Lost in the Never Woods

When Wendy was a kid, she and her two little brothers disappeared in the woods. Only Wendy was found, 6 months later, and she has spent the last several years trying to remember what happened, especially now that more children have started going missing. And then, one night, driving home through those same woods, she hits something dark and shadowy with her car and finds a boy lying in the road. A boy who looks exactly like the boy she’s recently been drawing, a memory from her dreams. And he tells her he may know what’s happening to the lost children.

I absolutely loved Thomas’ Cemetery Boys, so I was excited about this retelling of Peter Pan. And it does *not* disappoint. Inventive and full of interesting twists to the original show more tale, it also has all Thomas’ knack for characters and dialogue. Definitely recommended. show less

Lost in the Never Woods takes the bones of Peter Pan and builds around them an horror tinged tale about grief, loss, and dealing with trauma. It's also a hopeful story about facing your fears and healing, about forgiving yourself.

On Wendy Darling's 18th birthday she almost hits a boy lying unconscious in the middle of the road. He looks like the boy she keeps compulsively drawing every time there's a pen in her hand. He knows her name. There's just one problem: he can't possibly be real. He's a boy from the stories her mom told her as a kid. The ones she used to tell her brothers before all three of them went missing and only she returned. This impossible boy claiming to know her and her brothers shows up just as more kids are going show more missing. Now it's up to Wendy to face her biggest fears and confront her past. If she doesn't, more kids may be lost forever in the Never Woods.

For the past few months I've been in a huge reading slump and this was just the book I needed to get me out of it. Normally I'm not a big one for Peter Pan stories, but this modern take got me with it's blend of the fantasy and escapism of the original with mystery, horror, and a touch of romance. Thomas deftly weaves together familiar elements from the original story and films with this eerie tale of missing children and evil, both mundane and supernatural.

The true heart of the story is Wendy and her trauma. Living with the grief of her missing brothers and how it's changed her family, plus the fact that she returned alone with no memory of what happened made her internalize it. Instead of processing it, she's let it take over. She blames herself. The novel is largely about her learning to face that and come to terms with it. While that sounds like a meditative kind of novel, Thomas manages to marry that story of grief with a fantasy mystery that drags you deep into the action.

Overall this is a well paced interesting tale that will appeal to teens and adults alike.

An egalley of this title was provided by the publisher via Netgalley show less

Thomas' reimagining of Peter Pan and Wendy Darling brings such a sense of reality and danger into the childhood story, it's truly breathtaking. Almost from the moment I picked this book up, I felt as if I was holding my breath--I was entranced by the story and Thomas' dynamic take on the characters, while at the same time somewhat heartbroken for whatever might be coming, knowing that the characters' very identities and situations meant that any possible ending would be difficult for someone, on some level. Around two thirds of the way in, I found myself clutching the book with tears running down my face, though there was nothing so sad going on the page, and I had to make myself take a break--I wasn't ready to come to the end.

The odd show more thing about this book is that it almost demands too much of a reader in some ways--it asks that you open yourself back up to the wonder of the story of Peter Pan, and engage with a child's wonder, while at the same time seeing everything as an adult--with attendant adult realities and heartbreaks sitting in the wings, demanding attention. As such, there's a weight to this book that I haven't often encountered, and at times it felt almost unbearable, in the most powerful way possible.

Thomas is undoubtedly a talented storyteller, and I look forward to reading more of his works, powerful as this one was. Granted, I wish the editors had taken a heavier red pen in cutting out some adverbs/telling, but for the most part, I really enjoyed his writing and style--particularly once I was a few pages in and the story picked up. Especially since this one relied quite a bit on the original characters built into the Peter Pan story, I'm anxious to see what he'll do with characters that are 100% his own creation.

Meanwhile, I absolutely recommend this book. show less

This is a great take-off on Peter Pan. In this instance, Peter's impact spans two generations, Wendy's and her mom's, who is a nurse. This time, Wendy is a shell-shocked high school senior, still unable to get past missing memories and other traumatic effects of what happened to her and her younger brothers five years ago. She reappeared six months after the three of them vanished. Her brothers did not. When Peter appears, or more accurately reappears, he needs her help to capture and re-attach his shadow. What ensues is a mix of scary, evil, hopeful and highly emotional. The ending left me with the same bittersweet sense the I had when I finished reading The Golden Compass, and that's very high praise.

Do you ever just buy a book solely based on the cover? Well, I certainly do! That’s how I ended up with Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas. Of course, I was even more excited when I found out that it is a retelling of Peter Pan. I love fantasy books in general, but I especially adore retellings.

Thomas does a fantastic job of recreating the childhood bond between Wendy and Peter, which ultimately develops into a cute romance. I also enjoyed how Thomas made the central storyline about missing children, and more specifically, Wendy’s missing brothers. The mystery in addition to the fantasy aspects made the book hard to put down.

While I didn’t love the ending because I felt like it was left a little too open-ended, the rest of show more the book was riveting. I was constantly wondering about Wendy’s lost memories, which added more suspense to the novel.

But honestly, this novel was so much deeper than a suspense story or a cute romance. It had powerful messages about living with guilt and the importance of closure and family. It’s not exactly rare that I cry when reading a moving book, but all the same this book definitely brought a tear to my eye. So, if you’re looking for a book that has fun and fantastical aspects, but also has deeper meanings, then you can’t go wrong with Lost in the Never Woods! show less

Avi Roque is such a good narrator! I really enjoyed this.

I am not a fan of the original Peter Pan, but I like some of the ideas in that story. I am glad that Aiden Thomas ignored the aspects I hate about it and kept the ones I like.

Five years before the start of the novel, Wendy Darling’s two brothers went missing. Now, more children have started to disappear and bringing back memories of the two missing boys from all those years ago. Wendy encounters a boy that claims to be Peter Pan and that has an idea of what they must do to find the kids. However, this means that Wendy will have to go back into the woods she tried to avoid in years.

I am not the biggest fan of urban fantasy either, but I like fairy tale inspired stories and show more something like Peter Pan is close enough. I also like mysterious, magical and dark stories and this one fits too. This book has a mystery, but the focus is on Wendy and her mental health as well as her relationship with her parents and Peter.

The story moves slowly even though there is urgency when it comes to Peter finding those kids and going back to Neverland. At times it seems the characters get distracted from their mission and I wonder if it is because of the child-like nature of Peter Pan and if being with him brings up the same in Wendy too.

Sometimes I felt that the messages were too explicit on the page and I prefer it to be more subtle and not spelled out. However, this seems to be very common in YA and it’s not particularly an issue with this book.

I liked the cute relationship between Peter and Wendy and how Wendy’s struggles were dealt with. I also liked the resolution to the mystery and the explanation of Peter Pan’s work.

What I liked the most was the ending. I like the kind of endings that leave space for the imagination. My main issue with Cemetery Boys was that the ending felt too easy and convenient. This one didn’t make me feel the same way and because of that I like it better. show less

This book is definitely slower paced than expected, but well worth it. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the Peter/Wendy romance at first, but it grew on me. I also think I knew the twist earlier than revealed, but it still shook me in a good way. This is one of those books that you just can't put down once it gets going.