Fairytale retellings have been popular for several years, and I don’t usually pick them up, but I couldn’t pass this one up. I remember watching and loving Peter Pan as a child, and as I got older, enjoying different remakes, including the live action Pan with Hugh Jackman as Captain Hook. In the saturated market of retellings, this is the first time I could think of a novel retelling of Peter Pan, so I was excited for a new look at the trend of retellings. On top of all that, I saw the announcement for this book shortly after I finished reading Aiden Thomas’s first book, Cemetery Boys (check out my spoiler-free review here). I just couldn’t pass up another opportunity to read their work!
Summary
Wendy Darling is turning 18 and prepared to leave Astoria and her past behind her. But when children start going missing again, just like she and her brothers did five years ago, the town starts turning to her, hoping she remembers more than she did when she was first found alone 6 months after disappearing. Attempting to get away from all of the accusing stares, she almost runs over a body lying in the middle of the road, who turns out to be the mysterious Peter she’s been drawing and dreaming about. In order to understand her connection to Peter and hoping to find out what happened to her brothers and the other missing children, Wendy joins Peter in his search. Hopefully it’s not too late.
Review
I picked this book up for the premise and it certainly did not disappoint! I really enjoyed this take on Peter Pan, exploring the fairytale’s potential dark sides and with older versions of both Wendy and Peter. While Wendy was first taken when she was younger, the novel takes place around her eighteenth birthday, which pushes her to the end of her teenage years and almost into adulthood. Throughout the novel, Peter ages rapidly, losing touch with Neverland the longer he is stuck in Astoria. As readers, we get to watch the relationship between Wendy and Peter grow and change as Wendy tries to remember and as Peter ages.
I think people are more frightening than the dark. A person can stand right in front of you and be dangerous without you even knowing it.
page 84
One of the central themes of Lost in the Never Woods is the ways that grief and loss can affect people. Wendy and her parents each handle the loss of John and Michael differently, showing different manifestations of the emotional toll on individuals throughout the book. We also see the effects that these responses can have on those around the individual. Wendy feels the need to walk on eggshells around her parents at times, and her heart breaks each time she hears her mom talk in her sleep. We also see Wendy’s best friend, Jordan, hesitate to share information or get too worked up with Wendy during the investigation. When reading this, I couldn’t help thinking back to all of the crime shows I’ve watched in the past when they talk about the statistics related to relationships after the loss of a child, or in this case children.
Shadows are made up of all the dark and bad parts of yourself. They feed off of bad thoughts – fear, worry, sadness, and guilt.
page 118
The biggest drawback for me in this book is the pacing, especially in the middle. I can’t help comparing this book to Thomas’s other published work, Cemetery Boys, and when I do, Lost in the Never Woods just seems to move so much slower. There are times when the action seems to physically stop, whether it’s because adults appear or it’s too dark to continue the search. While moments like this happened in Cemetery Boys, they still seemed to add more to the characters and plot than they did hear. Perhaps this was because Wendy and Peter often wen off in their own directions to avoid detection, but the reader was left with Wendy who often felt unable to do anything more in these moments.
Final Thoughts
The pacing of this book certainly made me think about putting the book down and DNF-ing it a few times, but the premise and the amazing analogies related to shadows and emotions are what really kept me going. I wanted to find out how the retelling ended and I’m so glad I stuck around to the end! The ending has really stuck with me, as have the quotes I included in this piece about shadows and humanity. Lost in the Never Woods takes a unique look at the story of Peter Pan and our human reactions to heavy emotions.
This book tackles some difficult topics, including grief, loss, anxiety, insomnia, and kidnapping. I would recommend this book to any upper middle and high school reader looking for a unique retelling!
I read the 2021 hardcover edition of Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas.
If you’d like to pick up a copy for yourself or a friend, check out the following links:
Leave a Reply