By Natalie Dean ||

YA Bestseller Aidan Thomas has recently come out with his second novel, Lost in the Never Woods. This creative retelling of Peter Pan brings new twists to the beloved story of a boy who never grows up. Told from the perspective of Wendy Darling years after leaving Neverland, which she cannot fully remember, the story unfolds around the mystery of missing children and a mysterious monster. 

(Disclaimer: Glass Mountain was given an ARC of this novel, and as a result, the final draft may be slightly different from the material being reviewed, though not majorly rewritten.)

SPOILER FREE REVIEW: Thomas’ new and modern interpretation of the childhood classic makes for an interesting story. Several details of Peter Pan lore are twisted into darker counterparts, resulting in a more grounded, eerie tone than the original story. 

The story begins with our protagonist, Wendy, who has been catching herself making cryptic drawings of a tree when she is not aware, or even when she is asleep. Five years earlier, she and her two brothers, Michael and John, had gone missing for a period of six months, of which Wendy has no memory save for her mysterious dreams of a land far away. Wendy was found in the woods in her town, but her two brothers remain missing. Wendy clings to hope that they will one day be found and struggles with the guilt of having failed to protect her younger siblings. When two more children go missing in the woods, she takes it upon herself to find them in hopes of also finding her brothers. 

Wendy is a strong protagonist, if a bit basic. Her motivations are made very clear, and she is driven in achieving her goals. Thomas explores her sense of guilt as well as her grief in a way that is gentle and careful. Personally, I would have liked to see more of this, because Thomas’ writing of the grief experience is very interesting. However, she has little characterization outside of her emotions related to the disappearance of her brothers, and the ‘best friend’ character has even less characterization to work with. Still, Wendy’s determination to resolve the conflict of the story drives the plot and makes her a good protagonist. She is an easy character to relate to and sympathize with.

Peter Pan is a fairly simple character and remains the same in most adaptations—he is youthful, wild, and fearless. Thomas does an excellent job of portraying this character in a way that remains true to the original, while keeping the character (mostly) grounded. The magic of Neverland is given a creative and original explanation, which adds a sense of realness to the character and helps with worldbuilding. However, Peter Pan’s classic childishness does interfere with the sense of urgency of the plot. What was a fast-paced and desperate conflict was slowed down by moments of boyish fun and romance between Peter and Wendy. This resulted in several scenes that dragged along and could have benefitted from being edited down or removed entirely.

The story begins to pick up in the last quarter, as the enemy is drawing near and the climax approaches. The ending is a whirlwind, and I was genuinely surprised with the plot twist in the finale. Overall, the story was exciting, dark, and engaging.

Thomas clearly writes with his heart, and there is a lot of love poured into the story. This definitely helps with the emotional beats, which are often heartwarming and heartbreaking concurrently. The core of the story is the exploration of loss, grief, and moving on. The complicated stages of healing are given intricate attention, and the aftermath of tragedy is explored with nuanced perspective. I always enjoy seeing these heavy themes put into a context that younger audiences can understand and older audiences can take comfort in.

This book is a retelling of a children’s story, but it is much more than that. It is also a story of grief, guilt, and ultimately, growing up. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of darker takes on childhood classics and plot-twist endings.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5