Review: Lost in the Never Woods

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think Aiden Thomas said, in the run up to Cemetery Boys, that this was the first manuscript they worked on, even before their #ownvoices debut. Maybe so, and released a bit out of order in that case, but it's still a pretty good book that Thomas has given us. My guess is that they really started working on this book a few years back, when fairytale retellings had become one of the biggest YA trends. Given how that trend has largely died down in recent years, this makes Thomas's take on Peter Pan, with Wendy working as a file clerk in the hospital in Astoria, OR (and making me extra relate to her after taking a job in a medical clinic in another small town of the PNW), reeling from the disappearances of her brothers (and a spate of similar child disappearances in Astoria), and struggling to solve the mystery that Peter Pan himself brings back when he reappears and triggers some long-buried memories...yeah, this one's a pretty neat little throwback, am I right? While it does tend to lag behind Thomas's debut in the character department - nobody here really pops off the patge the way Yadriel or Julian did - it also does one thing better than Cemetery Boys, and that's keeping the mystery and ending even more unpredictable. Bottom line, Thomas is demonstrating some pretty serious range, and to those out there trying to shame them for not writing #ownvoices on their second novel, it's you who should be ashamed instead.

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