Review: Lost in the Never Woods

Title: Lost in the Never Woods

Author: Aiden Thomas

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Publication date: March 23, 2021

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Summary

When the town’s children start to disappear, questions about Wendy’s brothers who disappeared five years ago start to resurface. Trying to run away from prying eyes in her small Oregon community, Wendy runs into a boy who seems to know about the disappearances. A boy named Peter Pan.

But Peter can’t be real, right? However, Peter insists that if he and Wendy don’t do something, the missing kids will be gone for good. In order to do that, Wendy has to face the past that she’s been running away from. In order to save the children, Wendy has to remember what happened five years ago. She has to confront her memories of the woods.

Review: Lost in the Never Woods

Thanks to Swoon Reads and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this to review! Ever since Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas has definitely been on my radar. Probably an auto-buy author for me now! I can’t wait to get my final copy in the mail because the cover is just gorgeous.

This book is much slower paced than Cemetery Boys. Most of the action comes in the last third of the book, and there is a lot of build up to the main event. This is mainly due to the fact that much of this book is an exploration of the trauma that Wendy experienced and working through that trauma. Thomas once again shows their mastery of writing character as even the side characters, like Wendy’s best friend Jordan, felt fully fleshed out to me.

There were just a few things about this that didn’t make it a five star read for me. Most of it has to do with the timeline, specifically the five years between Wendy’s brothers disappearing and the events in this book. It leaves some plot holes that don’t necessarily make sense by the end of the book. What was happening in that five year gap, specifically in Neverland?

I will say, I think the plot twist was a little less obvious in this one. And possibly more heartbreaking. There are some excellent nods to Peter Pan throughout, so if you’re a fan of that classic story, you’ll definitely enjoy this twist. All I can say is that I can’t wait to see what Aiden Thomas does next!

4/5 stars