The Neverwood Chronicles (Books 1-3) - Chanda Hahn

Wendy doesn't remember anything about Neverland—or the experiments done on her there as a child. Seven years later, all she wants is a normal life, but shape-shifting shadows plague her dreams and turn her life into a waking nightmare. When the shadows attack at a football game and a boy disappears right in front of her, she realizes these wraith-like shadows are real. They’re not just haunting—they’re hunting. 

A mysterious boy named Peter, his foul-mouthed sidekick, and a band of misfit boys intervene before Wendy faces a similar fate. But can they trust Wendy enough to take her to Neverwood Academy and reveal all of their hidden secrets when she's hiding a secret of her own, or will the dreaded Red Skulls find her and drag her back to Neverland?

            WOW. I found these books by chance and I am beyond thankful that I did. I have always had a fascination with all things Peter Pan. What child didn’t want to fly away to Neverland and never grow up? Play around all day with the lost boys, fight pirates, and chat with the occasional mermaid? Well, in Chanda Hahn’s brilliant retelling of our beloved story, I suddenly did not want to go to Neverland. I no longer trusted my idea of it. I went back to think of J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy and felt the same eerie feeling I had reading that. Neverland is not at all what Mr. Disney made it out to be.

I could not put these books down. Hahn’s writing style certainly matched the plot's fast pace, and it described just enough that I could vividly envision everything that happened while staying quite simple at the same time. All of our characters are well developed and you find yourself routing for each individually throughout reading. Peter is just as dreamy as you’d hope, along with the rest of the lost boys especially a new player, Jax. Wendy is our main focus, main character if you will (although you really feel for each character strongly throughout the book). She is strong as ever, and older. I love that Hahn made her a late teen! The spin on each character, especially Tink, had me enthralled. I was just so excited to read something so new and up-to-date.

As far as settings, the imagery is fantastic. I found myself mapping places out in my head such as Neverwood or the bookstore. It was fun to envision these places and plant myself there. The shadows were also an interesting twist, and an even more interesting concept later on in the series! Everything was well thought out on this front and the continuity was great. 

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with this series. Of course at age 25 I wanted a touch more romance but that wasn’t the point of this series. It wasn’t the purpose of the original story either!

Ratings:

Lost Girl (The Neverwood Chronicles, #1) – 8.5/10

Lost Boy (The Neverwood Chronicles, #2) – 8/10

Lost Shadow (The Neverwood Chronicles, #3) – 8/10

Lost Girl on Goodreads

Lost Boy on Goodreads

Lost Shadow on Goodreads