Monday, May 19, 2014

Review: The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst

Title: The Lost
Author: Sarah Best Durst
Series: Book One in the Lost Series
Published By: Harlequin MIRA (May 20, 2014)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars!

Book Description:
Lost your way? 

Your dreams?  

Yourself? 

Welcome to Lost. 

It was supposed to be a small escape. A few hours driving before turning around and heading home. But once you arrive in Lost...well, it's a place you really can't leave. Not until you're Found. Only the Missing Man can send you home. And he took one look at Lauren Chase and disappeared. 

So Lauren is now trapped in the town where all lost things go-luggage, keys, dreams, lives-where nothing is permanent, where the locals go feral and where the only people who don't want to kill her are a handsome wild man called the Finder and a knife-wielding six-year-old girl. The only road out of town is engulfed by an impassable dust storm, and escape is impossible.... 

Until Lauren decides nothing-and no one-is going to keep her here anymore. 








I love when I am looking for something completely different to read. Something that could even be classified as strange rather than unique. Something unlike anything else and I love it even more when an author gives me just that and then some.

Durst created an imaginative and unique world in Lost. A world where anything is possible and nothing is ever what it seems. A world that while you don't want to ever find yourself there, can't help but like it once you are thrown into the clutches of the void and the little town and residents that will so thoroughly capture your heart once you meet them. 

The Finder, The Missing Man, the void, the cafe, they all managed to suck me in and get me completely lost in their story and world.

I couldn't help but love the Peter Pan feel to the story. The boy who is troubled and doesn't want to grow up and move on. The man who is a mystery, who is so very smart and strong and so very lost in his own way in a town where everything and everyone is looking for something and no one knows why they are there. The man who wants to help everyone, but himself and the girl he helps. A girl who is also lost but magical too. A girl that makes the man want to grow up and the girl never leave.

I loved this, I really did. It was so wonderfully done. It was bizarre and beautiful with it's hidden messages and meanings and I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation with wanting more.

Durst did a fabulous job and now I want to read more of her work because I just loved the vivid imagery and strange happenings of the little town Lost and I need something else to hold me over until the next book comes out and what better way to do that than to try something else of hers? Look out Durst, here I come.




*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

34 comments:

  1. I love the cover, and it sounds like an awesome read! I'm definitely adding it to my wish list, cause it looks too good not to, hehe :)

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  2. I tried reading her fantasy novel, Vessel, and I can honestly say it was unlike anything I've ever read, but somehow it just didn't work for me. I ended up DNF-ing it, although I could definitely see the advantages. Perhaps I should give her another chance, originality is hard to find.

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    1. I could see how that can be Maja. If you try this one I hope you like it more than the other one.

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  3. This is on my TBR list, can't wait to read it now :)

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    1. I hope you like it when you get a chance to read it. :)

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  4. Durst is an author I've been wanting to check out for awhile too, and with this book, I don't think I'm going to be able to delay it any longer. Fabulous review! Really--can't wait to read this one.

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    1. I hope you do try it and love it Jessica. Just be expecting the unexpected.

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  5. Why haven't I heard of this book before Ali? It sounds AWESOME! I love slightly strange or bizarre stories, especially ones that keep me on the edge of my seat:) And yay fantasy! I can't get enough of that genre:)

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  6. Oooh, this is mighty interesting indeed! I have the ARC but I actually didn't bother opening it just yet (I'm such a slacker, sarreeeh), but now I may just have. I love the premise, and the Peter Pan feel. Could it resurface nostalgia I wonder? Great review!

    Faye at The Social Potato Reviews

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    1. It kind of did for me but in a Peter Pan is an adult but still a boy kind of feel. Hard to explain but you will get it when you read it.

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  7. That's great you really liked this one. I'm so curious about it, so I'm even more excited now.

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  8. I was so tempted to get this and now it sounds like I missed out. I like the sound of it, and now I must have it.

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    1. I hate it when that happens but we can't read them all, well, we can have fun trying to but yeah, so many great books out lately, it is hard to choose which ones to read and which not too.

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  9. I do sometimes like strange books like this so I might have to consider picking it up!

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  10. Ali, this sounds really good! The only book I've read by Durst is Conjured, and that story pretty much blew me away with how unique her world/magic/characters are. I definitely need to go and put this one on my wishlist! :)

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    1. I need to read that one, I bet I would love it too.

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  11. I'm always on the look-out for a truly unique read, and from your review it sounds as though Durst nailed that in Lost. Plus, I haven't read anything by this author since Drink, Slay, Love, so I think I'm due! Great review.

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  12. I haven't heard of this book before but now I am so eager to get my hands on it. I am a huge fan of all things Peter Pan so the fact this has a lot of similarities really makes me want to read it. Thanks for the great review! :) I'm actually stopping by as someone linked to you in my Blogger Love post today, great blog and following via bloglovin!

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    1. Thank you so much and I really hope you like this one if you do decide to try it!!

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  13. This sounds beautifully fantastic!!! Can't wait to read it :)

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  14. I tried reading this the other night but couldn't get into it. HOWEVER, I think it was because I was tired. So I'm going to try again and hopefully have good luck. I read her book Drink, Slay, Love and loved it, so I know the woman can write. ;)

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    1. It is a little harder to get into in the beginning but then it really picks up.

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  15. I have never heard of this book or author. Thanks for introducing me! Great review :)

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  16. I love books like this, when you are whirled off to a terrifying world where it is hard to know what will happen next. I believe that these worlds build up a lot of suspense, and suspense is something I love!

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    1. They do because you never know what to expect. :)

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  17. "I loved this, I really did. It was so wonderfully done. It was bizarre and beautiful with it's hidden messages and meanings and I am on the edge of my seat in anticipation with wanting more." This paragraph has me adding this now. Beautiful review!

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  18. This is the second positive review I've read for this book, and I think that I'm definitely going to have to give it a try! That's so cool that there's a sort of peter pan feel to the story. The hidden messages things sounds interesting, too. Great review :)

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    1. Thanks so much and I am so glad you are going to give this one a try. :)

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