The forest demands its due / Kosoko Jackson.

Title :

The forest demands its due

Author:

Format:

Books

Summary:

When the murder of his classmate at an elite boarding school seems to be forgotten overnight, seventeen-year-old Douglas must confront centuries of secrets in the school's past and a vengeful creature in the forest surrounding the campus.

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. Then a student is murdered-- and by the next day no one remember him having existed, except for student Douglas Jones and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. Search for the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest: a vengeful creature seeking blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making. -- adapted from jacket

Language:

English

Audience:

Ages 14 up. Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN - ISSN:

9780063260795

0063260794

Physical Description:

418 pages ; 21 cm

Subject:

Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Blessing and cursing -- Juvenile fiction.

Gay men -- Juvenile fiction.

African Americans -- Juvenile fiction.

Boarding school students -- Fiction.

Gay teenagers -- Fiction.

African American teenagers -- Fiction.

Boarding schools -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Blessing and cursing -- Fiction.

Supernatural -- Fiction.

Gay men -- Fiction.

African Americans -- Fiction.

First Title value, for Searching:

The forest demands its due / Kosoko Jackson.

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Library	Audience	Home Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... McGovern-Stella Link	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	JACKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Moody	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	JACKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Oak Forest	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	JACKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Smith	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	JACKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stanaker	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	JACKS	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A Lesson in Vengeance meets The Taking of Jake Livingston in this page-turning YA horror/fantasy set in dark academia 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!

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--A centuries-old curse plagues a prestigious academy nestled in a Vermont forest in this fantasy/horror novel. Douglas Jones, a queer, Black teenager from Washington, DC, is given a fresh start at Regent Academy in the aftermath of a deadly apartment fire he was unfairly accused of causing. However, he feels isolated and frustrated at the predominately white school, and is unnerved by strange voices he alone hears emanating from the Atolas Forest. Unease turns to horror when a student is murdered there, and no one other than Douglas and the groundskeeper, Everett Everley, even remember the student's existence. Douglas learns that this is due to an ancient curse, and that he was brought to Regent because the Headmaster believes Douglas holds a unique power that can end it. With the aid of Everett, 17, Douglas works to understand his powers, unravel the mystery surrounding the curse, and ultimately confront a presence that inhabits the heart of the forest. The book shines in developing compelling motivations for its central characters, but a romance between Douglas and Everett feels forced, and the book's resolution is uneven and chaotic. There are a few scenes depicted that might be too graphically violent for younger or more sensitive readers. VERDICT The action and suspense are a good fit for fans of both horror and dark academia, though veterans of the genre may find parts of the story uninspiring. A solid choice for larger collections.--Michael Van Wambeke

Publisher's Weekly Review

Jackson (Under the Dome) examines themes of heartbreak, magic, and queer love in this exhilarating fantasy horror novel. Students are disappearing from Regent Academy, an ultra-exclusive boarding school in Winslow, Vt. And it's not just their bodies that go missing--everyone's memories of them vanish, too. Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones, a Black queer scholarship student, seems to be the only person who remembers the teen who was found murdered on the perimeter of the school's forest. Things get even stranger when Douglas--who has been hearing voices coming from the woods--is thrust into a world of magic after awakening in the forest covered in blood. Accompanied by the 17-year-old son of the groundskeeper who's been tasked with keeping watch over the forest and the deadly creatures that live within it, Douglas must untangle Winslow's dark history or risk being swallowed up by the mythical forest's darkness. Uneven pacing and simplistic prose sometimes stymie the intricate worldbuilding. Still, the pulse-pounding twists, riveting premise, and the enticing character dynamics formed amid intriguing magical troubles ensure that readers will want to follow along to the end. Ages 14--up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

A whispering forest surrounds a school full of deadly secrets. After being accused of setting a fire that caused multiple deaths, Black high school junior Douglas accepts a full scholarship to prestigious Regent Academy in rural Vermont, an institution filled with privileged students that's known for producing leaders. After a fight with a bully, Douglas comes to in the forest and realizes this opportunity of a lifetime has been twisted into something nightmarish. After another classmate goes missing, and no one seems to recall the boy's existence, Douglas approaches Headmaster Monroe about the strange events. Monroe recognizes the significance of what Douglas experienced, and Douglas agrees to take part in Monroe's plans. Lured to the forest (which seems to call to him in many voices) and unsure of his own senses, Douglas seeks answers from rugged and aloof groundskeeper Everett Everley, the blond 17-year-old descendant of a family with its own connections to the forest. As Douglas' inner strength becomes clearer, Everett trains him for a standoff against a terrifying and powerful force. They both fear more lives are at risk, including their own. As they work together, the mutual attraction between Douglas and Everett grows. Alongside the growing body count, this satisfying and suspenseful genre-bender delivers an uplifting gay romance: It's the perfect choice for fans of high-intensity action, surprising twists, and fantastically frightening creatures. A bold addition to queer dark academia stories. (Horror/fantasy. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Ever since Douglas Jones, a Black teen, arrived at Regent Academy, the woods have been talking to him. But that isn't the only thing on his mind. The only reason he's even at the prestigious, secluded, and historically white school is that it's a condition of avoiding jail time for burning down a building full of people. All he and his mom had to do was move to Winslow, Vermont, and keep out of trouble. But trouble has a way of finding Douglas. When he finds a student dead in the woods one night, Douglas is rightly afraid, but the next day, nobody seems to remember the boy ever existed. Nobody, that is, except for Emmett Everley, son of the groundskeeper. As Douglas searches for answers, he inadvertently wakes up an ancient curse, unleashing the anger of the forest upon Regent Academy and the town. Douglas and the white Everley siblings (Emmett and Emma) head into the woods to break the curse, facing power and darkness beyond comprehension. Jackson (Yesterday Is History, 2021) digs deep to weave together an exploration of generational trauma, moral corruption, and the power that comes from letting go of the past. Jackson's novel is a fantastical, queer, grotesque, messy story that fans of dark academia and horror will love.