Teen Tuesday: Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

Image: Macmillan Publishers

Lost In the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~12 hours and 13 minutes. Read by Avi Roque. Macmillan Audio, March, 2021. 9781250779557. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy Tuesday and L'Shana Tovah to all who are celebrating the Jewish New Year. May you have a sweet start to, 5782, the new year.

Teen Tuesday features Lost In the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas. Eighteen-year-old Wendy Darling is driving home from her volunteer job at the local hospital one night, when a shadowy figure lands on the hood of her truck. She pulls over to the side of the road to investigate and discovers a boy lying on there. He appears to be unconscious, but he opens the bluest eyes Wendy has ever seen and he calls her by her name! She has no idea who this boy is, but she has been obsessively drawing him and a picture of a gnarled tree for the past five years-ever since she and her brothers disappeared into the woods. 

Wendy was the only to return after a six month absence, clutching an acorn and with no memory of who took her or what happened to her brothers. Wendy's memory loss has been frustrating for her, her parents, the police and the town, all of whom want closure, especially since two children went missing recently. The boy is named Peter and his shadow has something to do with the disappearance of the children. Peter begs for Wendy's help finding his shadow before any more children disappear. Wendy agrees and as they investigate, more children disappear, most having some connection to Wendy Darling.

This modern-day Peter Pan story just thrums with suspense and atmosphere. While there are subtle references to the J.M. Barrie classic, this twisty, menacing tale is wholly original, scary, occasionally humorous and delightful.

Lost in the Never Woods is perfect for fans of fairy tale updates/ retellings or any reader who enjoys a twisty mystery. I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook, though. The narrator chose to pause at odd times fairly consistently through the book, frequently taking me out of the story. They also lacked nuance between different voices, often leading to confusion about who was speaking.

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

The Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~14 hours. Read by Steve West. Ashland/ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018. 9781549147319. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library. Own hardcover.)

Teen Tuesday features Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. This is book two of the duology that began with Strange the Dreamer. Teen readers absolutely must have read Strange the Dreamer to understand and appreciate Muse of Nightmares. Taylor's books are not for the faint of heart. They are long, layered and complex, feature intriguing otherworldly and human characters, gods and monsters, intricate worldbuilding, some humor, romance and a good deal of violence.

Muse of Nightmares picked up immediately after Stranger the Dreamer's breathtaking conclusion. Spoiler alert: Sarai is a ghost. Lazlo is a god. Minya is the only thing tethering Sarai to this world. She wants Lazlo to destroy Weep and do her bidding. If Lazlo does not, he loses Sarai. If he does, he loses everything. It is truly a no-win situation for all. 

Steve West's growly performance transported me right back to the citadel and all its mysteries. Some were unfolded near the end of Strange the Dreamer, others unfolded in book two and confused until it all came together in a rather stunning climax. I'm becoming a fan of duologies. I like getting to know characters and don't mind a cliffhanger if I know it'll all be resolved in the next book. Series that go on and on with cliffhanger after cliffhanger tend to lose steam and the cliffhanger no longer has the intensity it once had. Instead, it induces eye rolls and a grudging acceptance.*

West's pace was almost leisurely and he handles the many distinct voices seamlessly making the fourteen-plus hours of listening fly. 

I highly recommend both books for your mature readers of fantasy. I'm in a middle school and have them on my eighth grade only shelf. It's a rare younger teen with the stamina and maturity to tackle such books, but I do happily have a few and am happy to have Laini Taylor's books to hand to them. 

*Last summer I read a book with my ears that I thought was the end of the series. As I approached the final disc, I realized that a lot of action was still happening and there was very little time for resolution. I sighed and sort of switched to auto-pilot listening through the last disc in resignation as I prepared to cliff hang for the next and hopefully final installment. 

Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Speaker by Traci Chee

The Speaker by Traci Chee. Sea of Ink and Gold #2. Unabridged audiobook on 11 compact discs. 14 hours, 12 minutes. Read by Kim Mai Guest. Listening Library, November, 2017. 9780525495277. (Review from audio borrowed from the public library. Own the hardcover.)

Teen Tuesday features The Speaker by Traci Chee. Astute TMS Readers may recall that I featured The Storyteller a couple of weeks back on a Waiting-on-Wednesday post. I was reminded that I had not read The Speaker when I realized that the conclusion to the trilogy was on the horizon and borrowed the audiobook from the public library. No second book slump here! 

Archer and Sefia are on the run. Archer is tormented by nightmares of his time as prisoner of the impressors, where he was forced to kill or be killed. Sefia is trying to plan their next move. They stumble upon a gang of impressors and decide to fight them and free the boys that are being held. The boys pledge their loyalty to Archer who vows to hunt down each impressor crew and free their captives. As Archer's fame as leader of the freed fighters grows, Sefia worries that Archer might be the warrior the Guard is looking for. 

Plenty of threads are tied together here as the reader learns more about other colorful characters like, Captain Reed and Jules, and Tannen (spelling?) and even Sefia's parents' stories. But just as those connections are made, new threads emerge to follow, new mysteries and new betrayals. There are also new characters introduced and some deaths to mourn. Yes, there were tears. Sefia's world is dark and brutal. There is a lot of violence and one wonders how either Sefia or Archer will emerge unscathed.

Readers who love rich fantasy will have no trouble immersing themselves into The Reader. I do not recommend that you start with The Speaker, the story, saga really, is too involved to truly appreciate without having read the first book.

Kim Mai Guest is becoming a favorite narrator of mine. She has a nice range of voices and pacing. She can also ramp up the excitement and not sacrifice the clarity of her reading. That said, I think I will be reading The Storyteller with my eyes. As I mentioned in my review of The Reader, there is a story within a story that is sometimes not obvious when listening. Also, there's a map! Maps are helpful.Then there's the issue of the spelling of character names. Finally, there were plenty of times that I was so surprised that, were I reading with my eyes, I would've flipped the pages back to reread. Now, you might argue that I can rewind the audio and, sometimes I do, but it's not quite the same. 

Even though I love to read arcs and new releases, sometimes it's nice to be a bit behind in my reading. The reveals in The Speaker have me panting for the next book. Now, I don't have to wait too long!