The Forest Demands Its Due

By: Kosoko Jackson

Narrated by: Desean Terry

A Lesson in Vengeance meets The Taking of Jake Livingston in this captivating dark academia novel about a queer Black teen who discovers the sinister history of his boarding school and the corrupt powers behind it all. A USA Today bestseller!

Regent Academy has a long and storied history in Winslow, Vermont, as does the forest that surrounds it. The school is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious.

Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he’s just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt more than three hundred years in the making—or it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness.

And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he’s always felt was missing: power. But if he’s not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.

A high-octane mystery of murder and magic for fans of Ace of Spades, House of Hollow, and Get Out!

©2023 Kosoko Jackson (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Atmosphere and School Secrets

I really liked the world building in this book. It takes place at a school for rich kids and our main character is there on a scholarship. His mom is the school nurse and one day, he's visiting with her and someone comes in completely torn to shreds. The next day, he asks if the kid made it, if he's ok, but nobody remembers him. We investigate along with our protagonist as he navigates a curse placed on members of the school, a budding romance with a classmate, new magical abilities, and an unreliable mind that may or may not be blocking out memories of a fire he set, or didn't set, that killed 12 people.

Overall it was good. I had some issues keeping track of the magic stuff but that was more on me doing other things while listening. I did dock a star because I wanted a bit more...substance? I'm not sure how to word it but I wanted more character interactions. More building of these people. Worth the credit for me.

I enjoyed the story telling and the characters.

I liked the pacing and character development of the story. My one dislike, however, was the narrator's inflection. He did a good job speaking overall but when it comes to speaking as certain characters (specifically Douglas), he tends to shift his tone, which becomes confusing when he is talking to someone else. For example, Douglas has a soft, almost meek-like voice while Everett has a deep, rough and commanding voice. So whenever the narrator is speaking as the former while talking to the latter, it becomes confusing when the tone of his Douglas voice goes deeper and he starts to sound like Everett and it makes me believe that Everett is talking when he is not (this even happens when he internally monologues as Douglas). Other than that I really enjoyed the story.

Good YA story

This was a good YA story. I pulled me in and hooked me. A bit repetitive in the middle. But over all solid.

Unexpectedly Moving

This was such an amazing book! It was eerie , it was moving , it was thought provoking , it was utterly heart wrenching ! My only regret with this title is not listening to it in fewer sittings ! This book , wow...... just wow! There are so many layers to this story and it was such a delight. The narrator was clear when switching characters , just enough emotion without feeling forced . I absolutely am recommending this to anyone who will listen (to me lol) . I cannot wait to find other titles by this author.

Good performance

story did not capture me and seemed like things I've read a hundred times before

Avoid this book

First, the narrator on here may be good at other books but this is not his cup of tea. He didn’t read the characters correctly and it made the whole thing really hard to listen to. Second, the writing is just plain bad. This story had such potential but it was executed horrifically. The grammar and dialogue didn’t flow well throughout the story and just made it choppy. The characters acted in ways that aren’t believable for their age. You can tell what the writers pet peeves are in other stories because they were weirdly specific in certain instances that you could tell they had to act that way to make him feel better.

Overall, just don’t read this book. And if you absolutely have to, read it yourself instead of listening to it.