Reviewer: Kate Canon

Premee Mohamed does a rare thing with The Butcher of the Forest, she recounts a tale that harks to the roots of our fears and folklore: a lone walk into the deep, dark woods. And she does so with crystalline prose and eloquent simplicity. This story is tended to with such a microscopic perspective, that you feel the weight of the canopy, the scratch of the branches. 

Veris Thorn never should have entered the forest, she signed her death warrant the day she did, for now the village tyrant has called upon her to venture back once more to retrieve his children from their ancient grip. She has but a day to do so.

‘She tasted the mistake on her tongue bitter as wormwood even as she said it. Oh no.’

Mohamed’s ability to render the forest as its own all-encompassing character is artful, and all the more do we sense our protagonist’s vulnerability by the sheer size that the woods take on. Hanging from every word as you navigate fantastic encounters, you inhabit this world fully, and without effort via the haunting imagery, Veris’ intense emotions, and the utterly immersive narration of Shiromi Arserio. 

‘It felt as if she had stepped unexpectedly into a cold, deep pond. The air was sweet and damp with fallen leaves nothing but trees, moss, mulch no hint of the village’s perpetual pall of smoke.’

A masterclass in reviving the mechanics of our collective unconscious. Mohamed is deft at pausing to smell the monstrous; anxiety becomes a thing to savour. This story is a must for all lovers of the intersection of fantasy, horror and fairytales.

Premee Mohamed is a Nebula award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2024 she was the writer-in-residence at the Edmonton public library, she is known for her beneath the sea series. The Butcher of the Forest print edition was released by Titan Books earlier this year and the Tantor Media audiobook edition was just released on November 25, 2025.