Rin Chupeco's The Sacrifice is a chilling YA horror novel about Alon, an 18-year-old Filipino fisher, and their experience as a guide for a group of derisive and exploitative documentary filmmakers.
The Philippine island of Kisapmata is a tropical oasis blanketed by the tentacle-like roots of balete trees. Despite its tranquil appearance, the island is far from serene. Rumors of a sacrificial cult, strange disappearances, a colonial prophecy and a cave-dwelling god have attracted a group of enterprising documentarians. When the group meets up on the island, they assume Alon is the "ghost whisperer" whom the locals say is the "one person the island won't curse." Alon accepts their offer to pay them as a guide but warns that the crew shouldn't be on the island. Soon, members of the crew are driven mad by sightings of ghoul-like creatures who shapeshift into those they have harmed. As some crew members disappear into the balete, others are determined to seize the island's power for themselves. Alon tries to defend the crew, but there is little to be done once the island has found a worthy sacrifice.
Eerie and haunting, The Sacrifice uses elements of traditional Filipino folklore and contemporary horror to spotlight the harms of neo-colonialism. The documentarians clumsily and disrespectfully enter Kisapmata, then abuse the island's resources, depicting it as a malicious land rather than a place of beauty worthy of respect. Chupeco (The Bone Witch) uses Alon's gentle, direct first-person point of view to explore the titular theme and how it relates to interpersonal dynamics. A haunting, hypnotizing folk horror novel. --Cade Williams, freelance reviewer and staff writer at the Harvard Independent