The Lost Path

by Amelie Flechais

Amelie Flechais (Artist) and Amélie Fléchais (Artist)

If you've got the taste for adventure, come join this treasure hunt! Three
young boys set off from Camp Happiness, map in hand, determined to be the first
to find the treasure before anyone else. But the shortcut they take leads to
something far more spectacular and sinister! All manner of magical beasties live
in these woods, and the kids find themselves caught between warring Forest
Spirits. Will the three boys find their way out of trouble? Get your map and
ready, set, go! Amélie Fléchais's incredible artwork combines the
best of French illustration with manga influences. A spooky new fairytale, for
fans of Over the Garden Wall.

• ISBN10: 1941302440
• ISBN13: 9781941302446
• Publish Date: 10 April 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Lion Forge, LLc, The
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 96
• Language: English

Reviews

[wcs53]

This is a fairly decent graphic novel that I borrowed from the library. The artwork was great, but the story was a little hard to follow and almost seemed incomplete.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of The Lost Path from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Lost Path is Amelie Flechais’ four graphic novel; the others include The Little Red Wolf, The Mountain Man, and The Warrior Shepherds (which I haven’t read, but I believe is another children’s story). All four stories have actually been translated from French, but you couldn’t tell it when reading. For those curious, The Lost Path is called Chemin perdu in French (and the cover actually fits this title better, I believe).
The Lost Path is about a cursed forest, forest spirits, and the adventure of a lifetime for three young boys. The forest has a dark history, and while we don’t know of the origin, we do get to learn a bit about some of the more recent influences the forest has faced.
Three boys end up inadvertently wondering into the cursed woods while heading out on a scavenger hunt – something typically considered to be a safe activity for children. What follows upon their entrance to the woods can only be considered magical – though not all magic is of the good variety.
The story was interesting, but what really stood out to me was the artwork. It was so unique, and the choices made for storytelling purposes were inspired. I don’t think I’ve seen a graphic novel that changed from full colored images to ink images for the sake of telling a story; but I believe that’s what happened here. It seemed to me that whenever the forest was making a move the artwork suddenly changed to a darker tone, using mostly inks and cross hatching to add in density and lines. Meanwhile the happier moments are full of color and have a lighter, fluffier appearance. It was wonderfully done, and I would very much like to see more of this style.

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[pamela]

It's challenging to pinpoint exactly why I didn’t like The Lost Path. There was nothing especially bad about it, but certainly nothing specifically great either. Half the art was beautiful, half of it was bland, and the story was, unfortunately, particularly unoriginal. Amélie Fléchaisis definitely a talented artist, but I felt, overall, that her style was inconsistent.

Stylistically I think that The Lost Path was written in the wrong format. It began with a gorgeously illustrated introductory story but quickly became a graphic novel. Because of that, the beautiful, artistic illustrations that you saw on the cover and the beginning of the book gave way to black and white line drawings that did absolutely nothing to keep my interest (although I do hold out hope that this was simply due to the fact that I had an ARC and not a finished product). I feel like it would have been served better had it been an illustrated story rather than a graphic novel. There would have been more scope for magic and description, which could have been accentuated by a full illustration in Amélie Fléchais’ inimitable style. As it was, the first quarter of The Lost Path was clichéd imagery and dialogue. The whole book is only 103 pages long, and yet it took me nearly two weeks to get through. I kept opening it up, getting immediately bored and wandering away to do something else for a few days.

The characters aren’t very well developed. Amélie Fléchais has tried to write a world of mystery and magic, focusing on the feeling evoked through her art, rather than giving any real life to her characters. The plot is simple, so the characters really needed some depth to be able to carry it. The creatures that they meet in the forest didn’t feel developed either, and I really just got the impression that Fléchais shoehorned them in to have the opportunity to draw a neat monster. They feature in a series of events that have been and gone before the reader has even turned the page.

The prose is messy and didn’t tie together in any coherent fashion. This was not helped by the fact that the art style changes from page to page. Most of the time this makes sense, as the art mirrors the theme of the boys’ fantasies, but on other pages, there wasn’t any real reason that I could see for the change. For a graphic novel, this was a poor stylistic choice, as the reader relies so heavily on visual cues to help move along the plotline. Again, there is a possibility that this is due to the fact that I was reading an ARC. The finished product may do away with some of these inconsistencies; however, I can only review what I had. And what I had made very little sense.

As an artist, Amélie Fléchais is five stars, but unfortunately, The Lost Path is not an art book. It’s a children’s story. If you want to buy a book for the pretty pictures, then this one is definitely worth your while. If you want a story that combines with art to create a magical world that children and adults alike will love? I think you might be out of luck with this one.