A review by izzyvb023
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

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

3.25

Described to me as a "modern Narnia" with sprinkles of detective fiction and magical realism, I was really excited for this one. In some ways, it lived up to the hype, but in others, fell totally flat for me. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but would be remiss if I said I absolutely loved it.

What I enjoyed:
  •  the first half of the book was great. I was immediately hooked on the premise and the characters
  •  the world building was believable
  •  Fritz the rat
  •  the relationship between Rafe/Jeremy + how they navigated grief, loss, and fear

What I didn't enjoy:
  •  the dialogue. The author tries so hard to make the characters quirky and relatable. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, it read as cringe inducing and obnoxious.
  •  the "story teller's corner." I truly don't think this was necessary. I understand that the author was going for a Lemony Snicket style snarky narrator who intervenes in the story, but it just didn't land for me. More often than not, the story tellers corner seemed like a way for the author to summarize plot points that she didn’t want to write
  • On that topic, there was a LOT of telling & not showing. For me, the magical aspects of the world really lost some of their fantastical qualities because of this. 

Overall, this was a fun and quick read! Lovely little LGBTQ romance + a great premise. But some of the attempts at quirkiness and snark were overdone and the the magical world building was less than ideal. 
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