Wendigo Forest by C.A. King – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur

Wendigo Forest by C.A. King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a story about the Fawns, an ordinary family, mum, dad, daughter, but their life is anything but ordinary, they have to move towns all the time for work and these continuous transitions are hard for them all, but hardest of all on Clara. She cannot make friends, she cannot find love and she cannot let herself get attached.

We meet Clara as she is travelling to a new town and another fresh start, she is starting to get sick of it and lose her patience with her parents’ constant need to move, but she goes along with it as they see their new home, as the grey rain falls down. The sign for Chance was overgrown and hidden from view, a great start, next came the size of it, small, a place where everyone will know each other and not making connections with people will be harder than ever, but would also mean that they would be easily forgotten when they eventually had to leave. The house came next, a large country house backing onto the woodland which surrounded the entire town, a driveway and a large yard, not what they usually went for in the slightest.After unpacking everything and getting settled, the first day of school and her new life would begin, but that is also when the dreams start, a dream so realistic that it stops her getting a good night’s sleep, just what she needs before her first day and it stays with her throughout that day as well.

Clara enters her new school expecting the worst, the comments about the new girl, the stares and the lack of fitting in. However, this first day was different, it was when she saw him, Hank and he sticks in her mind the rest of the evening as well. The next day, Hank approaches her and invites her to hang out with him and his friends after school at the shake shack. As much as she doesn’t want to make connections, she always ends up making them anyway, so she agrees to meet the group of friends after school. The rest of the day passes and she gets to the shack, which looks exactly how you would expect it to from the name, she goes to look at the names of the ice creams there and is confused when they are named after animals. When she asks about this, they say it has something to do with a local legend, but aren’t allowed to say anything else about it, but that she should go camping with them in the woods on friday and if she does go, then she can join their group, with that they leave her to decide what to do.

She decides to do a little research of her own when she gets home and that is where the Wendigo pops up and the revelation that the forest around the town is called Wendigo Forest. It is around this time that her parents expressly forbid her from going into the woods, but she does it anyway and this is where the story really gets going.

What will happen if she goes into the woods? What is a wendigo and should she be more scared that one may be in the forest? Will her new friends let her join their group, or will something stop her?

This one night will be life changing, but will it be for better or for worse? This story of fantastical creatures, twists, turns and mystery, is a journey you will want to go on too.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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