't owe us identity-based trauma. They don't owe us autobiographical narratives. I fully support Aiden Thomas's decision to write a book that is not diverse because this is simply the story they wanted to tell.
But the whiteness and the heteronormativity of this book did bother me. And I think it's because of the subject matter.
See, a lot of this book is about missing children, and in reality, children of color go missing all the time and get less media attention and fewer resources than white children who go missing. Children of color are absent from a lot of conversations about missing children, and ultimately, they were totally missing from this book, too. I know that Oregon, where this book is set, is very white, but this just felt like a weird blind spot. Maybe I noticed this more because Cemetery Boys addressed this exact issue directly. Maybe that means that I'm holding the author to an unfair standard, but I think I would have had this issue no matter who wrote this book. And maybe all Peter Pan retellings are going to struggle when it comes to racial issues due to the inherent racism in the original text. I don't know.
Otherwise, my only real issue with this book was the romantic subplot. I didn't personally like it, but it was necessary for the plot and executed better than I expected.
Honestly, I think the reason I didn’t like this book more is just the inherent fact of it being a Peter Pan retelling. I don’t think that the Peter Pan story is fixable. I think it’s inherently problematic to ship Peter and Wendy together. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more Peter Pan retellings after this.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I absolutely recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you!
I really enjoy Aiden Thomas's writing style. It's beautifully descriptive and always delivers just the right amount of information.
The plot structure and a lot of the relationships are actually very similar to Cemetery Boys. I felt like Cemetery Boys had stronger characters and Lost in the Never Woods had stronger plotting, but the details of the two books are very different and other readers might not agree with me on that. Both books explore grief, but they do so in very different ways.
The actual Peter Pan adaptational choices are creative and interesting. I don't want to spoil anything, but there were some choices and twists that really worked and made this old story feel new. Peter and Wendy felt like the same characters but reinterpreted in an intentional and interesting way. The take on the shadow was particularly compelling. The cops, especially a particular detective, felt like a new take on the pirates, which I thought was a fantastic choice. I also think it was wise of Aiden Thomas to fully write out Tiger Lily et al and create a new best friend character for Wendy named Jordan. I liked Jordan a lot and would have liked to see more of her.
I listened to the audiobook, and I highly recommend it. Avi Roque narrates both of Aiden Thomas's books, and they're fantastic. I will listen to any book they narrate.
I want to preface this critique with a disclaimer: I don't think that authors from marginalized backgrounds owe us diversity. They don't owe us identity-based trauma. They don't owe us autobiographical narratives. I fully support Aiden Thomas's decision to write a book that is not diverse because this is simply the story they wanted to tell.
But the whiteness and the heteronormativity of this book did bother me. And I think it's because of the subject matter.
See, a lot of this book is about missing children, and in reality, children of color go missing all the time and get less media attention and fewer resources than white children who go missing. Children of color are absent from a lot of conversations about missing children, and ultimately, they were totally missing from this book, too. I know that Oregon, where this book is set, is very white, but this just felt like a weird blind spot. Maybe I noticed this more because Cemetery Boys addressed this exact issue directly. Maybe that means that I'm holding the author to an unfair standard, but I think I would have had this issue no matter who wrote this book. And maybe all Peter Pan retellings are going to struggle when it comes to racial issues due to the inherent racism in the original text. I don't know.
Otherwise, my only real issue with this book was the romantic subplot. I didn't personally like it, but it was necessary for the plot and executed better than I expected.
Honestly, I think the reason I didn’t like this book more is just the inherent fact of it being a Peter Pan retelling. I don’t think that the Peter Pan story is fixable. I think it’s inherently problematic to ship Peter and Wendy together. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more Peter Pan retellings after this.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I absolutely recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Grief