The synopsis provided for this book, put simply, does not do the story within these pages the justice it deserves. My suggestion to you as a reader would be to go into this dark fairy tale blind so you can come out the other side seeing and gasping for breath. The Butcher of the Forest immediately drowns you in mist and monster; you won't know what's real and what isn't. Premee Mohamed skillfully packs 1,000 pages of lore, suspense, and horror into 160 pages. From the moment I stepped foot into this world I could feel our main character's fear and apprehension, I could feel the breath and grasp of the Tyrant. Mohamed does an amazing job placing you in the world, pushing you along with just enough information to make you mind run wild. My favorite parts were the explorations the main character, Veris, made about the real world in comparison to the Elmever; her adventure as a silent and stoic party became a strong and foreboding force that I clung to. By the end, everything was perfect because it didn't give me what my heart wanted, it gave me what was necessary.

The main character of this novella, Veris, once went into the forest to save a child. It’s no ordinary forest, and her journey is the only time anyone has been known to be successful in entering and leaving the forest, let alone bringing a lost child back. When the local Tyrant’s children go missing, he has her brought to him: she must go and retrieve his children, or he will kill her family.

Well, what choice does she have? It’s an interesting set-up, since she’s a middle-aged protagonist, and she’s full of aches and pains as she makes her way into the forest — and she’s no great witch, holds no great power to find her way, just a bit of knowledge and some luck. And the luck’s tenuous.

It’s a genuinely creepy story in that tense sort of way, with a lot of blank spots at the edge of the canvas of things we don’t really get to see/understand. The focus is on Veris’ journey, and her efforts to find the children, despite the sense that there’s so much more going on.

I found it enjoyable, though I’m still sort of letting it settle.

This dark fantasy novella felt very The Green Knight meets Alice in Wonderland to me- and I loved it!

In a small village bordered by woods to the north and south, all residents have learned that you don't go into the north woods- because once you go in, you don't come back out- except for one woman, Veris. Once the Tyrant's children are discovered missing and assumed to have ventured into the woods, Veris is summoned with the simple mission: get them back, or you and your whole village will be razed to the ground.

This novella was part quest, part fae, part spooky, part feminine rage and strength, and part fractured fairytale. It was a quick and easily devoured story that felt like a complete and beautiful story of resilience in the face of adversity.

Thank you to Premee Mohamed and Netgalley for a chance to read this story in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out on February 27, 2024!

The Butcher of the Forest is Premee Mohamed's first novel and in its 140 pages it condenses beautiful dark, almost horror atmospheres that recall a dark fairy tale.

The story follows the POV of Veris, who, dragged in front of the Tyrant, finds herself unwillingly saving the man's two children.
The two children have in fact disappeared in the Northern Forest, Elmever, and everyone knows that no one comes out of there. The only one who succeeded years before was Veris. The Tyrant gives her an ultimatum: she has one day to bring her children back to him or he will burn her village. Veris has no choice and begins the search immediately.

The story therefore takes place over the course of a day, the time given by the Tyrant, so the pace is rather tight and everything happens quickly.
The book is devouring and I found it very engaging. Page after page I was more and more curious to discover more about Veris' past but also to better understand the Elmever forest.

Obviously, since it is a book of just a few pages, we cannot go into all the details. The worldbuilding remains very much on the surface, we only have a few details, a few coordinates to move in this world and contextualise the character of Veris but it remains very vague indeed. In fact, priority is given to the characterization of Veris, whose tragic past we will learn about.

I really liked this book, it's intriguing, and the creepy and dark atmosphere made me appreciate it even more!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC

This is a very well-written dark fairy tale sort of like those 80s/90s fantasy movies I grew up loving. My complaint is it’s probably too short - there’s a lot of opportunity to expand out from this story and I’m okay with it not being done all at once in this book, but the ending felt rushed. I’d definitely read more, if there was a sequel, though.

The Butcher of the Forest was a book I had never heard of before coming across a Facebook ad. I had few expectations, but those have been surpassed. It is an original enchanted-wood fairy tale, with a smart and sly protagonist facing nearly impossible odds
I'd recommend it to any reader of T. Kingfisher, Seanen McGuire, Neil Gaiman, or Kiersten White. --Stars all around

A rich and beautifully written story about a woman’s journey into the forest to retrieve two young children before they are lost forever.

The Elmever is an enchanted forest of sorts. If a child wanders in, it’s taken. The only person to ever rescue a child from these woods is Veris, and she is forced to do it again by the Tyrant, whose two children have made it into the woods, or he will kill her.

This is an elusive task, considering she was lucky to make it out the first time, but she ventures in, meeting a cast of variable characters, monsters and guardians, making deals and putting herself in grave danger.

This is a super fast read, but its short page count takes nothing away from the dark whimsy of the story. You don’t get much backstory, and it’s a pretty straightforward book. I loved it!

From the very first page, this novel grabbed me and pulled me right in.

Plot: a village woman is tasked with finding a ruler's children who have gone missing in the woods. But these aren't just any woods - these woods are horribly magical.

The entire story is rich and full of shadows. Although not a long novel, the author was able to create a vivid world full of unusual creatures and believable characters.

I can see myself reading this story several more times as I feel that I would get something new out of it each time. Will absolutely look for more works by Premee Mohamed!

4 stars

For such a short fantasy book, this really was well developed. The characters were amazing, and the world building done so well. This is something some people cannot accomplish in 400+ pages and this is under 200.

The writing was incredible and kept me wanting more. This story will last with me.
Preemee is on my radar now and I’ll be sure to follow.

In this Arthurian-like fairy tale Veris Thorn is tasked with rescuing the tyrant's children from the creepy forest that no one can enter. The pacing and tone of this book reminds me of old fairy tales where the fairies aren't sweet and deals have teeth. For fans of dark fairy tales I think this is an incredible book.

In Premee Mohamad's slim The Butcher of the Woods, the hope that dies among the trees wasn't very strong in the brightest of sunlight. That doesn't stop its main character from plodding on and on along its treacherous paths.

This isn't a fairy tale, nor does it read like one, exactly. But it does carry the weight of all the tricky and capricious forests of every fairy tale ever told; are the prince and princess walking through the trees all that different than Hansel and Gretel? The house Veris encounters deep in the woods doesn't stand on chicken legs, but it carries as much danger as Baba Yaga's. The talking creatures might say they mean no harm, but there's little more foolish among the trees than trusting a person or thing you didn't carry in with you. If The Butcher of the Forest were a story based entirely on vibes, Mohamad would have already succeeded.

But the trauma at the heart of The Butcher is something wound as tightly around every detail as tightly as ivy on a tree. At every turn, Veris is reminded of her last trip through the forest, which starts a cascade of memories that she has tried very hard to forget. There's a difference between surviving something and coming back whole, Veris notes early in the book, and it while it initially seems that she was referring to the child she retrieved on that first trip into the woods, it becomes increasingly clear that she's the one who hasn't been the same since. That growing clarity underscores just how slim the odds are for the children, who, despite being groomed to take the place of their bloodthirsty father, are not yet anything but innocents.

In a way, the forest is a metaphor for internal trauma, where the very air can twist the most innocent things, and where stepping off the few safe paths means instant peril. It's just a patch of woods, nothing very significant, except for its power to swallow anything that ventures too deeply into it, and goes far darker and deeper than what appears possible on the face of it. For Veris to tread every path perfectly with two unruly children only partially tamed by the danger they've put themselves in is impossible, and Mohamad does Veris the honor of not bending narrative time and space to overcome the odds. Instead, the ending is unexpected, and stranger and sadder in the absence of the magic that coats so much of the rest of the story. In Veris's world, there never was a happily ever after her—but the alternatives aren't all uniform in their unhappiness.

(A version of this review with summary added will post on https://ringreads.com/2024/02/27/butcher-a-fairy-tale-of-trauma/ at 2:44 p.m. MST)

A wonderful dark fantasy in the style of a fairytale. Monsters and bargains and a dark woods make an interesting story of a race against time. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A hauntingly beautiful tale of perception and how few things are actually what they seem. A brave protagonist, two lost children, an angry Tyrant (literally) and a forest with beings which cannot be trusted. Elegant descriptions and an interesting twist on the hero, er heroine's journey. If you like dark fairy tales, this is one not to be missed.

The Butcher of the Forest is like a dark Alice in Wonderland retelling, if Alice was a middle aged woman forced to save the children who wandered down the rabbit hole.
It's as whimsical as it is dark with it's tricky forest and mythical beasts. It was an enjoyable read with beautiful descriptions that put you right in that awful forest, seeing it through Veris' eyes. If you enjoy dark fairy tales, this novella will not disappoint.

This is my first Premee Mohamed and it will not be my last. I love the premise of a dark fairy tale, the promise of an even darker forest, and the author's haunting prose.

The Butcher of the Forest is a dark, underworldly fairytale novella. The tale follows the misadventure of Veris, who is voluntold by the Tyrant to enter a dark forest full of nightmares to bring back his missing children. My favorite part of the story was Premee Mohamed's beautifully descriptive prose. It gives some dark Alice in Wonderland vibes and was perfectly creepy. It was the perfect quick read to slip in between the longer fantasy books I've been reading lately. This is the first book I hav read from Premee Mohamed and now I definitely want to try out her Beneath the Rising trilogy.

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed, a strange read for a strange book. A good story told with enough suspense to keep you coming back for more.

Probably 4.5 stars.

This is a fairy tale that knows that magical woods are terrifying, deadly and alien. The main character, Verity, is told by the tyrannical conqueror of her land that she WILL retrieve his children (who have strayed into said wood) or she will die, her family will die, her village will die, everybody dies. He's terrifying too.

Verity is the only person who has gone into the woods and emerged whole. She knows some rules for survival in there and has some talismans that give her just a bit of guidance but she also knows she was very lucky the first time. She doesn't have time to despair or she would. She's got to find these children within a day because after a day the woods claim you forever.

This book feels like a lushly goth fever dream. The forest is otherworldly and it feels like it. Verity is a level headed forty year old woman (a nice change from a young maiden!) and her no-nonsense ways keep her from falling into some of the verbal traps that are laid for her by the denizens of the wood. Things get more difficult as she goes.

I removed one star because the ending felt extremely abrupt and I wasn't sure what to think of it. I'm also not sure about the title.

5/5 Stars

TL;DR - A fever-dream fairytale fantasy unlike anything I’ve ever read. Simple and yet complex, straight-forward and yet twisty-turny. An amazing, atmospheric little novella that pleasantly surprised me.

Big thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

***Trigger warnings for: off-page war and colonization, child endangerment, mentioned childhood sexual abuse, mentioned death of a parent, mild gore, and mentioned death of a child.***

‘The Butcher of the Forest’ by Premee Mohamed is a fairytale-esque fantasy novella that tells the story of one of the worst days of Veris Thorn’s life. We follow her as she’s rather rudely awoken and forced to return to the Elmever, the eerie, magical forest from which she’s the only one to have ever escaped. In her search for the two children who’ve disappeared within, she encounters all manner of dangerous, eldritch creatures and must survive on her wits and will alone.

Oh wow, this book, y’all. I absolutely loved it. I would have gladly read twice or even three times as much of this book if the author had written it as a novel, because it’s just so perfectly up my alley.

Strong, clever female protagonist? Check. Forbidden forest inhabited by strange and terrible fey-things? Triple check. Beautiful and sharp prose to top it all off? A million checks!

First off, the prose is just so gorgeous. I could literally highlight this whole entire book because the prose is just so evocative and well-written. It’s clean and smart, there’s a lot of depth to it, and it’s so perfectly atmospheric of both rich fantasy and subtle horror.

Speaking of atmosphere, I’m always here for spooky forests and the beasties lurking within, and let me tell you, the vibes in this novella are IMMACULATE. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the weird things living inside the forest, but I’m happy to report that the actual weirdness both met and exceeded my expectations! Fey-beasties asking for your name, tempting you with food, making deals, trying to eat you - yes to all of this! I was so concerned for Veris from start to finish because literally anything could - and did! - emerge from the trees to get in her way. Absolutely amazing.

(Haunted tablecloths? Haunted tablecloths!)

The more I read, the more I realized that this book really feels like a Miyazaki movie in all the best ways - utterly strange and nonsensical and terrifying, but beautiful and enthralling and weirdly charming. Is it the stuff of nightmares? Sure, but it’s also wildly entertaining.

Veris is a capable main character, and I really enjoyed watching her journey through the book, especially in hindsight when we learn about the first time she entered the Elmever and how it affected her. I love that she’s forced to use only her wits to evade danger, and even though I was afraid for her at every turn, I was also comforted by the fact that she's very cunning and I knew she could figure a way out. Not as much character depth as I prefer, but given that it’s a novella, I’ll give it a pass, and with that in mind, I’m still happy with the amount provided.

Final Thoughts:

I loved this, and I will be adding it to my list of books to buy physical copies of!

What a beautiful and horrifying fever dream of a fairy tale. I loved this. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a prequel but I believe it sets the premise nicely for a longer novel, possibly a trilogy. Either way, just beautifully done. Thank you to Tor and Premee Mohamed for the opportunity to read this.