Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Forest Demands Its Due

Disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. Most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book.I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all.

Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Pub date: October 3rd (“on October 3rd, he asked me what day it was”)

This was a beautifully powerful story about generational trauma, taking back your agency, being scared but doing it anyway, and a splash of Achillean romance 🫶🏽

I love how fun it is to unravel clues and history in a mystery like this. The town’s past *literally* comes back to haunt these people, and a huge part of why it’s so powerful is because of the revision history that takes place by the people in power. The theme of truth comes up a lot in this book — what’s true and who should these characters trust? How does the truth inform their next decisions?! Though Douglas was essentially forced into taking on this quest, he tried his best to trust his instincts, and to let his curiosity guide him.

There were few people “worth saving” (in my opinion because I choose violence every day) and Douglas could have said no and just tried to survive the rest of his senior year. He could have said, “none of these people are good to me, why should I save them or this town?! I’m not tied to it and I just got here!” However, another theme comes into play throughout the book, and it’s the topic of choosing to help even when no one has helped you.

Douglas isn’t your perfect, fearless, all-knowing hero; he’s just Douglas and that’s okay! He is so relatable because he does get so exhausted, frustrated, scared, or embarrassed (I think I feel these everyday hahaha) and he still tries anyway! He troubleshoots his way through problems and doesn’t give up even though he never asked for this, and even though it is HARD.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding of the Atolas Forest history, Douglas’ past before coming to Vermont, and the way magic is weaved in!

Kosoko Jackson is a new auto-buy author for me and I’m committed to reading his backlist!

I am so glad I read this book, and now I need it to be optioned to become a film 😂

Content Warnings

fanboyriot's review

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Read For:

Dark Magic

Small Town

Prep-School

Eerie Atmosphere

Dark Academia Vibes

Think Ace of Spades (by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé) meets a Supernatural episode.

This book was a great queer horror/thriller. The vengeful gods, creepy monster slaying, and a setting that was written really well, drawing the horror with the eerie atmosphere and learning the lore of the small town only made it all the more horrific; also had a sweet romance with new friends to lovers vibes.

Douglas was an entertaining main character even if I didn’t like some of the decisions he made at some points at the end. The beginning took me a minute to get into but the middle of this book was so good! The ending was good but also a bit bittersweet.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author/publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(First Person POV)

Spice: n/a (just kissing)

Rep: Gay MC, POC MC

Content Warnings

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