A review by ehmannky
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A dark fairy tale-esque novella following a woman being ordered by a tyrant to retrieve his children from a magical and horrific forest, with the penalty of her failure being he'll massacre her entire village. It took me a second to get into it, but by the end I was tearing through the pages to get to the end. I think Mohamed touches on a few really interesting themes (what responsibility for future horrors come from protecting the children of your oppressors and the harm of repressing our trauma and ignoring it does to our selves and others). The ending is a massive bummer, with only the slightest glimmer of hope and felt a little abrupt to me. I honestly felt this could work as a prologue to a much longer and involved story, because I'd love to see the story and the themes expounded on in future works. 
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