With thanks to netgalley

Can’t really remember this book, but I’m sure that the drawings were lovely.

Elliot, Charlie and Arthur decide to take a supposed shortcut through the woods, during a treasure hunt at camp. Only, this shortcut leads them through some strange and unusual events that are steadily becoming more bizarre and dangerous. What is this forest really and what are these weird creatures they keep coming upon? And, why is the hat they happened up so special?

So, the premise of this book is this is a magical part of the forest these boys have stumbled into. The youngest grabs a hat off a dead moose, which turns out to be sacred. This leads to many misadventures, with a guardian on their trail, beasts seeking the hat to become lord of the forest, and a forest woman who needs it to exact vengeance.

The illustrations in this graphic novel are quirky but beautiful. They have a manga feel to them, but are also distinctly different. The youngest child's imagination is shown in bright colours, some of the only times colour is used within the book, and seems dreamlike. He also sees himself, his brother, and his brother's friend as robots on a mission. The rest of the book is mostly black and white line art, with detailed depth. There are other instances of colour, but they usually are for single panel, full page illustrations, that appear when the children come face to face with something fantastic and awe inspiring. Often, something both beautiful and terrifying. The full page colour illustrations dazzle and bewilder with the grandeur of the scene, the otherworldliness (for example: when the children finally meet the woman spirit draped in her spiders).

These kids have found themselves in the middle of a battle between the forest spirits of a former husband and wife, the woman seeking vengeance on the man for keeping them in a dangerous forest and not believing her when she asked to leave for safety. The kids are oblivious to all of this, shocked and worried for their lives, with no real understanding of what is going on around them. They continue along their dangerous path, almost willing to accept that they are now in some strange woods, following along when told to ride a certain beast, running headfirst into danger. More than anything the older two seem more angry than scared, and the youngest appears to fit in quite well in the forest.

The graphic novel was confusing at times and I found it a bit odd how the two kids would follow this other child into an unknown forest. But, I suppose kids are prone to danger when it also means adventure. It was fun and dark, twisty and at times kind of cute, but I felt at times the narrative left a little too much up to the reader to decipher. Also, I was shocked by the ending when the story so adamantly talks about how the forest, once it has its hold of you, refuses to give you up.

I loved the nod at the end to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack. This graphic novel was very much an adventure novel where the creatures could be both friendly and deadly. The forest could 'eat you up', if you are not careful. A very good novel for an imaginative child, or adult.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this novel. I really loved the art, it was amazing and beautiful. I couldn't put the novel down because the illustrations really drew me in. This is the type of art style that I enjoy and would hope to find in other graphic novels. It was an interesting choice to change from color to black and white. I loved the magical aspects of the novel but the story felt uncomplete toward the end. i liked the beginning and seeing the journey that these kids were going through. I like that we can see the mindset that most children would go through when off on their own adventures but I would still like to see some resolution at the end with the forest creatures.

A beautiful book that had my students enthralled, "just one more page, please...". The illustrations are gorgeous and evocative, great for challenging young writers to use strong descriptive words and phrases.

A beautifully illustrated book that is lovely to look at, but as a story it seems two dimensional. Perhaps its the translation but I felt no connection to the character's arcs.

The writing and art blended seamlessly to give an eerie feeling that set the tone for an excellent story.

Three boys enter the woods and get lost and encounter strange creatures. The story itself doesn't always make sense or feel cohesive, but I got the feeling it was because we're seeing the forest through the eyes of three boys with vivid imaginations. Are the things they encounter real or just made up? Is there really a clothes-wearing talking fox who is looking for his bicycle or are the boys just starting to get lost and want help to find their way back? Honestly, I'm not sure but that might be the point.

I have to say that (most) of the art is absolutely beautiful. It's colorful and lush and vibrant and a little strange. But unfortunately most of the story is drawn in black and white inked images that don't mesh with the rest of the story. If it was just a few pages it would be fine, but I wish more of the story had been drawn in the colorful, watercolor-like art.

This gives such wonderful gothic fairytale vibes. The illustrations are just incredible gorgeous and it lends itself to the fairy tales of old. The incredible art really makes the story because it is just too beautiful to ignore and the story itself even though interesting only works with the illustrations.

What a gorgeous book! The illustrations pulled me in, but the sinister aspects of the story were what compelled me to read this one in one sitting!

I loved the art in the The Lost Path, and I liked the story that went along with it. The words came to life in the pages of the book and I recommended it to my customers at my bookstore who were looking for more books to buy for their kids and themselves.

This is a weird fever dream of a book. The illustrations are gorgeous and there is so much detail. But, at the same time. the plot is hard to follow and the range of illustration styles is confusing and makes for challenging reading.

This book tells the story of a few boys who go hiking in the woods.

They get lost (as expected) and find a rather quirky place in the forest.

Art wise, it’s beautiful. I already knew Amélie Fléchais’ artstyle from “Little Red Wolf”, so I had high expectations, and they were met.

Story wise, it’s bizarre in a great way. I have some questions when it comes to the forst’s lore, but that’s okay.

Overall, this was a great book.

Rating: 4 stars

Honestly I’d give it just 3.5 stars, I enjoyed the art slightly more than I did the story as a whole. It was a interesting concept and idea but I just didn’t really click well with everything coming together.
It had a “kids spooky” idea to it so it makes sense that it wasn’t sooo over board that they wouldn’t be able to continue with it. I’ve not yet read it with the kiddo maybe I’ll do a reread with him and see if maybe my minds changed a bit more with a younger reader.

Unfortunately, this book was not a good match for me, and I will decline to review. I hope plenty of other readers find it more compatible, and thank you for the opportunity to review!

I love Lion Forge comics and am interested in reading anything they release. This title did not disappoint. I enjoyed the style and color palate of the artwork and the creepy story was very different. It wasn't so spooky that younger readers couldn't enjoy the title, but it was spooky enough to keep my interested. A great title!

Don’t let the gorgeous colors fool you (such a pretty graphic novel!), this story was all over the place. I could not follow it! What started out as a promising treasure hunt and three boys getting lost in a forest turned into a hot mess of gibberish!

Good for middle grade readers interested in fairytales and adventure that isn’t dystopian. Adventure and survival books are one of the most requested titles at my work from tweens, so it’s nice to have that’s a little out of the ordinary.

This is one of the most beautiful graphic novel illustrations that I've ever seen, some of pages are in color while others are only in black and white. I really like Amelie Flechais's drawing, but the story is not what I like.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had huge expectations for this one because of the beautiful cover design. I was expecting an interesting story, but I got was a story that. to be very honest, had no pint at all. It started out nice and I was sure that like every other sensible book it'll go somewhere, but sadly, it did not! Imagine my horror when it turned out to be a senseless story with good illustrations - that's the only thing I can say to sum up this book.

The Lost Path is about three boys who are lost in the woods and try to find a way to home. On their journey, they come across to habitants of this forest. I expected that their encounters with habitants would be connected to each other and make the plot stronger but unfortunately it did not happen. The origin of the curse that affects the forest was weak too. The art style was very cute and the colored pages were on spot. But the black and white pages were looking like sketches. Switching between the colored and black-white pages were random. I expected that the colored pages would be used in important scenes.