Review: The Land of Lost Things

 

Title:  The Land of Lost Things (Book of Lost Things #2)

Author: John Connelly

Release Date: September 19, 2023

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley

               There is always a risk when an author (or any artist to be honest) returns to a book that was written as one and done.  In some cases, like say Atwood returning to Handmaid’s Tale with The Testaments, it can appear to be that of marketing or money.  This doesn’t mean that the book in question is bad – The Testaments is a great book, in my opinion – but it can make readers hesitate when buying.    In other cases where money may be involved,  say like Weis and Hickman returning to Dragonlance, it can ruin the memories that readers had of the series and even of the authors.

               I don’t know why Connelly decided to return to The Book of Lost Things.  He mentions working on a screenplay of the novel and then Covid in his afterword.  What is clear, however, is that he returns with love in his heart.  It is a sequel, but it can stand on its own.  Reading the first novel will give the back story for new readers to what is now a duology, but it isn’t really needed.

               My guilty secret is I think I like this one better.

               It’s true that the first book concerns a boy’s quest for his mother, but this one is even more mother oriented.  We start with Ceres whose daughter Phoebe (note the names.  Names are important in these books) is injured after a traffic accident.  Ceres eventually finds herself in the Land of Lost Things, changed since the adventures of David in book one, and she struggles to find her way back to her daughter.

               As in the first novel, this one is also about grief and struggling with that grief, though Ceres’ grief has the possibility of hope.  It is also about temptation, and the price of things.

               In many ways, this book, book ends (pardon me) the first.  If David’s journey is about coming to terms with a loss of parent, this book is about the losses that one suffers after one reaches adulthood.  Yes, part of that for some adults is the loss of a child, but unlike some writers, Connelly remembers that not everyone has a child.  Loss here is more than simply loss of a relative. 

               It is nice too that Connelly adjusts the reasons for the journey – Ceres would do anything to help her daughter but as an adult she also knows more about what we would do and what we would give is different than what can happen.  She also knows that “hope is the thing with feathers” as Dickinson said.

               There are many allusions and characters taken from history and folktales/fairy tales/legends that make appearances.  There are also some wonderful touches of humor – the bit with the witches  stands out.  The book also widens itself from David’s journey.  It feels like a bigger and larger world, not surprising considering who Ceres is, and her experiences as opposed to young David’s.

               My only criticism, and it isn’t really a criticism, is that in the ARC at least, there isn’t a section at the end that gives details about the characters and figures used as appeared in The Book of Lost Things.  While many readers will not need it (as they may not have needed it in the first book), it gives a nice touch.

               But then again, if this book is more about adult grief and processing, we know that we must find answers ourselves, don’t we?