Lost Words

by Kevin Peake

With her mother dead, and her father lost in despair, Sarah spends her time outside of school in the town’s old library. Inside the pages of a forgotten world, a darkness calls forth a feast to feed its master. Now trapped within a world of dying stories and surrounded with characters who just don’t belong, Sarah has to fight her way through this strange world of stories, to find her way home.

Audible Audio

Published June 17, 2019

About the author

Kevin Peake writes for children and teens. Born in the England, London, he is currently living in SouthWest England studying Creative Writing and Publishing at Bath Spa University. In addition since November 2015, Kevin owns and runs Crystal Peake Publisher‘s.

Reviews

[Mererid Evanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot of fiction and I wouldn't be surprised to find that "story" is engraved on my heart. So I find the premise of this book very disturbing. I think it would be worse for writers. So you torture the heroes somewhat, but on the other hand you created them and things turn out all right in the end. For the villains things don't turn out so well, but they deserve it, don't they? And after all, it's only a story, isn't it? Well, not in this book. Like the White Queen, I've had a lot of practice believing impossible things, but this is a toughie. I just didn't want to believe it, even temporarily.

"Lost Words" is set in a world that includes a number of characters from books published over 100 years ago (just go with it, it's part of the premise). However, the characters don't behave like the characters in the stories they come from – because they're not really them and never were. Along with these random individuals are lost readers like our teenage heroine Sarah. Sarah sets out to rescue her mother (a long-lost reader) from the clutches of the Dark One, who here is – um – Long John Silver. But he's not the real villain of the story, that's Peter Pan's shadow – perhaps. So there you have it. It's an entertaining enough mish-mash which will give your credulity a good work-out. Look out for the crocodile.

If you like the general idea of the story-world, I recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books and Roderick Townley's "The Great Good Thing" (which last is not an ebook, but can be read at the Open Library).

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Margaret Yelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from Librarything and the author in a giveaway. I really had not idea what to expect from this book. The concept from reading the blurb about the book seemed to be a cute one. A young girl, her mother dead and father with little to no time to give to her, so she spends her spare time at the library. Who could get into any trouble there, until the day she opens a book and disappears into the pages of the book. She is drawn into the stories, yet its not the stories that we all know and love. There are so many didnt characters in the storyline that it is very hard to keep up with them all. This was a really hard book for me to get into. It was well written, and shows the author has quite the imagination, just not a book that I would like to read.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a cute story, but there were a few places it seemed to be lacking. I absolutely loved the premise, found it to be a nice twist on the standard method of having characters end up in stories. I also liked the idea that characters in a book could be completely different when not seen through the writers/readers eyes. I could see this being a good read for the young adult audience, not sure if that was what was intended. I would personally have preferred a bit more detail and character development for my tastes, and the climax felt a bit anti-climactic. Additionally there was a lot of swapping between past and present tense, which I found to be a bit jarring.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her life was bad now as her mother had died and her father was lost to his grief. She would spent all her spare time at the library where she finds a book. She is drawn into the stories and then she is trapped. She needs to get out but it will not be easy. Follow her adventures

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[KTC · Rating 1 out of 5]

What happens when the stories we thought were make-believe are made real? That question is answered in the novel, Lost Words, written by Kevin Peake.

The story opens with young Sarah, a 13-year old girl whose mother died when she was young. Her father has never recovered from the loss of his wife, so Sarah's home is a sad one. The way that Sarah copes with her life is through reading. ...more