The Forest Demands Its Due
Published on 12. October 2023
Book
Hardback
432 pages
978-0-00-866546-3 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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 300 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!
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 300 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 / Votes
"Jackson 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."- Rob Bittner, Booklist
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
660 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-866546-3 (9780008665463)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
From a young age, when he wrote his first narrative at six about kindergartners being eaten by a bear, Kosoko Jackson has loved stories. Now he writes them for teens and adults. He is the author of several YA novels starring Black queer protagonists, including his debut, Yesterday Is
History, and Survive the Dome, and his adult novel
was the winner of the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance. When not trying to decide how to best torture his characters next, he can be found playing with his golden retriever, Artemis; attempting to hit his one-hundred-movies-
a-year goal; or playing video games (badly). Visit Kosoko online at kosokojackson.com.
History, and Survive the Dome, and his adult novel
was the winner of the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance. When not trying to decide how to best torture his characters next, he can be found playing with his golden retriever, Artemis; attempting to hit his one-hundred-movies-
a-year goal; or playing video games (badly). Visit Kosoko online at kosokojackson.com.