Melissa B. (dragoneyes) -
This story started off interesting enough with a group of people getting ready to climb Mt. Fuji. When they are informed that there will be rain and no one can climb, they get an idea to camp in the forest there even though it is not allowed. The forest, known as Aokigahara (aka The Sea of Trees) is also called The Suicide Forest for the number of people who go there to die by their own hands. They set off hiking down a trail and this is where things start to go south for me. So many times with the horror genre, you see people making stupid choices. This does not differ from those. You have the group veering off the trail, then you have them separating. It keeps going from there. Back and forth bantering like jealous teenagers and so on. Finally, it starts to get spooky. There is that chill in the air and the feeling like someone is watching you as you read. Then the ending... I don't want to give it away but I am not sure how I fully feel about it. It had its creep factor but it wasn't terrifying. Kind of liked where it was going in the middle of the book but it veered in another direction that just didn't make the cut for me.
