Finally … a sequel to one of my favorite books of all times, The Book of Lost Things. I was so excited when my NetGalley request for this ARC was approved that I may or may not have squealed in happiness, and I am definitely not a “squealing in happiness” type of person. And, well, it was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

I have to admit that I was a bit worried while reading the first 25% or so. It was not very The-Book-of-Lost-Things-y at all, and I was scared that this one wouldn't be as magical as the original. And then the Woodman appeared and all my fears were put to rest.

The Land of Lost Things is filled with all kinds of fairy tale creatures and magical beings – Rapunzel, dryads, wicked witches, the fae, Titans, and even the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf make an appearance … well, kind of. There's subtle humor and beautiful prose. Elsewhere is wonderfully described and you feel as if you're there with Ceres in this dangerous but enchanting land. The plot is captivating and there are lots of endearing moments … and lots of heartbreaking ones too.

This book is a fairy tale, but it's a dark and dangerous one. Lots of terrible things happen to good people (and creatures). But, at the same time, it's ultimately a hopeful story. The Woodman is probably one of the most wonderful, good-hearted characters in modern literature and is definitely one of my favorites.

I could gush on and on forever, but to make a long review short(er): I loved reading this book almost as much as I loved reading its predecessor. I only say “almost” because I think I might've loved David (the main character from the first book) just a wee bit more than Ceres, but it's still a magical tale that deserves all of the overly lavish praise that I can send its way.

Final rating: a resounding five stars. If you love dark yet heartwarming fantasy tales, definitely give this one a read (but perhaps read The Book of Lost Things first if you haven't already).

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. And a huge thank you to John Connolly for creating the magical world of Elsewhere.

Although I welcomed the return to the magical world from The Book of Lost Things, this time around it didn't feel quite as special and thus the sequel pales in comparison. The story drags at times, there are intriguing side plots that aren't fully explored, and in the final act a large amount of new characters are introduced and so much is going on at once that made everything difficult to follow. However, I very much enjoyed the setup and conclusion to the tale, greatly sympathizing with Ceres's plight as a mother to hospitalized Phoebe. Overall, more of a mixed bag than its predecessor, albeit with thankfully fewer beheadings.

i seem to be in the same boat as many with this novel. while I love John Connolley and was so thrilled to be approved for this one, it just didn't hit the same as The Book of Lost Things, which is one of my most favorite books. I am sure this is intentional, as we first follow a child and now follow a mother who has of course grown up and seen the world. She does find her adolescent self in the land, but it is not the same sort of terror and longing that we see in BOLT.
I will reread this I am sure at some point. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I think I want to reread this when I'm in a different frame of mind. I honestly think I could love this book, but not right now.

Well written, and very dark and creepy, just not for me.

Advance Reader's Copy Review of The Land of Lost Things - I enjoyed this book plain and simple. However it's hard to approach a "sequel" without comparing it to its previous counterpart. I really enjoyed the change in POV Connolly made to the protagonist, Ceres, and the journey he sent her on. I feel that there were a lot more progressive themes in LOLT in terms of how the female characters were written in comparison to BOLT. I enjoyed the growth and slight change in voice.

I also thought the "meta" approach to the continuation of the story was super unique and unexpected! Connolly made the decision to set LOLT in our real-life universe where The Book of Lost Things was published as we read it before all those years ago. Only it was David who was the author, not Connolly. I thought this was really fun and really drove home the theme of how stories take shape in our lives outside of the books they live in.

I only left off a couple of stars because I felt that somewhere around the last 1/4 of the book the plot got a little muddy and suddenly exploded in scale. About a dozen new characters were introduced in the last chunk of the book and it felt a little out of place. I also felt like some of the side storylines were begging for my attention, and I couldn't get into them. I found myself skimming over the parts with the political background of Balwain and the castle/kingdom plot line. I always wanted to get back to Ceres. I also felt that this book was lacking some of the "magic" of the first one. I would have loved to see some more unique fantasy characters as we did in BOLT instead of the Baako/Balwain storylines. Overall those elements just felt a little lacking and the story would have been tighter and more punchy without them.

All in all, as a HUGE lover of The Book of Lost Things, I think The Land of Lost Things is a unique sequel and certainly worth reading if you loved the first. It was a pleasure to be back in Elsewhere with new (and returning) characters. It was a whimsical escape and very heartfelt. I love that Connolly allowed us to visit Elsewhere again in a new way.

Special thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this advance copy!!

Solid 3.5 from me. I read the Book of Lost Things and loved it, so I was very excited to read this book. This is a captivating tale woven with the enchanting essence of folk tales and fairy tales. The journey through the tale seemed a little slow, and I found my mind wandering a bit since I didn't feel completely engrossed in the book. But, exceptional quality of the writing would appeal greatly to someone else who shares a deep appreciation for this style. Regrettably, it simply didn't strike the right chord with me, and I couldn't fully immerse myself in its magic and enjoy it as much as its predecessor.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the ARC!

First, I had no idea this was a sequel when I started reading it, still I was riveted. Once I realized there was a story before this story, I stopped and went back to read the first book (which I loved).

I enjoyed this book. Ceres was a great character. Connolly does a phenomenal job of painting human emotion.

I'm not sure this book was entirely for me. I love the recasting of old fairy tales but it started to feel a bit like stories I had heard before and I couldn't stay quite as enrapt on every page. Lovers of these kinds of stories will Absolutely give this a 5 star review. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will think back on Ceres, Phoebe and, of course, David.

In Connely’s unexpected followup to his acclaimed work “The Book of Lost Things,” readers get to take another captivating trip to Elsewhere. Set decades after the first story, we meet Ceres, a single mother unwillingly propelled into Elsewhere in search of her young daughter, Phoebe, lost to her in a coma in the ‘real’ world. Ceres is confronted with a host of fantastical creatures straight out of fairy tales- or nightmares- giants, dryads, harpies, and more.Moreover, she must contend with the remnants of the ultimate and ancient evil - the Crooked Man. Thought to have been vanquished, his very existence is a threat to all that is good. With his presence, destructive forces have been awakened in Elsewhere, forcing Ceres to figure out how to bring the Crooked Man down once and for all, saving herself, the living creatures of both worlds, and to make it safely back home. Like the first in the series, this book is at turns witty, terrifying, tragic, and profound.This novel is a tribute to the power of storytelling, and straddling the line between fantasy and horror, will appeal to readers of Neil Gaiman.

Ceres is living every parents nightmare. Her daughter Phoebe has been in a car accident, and remains in an unresponsive coma. While Ceres fears the worst, Phoebe remains in her in between state, not yet gone but not back in the waking world. While she visits and reads fairy tales to her daily, the darkness of her circumstances starts to take a toll. Ceres just starts to ask for an end to her daughters suffering one way or another and the stories she tells become darker and twisted, she doesn't even remember even knowing Fairy tales quite like this. Parts of the tales start to bleed through into her life, and as the line between what is real and what is a story starts to blur she is drawn into another world, a world which although strange is somehow very familiar. She makes her way through this magic land finding both allies and mortal enemies in the form of characters from tales and legends. But something ancient and cruel has awakened in this magical storied land, something which has heard Ceres wish to be rid of her daughters suffering and intends to grant that wish. This multi layered story has incredible depth and is at moments moving, horrifying and laugh out loud funny. Perfect for fans of fairy tale fantasy.

I was a huge fan of The Infernals series and the Book of Lost things and this book is another hit. It was creepy, immersive and truly spellbinding. John Connelly always sucks you into another world (sometimes literally) and weaves a web so thick you cannot escape. I would give this a 4.5 only because when I started reading this I gave birth to my daughter and the beginning was a little hard for me to get through based on the tragedy of the story. I would most definitely recommend this book and I am so happy I got an ARC of it. Thank you!

I was SO excited for this one... I LOVE Charlie Parker. I LOVED The Book of Lost Things. And the thought of returning to that world was so exciting to me. Perhaps that was the problem. I really liked the way this one started. Ceres' situation is every mother's worst fear, and I think Connolly did a good job capturing the internal struggles. Once she found herself entangled in Elsewhere though, the book started to feel like a rehashing of the earlier book, and that's where I started to struggle with it.

While I did like the reappearance of the Woodsman and references to David and the Crooked Man, and while I did find the newly-presented Woodsman stories/fairy tales to be engaging, and the new villains/encounter-characters to be interesting, the whole thing felt like the first book, shifted to the left. It didn't give me the same thrill that the first book did upon discovery, because it didn't feel like new substance so much as new window dressing.

It wasn't bad, just not anywhere near as engaging or enthralling as I hoped it would be. I may have placed too many expectations here - if you weren't familiar with the first book, you'd be able to jump right into this one and do fine - and it may be a better reading experience. I went back and reread The Book of Lost Things in preparation for this one, so that may be part of the problem also - I might recommend going into this one fresh, without the refresher. You'll have no issues with lag or details, and it might just make what I found repetitive to be less of an issue...

{Thank you SO much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!}

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5 Stars!

Pros:
-Almost everything. 😆 I’ll be thinking about this series forever.
-Sequel totally lives up to the first one!

Cons:
-Some of the middle parts of this particular story felt drawn out, it was hard to keep my brain engaged the entire time.

This series is one that I’ll never forget. The characters are so rich and full of depth, the bond you feel to them extends past book 1, and all the way through to the end of book 2. I loved the descriptions of the elsewhere land’s atmosphere, the characters themselves, the fairytale stories within the stores, and the workings of childhood/dreams/nightmares into each of the stories (David’s and Ceres). Many times I wrote exclamation marks into my notes because I had to express how excited I was about what was going on (no spoilers lol!). I’m sure when I’ve processed all of my feelings about this series, I’ll come back and add more. For now, I highly recommend it!

Great sequel. Though the last 20 percent did drag a lot. Still five stars.

Full Review: So this book was so good. I loved the first book in the series and thought that Connolly ended it perfectly. I was a little hesitant to see he was revising this series since I thought it wouldn't work as well. But Connolly does a great job with the character of Ceres and her daughter Phoebe. The whole book shows how Connolly still loves connections to myths and legends. This story is a dark fairy tale still threaded with hope.

"The Land of Lost Things" follows 31 year old Ceres. Ceres is left devastated after a car accident leaves her young daughter Phoebe comatose. Phoebe seems to be worsening with no explanation of why. Ceres though starts to read a book by a well known author who lived where she grew up (guess who this is) whose stories seem to be breaking into her dreams. Something out there seems to be calling Ceres. When Ceres finally moves Phoebe to a different facility, she finds herself back in her old home and near the author's abandoned house as well. And then just like, Ceres and us find ourselves back in the "Land of Lost Things."

I have to say this book felt like a warm and comforting hug. There's so many beats done perfectly. Ceres is a great character. I did have questions about why Connolly chose to <spoiler>de-age her</spoiler>. It just didn't add to the story and I thought it was weird.

Though we don't get to really "talk" to Phoebe. She comes alive to us via the memories that we get via Ceres. You keep rooting for her even though the end looks like it won't be happy.

And we revisit old characters we loved like the Woodsman. And of course, our David. And we get some new and old villains too.

The biggest issue I had was the flow. The plot was well done and I loved how this one centered on the fae. I also give the setting top marks. But the flow was painful towards the end. Connolly kept shifting the action back and forth between Ceres, the Woodsman, [redacted] and [redacted]. I was like can we just pick one person to follow and be done? I also thought the ending was a little bit of a cop-out. But then I cried at what we do get to witness [read].

I loved loved loved though that Connolly gives us some dark fairy tales in this one told either to Ceres or she tells to us. I really wish Connolly would do an anthology of some of the tales he has come up with.

So I thought I'd be lost with this because I had no idea it was the second book in a series. While the books are somewhat tied together, in the sense of where they take place and some of the characters, the rest of this story is brand new and you aren't missing anything if you haven't read the first!

This book was amazing. It's full of excitement, adventure, and a sense of nostalgia. It's a fairytale for adults, don't let the whimsical cover fool you; it's dark, creepy, and sorrowful but also extremely beautiful storytelling. Ceres is not only fighting to save Elsewhere(the land she ends up in) she's fighting for her daughter as well. It's a constant battle of not giving up and keeping hope alive. I absolutely recommend this book to lovers of magical realism, fairy tales, fantasy, or if you are looking for something unique!
I hope there will be more books in this series because I already miss the land of Elsewhere and its magic!

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the ARC

“…just as a book became part of the reader, so, too, did a reader become part of the book.”

Oh if I could give a book more than 5 stars, this would be the one. I have to start off by saying, Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things is my favorite book ever. I read it as a young and hopeful 15 year old, and it had stuck with me ever since. So when 29 year old me saw that there was going to be a “sequel”, I was elated.

The Land of Lost Things has been my favorite read of 2023 so far, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ll read any thing else that can/will top it. Even though this was my first read through of the book, I felt a wave of nostalgia the whole time. I loved getting to return to this world of magic, and getting to revisit with some of the characters from the first book felt like getting to visit with old friends.

Even if you haven’t read The Book of Lost Things (which you totally should, by the way), this book offers so much excitement and adventure that anyone can enjoy it. The writing style is just beautiful. Connolly has a way of making even tragedy and sorrow sound beautiful. I most definitely didn’t want the story to end, and was sad once I had finished. The Land of Lost Things will certainly be getting many rereads from me for years to come.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I read The Book of Lost Things in 2013 and have no recollection of it at all. I wonder if I would have liked the sequel, The Land of Lost Things, more if I had read them much closer in time to each other. While I"m not the biggest fantasy fan, I do like fairytales and magical realism, so I thought this story would be a hit for me. Sadly, it was only just fine. I took me quite awhile to get in to the story as it moves so slowly for the first third of the book and doesn’t really pick up pace until Ceres, the main character, enters the world of The Land of Lost Things. Once she is there it’s a fun and adventurous ride, but i’m not sure it was worth the wait, for me. The writing and story are good, so I think truer fans of fantasy and fairytales will really like this one!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Author John Connolly is very much tied to my love of reading. In 2008, I had reached out on a pro wrestling message board (odd, I know) looking for any reading recommendations. A fellow poster responded with Connolly's critically acclaimed 2006 novel, THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS. I absolutely loved it. Since then, I have recommended it to just about anyone regardless of what genre they prefer. Why? Because I'm not much of a fantasy fan myself and I loved it. It's very relatable at its core and how we can all use a little push and guidance when life isn't going how we'd wish it to.

Seventeen years after the original's publication, John Connolly returns to the land of Elsewhere to pen a new chapter. This time, the story follows Ceres, a single mother caring for her young daughter lying helpless in a coma following a traffic accident. After moving her daughter out of London and into a facility that can better care for her needs, Ceres comes into contact with an old property that housed a reclusive author who penned THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS, a semi-autobiographical novel about the author's own experiences during the Second World War. It isn't long before Ceres finds herself compelled by the home's strange aura and upon entering, is ushered through a doorway into Elsewhere.

Does this book suffer from the unfortunate consequences of hype? Maybe. I can't explain to you how much I anticipated this novel and was just about over the moon when I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy. I'm not sure I can even complain about the emergence of several of the first novel's characters; the best of which being The Woodsman. Connolly even revisited popular fairytales and warped them so they appeared differently than the original stories.

The problem lies in the fact that THE LAND OF LOST THINGS very much feels like a retread of the original. Is that fair? I don't know. I never seem to have a problem with the nearly two dozen Charlie Parker novels Connolly has written, all of which follow similar plot points and each bring back recurring characters. I'm not even sure I would do anything different here, to be honest. I guess I was left feeling underwhelmed and far from the joy I felt reading the first book. Maybe it was the freshness and uniqueness of the original story that won me over.

THE LAND OF LOST THINGS is far and away from being considered a "bad book", but I certainly struggled to get into it. Given the advance praise it's received, it's likely to be a hit for fans of the original as well as those who enjoy fantasy reads, but I just couldn't get into it. I will always and forever recommend the original - it's a timeless story that maybe should have been kept to just the one book.

TW for child injury/hospitalization

I read The Book of Lost Things years ago, but honestly don't remember much. However, reading The Land of Lost Things made me immediately want to go back and reread from the beginning. Connolly spins such an intricate and dark world that somehow lends itself to a story full of hope and resilience. In this sequel, Ceres is caretaker for her daughter Phoebe, who is in a coma after being hit by a distracted driver. When Phoebe is moved to a rural care facility, Ceres is introduced to the fractured fairy-tale-esque Book of Lost Things, written by a man now disappeared, whose former home is on the care facility's property. The stories start to creep into her real life, until she eventually is swallowed up into Elsewhere itself. Bringing back the familiar characters of the Woodsman and David, Ceres must fight to save Elsewhere and find the strength within herself to continue fighting for her daughter. The shadow of The Crooked Man still colors Elsewhere, along with new mystical villains. A beautiful story about continuing on through the hard times, and above all, a caretaker's love for their child. Connolly has created such a full and vibrant world, full of lessons for the reader and adventures for those pulled in.

A rich and unique world is created with a folk tale/fairy tale style. I really wanted to love this story. I did enjoy parts, but the pace was just SO slow, that it didn't keep me interested. It took me forever to get through and I kept wondering why I was bothering since I didn't feel invested. For the right person, this would likely be really enjoyed as the writing is excellent. It just wasn't for me.

Ceres’s life comes to a grinding halt when a distracted driver sends her daughter into a coma from which no one knows if she’ll wake. With no further care able to be provided in London, Ceres takes her daughter, Phoebe, to a remote care center and reads her the stories they once shared together. Ceres struggles to balance her hope for her daughter with the need to continue to live.

When an abandoned house of a lost author starts drawing Ceres to it, she’s transported into an alternative world where fairy tales and mythical creatures abound. As Ceres begins her journey she’ll discover that deciding who is a friend and who is a foe could be a matter of life or death. Will she be able to return to her daughter? Can she find any help for Phoebe’s condition in this strange land?

This book was beautifully written, a poignant exploration of loss and hope. The magical land reminded me of a combination of A. Deborah Baker’s Up-and-Under, Lev Grossman’s Fillory, and Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. I enjoyed all the twists and turns this story took, including shifting allegiances and multiple perspectives. I honestly didn’t know how things would end but was delighted with the way it was written. Now that I’ve learned this is book is a sequel, I’ll be reading “The Book of Lost Things” as well!