The Lost Story

A Novel

De: Meg Shaffer

Narrado por: Jorjeana Marie

Duración: 10 h y 22 m

Resumen del Editor

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

“This is the book you’ve been waiting for.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains a map and recipes from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Meg Shaffer (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“If our sad, brutal, cynical, cowardly, unkind, exhausting world is too much for you, if you’d like to dream instead of a parallel world where love and loyalty and friendship are the magic that transforms the least of us into genuine heroes, then Meg Shaffer’s The Lost Story is the book you’ve been waiting for. And here’s the real magic. When you return from that enchanted place to the world you wanted to escape from, you’ll find it’s changed. Why? Because you have.”—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy

“Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie all embark on a wild and magical adventure that makes for a perfect cozy fantasy read, reminiscent of the childhood books we grew up loving.”—HuffPost

“This wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world.”—Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon

Bummed.

I loved The Wishing Game. It will forever be one of my favorite books, paying homage to great works of children’s literature in a heartwarming and original tale with an embedded fictional world in Clock Island. So, I was anxiously awaiting The Lost Story’s arrival, and will fully admit that maybe my expectations were simply too high.

This book seems rushed in multiple ways. The first few chapters lay out an interesting cadence and several worthwhile plots from which to choose. But once in the “world,” it also seemed like it was a narrative descriptions of rules and next steps, rather than a rich experience. The interjections on how fairy tales work was humorous at first, but then it became redundant and compounded upon the idea that most of the book was just navigating the world.

Once the characters made their way to resolve the conflict, it was an absolute rush to the end. If you’re going to take the time to build a complex fantastical world, leave time to explore it. Any subplots or worthwhile twists were left on the table in favor of a fairly straightforward love story.

If you compare this to something like “Fairy Tale” by Stephen King, you’ll feel like you’re reading a poorly executed knock off. My guess is that, following The Wishing Game’s commercial success as a debut, an editor hacked at creative originality in favor of mass appeal page count, etc., and Meg’s concept is therefore diluted.

The contemplated world does have potential. This book just didn’t do enough to support it.

more?

What a wonderful story to get lost in! I sincerely hope she writes another, or possibly a series? Everyone needs to escape to another world every once in a while.

Stories are magical, this is no exception.

A fairy tale where the main cast is my age, but the plot is just as whimsical as any YA fantasy novel. Such a beautiful retelling. I definitely cried a few times…at least.

Felt very young adult but still fun

Great beginning, beautiful ideas, just not very well executed. Too much telling and not showing

The narrator's crispy R's got on my nerves

"c-row" I don't know the linguistic term, but her hard /r/ sounds came from the back of her throat and it's all I could hear.
Missed the mark on Jeremy and Emilie's voices, too. Made Emilie sound immature and Jeremy too nonchalant.

Just delightful

I adored this book. What an enjoyable read. I’ll share it with my teenagers immediately.

Perfect

The characters! I fell for them almost instantly! The power of this book to transport me out of the state I’m in. It came to me when I needed it most.

Great fairytale

this was Panganiban written for a teenage audience, but for time typing at heart it's also perfect. this is Narnia meets the Never ending story. I loved it!

it was absolutely amazing

I loved this book so much. I'm sure that this is one I will read again. l really hope she writes more like this

Magic, but could use crafting.

I was very nervous that this book would fall into the same pitfalls that I struggled with for the novel The Wishing Game. I can see that the author is growing as a writer through each book. This one still could use some work, but I enjoyed the magic.