Title: The Butcher of the Forest

Author: Premee Mohamed

Release date: February 27th, 2024

Good lord, look at that cover!

That’s the type of image that screams to Steve, and that whether adorning a book or a movie poster, is something that I’d be interested in checking out. Honestly, the cover of this book reminds me a lot of the type of media I consumed a lot of as a kid. ‘The Last Unicorn,’ ‘The Neverending Story,’ and all ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ books. Those wonderful dark fantasy stories that shaped a lot of who I am and how I shape my own stories.

Which makes it weird that initially, I actually DNF’d this. That’s right. I bought this a while back and at that time, I just didn’t connect with the first dozen or pages, so I tucked it aside for a snowy day. And then that snowy day arrived and my brain said ‘reeeeaaadddd Premee’s boooookkkk,’ so I returned to it and devoured it.

Shamefully, I’ve not yet had the chance to connect with Premee in person, as we both live in Edmonton and she’s had a number of in person events at Audreys Books on Jasper Ave, with life conspiring against me attending any of them, but I’m hopeful soon we’ll meet up!

What I liked: The story follows a young woman named Veris, who lives in a small outskirts town from where the Tyrant King’s lavish city is. The Tyrant has been ruthlessly slaughtering all who oppose who, and his reign of terror resulted in Veris’ parents dying. She lives with her grandparents, raising rabbits and writing letters for those who can’t write. Not far from the castle lies a forest, different than the normal forest. For, this is a forest that when people go in, they never come out. Except one person managed to rescue a child previously. Veris. Who went in after a child, found them, and somehow made their way back out.

And so, the meat of our story follows Veris, forced to go back into the woods. Because the Tyrants daughter and son entered the woods. And he wants them brought back out safely. If she fails. Her grandparents will be killed.

Premee does a masterful job of setting up the initial tension-filled moment of Veris arriving before the Tyrant and then learning about her task. And once we enter the forest, it’s like a light switch is flicked and we go from a stark world within the village and the castle, to a lush, grotesque world within the woods. It’s reminiscent of how it’d feel if you merged vanderMeer’s ‘Area X’ world with McGuire’s ‘Wayward Children’ series. It also feels heavily influenced by C.S. Lewis’ ‘Narnia’ lands where there are odd little folks scurrying about and Veris resembles a Pevensie.

We learn there are rules that Veris needs to follow and different areas/realms within the trees themselves.

Oddly, this is the second book in short time I’ve read that doesn’t have proper chapters, only page breaks – the other being a Kealan Patrick Burke novella – and it worked really well to keep things tense and always on the edge of a panic attack.

The ending is very much in line with those 80s and 90s dark fantasy movies, where we get a sort of resolution after a horrible decision is made (necessarily) and we see a desire for retribution and an opening for a further entry. Whether Mohamed ever returns to these woods is unknown (at least to me at this moment), but if this became a series, sign me up!

What I didn’t like: I though the titular ‘final’ decision was a bit rushed. Or more accurately, didn’t play out as long as I thought it would. Just a few pages earlier, Veris plays a game with a cunning forest folk, in order to save herself and the kids. After that, Veris encounters another forest folk, which is essential ‘the big bad guy’ of the story, but that interaction happens in about half the pages as the previous interaction. So, I found it a bit rushed and not as impactful as it could’ve been.

Why you should buy this: If you’re a fan of portal dark fantasy and love encountering odd world’s with strange inhabitants, look no further. Mohamed has written a gem of a book here, one that had me captivated and entranced from start to finish. Loved this one.