I went into this book knowing nothing and landed in a fairytale that was part Hansel and Gretel and several other stories woven together with something entirely new. The overall arc is interesting because despite there being a clear ending and beginning, it’s hard to fully understand the journey of the story, which only makes it more reminiscent of original fairy tales themselves. It’s definitely an interesting novella and an interesting story that Mohamed has crafted, one that I raced through pretty quickly myself. If you like fairy tales, sentient forests, or adventures where time is running out, then this is definitely worth the read.

The overall vibe of the story was interesting and kept me engaged throughout. I also think it was interesting to see the story through Veris’s eyes, both in having an older-for-fantasy protagonist and in the frequently referenced dynamic with the Tyrant.

As far as the actual contents, it did feel sometimes like the most interesting moments in the story were underdeveloped or happened overly quickly. Elements of the forest were quickly run through despite sometimes being pivotal to the overall success of the story, which made them a little less impactful in hindsight. The hinge at the end of the story adds an interesting level of humanity to the overall story, but it still almost feels like it was over too quickly. All in all, I think this feels like the backstory to a fairytale, ultimately creating its own fantastical story along the way.

Old, large forests have a tendency to make us a little uneasy, perhaps because of their age, and the darkness under their canopy, and what that might conceal. Premee Mohamed sets her tale in a conquered land bordered by an old forest. The land is ruled over by the Tyrant, as main character Veris, and others of this conquered land, refers to him.

At the story's open the Tyrant kidnaps Veris and forces her to enter the north woods, which everyone in her land knows not to enter, for no one ever returns from there.

Veris had once, to rescue a child, and this is what the Tyrant latches on to when his own two young children enter the wood, probably after adventure, or because of curiosity. No matter the reason, the Tyrant threatens to murder Veris' last remaining family members unless she retrieves his children.

Families who have lost members to the forest hold funerals and move on. It is common knowledge amongst her country's residents that any time longer than one day in the woods means that one's loved one is lost to the dangers in the forest. Veris knows that the only reason she succeeded the last time was because she was within the time limit. Otherwise, neither she nor the child would have returned home.

There are terrifying creatures and swift death everywhere in the north woods, and Veris must use every bit of skill and small magics she has at her disposal this time to work her way to where the children might be.

The prose is evocative, adept at evoking equal parts terror and revulsion, and wonder. Mohamed writes unsettling stories full of otherworldly menace and danger, which this story has plenty of.

From the stunning book cover, to the horrors of the woods, to the middle-aged protagonist--a nice touch, as Veris is no hardy adventurer, just a woman forced into an impossible situation by a cruel man--this was the opposite of a cozy and comforting read. But I am always in the mood to read this author's work, and this delivers on its dark premise: don't go into the woods, but if you do, watch out for monsters....

Thank you to Netgalley and to Tor Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This was a comforting yet compelling read. Veris is a reluctant hero; years ago, she was able to rescue a child from the Elmever, an alternate space in the North woods similar to faerie. Now, living modestly and trying to survive under The Tyrant who has conquered her town, she is summoned to an audience with him. His children have gone missing, and he is told that she is the only person to return from the Elmever.

Veris must get the children back, or her village will be razed and her loved ones murdered. What follows is an adventure that explores the moral ambiguity of trying to remain ethical and kind while under extreme duress, and being clever enough to outwit the creepy inhabitants of the Elmever.

Well-paced, with strong characterization, this is a stand alone novel that will appeal to those who like reluctant heroes, and those who enjoy tales where humans attempt to outsmart the fae.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into, but Mohamed's prose trickled out in a dark, lyrical fairytale that despite the horrors, still promises hope. Nothing is what it seems, from the protagonist Veris to the Elmever forest itself, leaving the reader guessing at motivations and rooting for the heroine, no matter the circumstances.

This book at first truly captivated me with its eerie writing and building of this creepy other world. The need to resuce those that are in a much more privilages postion than you really emphasis the empathy needed to understand reading this book. That being said after the first half the pacing in the writing began slowing down and i started to find the main character more and more insufferable.

just reviewed The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed. #NetGalley

When I think about a short story, this is exactly what comes to my mind. The Butcher of the Forest if for the people that love reading about forbidden creepy forests with a candle by the window.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing team for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

<img src="https://s13.gifyu.com/images/S0GJ8.jpg" width="500" height="200" alt="photo"/>


𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: Undead animals.

I love it when forests are weird and scary in books, there’s just something about the fog, the moss and the weird little beings breathing down your neck that just connects with my brain.

Please keep in mind that this is a story for people that love the spooky, the writing is perfect for this genre and it can make you a little anxious sometimes.

𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: At the northern edge of a land ruled by a merciless foreign tyrant lies a wild, forbidding forest ruled by powerful magic. Veris Thorn, the only one to ever enter the forest and survive, is forced to go back inside to retrieve the tyrant’s missing children. Inside awaits traps and trickery, ancient monsters and hauntings of the past. One day is all Veris is afforded. One misstep will cost everything.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬: 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐲, 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝.

Beautifully written. I did not put this novella down at all once I started reading; I finished it in one sitting.
The characters, the imagery, the emotion were all almost perfect…until the end. I wasn’t a fan of the ending, it felt abrupt and incomplete. Up until the last few pages, it was hands down a five star read. While the ending wasn’t “bad,” it was disappointing.
Still a solid four star read! I would absolutely recommend this to anyone!

This reads like a really dark adult version of a fairytale. It’s a quick read and I was torn between wanting a little more world-building and appreciating that there wasn’t extraneous details. It is definitely worth a read.

Some of Premee Mohamed's works are among my favourite contemporary fiction, particularly The Annual Migration of Clouds (2021) and These Lifeless Things (2021). I was so psyched when my request to review this new book was approved.

This book tries to be a fairy tale that takes its own elements and their consequences seriously. Wouldn't Hansel and Gretel have PTSD after escaping the witch? What does happen to all those brave woodsmen after the evil is banished or vanquished or whatever?

In keeping with the fairy-tale vibe, most elements are abstracted: the setting is a nameless, generic valley, which has recently been conquered by a Tyrant (capitalized in the text), where there are woods, some tame, some not. The concept of magic exists, but not witches, although the protagonist Knows (also capitalized) things, sometimes (as plot allows, I think).

No human who goes into the wild forest ever comes back out.

Except the protagonist, Veris. She managed to do it, rescuing a child from the forest's clutches, about fifteen years ago.

For this reason, when the Tyrant's two children go missing, Veris is ordered to retrieve them. She has a little less than a full day to do so, according to the rules of the eldritch forest magic that everyone somehow knows. If she fails, her entire village, including what's left of her family (a grandfather and aunt), will be slaughtered.

Okay, so! These are high stakes! Good thing Veris has been in the forest before, so that her memories can help us orient ourselves in such a nightmare realm during the perilous current mission.

Only, no. The text goes out of its way to obscure and neglect specifics of Veris's hard-won knowledge, preferring instead to credit what exposition there is to common knowledge/legend/what have you. (If no one's ever come out, how is there common knowledge? I don't know.) In fact, as the day passes and Veris goes deeper into the forest, the subject of her previous trip becomes more and more notable for just how thoroughly it is avoided. We're not told the gender of the child she rescued, only that maybe she shouldn't have bothered because something bad happened later. Her thoughts sometimes veer toward this subject -- we get the initial letter of the child's name -- only to skitter away.

As the book unfolds, the mystery of what happened *then* becomes, it seems, more and more important than what is happening *now*. This is, frankly, increasingly annoying. The current mission is replete with conflict and difficulty: should Veris care about the children of the Tyrant who killed her own family? To what extent are they culpable for his (His?) misdeeds? Shouldn't she spare some worried thoughts, even in passing, for her loved ones outside the woods? Just what IS a monster, anyway? Something in the woods? The Tyrant? Humanity?

Those questions get brief lip-service, but they don't go anywhere. They emphatically do not drive any emotions, reactions, or decisions on Veris's part. The narrative tension is instead given over completely to wondering just what happened last time, such that the weird and heartbreaking events *this* time get short shrift. (I'm avoiding big spoilers, but I will say: the big heartbreak just happens and I don't know why she makes that decision, and it's made worse by the fact that she doesn't really think about it herself later.)

This unwieldy structure is, I think, using Parul Sehgal's term, a clumsy trauma plot. Terrible things happened in the past that Veris now does not, cannot, think of. Okay. She continues not thinking of them, until the very end, when she confesses everything (in the process conveniently answering all the reader's questions) to the most unlikely audience in the world. The confession is unfounded and it has fairly vague, if any, consequences.

There are some fine qualities to this book. The sensory details about the forest are evocative and ring true. Some of the eldritch-horror elements are distinctly creepy. I would have loved more of the weird forest denizens and reflection about the Old Power in the forest that pre-dates the valley's later beliefs. (This concept of old, persisting chthonic forces also features in some of the stories in Mohamed's collection, No One Will Come Back For Us [2023].)

Unfortunately, the characterization is warped by the necessities of the trauma plot. What's more, the prose is frequently excruciatingly affected. That is, there are frequent gestures at archaic/fairy-tale-esque language, particularly in diction and sentence construction -- use of "for" as a conjunction instead of "because"; the word "whit"; the Meaningful Capitalization of words like Know and Tyrant -- but I found this style distracting and painful to read. It was poor pastiche, I think, rather than anything authentic/organic to the story being told. The emphasis on Stock Characters and Generalized Abstractions, combined with faux-archaic language, coexists uneasily with concerns about trauma and ethical relativity, and in the end, compelling psychological development is sacrificed. The world of the story, so far as I can tell, is sort-of Traditional Medieval Fairy Tale Land, which has heard of guns but never seen one, but it also has pretty expansive gender roles (Veris wears breeches without issue and could, if she wanted, own property). Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane (1985) offers a similar kind of Fairy Tale-ish setting, in which there were spectacles and Manic Panic-esque hair dye, but the choice works there in a way it doesn't really here.

I have other, nitpicky things to complain about, particularly the confusing chronology of how long the Tyrant has been in power, but it doesn't matter.

I'm just really disappointed by this book. It tries to do many things, some of them contradictory, and succeeds in none of them.

Through a familiar lens of eldritch forest horrors, Mohamed spins a tale of what it takes to remain human in the face of unspeakable and repetitive trauma. A truly poignant masterpiece.

This was a fun, short read. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, which is how I often feel when it comes to novellas. Maybe they’re just not my thing? I always want to know more about the world, the characters, the bad guys, the interactions, etc. I still enjoyed it, I really did—but I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if it had 200 more pages and I could really feel invested.

I’d recommend to people who enjoy short, dark reads.

❤️ Strong, older FMC
❤️ Very short read
❤️ Dark, unsettling atmosphere
❤️ Creative and fast-paced
❌ No chapter division
❌ Lack of character development
❌ Slightly underwhelming ending

Plot:
The children of a cruel tyrant are missing, believed to have disappeared in a dark forest. There is only one person who has gone into the woods to retrieve a child and lived to tell the tale: Veris, a weary peasant who has known her share of horrors. This is the very last place where she wants to go, but when the tyrant threatens what’s left of her family—along with her whole village—Veris returns to the forest and faces its countless traps. She has exactly one day to find the children and bring them back, otherwise they will all be lost forever.

The story was captivating from the start, and it remained fast-paced the whole time. I loved how the author revealed tidbits of background information on the main characters along the way, never breaking the flow. I’d say this book is more atmosphere than plot or characters, which totally works for a novella. The ending, however, felt a little underwhelming. I need closure!

Characters:
There’s not much to say about most of the characters, including the kids, because we barely get to know them. I liked that Veris was older and wiser than your usual 17- or 21-year-old FMC, and that she was more smart and cunning than powerful or feisty. The humanoid creatures in the forest were pretty cool, and I would have liked to see more interactions with them.

Writing:
The writing was smooth and polished, accessible and evocative. However, there were no chapters, and that doesn’t work for me. I like being able to say “one more chapter” or “okay, I’ll stop at the end of this chapter” before going to bed. Ending a reading session at a random spot in the book gave me anxiety, ah ah!

The Butcher of the Forest is a beautifully written dark fairy tale novella with a vivid and immersive world oozing with atmosphere. Part fairy tale, part horror, and a whole lot of fun, this was a quick and engaging read with a hauntingly seductive world to dive into.

Veris lives in a village on the edge of the North Forest, a place between worlds. Anyone who refuses to heed the warnings and venture in anyway, never returns. Veris Thorn is the only person to have ever ventured in and returned to the village alive, so when the Tyrant's children go missing, Veris is made to entire that horrible place once again to retrieve the his children. Will her second encounter with the faery beings of the forest's realm be as "successful" as the first, or will it end in utter ruin?

Gah, Mohamed is just one of those writers who can do so much in a small space. In this short novel, an entire world takes form with its tyrannies and losses and terrors, and I kept trying to flip to the next page at the end to read more. This is a fairy tale with all the true implications of darkness that comes with it. All I can say is, what happens next?

My Rating: 4/5

The Butcher of the Forest was a real surprise for me. It didn't read at all like it thought it would but by now means disappointed me.
The writing style was lyrical and a bit of kilter, which for this book really worked! Our main character Veris is in the forest with the grim and dark, fae or fae like creatures. Everything is supposed to be beautiful but not quite right. It truly was very pretty writing.
It was a quick few pages and thought the main character, Veris, is a bit gruff and the mission isn't like the usual mission where people want to be on it in some way, you route for her. At least I did, maybe because it felt like I was there and I wanted to get out of that forest--either way works for me!
The only slight problem I had was the end suddenly happened quite quick. There was a twist and then BAM it was basically over with very little resolution. I would've liked just a bit more said about it.

If you love dark and grim fairytale-type beats and are comfortable with some flowery writing I think you'd enjoy this novella.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

The Butcher of the Forest was a dense, haunting journey fully realized within a novella-length story. Veris has a history with the forest at the north edge of her village in the kingdom. A forest that usually lets people in, and never back out. Veris made it out, but not without scars that we don't fully understand until close to the end of the book.

Her return from the forest makes her the one person the Tyrant can command to go back to the forest and save his lost children. But a successful rescue mission will be much harder than anyone realizes, and the lives of everyone in Veris' village are at stake.

We are treated to a dark forest of creatures, rules, and hunger that slowly increase the tension as Veris ventures further into the woods to find the children. Along the way, we slowly learn more about Veris' history with the forest and her tenuous relationship with her own future. For the entire journey, we don't know if she will succeed, or if the forest will consume both her and the children. Even at the end of the book, there is tension in the resolution. This is an old folk tale, dark fantasy, and eldritch horror wrapped into a single package that keeps you turning the pages.

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TL;DR : Dark and gloomy, but beautiful and fast paced. A dangerous ride, I definitely recommend for dark fantasy fans.

The Butcher of the Forest was a near perfect dark fantasy novella for me. We follow Veris, a simple village girl as she’s forced by the king to enter the dark and enchanted forest to the North of their village and retrieve his two children who wandered off. Veris is the one person in history who has managed to do this once before, but she’s in no hurry to return to that leafy hell.

The story is deeply atmospheric, and Premee Mohamed toes that line perfectly of making the world dark and fairy tale but also very real feeling. She doesn’t loose the substance of her ‘creepy’ in pursuit of the over the top language and it was fantastic. The costs are high, the forest is brutal, and I genuinely believed and enjoyed 95% of this story.

My only complaint was an entirely personal one, and one I can’t spoil. I’ll note as a content warning there is mentions of death of a child, but past that I’ll not elaborate. If you are wanting a dark fantasy with real costs and disturbing imagery then this is the one for you.

4 out of 5 creepy little kids.

4/5 ⭐️
This short story about a dark, sentient forest was reminiscent to other tales, yet entirely its own. There are numerous stories with dark woods I could compare this with, but it also had that eerie, just a step away from reality quality to it that sort of reminded me of the arena in the Hunger Games. There are rules to these woods, very similar to the traditional rules surrounding faeries in classic folktales. Yet, this quest is done by a slightly different main character. She is in her forties, wiser but not as strong as she had been the one and only other time she entered the woods. It is a story of feeling the threat of enemies and playing by their rules. A story of existing in a place familiar with being conquered. Of being in a war zone. It was lovely and creepy and thought provoking.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

The Butcher of the Forest is a short, dark, and a bit disturbing fairytale that will suck you in from the first page.
Veris is woken and immediately taken to the Tyrant, not even given a chance to change out of her night clothes. At first, Veris has no idea what The Tyrant wants with her but it soon comes to light that he needs her to go into the forest and retrieve his children. You see Veris is the only person to ever go into this forest and come back out again, and if she fails, well not only her life, but the life of her family will be forfeit.

I really loved the way this story is told, it's short and gets to the point quickly. It's just descriptive enough that I could easily picture everything happening. The forest is dark, and disturbing full of things just waiting for you to make a mistake. Veris is a great character, she knows the stakes if she fails, and the gigantic miracle it will take to succeed in her task. She is strong, and resilient, and has known tragedy many times over. I enjoyed this from the first page to the last, and every moment in the forest had me on the edge of my seat in suspense.

Veris was taken from her home abruptly in her nightdress and not told where she was going.

She met a violent, intimidating tyrant who had a task for her. His children disappeared into the Northwoods. They are known as treacherous and locals are taught to never enter the woods for they will not return.

Veris was called because she has retrieved a missing child once from the woods before. She was told she was to go and find the tyrants two children or he would burn her village to the ground.

There are creatures who live in the woods, but Veris knows that she only has one day to retrieve the children, and her odds are beyond poor in succeeding.

Within the woods is another woods, something darker and stranger that tricks the mind called Elmever.

I found this book immediately thrust you into the action and immediately painted the scenes without cumbersome descriptors that some fantasy novels can become hitched on.

If a reader cannot commit to some of the 700/800 page fantasies I have been seeing in recent years, this is a great novel to get you into the genre without the daunting task of work building and detail.

This story reminded me of classic fair tale telling. The stories were rich but not bogged down with every detail. I was able to picture the characters, feel the discomfort and picture the unpleasant rot. It was very well done!

This story was imaginative with a gothic tone and I couldn’t put it down!

A dark fairy tale in the vein of Arden’s Winternight trilogy and Gilmore’s the Witch and the Tsar. This atmospheric novella takes you on a dangerous action packed ride through the Elmever.
When the tyrant who took over Veris’s kingdom summons her to his throne room there's only one task he could possibly have for her. As the only person to ever delve into the darkest parts of the Elmever forest and come out alive, its up to her to retrieve the kings two children who found themselves lost among its dark and twisted flora. If she fails, those she care about will pay the price.
There’s a lot to appreciate here for those that like the grimmer side of the Fae folk. The author develops the characters enough that you do get to care for them and how their story turns out. I do wish the book was just a little bit longer. You get thrown right into the major conflict with this title. I think if we'd had just a midge more background story regarding the forest inhabitants and some of the key players this could have been a much stronger book.