Rating: 
Summary: A short story in a full novel package
Review: Years ago I read a collection of short stories by Card, and one of them was a very creepy and enchanting story about these same lost boys. The short story was good, so I thought the book would offer even more. I was wrong. Card should never have made this story into a full book. As a short story it left you wanting more, but just a few chapters into the book and I was wanting much less. The book rambles on and on about tangential topics that have no bearing on the real story, and the only interesting story (about the boys) is undertold. Its a great story, but Card gives us so little about it that it lacks any thrill. Even some good ol' King gore, mind candy that it is, would have been a welcome contrast to the daily chores of the Fletcher-do-rights. There is no horror, there is no mystery, there is no substance. I kept thinking Card was trying to be King with his overextended development, but the characters didn't even develop. They started out as model Mormons and didn't seem to learn anything from their misfortunes and bad choices. I couldn't believe that such a great author could turn out such dribble. If you still must read this book, read the first 2 chapters and the last 2 chapters and save yourself some frustration. Or better yet, just read the short story.
Rating: 
Summary: A haunting tale that may change your life (as it did mine)
Review: It is a rare book that shakes you to the core, making you see your own world with new eyes, leaving you grateful for the normal, everyday gifts you take for granted. This is that kind of book. After I finished reading the last page, I had to go off alone and ponder this story - for hours. Then I had to reread the book, not just once but again. And again. Now, years after reading it, this one still haunts me and I think of it often. The story of a seemingly ordinary Mormon family who is caught up in a horror they don't even know is surrounding them was all too real to me - not because anything remotely like this has ever happened to me but beause the author made it so real, so vivid. At first, it seems at thought Steve is just a young boy accompanying his family on a chaotic and stressful move to a new home and a town where his father can get work. But all is not what it seems and behind even the most innocent, everyday events, danger lurks... and boys are disappearing. The climax of this books revolved around an event that seemed to me as if it could happen to anyone, to anyone's child. I know I'm being vague here but to say more would be to (possibly) kill the suspense of this one. Let me just say that I felt as if I'd entered this family's life and that when I finished this book, I was shaken to my core, seized by the urge to hold my son tight. This one has a permanent place on my bookshelf, cover facing out, and every time I see it, I am reminded not to take my blessings for granted. And this from a "science fiction" type book!
Rating:
Summary: Not really horror, not really mainstream
Review: By now we all know that this book is a loose autobiography of Card's life in the early 1980s when he had, for a while, to write computer manuals. LOST BOYS does a good job detailing the foibles of a young Mormon family. In fact, the first half, which is almost completely devoid of any traditional "horror" elements, is expertly written and not a word is wasted. But about halfway through, it's as if Card suddenly realizes that this testimony must be "about something". So here he starts throwing in his creepy moments. But these moments are too spread out to sustain any tension in the narrative. As traditional horror-genre tropes, they don't build on one another, so when the "lost boys" of the novel finally do appear, I was left saying "huh?" Card just cannot master Stephen King's technique and he fails miserably as a horror writer. (LOST BOYS was originally marketed as a horror novel though it says "fiction" on the spine. This is because Card is trying to switch over from science fiction to mainstream writing where the big money is. Which is strange since he's a millionaire twice over and ENDER'S GAME is being made into a movie.) What LOST BOYS does do quite admirably is show the Mormon way of life. However, Step and his wife DeAnne are too perfect to be believable, DeAnne especially. Clearly modeled after Card's wife, DeAnne is the perfect mother/wise woman who knows her husband's deepest thoughts and knows her role implicity. And some scenes are in the book just to flesh out the Mormon elements--the home teaching scenes, the long, drawn-out Mormon baptism scene, etc. Card, a writing teacher himself, should know that _every_ sentence, every paragraph _must_ be relevant to the novel as a whole. Huge sections of the book could have easily been cut or condensed in LOST BOYS, but then bestsellers these days have to be 600 pages long to be any good. I didn't like this book and it just confirms a notion I've had for a long time that Card is clearly a competent writer but he's just as clearly overrated. But Card is now review-proof and people just keep buying his books. As for me--a member of the clear minority--I'm through with Card.
Rating:
Summary: Though the writing was good, I found this novel disturbing
Review: This novel should not be available for children or teenagers to read. It tells of things children should not know about as well as producing images children would find horrifying. Of the OSC books I have read, this was the most disturbing.
Rating: 
Summary: Be patient through the slow beginning...
Review: I first started reading this book after reading Card's Ender series, craving more of whatever this gifted writer could offer. What I found, instead, was a [profoundly] boring lead-up to the actual story. Throughout the first 100 pages or so, it boggled my mind that anyone could possibly care about reading about this family's daily struggles and activities-- cooking, working, cleaning, going to a friend's house for dinner... Can't we just do this ourselves? Can anyone possibly be that voyeuristic? But I stuck with the book because I had faith in the writer. And my faith was not misplaced. I consider the last half of the book my treat for putting up with so much drivel in the beginning. By the end, however, you discover that a lot of the 'drivel' was masked development and you can't simply skim through it. I finished this book three days ago, but I'm still pondering it. Few books have ever had that effect on me. And it's one of two books which made me actually cry (the other was, surprisingly, the novella 'The Body' by Stephen King). So if you're the patient type, pick up a copy of Lost Boys. If not, pass this one by. P.S. Since so many other reviewers have mentioned the 'Mormon' part of the book, I'll just put in my two cents. You don't need to be Mormon to read this book (I'm certainly not). Just accept that this is a central part of these characters' lives. It fits within the story and I can't see any attempt on Card's part (a Mormon) to minister to the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Moving beyond words...
Review: I find it very hard to put into words what this book made me feel. But definitely, it was a very emotional ride towards the end; I cried my heart out. And once again, I can't help but be impressed by Card's mastery of words. Despite the tragic ending 'Lost Boys' had, it held a very affirming message, like all the other books that he wrote: Love and goodness. And I read this book at a time that is pretty fitting, I feel. I'm a teenager, going through an identity crisis. I get troubled over the 'not-so-angelic' side of me, and wonder if deep down, I'm just a hypocrite. The characters in the book go through the same emotions, and thoughts. And one lesson I brought out is that everyone of us have innately, both good and evil inside. What you ultimately turn out to be, is which you let control you. It's what you finally do. Even though you are reluctant to, even though you are lazy, even though you dislike it. Being good isn't always so easy, but we all try. I try. And Stevie, the lonely child in the book that I grew to love, tops us all. He inspires me, and makes me wish for half of the compassion that he has. And throughout, the dread for me was seeing all those things happen to Stevie. Seeing him grow gradually quiet. Withdrawn. But he had strength. This book is wonderful, very domestic and realistic, as it tells of family woes. Yet, never once does it get boring, because Orson Scott Card manages to bring it off with his style. Mundane, yes, but with a thoroughly unexpected, heartbreaking ending.
Rating:
Summary: Defying Genre
Review: This was the first OSC novel I read. I have since read several in hopes of recapturing some of the effects this novel had on me. What a great story it is. Unsettling characters come but never really go because I can't keep from wondering when they might reappear and why. Some reviews have expressed annoyance with all of the periphal characters and events not relevant ultimately to anything. I actually think much of that was to make a point and to set-up the most stunning event since Tom Clancy killed off the entire government in Debt of Honor. The story's heartbreaking conclusion is so good that it overshadows OSC's impressive craftmanship that made it all possible. I've re-read it since and still find many chilling elements that never made the whole story worthwhile. I've also been especially impressed with Lost Boys as a mystery because while like in "The Sixth Sense" everything you need to solve it is there, I doubt anyone would. It's true to itself and true to the reader in every way. I hope everyone reads this book. I love it and still think of it all these many months later.
Rating:
Summary: forget the ghost story
Review: I have been a Orson Scott Card fan for many years and have read many of his books that are not as popular and enjoyed them all. But this book left me completely frustrated and unsatisfied. I will not repeat the basics of the plot, as numerous other reviewers have already done so. Needless to say, this book is pushed as a horror novel. Everything from the synopsis on the back to the fact that I found it in the horror section of the book store said that this book would be a ghost story to send chills up my spine. This is not the case. Card is much more interested in the dynamics of this family than in ghosts. Even though I realized this very quickly, I persevered, for the characters are very 3D and he writes very well about the family's relationships and difficulties. I even found the extensive descriptions of their faith interesting: up to a point. This could have been a very touching and poignant story of a family who survives through numerous trials and tribulations -- everything from the father's problems with his new job, the son's difficulty finding friends at school and his later disappearance, even the daughter's near-molestation by a family friend -- all because of their love for each other and their deep faith in an often-marginalized religion. But Card carries it too far, and yet not far enough. Too far because this is not an examination of a family's faith, as it should be, but an author's attempt to convert his readers. That doesn't work, and I, for one, don't enjoy being preached at. Not far enough because Card never really gives the reader a true sense of the characters' struggles with their faith -- this is hinted at, but never truly explored. The characters remain cookie-cutter Christians with no depth to their faith, just a simple acceptance of anything the elders of the church say. Card should have left the horror portion out completely, and saved it for another book. He should have delved more deeply into the family's faith, but left the preaching at the altar. This book should have been billed as an examination of a family and its faith, and it should have been written as one. The bottom line is that this should have been two books: one that matches the synopsis on the back of the book, and one about a family's faith in God through many obstacles, including the murder of their son. Because Card tried to tell these two different stories in one book, neither is fully developed, and both fall flat. The attempts at a ghost story seem half-hearted and thrown in just to interest Card's usual readers, while the attempts at a story of faith come off as preachy and overbearing. I would not recommend this book to anyone, and certainly not to someone who is not very familiar with Card. I disliked this book so much that I have done with it something I never do: I am using the blank spaces in its pages to write notes about other books.
Rating:
Summary: Classic OSC
Review: Lost Boys: written in the same addictive style with which Card immortalized Ender's Game. The characters in this book, as in all of OSC, were very impressive. The plot enthralled me. I read this on a vacation directly before reading Ender's Shadow, and yet one never gets sick of the style of OSC. Pick this one up. It's for diehard fans like myself, and those who are new to the author.
Rating:
Summary: To Orson: Thank you for writing Lost Boys
Review: Why are the characters in Lost Boys so important to me? Why is my empathy for them so overwhelming? I guess only a MASTER STORY-TELLER like OSC knows the answer to that. And he makes it look so easy. Always tasteful, always justified, always good writing! Thank you Orson, for writing books like Lost Boys.
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