The Lizy Reviews on Witherwood: Lost and Found

Obviously, the title is a signal to pay attention. Perhaps announcing what was lost would be venturing into spoiler territory, minus Charlotte being separated from Tobias at the very beginning while both of them are still brainwashed. But a few things that were found bear mentioning. Tobias found a note that he wrote to himself to wake himself up, and he woke himself up (so just FYI, notes you write to yourself work). More importantly, he found out shortly thereafter that he wasn’t the only one fighting against the regime at Witherwood. It is kind of hard to keep our new characters Megan, Keith and Patrick straight, but they are resourceful allies for Charlotte and Tobias. They call themselves “the Resistance,” which as they point out isn’t terribly original. But these are some pretty determined kids (cue 'March of the Resistance' from The Force Awakens soundtrack ;) ).

Tobias also finds more evidence of what is really going on at Witherwood. We don’t know everything about what the bad guys are doing or what their motivations are, so a lot of it I can still only guess at this point. But we are finally starting to peel back some of the layers.

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Tobias and Charlotte’s dad, Ralph Eggers, is getting closer to finding his memories, but he has more hindrance than help at this point. His main companion right now is the generous taxi cab driver, Sam. While he is trying to be realistic about Ralph’s prospects, I wouldn’t put him in the same category as Sam Wilson or Samwise Gamgee--Sam the Cab Driver is not really the ideal wingman. We also find some character development for Fiddle hinted at towards the end--and maybe a way to find some answers when book three comes out (hope that wasn't spoiling it too much).

The opening commentaries for each of the chapters are a bit annoying but I’m just going along with it at this point. I haven’t read A Series of Unfortunate Events so I couldn’t tell you how original Skye is being with his tone or how much he’s borrowing. A lot of it is typical Obert Skye.  The villains are as grotesque and terrifying as they are in book 1. Witherwood head honcho Marvin Withers doesn’t make as many appearances in Lost and Found, but if you ask me the less anyone sees Marvin Withers the better because he is bad news. The ending isn’t as satisfying as you’d like it to be, but if it had been then that would defeat the point of a cliffhanger. The genre for Witherwood is kind of hard to place. It does have fantasy elements but it’s more of a psych thriller or horror series. As the series continues, of course, and the missing pieces come together, Witherwood may turn out to be something altogether unexpected.