Title: The Book of Lost Things
Author: John Connolly
Genres: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Retellings, Young Adult
Publisher: Atria (Imprint of Simon & Schuster)
Date Published: November 7th, 2006
Edition: Hardcover
Rating:
High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own — populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.
Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.
My Review:
The Book of Lost Things is sort of a blend of many fairy tales and mythical creatures. David seemingly stumbles into a Grimm fairy-tale book where all the fairy tales don’t necessarily end happy, and are twisted into morbid versions of the ones we’re told as children. It was an incredibly creative and imaginative book while still drawing from elements within various fairy tales and stories.
I really enjoyed this and it was very easy to get lost into (no pun intended). David is twelve, but as the book goes on you notice gradual and significant changes in him that show he is maturing and growing into a man. He’s had some hard things happen in his life. Most prominently his mother recently passed away, his father is expanding his family again with a new wife and child, and there is a war going on in England. So it’s not easy to be David right now, but he’s also not handling a lot of things very well.
So his trip into this fairy tale land not only is frightening and adventurous, but it also manages to teach him important life lessons along the way and by the end he has become a completely different person.
The story was very fun and enjoyable, but where it fell a bit short was the ending. It was…I suppose you could say realistic. But without giving away too much it doesn’t end sad but it also doesn’t have a fairy tale ending. So I’m not sure if I liked it or not. But either way, the getting there was fun, so I’m glad I picked this up and I’ll definitely be checking out more books by John Connolly in the future.
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