After Aiden Thomas’ debut novel Cemetery Boys, I was sold. I could not pass down the opportunity to read this as soon as possible.

Following Wendy Darling as she tries to figure out what is happening in her town with kids disappearing left and right. And how it may be related to her brothers disappearance 5 years prior.

This fell short for me. I was completely sold on the romance and there were lots of spots that were just meh. But this will not out me off from reading their future releases!

I went into this book pretty uninformed. I LOVED Cemetery Boys, so I knew I wanted to read this, and I knew it was related to Peter Pan. That was about it.

Enter 18-year-old Wendy and an aging-before-our-eyes Peter Pan, and off we go on a rather dark adventure to wrangle Peter's malicious shadow and find John, Michael, and a collection of other missing children.

The reader learns that Wendy went missing with her brothers five years ago, and while she reappeared after being gone for six months, John and Michael never returned. Wendy has no memory of what happened while she was missing, but when children start going missing again, she knows it's time to face her fear of the woods.

I really liked this twist on the traditional Peter Pan tale, and although it was honestly darker than I expected, I thought Thomas did a good job handling the effects of trauma and grief on all members of the Darling family. The characters were well-developed, the plot was interesting, and overall, I'd confidently recommend this book (with some content warnings).

Thank you to NetGalley and Swoon Reads/Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review!

Aiden Thomas has been all over my feed following the success of their novel Cemetery Boys. And while I’ve been meaning to pick up that book, I decided to start with Thomas’s newest story, Lost in the Never Woods, which came out in 2021. I had high expectations for this one, primarily because I’ve only heard glowing reviews of Cemetery Boys. While there are elements in Never Woods that I enjoyed, there were things that really kept me from falling in love with this story.

Wendy Darling is turning 18 and all she wants to do is finish her volunteer shift at the hospital and go home. While trying to leave, she discovers a group of nurses and cops huddling at the front desk. Even though she is filled with dread, Wendy begs to hear what’s going on and learns that another child has gone missing in Astoria. This is not easy for Wendy to digest. You see, Wendy and her two brothers, John and Michael, disappeared in the woods five years ago. But only Wendy returned, with her brother’s blood under her nails and no memory of what happened. Wendy has been in survival mode, and her past is slowly creeping back up. As kids continue to mysteriously disappear, Wendy comes face to face with Peter Pan, a boy she thought only existed in stories. Peter needs Wendy’s help to capture his shadow before he loses all his magic in the real world. So the pair decides to team up, find Wendy’s brothers, save the kids, and confront the secrets about Wendy’s mysterious past.

Before I jump in and share why this story wasn’t for me, I have to say how much I appreciated the portrayal of grief and trauma, especially in a story that skews toward a younger reader. Wendy’s family is devastated after Michael and John go missing. We see Wendy’s father isolate himself and give into drinking while her mother withdraws from parental duties and has energy only for her shifts at the hospital. Wendy sadly reminds them of what they’re missing, and she largely has to take care of not only herself but both her parents all while dealing with her grief, guilt, and trauma. I would have appreciated seeing those real, human emotions and reactions in the stories I was reading in my formative years to help me process my stuff. So major shout out to Thomas for exploring some great themes.

To me, all the great fantasies effectively produce a suspension of disbelief. The stories should pull you into the world and keep you there, so I always expect that the trivial, real-world elements of life shouldn’t dramatically affect the story. But these little moments happened frequently in Never Woods, and it totally messed with my head. For instance, we’re made to believe that the stakes are high - kids are missing and no one but Wendy and Peter has an idea of what is happening. They’re the ONLY people who can save the day, but this larger-than-life task never felt important because Wendy would legit stop searching because she self-imposed a curfew on herself to get home before her parents. My adult brain was like, “You have a chance to find your missing brothers, the thing that haunts your every waking moment, and you’re calling it a night?” It may be my age showing here, but I couldn’t get past these instances. My suspension of disbelief was shattered and so was the urgency to solve the problem.

The pacing of the story is very slow. We swirl around in Wendy’s head a lot, hearing her thoughts but not actually seeing action for a good chunk of the book. Now, there was a twist at the end that is good, like so good. When that moment was revealed I couldn’t help but think that this was the story I had been waiting for. There were glimmers of greatness in Never Woods; the writing was good and the overall story was promising. I think at the end of the day I just wanted...more?

Lost in the Never Woods can easily be a good, maybe even great book for some readers out there. Overall this is going to largely appeal to a younger demographic as the characters are at that coming of age phase right at the cusp of high school graduation. And while those days are more than a decade behind me, I can normally vibe with these stories. But my age must have been in the way because I simply couldn’t buy into curfews when lives were at stake. Maybe I’m old and a total dud. But someone out there, with a great Neverland-esque imagination that Peter Pan thrives on, will enjoy this tale.

Rating: Lost in the Never Woods - 6.0/10

Five years ago, Wendy and her brothers, John and Michael, disappeared in the woods. Six months later, only Wendy returned with no memory of where she had been and blood beneath her fingernails.

On her 18th birthday, she nearly crashes into someone on the forest road she only believed lived in her stories. Peter Pan. But he can't really be Peter Pan, right?

Then children start to disappear. And the shadows in the woods grow darker. Will Wendy be able to save these children and find her lost brothers?

Wendy Darling knows Peter Pan only exists in the stories she tells that she learned from her mother. But that nagging feeling that this boy might be the real Peter Pan and her dreams about Neverland can't be ignored.

The first half of the story is a bit slow but the second half picks up in a beautiful and heart-breaking way. I loved the tragic twist of Peter's purpose and the real reason Neverland exists. The reveal of what happened to Wendy's brothers was very jarring especially with who played a part in it.

While I understood the reasons Peter and Wendy couldn't be together, the epilogue did leave it a bit open-ended to hope for more.

Peter Pan is one of my favorite childhood stories, so picking up this retelling was a no-brainer, especially with the beautiful, captivating cover. This is my first Peter Pan retelling, and I had no idea what to expect. Without a doubt, this book was a pleasant surprise.

My review may contain a mild spoiler.

The story follows the main character, Wendy, through a life-changing event. As a child, Wendy spent time in the woods with her brothers, John and Michael, and they all came up missing. After a time, Wendy reappeared, but she couldn’t remember anything, and she had no idea where her brothers had disappeared to. Time moved on, and Wendy became a young adult. Now she volunteers at the local hospital aspiring to be a nurse like her mother. People still question what happened to her brothers--mainly because other children have gone missing since. Wendy's parents are stuck; they're workaholics and neglect her, while Wendy moved on after this tragedy--anxiety and all. Her parents have never gotten over losing the boys, and while they don’t directly blame Wendy, the vibes are there. Other people don’t seem to be accepting of Wendy’s amnesia either. Why can’t she remember what happened that day? Are her brothers still alive? Who’s kidnapping the other children in the area, and are all of these events somehow connected?

This retelling follows the original Peter Pan narrative and conflicts for the most part. The author omitted the problematic parts, built off the original narrative, and made this book quite inventive though. In this story, Peter asks for help after losing his shadow. Wendy needs help discovering what happened to her brothers and the other missing children because her depression and guilt are a heavy load to carry. They work together to solve their problems. The premise is intriguing, the story is written well, and it kept me engaged for the most part, but while the first third of the book hooked me, the middle slowed down substantially. Eventually, it picks back up with an unpredictable ending. I liked being in the same position as Wendy: you don’t know what happened with her brothers until the very end. There were some hints in the story as to who could’ve been involved, but it's left a mystery until everything comes together for the conclusion.

This is a fantasy, but some of the real events in the book weren’t believable, especially with the police investigation. Also, Wendy’s parents were an issue for me with how they completely shut down after losing the boys too. My first response to how they acted in this story was incredulity, but everyone deals with trauma differently, and I tried to keep that in mind. I’ve never been in the position of losing a child, but I imagine some people would deal with the grief in the same way Wendy’s parents did, even when it’s incredibly damaging to others. After all, there wasn’t closure for anyone, and without help, they were all coping with this tragedy on their own. Wendy becomes the acting adult after her brothers’ disappearance. This is where some of the deeper themes came in. Wendy was just a child herself when her brothers wound up missing, and believe it or not, she considers herself having some responsibility for it. This is thought-provoking and got me thinking about some of the adult responsibilities we delegate to our children.

Another small issue I had was the romance, which felt out of place. It barely amounted to anything and could’ve been omitted altogether, in my opinion. The ending, although not an issue, was extremely emotional for me too. This likely stems from some of my own personal feelings on childhood, growing up, letting go, and moving on after trauma, and it's these parts of the book that were very heavy to me.

As far as the book cover: I find it stunning but somewhat deceiving because it led me to believe this was a middle-grade book. It’s geared toward young adults, not that there’s any questionable content for certain age groups, but the book does explore mental illness and some deeper themes that would be better suited for older readers.

Overall, I found this retelling dark, haunting, imaginative, and emotional. It’s a story of love and loss, growing up, facing your fears, and holding onto hope. I plan to read some of the author's other books in the future.

4****

I want to go ahead and begin this by saying, I am incredible biased. I love Aiden Thomas representation and story ideas, but after reading their earlier release of Cemetery Boys, I had a feeling that their writing style may not exactly be for me. However, a Peter Pan retelling from an amazing queer author? I love Peter Pan. I'm queer. I'm sold!

In Thomas' rendition of the classic Peter Pan characters, they attempt to recreate the wheel in terms of the classic Peter Pan mythos. This isn't the traditional J.M. Barrie Peter with his reckless abandon and childish youth, nor does this feel like the Disney Peter who is the arrogant and passionate adventurer. In this version, we follow an 18 year old Wendy who was told tales of Peter Pan all her life, but after children start disappearing around town and a boy falls from the sky claiming to be Peter Pan, Wendy realizes there may be more to the myth than she thought.

I commend Thomas' ambitious story ideas. There are moments in Lost in the Never Woods where I was gripped by the tone and the atmosphere, but I think I would like for their writing to be edgier. I had the same thoughts reading Cemetery Boys, that when we are talking about the lore of the world and the consequences of actions, I'm sold. It's when we begin to focus more on the teenage romance and drama that there is a disconnect for me. I appreciate the effort to have characters connect and have dynamics with each other, but for my own liking I would appreciate something a little less superficial. Wendy also sexualizes Peter a lot, which was a little weird to read about.

None of this to say that Lost in the Never Woods was a fail for me, and if Aiden Thomas continues to write interesting and inclusive works I will continue to read them, but I just wish their books were as tonally ambitious as the content.

Aiden Thomas's reimagining of Peter Pan is an amazing read. Picking up when Wendy Darling is eighteen, having lost her brothers John and Michael and the memory of how they came to be lost, the book continues the Peter Pan legend as now other children start disappearing from Darling's small town. One night, driving home from volunteering at the hospital where her mother is a nurse, something drops on Wendy's truck and she finds a young boy curled up in the road. She reports the accident and the boy is transported to the hospital.

When he awakens, he immediately starts screaming for Wendy. She finally accepts that this is Peter Pan, and her dreams of being in Neverland with her brothers and Peter are actually memories. But he's lost his shadow - again - only this time, the shadow is growing in strength as Peter's magic fades and he does the one thing Peter Pan is not supposed to do - he starts growing up.

Wendy and Peter work together to try to rescue the children his shadow keeps stealing, and Wendy lives in hope that defeating the shadow will return her brothers home as well. But there are secrets Peter is keeping from her, and those secrets are huge.

Thomas tells this story so beautifully. I think J.M Barrie would be impressed with Thomas's imaginative tale of his iconic characters. A must read.

I loved this book. I was not sure what I was expecting, but when I saw this was another book by Aiden Thomas, that was all I needed to know. I did not realize going in that this was a Peter Pan retelling. (This became evident on the first page of the book, but like I mentioned, all I knew before I started reading was the author.)

Overall, I absolutely loved the writing and the story in this book. I thought the characters and the relationships between them were deep, convoluted, and real. The different ways the Darlings each handle their grief was so beautifully portrayed, and lends itself to excellent conversations about how we each grieve in different ways, and whether or not these ways are perceived as "acceptable" by society. This would be a great book to include in classroom discussions about mental health representation in books, specifically dealing with grief and loss.

I do think the book could have been a bit shorter. As much as I loved the writing, the pacing of the first half of the book felt drawn out and I would have loved to see a more condensed first half which perhaps would have allowed for a more detailed ending. The end of the book was wonderful, but I would have loved to see a bit more detail here.

Thanks to Macmillan Children's for my arc on this title. Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas is a moody story centered around Wendy, her two lost brothers, and Peter Pan. The story takes place post the original Peter Pan book. Wendy's two brothers are lost, additional children in the neighborhood are disappearing, and Peter Pan has lost his shadow.

TW: See below for trigger warnings that might spoil things a bit.

My thoughts:

- This story was extremely well written and I felt immersed in the real world post Peter Pan.
- The story addresses some extremely heavy material in the guise of a fairy tale.
- I thought the story telling was top notch but wasn't quite prepared for the final resolution of the book.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy stories centered around Peter Pan or who enjoy retellings done in an imaginative fashion.

TW: This story addresses child abductions that might be triggering.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley.

This was a solid 3.5 stars for me. It's an interesting take on Peter Pan, and I would have loved to have seen more of his character actually, and I do love a good retelling but it moved too slowly for me at the beginning. The final portion of the book I thought was great but it suffered early on.

Remakes of well loved stories are hit or miss, this one is a keeper! Children go missing and a young girl thinks she might be the reason why. Then Peter Pan lands in front of her, and she begins to question all she has known for the last 5 years. Quick read, not meant for young children.

An enjoyable twist on the Peter Pan tale, mixed with a bit of heart breaking realizations along the way for the Wendy.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book, I got a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to review. Previous to reading this book I read Thomas’s “Cemetery Boys” and thought it was okay but not great.

Story (3/5): I wasn't a huge fan of this book and almost stopped reading it about 60% of the way through. Things just move really slow in this book and are very predictable. I am usually a huge fan of Peter Pan retellings, but this was just so slow and I had a lot of trouble relating to the characters here.

Most of this story isn’t really about magic but about Wendy learning to accept events in her past and move on. She is on the cusp of going to college and needs to start looking forward.

Characters (3/5): The story is told completely from Wendy’s perspective and I had trouble relating to her. She just kind of floats through her life, interacting very little with anyone until she is forced to. She is supposed to be entering college soon but felt more like she was in middle school or just starting high school; she just seems really immature at times. I didn’t even enjoy Peter all that much and I thought he would be my favorite. There is a supposed type of budding romance between the two that feels a bit off because Peter is used to being a young kid and generally acts a lot younger than his age.

Setting (3/5): I loved that there is a dark woods type of setting here The story takes place in a modern day small town setting. The mysterious woods are used as a backdrop for some of the more intense scenes (if you can call anything in here intense) but most of the book takes place at Wendy’s house or at the hospital she volunteers at.

Writing Style (3/5): Technically this is well written. I like the precise language Thomas uses but there are just such large portions where nothing much happens. I was hoping for something more mysterious and fast-paced. This is much more introspective and the reader spends a long time watching things unravel very slowly only to get to a “big” reveal that feels predictable and abrupt. I was left feeling like, ”I stuck with this book for so long for that??!!” To be fair I wasn’t a huge fan of “Cemetary Boys” either so Thomas’s story style just doesn’t seem to mesh well with my expectations. If you want to start reading Thomas, “Cemetery Boys” was definitely the better book.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this is a Peter Pan retelling I could have done without. The story just creeps along and the reveal was disappointing. I have read a bevy of Peter Pan retellings and this was among the weaker of them. This is the second Aiden Thomas book I have felt very mediocre about and don’t plan on continuing to read Thomas’s future books.

If you are looking for some good Peter Pan retellings I would recommend the following: “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson (pre story trilogy to Peter Pan, middle grade reading level), “The Child Thief” by Brom (very dark and adult retelling but amazing!), “Neverland” by Joe Brusha (very dark and adult graphic novel retelling, beautiful illustration), “Alias Hook” by Lisa Jensen (wonderful Peter Pan tale from Hook’s perspective, a bit of time travel, really loved it), and “The Wendy Project” by Osborne and Fish (YA graphic novel, loved the illustration, neat blend of fantasy and reality),

I have also read a few Peter Pan retellings that have been very mediocre: “Wendy Darling” by Colleen Oakes (kind of follows the Disney version of Peter Pan, pretty boring and not that well written) and “Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook” by Chistine Henry (moves very slow and an anti-climatic reveal), “The Promised Neverland” by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu (YA manga series that is a blend of fantasy and horror, decent and I enjoyed the first few volumes I read).

Hopefully you find the above list of Peter Pan retellings helpful. I also have “Wendy, Darling” by A.C Wise on my plate to review soon...so keep your eyes out for that in the next month or so.

SO! I LOVE CEMETERY BOYS! It was without a doubt one of my favorite books last year so I knew I needed this book because Aiden is so talented. I wasn't wrong it was so good! I would have to say this is one of my top favorites for the retelling genre. This is a Peter Pan retelling and is down so flawlessly that it ties in well with the old and creates so much new if that makes sense?

Things I love about this book and I think you will too if you give it a try! THE DIALOG, omg! SO amazing. The banter is off-the-hook fun and you will laugh out loud and cry and yell soooo much! With great character-driven books sometimes you find a not-so-great plot or story-driven book, but that's not the case for this book at all. The plot was easy to follow and the world-building was pretty great.

The only problem I had was how sometimes I felt disconnected or like a scene was dragged a little or not given enough.. pizzaz? But honestly, overall it was so good! And I think you should all try it!

I couldn't finish this one, sadly. I was so excited and I loved the concept, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. I will try to read it again later down the road.

5 years after returning from Neverland, Wendy Darling is still trying to make sense of the six months she was lost in the woods...and figure out what happened to her brothers. When children start to go missing again and a mysterious boy, who very much resembles the Peter Pan of her childhood stories lands in Astoria, Wendy must confront her lacking memories to help find the kids before it’s too late.

A wonderful twist on the Peter Pan we know and love, Lost in the Never Woods offers a gripping tale of how powerful the mind can be when ruled by fear and grief. Aiden Thomas weaves a magical tale of a boy who helps lost children, including those lost to their own mind, find their way home

I finished this book over the course of a week and ended up with a rating of 3 stars. The good: excellent mystery that will captivate you from the beginning. The retelling of Peter and Wendy was comforting due to knowing these characters already and fun to see them both as teenagers interacting. The not so good: lots of inner commentary by protagonist, Wendy, made the book slow at times and felt more like telling than showing the reader what was happening. The last few chapters of the book took me back in and will definitely be recommending to my students if they enjoy retellings of classics. I received an ARC from NetGallery, thanks again for letting me read this so soon!

I was excited to see another book by Aiden Thomas after Cemetary Boys. A retelling of Peterpan always catches my eye.

I struggled with this book. I am a fan of Peter Pan, however the Disney version is my least favorite. I found the pace of the book to be too slow and some of the writer's style of description and interactions with the characters to be dull. I struggled with some of the book and found myself putting it down more than I wanted to. This book most likely was not for me, however I appreciate being given the chance to read the ARC.

This was a follow up that didn't disappoint. I'm so happy that I was given the opportunity to read this new title from Aiden Thomas, and I encourage others to do so as well.