Well. That was super creepy. Excellent novella and the author really gets that fairytales mostly ended in screaming and blood before Disney got their hands on them.

This book was so unique in its plotting and worldbuilding in its 160 pages. I was pulled in to the imagery and the worldbuilding that Mohamed layered into this book. I wasn't always surprised by the motivations, but the turning of the forest and its beasts was fascinating. Mohamed is effective at showing things that unsettle you, to the point where it sometimes felt like I was bordering on a horror novel, unsettling me with the creatures I was meeting. It also often felt like a spin on old fairytales I've known.

Veris is such a unique and interesting character. I was so excited to see a character who is older and has seen the world, being led into scenarios she never hoped for. Overall, this was an effective novel with great storytelling. I will say that some of the book felt like it teetered between rules for the world and throwing them away, and I wasn't always sure how the system worked. But overall that is a small nit for a wonderful novella with atmospheric storytelling.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the advanced copy of The Butcher of the Forest! This book is a novella that is jam packed with action, magic and tragedy. The north woods are full of mystery and horror - children go in and never return. Veris, a local woman who is the only one who has ventured into the woods and returned, is tasked to go back and retrieve the Tyrant's two children who have wandered off and disappeared into the woods.

It was a very quick read and as the reader, you're cast into this world where nothing is what it seems and your eyes cannot be trusted. I really enjoyed reading this book and appreciate that the main character is an "older" woman, which isn't typical for this genre (or at least in my opinion). I only wish there were chapters because even though it's short already, without chapters, the story feels longer than what it really is. Overall, I enjoyed it and love the cover art as well!

Wow, this book had me by the throat. Absolutely gorgeous prose, plot progression I could not look away from, and an ending that left me weeping and wanting more stories in this universe immediately.

Mohamed takes a pretty tried-and-true dark fairy tale plot, journeying into the otherworldly woods to rescue someone who was lost, and makes it so present and cruel and heartbreaking. There’s messy, difficult morality. There are innocents and there’s tyranny and there’s a deep sense of being trapped, that this is inevitable, not because of the nature of the woods but because of the nature of human beings. Veris (who I ADORED) navigating the quiet horrors of the Elmever is just the surface layer of a story about hatred and love and ownership and responsibility, in a situation where every possible outcome is in some way painful. Where there’s no satisfying ending to be had and no noble sacrifices to be made, only impossible choices and terrifying mistakes.

And then, to bring just a little bit of light back at the very end, a little bit of kindness..! I cried and cried. This is a quick and satiating read. Stunning.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC. I really liked the beginning, the prose was beautiful and it seemed like it would be an interesting story to read. I expected part fairy tale part horror story before reading this and I think there was a little of that - there were the rules of the forest like not eating or drinking anything from the forest or shedding the blood of the inhabitants, there was the not everything you see is real, and I liked that these elements were present, I just wish they could have been a bit more. And I think there were certain things that were supposed to be scary or horrifying but I didn’t really feel anything. There were stakes but I didn't really feel it and I started to get bored with the escape from the forest stuff cause it felt kind of repetitive.

Spoiler: The only thing that was shocking but not in a good way is with regards to something that happens in the end - i didn't really enjoy the child sexual abuse reveal at the end because it felt like it was just mentioned for shock value but maybe that’s just me.

The Butcher of the Forest is a high stakes, high octane novella. I did not realize it was a novella when I began reading the ebook, so it was a little bit of a surprise when I finished it in one day. It is on the darker side, but I still found it an enjoyable read. I am glad that the author did not feel pressured to expand the story to novel length, but I’ll be interested to see if there are any future novels planned for this world.

When the cover of a book has animals with their skulls out on it, I feel like the audience is probably well-primed for the kinda gross - or at the very least rather unsettling - events that are about to unfold. Because - spoilers - this is not a story about a happy fun man who has a meat-and-sundries shop in an enchanting woodland paradise. These woods are creepy. So do go into it with that in mind.

That being said, Mohamed has managed to do the thing I always appreciate when authors do - she's stayed on the near side of the horror line - it's going to leave you feeling a bit ill at ease, but it never fully breaks out into the full on scary, the "guess it's time for the nightmares", actually horror-horror. And, because I am a great coward to the very depths of my soul, this is perfect for me. I want some horrible skull-creatures, I want nastiness... but only up to a point. The Butcher of the Forest takes me a fair way towards the edge of that line, but never threatens to step across it.
What it does do is give us a very good fairytale feeling story of a journey into a wood that might also be another wood, in another place, or no place at all, inhabited by creatures that aren't totally within the human scope of understanding, at least in the traditional sense. Unless you're Veris, our protagonist. Veris went into the wood a long time ago to fetch back a child that had disappeared there, something no one else had managed to do, because Veris Knows things. Not big, grand magics, but just enough to give her the wisdom and sense to get in and get out with what she came for. Much good though it may have done her. Now, many years later, she's been asked - well, not exactly asked but we'll come back to that - to go and do it all again, to fetch back another two children lost to the dangers of the North Forest, a Forest no one in the village goes into, and in which any lost children are simply considered dead. The North Forest is not to be messed with.

But when the two children lost in there are the children of the Tyrant? The Tyrant who knows you successfully made that trip once before? Well, sometimes heroism isn't a choice you get to make for yourself. Sometimes someone has decided your heroics are their due, and there's not much you can really do about that.

Which brings us to the core of what's so good about The Butcher of the Forest as a story - it's a story that understands the place a person may be forced to occupy, in the sort of world that so many fantasy stories like to draw on. Because Veris lives in a village - a land - occupied by the Tyrant. His name isn't ironic. And through her musings on her own past, and the events of the story as we witness them, we see a much better appreciation of what that might mean than I have come to expect of pseudo-medieval fantasy. Not so much in the understanding that social hierarchies exist, which is often covered perfectly well, but in the understanding of the layerings of explicit and implicit in the power dynamics that fuel them, and critically, in the legacy of what it took to get the world to that place.

Veris remembers the war that brought the Tyrant to power here. Veris remembers the cost - especially to her personally. The cost to her family and her body. Mohamed is perfectly blunt in what that conquest will have meant, and keeps on meaning, in the family that is a woman in her forties, her aunt in her 70s and her grandfather pushing 100 forming a household together, with the obvious gaping wounds of missing family members. And so, when Veris is picked up with some lack of courtesy at an inhospitable hours and pushed to her knees before the tyrant, there is no question of dramatic resistance. This power is a power to be suffered through and survived, if you can. It asks too much but you have to obey nonetheless.

Seeing that just written plainly on the page, in every act and choice of the heroine was just... kinda powerful. And just as grim as any horrible skull creature the woods had to offer.

And it gets better, because the children Veris is being sent in to rescue are the Tyrant's own. This man who has done such harm to her people, who threatens her family so she'll do this thing for him that no one else has done. A lot of the story has an undercurrent to it of Veris' torn emotions - her hatred of this man, her knowledge of what he has done... against the as-yet innocent of his children. They may well grow up to be their own monsters, they may well already be being shaped into them, but as yet... as yet? They're innocent. They are not the owners of their father's crimes. But they are part of the system as it is. They are its inheritors. They are an intrinsic part of a system that is anything but innocent itself. There is nothing but complexity to their place in relation to Veris in this world.

So it is this constant musing on that tension that underlies the whole of Veris' story in this book. She finds herself caught between the poles of resentment and understanding, as well as the past and the present, as her trip into the dangerous lands inside the North Forest naturally summon memories of her last trip.

The narrative threads through these moments of the past delicately, with a measured pace, so it takes much of the story to fully understand the story that came before, and its full significance. The moment when every piece finally clicks into place does not feel like a revelation, merely a moment of satisfied understanding, because those foundations have been so carefully built as we went the whole way along.

But this tension, this satisfying weaving of opposing points, would not work nearly so well were not Veris such a good character to infest the point of view of. She's already a rare thing in being a heroine in her 40s - I do love to see a fully adult women still being allowed to be the focus of a story - but she's also just someone with a relatable pragmatism, as well as a realistic backstory, in that she truly feels like she has one. There are not many pages for this story to unfold across, but Mohamed dedicates enough page space within them to give Veris the very real sense of being a whole person, a person with a life that has happened before this, and for whom that past has real effects, writ both large and small, on how she interacts with the present. It feels relevant to her words, her actions, her choices throughout, and makes her feel so beautifully realised, especially alongside her pragmatism, her wisdom to know which are the battles she cannot fight and must resign herself to suffer through. There's a weariness to those decisions, the sense of a big sigh just being held back, that does a great deal of work in making me like her.

Is she a heroine though? It's a question I came away from finishing this wondering, and not to Veris' detriment. But it is simply that, unlike so many stories, she has ended up in this role through no agency of her own. It's a story that has happened to her, even as she is the one suffering it. Does that make her more the heroine than in stories where the protagonist's chose their battles? Or less? I don't know. But that lingering pondering... that too is a joy of the book.

Which leads me onto the ending... which I won't spoil. But I can say, without spoilers, that when you get there, you realise quite what the scope of this story is, and that, in one framing, it could merely be the prelude to another, different story. I kind of hope that story never gets written though. I enjoy that this exists as that prelude, and that there's a big wide gulf of potentiality hovering around the ending at what the "and then?" could be. It is forever left as an exercise of the reader to wonder and to dream it. Mohamed has left us a framework, and we can find our own answers within it, if we want to spend the time doing so (I certainly have).

All in all, The Butcher of the Forest is a wonderful novella that gives us a great (creepy - did I mention creepy?) story, but with a real meat of thoughtfulness under the skin, that sometimes peeps through the gaping wounds to give us a glimpse of what lies beneath. It's got the nastiness that fairytales often have, as well as a very offhand, pragmatic approach to magic that is unwilling to explain it because it simply does not need an explanation. When the horrible skull creature is coming after you, you don't have time to wonder exactly how it works, after all. The wondering is saved for the important things - how fucked up the world is under the bootheel of a tyrant, and the lingering horrors of one's own existence. Just how I like it.

The Butcher of the Forest is a dark fantastical novella by Premee Mohamed that hearkens back to the original old folktales by refusing to sand off the edges of the genre to make it safe or cozy. More faerie than fairy, as much horror as fantasy, it is as unsettling and bittersweet a read as it is a worthy one.

The tale is set in an empire ruled by The Tyrant, “the man with a thousand names and a thousand cities under his bootheel … bringer of death, lord of war, slaughterer of millions.” We meet him through the eyes of Veris Thorn, who is abruptly brought before him one morning, still in her bedclothes, to be thrown to her knees in his throne room with skulls on the wall to match the one he is drinking from when he tells her why she is there. It turns out that Veris’ village and the Tyrant’s castle lie next to a forest which none dare enter, since all who have done so have been lost forever. Now, “it was really only children that the north woods captured anymore. And even then, it was not the woods, but what lay within them … If you knew that your child had gone into the woods, you simply held a funeral; they were gone, they would never come back.”

Save once. Years ago, Veris had gone in after a child and somehow managed to get back out alive with the child. Now, the Tyrant’s two young children (Eleonor — nine, and Aram — seven), unaware or ignoring the wood’s dangers, have been lost in it, and the Tyrant tells Veris she must return and bring them back alive to him. Failing that, he tells her, “your village will be razed to the ground and burnt, and we will roast your people alive upon it and eat them” (did I mention this hearkens back to the original pre-Disney Grimm stories?)

Veris has no desire to return to the woods she barely escaped once, certainly not at the behest of the man who caused the death of her mother and father, and certainly not to rescue a pair of children likely to be monsters themselves. But the Tyrant has left her no choice and so she sets out. To save her people, yes, but also because, as comes up again and again, because Veris is herself not a monster, nor is she entirely willing to condemn currently innocent children even for the monsters they may (probably will) become.

The woods themselves are utterly alien, a place wholly its own, where things and creatures are never what they seem, though it is a place not without its own sorts of rules. Bargains can be made, payments offered. Though never without risk. Mohamed lush prose does a wonderful job at creating an atmosphere and world disturbingly askew, one that feels truly other, truly mythic.

The plot is paradoxically fast-moving in slow fashion, with Veris’ journey into and through the woods is tensely compelling. That tension is heightened by the ticking clock nature of the woods’ rules that Veris has only one day from when the children entered to retrieve them, or they must remain forever. We also learn more about Veris’ prior journey and her past life, the facts dribbled out bit by bit, though I don’t think most readers will be particularly surprised by them when they’re revealed, as they’re pretty clearly signposted throughout.

Veris as a character is easy to root for: stolid, determined, persistent, strong in the face of unimaginable (literally) horrors, fiercely protective, and willing to sacrifice herself. She’s also quite self-aware, of her own mistakes, her own weaknesses, her own possible unfairness in speculating at what being the child of the Tyrant means for these children’s alleged innocence, now or in their future.

That idea of “innocence” is a major theme throughout. As is the idea of “monsters,” a common enough point often made in fantasy as one sets literal monsters beside “regular” humans and asks the readers to try and distinguish them. If the metaphor is not particularly subtle here, or if it’s one that feels more than a little familiar, it’s no less effective. Nor, sadly, is it any less timely or necessary (maybe someday).

I won’t say anything about the ending save to remind you again this is more old-school folktale, so anyone looking for a purely happily-ever-after should look elsewhere. The Butcher of the Forest is not without hope or victory, but it is victory tinged with defeat and hope woven through with grief. In other words, it’s life. Highly recommended.

This was the snap to reality we deserve as fantasy readers who always demand happy endings (hi its me, I'm talking about me). There is no happiness, there is barely any hope, but what there IS is a fabulous MC, tricks and travails and I swear my heart was pounding every second of this journey. It's a good thing it was short because I don't know if I could take much more; I can't remember the last time I was so stressed and also so hopeless during a fantasy book. Brava to the author for this gem that was giving me the most visceral reactions.

The Butcher of the Forest is a fable through and through. It's not a fairytale; there's no "and they lived happily ever after". It's dark and disturbing at times, and precisely what a fable should be, a cautionary tale that teaches a lesson. To add to the feeling of reading an ancient story passed down through generations, the author makes use of some words we don't hear often in modern times - or ones we do hear, but not used for their archaic meanings. That's not a criticism, but a compliment to the author, Premee Mohamed.
This novella was creepy enough to make me not want to read it at night, but not so scary that I couldn't finish it. I'm notorious for refusing to watch scary movies, but The Butcher of the Forest did a great job of toeing the line between "this is creepy" and "I'm going to have nightmares tonight".
The pacing was fantastic; the story moved along quickly but not frantically. It's a common problem for the last third of a story (both full length and short form) to be packed with the author tying up loose ends. Premee Mohamed doesn't fall into this trap and I absolutely will want to read more of her writing. The other major thing I loved about this work is it seems Mohamed chooses every word carefully and meaningfully which is vital when it's only 162 pages. If she approaches all her stories. this way, she's an auto-buy author for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review.

A dark and twisted tale of a woman forced on a quest to rescue the children of the Tyrant, who snuck out in the night into the haunted wood of which no one returns.

This is beautifully written and deeply imaginative, however I had a hard time connecting with the main character and the traveling plot lost me a bit. But I will say when the story gripped me, IT GRIPPED ME. The creatures, the scenery and lore are top tier.

Definitely would recommend to someone who loves a nice one-off read, that’s dark and spell-binding.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tor for access to this digital ARC in return for my honest review.

Huge thanks to Netgalley & Tor Publishing for an eARC ♥️

Ah, the dark allure of "The Butcher of the Forest" beckons those brave enough to venture into its twisted realm. This novella promises a thrilling descent into the heart of darkness, where the eerie whispers of the Elmever forest will haunt your every step. With a tyrant's cruel ultimatum hanging over her head, Veris Thorn must navigate treacherous traps and confront the monsters lurking within the shadows. Will she emerge unscathed, or will the forest's sinister embrace trap her forever? Premee Mohamed masterfully weaves a spellbinding tale that will leave you breathless and uneasy. But be warned: once you enter the Elmever, there's no turning back. The forest's dark magic will consume you, its ancient trees seeming to twist and writhe around you like living serpents. Every creak of the branches, every rustle of leaves, will make you question what lies ahead. Will you dare to tread the treacherous path, where the fate of the tyrant's children hangs precariously in the balance? The Elmever's secrets await, but so do its teeth, eager to devour the unsuspecting. So, take a deep breath, and step into the shadows... if you dare!

I liked that this was a novella. The story worked well with that length and it goes to show that a fantasy story doesn't have to be a 600 page novel!

I usually love fairy tales, but I found that this was too dark and grim for my preference. The ending was also a bit abrupt.

The Butcher of the Forest is a dark, bite-sized bargain of a fairy tale. There is a Tyrant, there is an enchanted forest, and there are bargains poorly and wisely struck.

The novella evokes classic fae bargains and the tone of Grimm's fairy tales. There is a price for everything here, and who pays the price isn't who we may want to. The tale is lush and ominous from start to finish.

I recommend this for dark fantasy fans and those who enjoy twisted tales (thinking the horror-tinged Kingfisher works).

Thank you NetGalley and Tordotcom for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

At the northern edge of a certain village, there’s a magic forest that all of the villagers know to avoid. Years ago, Veris brought a child back, and now, at forty years old, she’s forced by the Tyrant to bring his wayward children home. Entering the forest means Veris has to confront her past while racing against the clock, because the children only have twenty four hours before they won’t be able to leave again.

I loved how haunting and unsettling this novella was and Mohamed did an excellent job at keeping the story tense and well-paced in a short amount of space. The world building was rich and I was kept on the edge of my seat while reading. The story is intriguing and layered, and there’s so much to pick at because nothing is what it seems. Mohamed uses language in such a beautiful way that really highlights the novella’s dark fairytale nature—there are a few heavy trigger warnings here, like child sex abuse and child death, and it’s surprisingly bloody. Though I found the ending to be the weakest part, I still thought it was satisfying and the overall story felt complete.

Overall, I really liked this novella and will definitely be picking up more from Mohamed, and if this world ever gets revisited I will be first in line to check it out.

This was so, so good. Blending elements of fairy tales and horror, The Butcher of the Forest is the story of a woman, Veris, who has to go into a forest out of nightmares to rescue the children of the Tyrant King that rules over the land, Nothing is as it seems within the forest, with a landscape and monsters that shift and change, dreamlike, as the protagonists struggle to escape. This was quick to get through, more of a novella than a full novel.

I read this a few weeks ago and in all honesty I don't remember much about it. That's not a terrible thing, because it means it wasn't so horrible that it stuck out in my mind as something to wince at should anyone bring it up to the register, but then again it didn't stick out as one to point out for those looking for a recommendation. I will say that it was unique enough to be interesting, while also feeling reminiscent of those well-loved fairytales we are all familiar with. I think the main issue I had is that it was so short that there wasn't necessarily enough time to dive into some of those unique ideas and flesh them out enough to be overly memorable. Like I said above, I probably won't go out of my way to recommend this to a ton of customers, but I will be curious to see what Mohamed comes up with in the future, because should a novel be in the cards at some point I have no doubt it will be something fresh.

When soldiers come to take Veris to the castle of the Tyrant, all of the awful reasons that she can dream up don’t prepare her for the truth: she’s about to be made to relieve her worst nightmare. The Tyrant’s children have gone missing, tracked to the edge of the forest that locals know never to enter. No one has ever come out again – no one, except Veris. Now she has a single day to traverse the horrors of Elmever, where monsters are real and reality can’t be trusted.

I’ve heard a lot of great buzz about author Premee Mohamad of late, so high time to give her work a whirl. Starting with a novella is a great shout, too, and here we get a very dark slice of fantasy that belies the book’s short page count. The world is so well conjured, the reader can feel as lost and trapped in the forest as Veris – with the added ‘disadvantage’ that unlike her, we don’t know what to expect.

I really liked the twist that this was a repeat journey, one she’d hoped never to have to make. It means that it makes a little more sense that Veris knows the dangers and the rules of the place – such as never eating anything, or drawing blood – even as the odds still seem overwhelmingly against her. The sense of trauma that she brings with her only heightens the darkness of the tale, too.

I will leave a note of caution on the tone: I’ve said dark twice, and boy do I mean it. You could say this is a horror as much as a fantasy. There is a lot of background unpleasantness here, and some fairly gory conjurings to deal with. However, the monsters of the woods aren’t the worst the book has to shock with, and there is brief mention of some really nasty real-world issues, including child prostitution. If I had any complaint about the story, it is that the whole thing is very bleak in the main.

And yet, it is also wonderfully written, lush with language that brings the whole dark fairy tale to life. And unlike a known folk tale, there’s no sense of comfort, no way of knowing how things will turn out. If you can cope with a bit of dark (is that three or four now?!) then absolutely recommended.

I’ll definitely be looking out for some more of the author’s work now.

A lush and scary story of an awful bargain matched with an awful bargain.

Veris has been into the woods, once. She's the only person who has ever gone in and returned alive. And now she's about to do it again, or have the rest of her family and her village die. The Tyrant who rules her people with an iron fist has lost his children to the woods, and he's going to send Veris in to get them back. But the woods are mysterious, dark and deep...and there are secrets to keep.

This was so good. The writing style was dense and lush, with layers woven and monsters everywhere, both human and other. I loved Veris as a main character. I loved the lightly built world-building and how anti-imperialism was baked into every sentence. I really adored the way Veris saw the children, and how the children saw her.

And the ending...hmm. I'm curious to read more, but also like how it ended at the same time.

If you adore books with evil fae who remain evil and inhuman the entire time, this is for you.

I received an ARC from NetGalley