Hot. Damn.

That's all I was left with by the time I finished the book, because hot damn. It was so good.

The story, the setting, the characters, the atmosphere. Hot damn. All of it.

This was one of the best written books I've read in so long. Dark academia is a tough thing to do convincingly, and more often than not it just ends up like a writer is describing a tumblr mood board, but it was done so well in this book. There's horror, there's fantasy, there's intrigue, there's romance. It's all there, and it all combines to tell a fantastic story about race, generational trauma, and all the messy things that go along with it.

Douglas is a fantastic main character, his struggle and development are one of the main driving forces through the book and I loved every second of it. Everette was amazing as a love interest, and he was a perfect foil for Douglass. Their relationship felt natural, sweet, and the end of the book definitely pulled on your heartstrings because of how well it had been built up over the course of the book.

My only minor complaint is that it ended up being a little more fantasy than horror, and I would have liked a few more scary elements in the book, but it's such a minor complaint that I'd never knock it down from a perfect rating.

10/10. Read it. Love it. Hot damn it.

I was hooked from the cover and I got a great horror novel from this, it does a great job in creating a suspenseful atmosphere. The forest is such a scary place anyway and it worked with this story. The characters were what I was hoping for and loved getting to read their story. It had everything that I was hoping for and loved Douglas Jones as a character.

"I don’t trust her either,” I say. “But I also think we’ve been in town to come back empty-handed, and we haven’t found anything that I couldn’t have found in the comfort of the Regent library. Maybe she has some information that Headmaster Monroe doesn’t know about? You said we need to extend our search outside of his reach. What better way to do that than . . . ?” I gesture wildly at the woman ahead of us."

4.5 stars

I think this was a very enjoyable and fast paced dark academia. The romance actually had chemistry, and the plot was interesting. I feel like this book was the perfect length and told a good story without being too long. A lot of dark academia books are almost always 100 pages too long, but this one wasn’t any longer than it needed to be.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Actual Rating 3.5 Stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins, and Quill Tree Books for allowing me to read this book!!

The Forest Demands Its Due is a hauntingly beautiful story. It is an unique blend of fantasy and horror; however, it leans more into the fantasy genre. I do wish more horror elements existed throughout the book. But it is perfect for fans of Dark Academia. Douglas' journey of self-discovery is brillantly convey throughout the book. I loved Douglas as a character and I thought the ending highlighted his character development. The ending strays away from the traditonal happy ending we see in a lot of books. Definitely worth checking out. I also look forward to reading more books by Kosoko Jackson.

Review will be published on social media sites closer to publication date.

The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson is probably one of the greatest books I’ve read so far this month.

A wild dark academia mystery-fantasy that is both intriguing and haunting.
I had some serious issues putting this book down!! It was sooo addictive and I couldn’t wait to see what happened!!
The characters are great because, to me, they seemed so real.
I enjoyed their differences and thought they had a great dynamic.
The thing that just kept me drawn in was that I never knew what was going to happen.
Jackson draws you in and never let’s go, but the voice it’s written in is just perfect.
Kosoko Jackson is a phenomenal writer.
I was flipping the pages frantically, carried to its twisty, pulse-racing conclusion.
This is an incredible book and I cannot wait to read more by this phenomenal author.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I loved it! Fast and compelling. Very modern.

The story moved along quickly and thoroughly held my interest. There was creepiness, intrigue, mystery, and monsters, in addition to a love story.

Clean, socially relevant writing that kept me engaged from the very first page.

I have fairly mixed feelings about this book, because on one hand, it is helping bring much-needed representation to the still predominantly cishet and white dark academia genre. On the other, there really isn’t a lot of academia to be spoken of in it. The main character literally gets pardoned from ever going to class about a quarter of the way through the book, and doesn’t even particularly seem interested in the school itself, which I am a bit confused about, because I don’t know if it’s a high school or a college. The main characters are all seniors at 17, pointing to high school, but they also are apparently choosing their majors freshman year, which is not a thing that exists in high school. As someone who does not like the boarding school setting unless the characters are actually invested in their subject– and by invested I mean incredibly, dangerously obsessed with it– this was just not the book for me. I can very much appreciate everything that it was, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a boarding school setting but doesn’t actually care too much for the school part, and wants to see more representation within a genre that has a historical lack of it. The plot and the writing are both really good for the YA genre as well.

Truly a vibe. Atmospheric and very smart in the way it handled difficult, important topics. Highly recommended to readers of young adult horror.

Thanks Quill Tree Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. This book was a lot of wow for me! Douglas is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, the only way for him to avoid prison is to agree to attend a prestigious private school. But how prestigious can it be when he’s never heard of it or the town it’s located in? Once there he finds the people to be privileged, racist, and homophobic. He doesn’t want to be there and when strange thing start happening he’ll question everything. Hearing voices, people erased, and curses to name a few! When he learns only he can end the curse he’ll have to decide if these people are worth saving. Can he defeat the curse? Why was he chosen? What’s going on with Everett, the mysterious groundskeeper who knows more then he lets on? I really enjoyed this story though it took a little bit to get into! Once I did though I couldn’t put it down! Douglas is strong and determined and refuses to be pushed around by the privileged students and teachers! I loved the back lore of how the curse came to be and I love that it unfolds slowly providing more twists throughout the story! A good look at how bigotry and hate condemn peoples souls! It also is sweet, charming, and has its romantic moments mixed it! Can’t wait to read it again!

This was some of the best storytelling that I've read. This was so many things. Eerie, atmospheric, haunting, unsettling, raw, and heart racing to name a few. Everyone forgetting who Douglas is, the bloodthirsty creature in the woods, murder, and mayhem created an amazing dark academia thriller.

There is so much YA horror coming out in 2023 that any YA horror has to really stick out to be worthwhile. I felt like other books coming out this year do similar things to this one, only better. But I also just don't tend to love Jackson's writing style, so people who love his other books might prefer this one over other 2023 horrors!

I really, really wanted to love this one, but I found that it just wasn't for me. There was no particular reason, it was just that my personal taste didn't mesh with the writing! Not a fault of the book at all just, just how it ended up being for me!