e-Audio, 11:26:03
Narrated by: Desean Terry
Release Date: October 3, 2023
Published by: Quill Tree Books
Read from: September 27- October 6, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Murder, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Violence, Gore, Murder, Bullying, Self Harm, Self Harm Thoughts, Fire/Fire Injury
For Readers Interested In: Horror, Monsters, LGBTQIA+ (Gay), Thriller, Atmospheric Books, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, YAA 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 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!
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was so weird to me lol And because of that, I liked it. Definitely was a good one to add to my horror reads era. Was I expecting more tho? Yes. Since it was marketed as horror I was expecting it to scare the pants off me. Idk what it is about forests, they just freak me out. I think it started with that book with the boy who lived. Anyway, since it had one I expected it to freak me out more, but it barely made me gasp. But still as a Jackson fan I knew I wasn’t going to be able to escape his writing. And I was right.
Ok so with that opening, I guess the thing I need to first point out is the horror or the scary bit. Whyyyyy was this put as horror and not just a thriller? I mean, I get it, it had a monster and the atmosphere was scary. But the monster wasn’t even explained for a good while and when it finally was, it was just what it looked like. There was no scary back story or any folklore or myth explained. And then when it finally was, it was like surface level. I wasn’t sold for any of it. Then whenever the monster had center stage, it was like talking, but it wasn’t even anything bad. Idk, I just wanted more?
And then there was the forest…. It had so much potential. I was scared from just seeing Forest in the title. And it was creepy the whole time. But all the time spent in there was time they couldn’t remember or time that we really didn’t see. I guess I wanted more. Most times I don’t like flowery language, but I guess in horror and thrillers it’s a good thing to have all those details. Or at the very least, more than normal I guess.
But even still the horror part wasn’t giving, I was still interested in the rest of the story. I needed to know WHY this was happening and why tf people couldn’t remember these things were happening. So when they finally told us what it was…. I was a little underwhelmed. Like as of now, I don’t even remember what it was lol And the rest of the plot was a little repetitive.
But the feeling in this was definitely classic Jackson. The romance and the way they hated each other, and the way they argued when it was clear that something big was going to happen and it was going to affect them, etc. I just simply wasn’t prepared for them to be as cute as they were when they were like trying to make sure they stayed alive lol I thought they were cute even at this weird ass time lol
I liked the book, but I just thought there was a little more potential. As someone who doesn’t read the synopsis, I went into this blind and thought it was something else entirely. I think the thing that saved me was the fact that I was listening to the e-audio from the library and I could speed it up, and because the author was Kosoko Jackson.
Overall, I give this
