The Forest Demands Its Due

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.)