The Lost Story - Kestrels Nest: BookWyrm Edition

Published by Ballantine Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-593-59887-0
ASIN:: 0593598873

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 …

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.

1 edition

lastblossom reviewed The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

A charming exploration of what it means to hold on to magic. A more thoughtfully paced first half combined with a speedy second half make for a book at odds with itself.

No rating

What happens when you leave Narnia? It feels strange to review a book through the lens of another series, but The Lost Story invites the comparison. In fact, it feels like this was purpose-made for those of us who've stayed up late with friends going "No, but imagine you were a literal king for most of your life, and then suddenly you're back as a teenager and you have to do homework again." The book itself is split into two parts - this world, and the other world. Things move slower in this world. The mood is melancholic, grounded, and painful. And, to be honest, that's the part that resonated with me more. It's the part where we got to know the characters and see their personal struggles. The time in the fantasy world felt surprisingly rushed, with the actual events in the magical kingdom almost a footnote in the …

What happens when you leave Narnia? It feels strange to review a book through the lens of another series, but The Lost Story invites the comparison. In fact, it feels like this was purpose-made for those of us who've stayed up late with friends going "No, but imagine you were a literal king for most of your life, and then suddenly you're back as a teenager and you have to do homework again." The book itself is split into two parts - this world, and the other world. Things move slower in this world. The mood is melancholic, grounded, and painful. And, to be honest, that's the part that resonated with me more. It's the part where we got to know the characters and see their personal struggles. The time in the fantasy world felt surprisingly rushed, with the actual events in the magical kingdom almost a footnote in the story of our heroes getting there in the first place. I think other readers might view it as the opposite, feeling the first part dragged and the second half was where it really took off, but I would have liked the second part to run longer so we could get to know the world better and be more invested in the adventure. Altogether a reasonable exploration of the "what comes next" question, but the finale moved too quickly for me to be feel the impact.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballatine Books for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!