Review: The Lost Path
Categories: Children's Fantasy, Children's Graphic Novel
I picked up an ARC of this, because I enjoyed "The Little Red Wolf" (with some reservations for some kiddos), and liked the art.
Amelie Flechais is obviously a very talented artist. The cover for this one is gorgeous. The story, while not particularly original for a Children's story, sounds full of promise and potential for both interesting and imaginative story-telling and artwork. Kids lost in spooky woods also happens to be one of my favorite Children's story tropes.
Unfortunately this one just didn't work for me. The story, three boys taking a short-cut through the woods and getting lost, running into strange creatures and a few perils, lacked cohesiveness and coherent flow. I found it confusing, muddled and disjointed.
Things happen, and but aren't really fleshed out, then the story moves on. Leaving the reader to try to guess what's going on and try to fill in narrative gaps to try to make some logical sense of this story.
It also has a mix of both colored pictures and black and white pictures, which is a bit disappointing and gives this an unfinished look. I'm sure that was an intentional choice, but I think it would have been better to go with all color, or all, or mostly, black and white.
Some of the art I really liked:
Some of it I really didn't:
Overall I found this a disappointment, but I will certainly give this author and talented artist another look if another book is forthcoming.
I received a free, expiring, copy from Netgalley.
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