Description

A merciless tyrant forces an ordinary woman to rescue his children from a malevolent magical wood in this eerie, twisted fable. A world of uncanny creatures, deadly beauty, and unthinkable violence beckons…

At the northern edge of a valley conquered by a ruthless foreign tyrant lies a wild forest ruled by dangerous magic. The local people know never to enter-for no one who strays into the north woods is ever seen again. No one, that is, except Veris Thorn.

When the children of the Tyrant vanish into the woods, Veris is summoned to rescue them. Veris knows she has only one day before the creatures in the wood claim the children for their own. If she fails, the Tyrant will destroy everything she loves.

If she is to succeed, Veris must evade traps and trickery, ancient monsters and false friends, and the haunting memory of her last journey into the woods.

Time is running short. One misstep will cost everything.

Publisher Review

"Nothing in nature matches the uncannily sweet murdermirth of Premee Mohammed. She will show you yearning in a scrap of cheese or the whole world in the rules of a game. This book is bigger inside than out... by a large margin." Meg Elison, Locus and Philip K. Dick Award-winning author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife and The Pill "Hansel and Gretel meet Annihilation in Premee Mohamed's The Butcher of the Forest, a fairytale that shifts into a meditation on war and grief, one that asks questions about who is innocent and who is complicit in oppression. Come for the eldritch monsters; stay, as always, for Mohamed's critiques of power." S. Qiouyi Lu, author of In the Watchful City Praise for Premee Mohamed "A wonderful genre-defying adventure, rife with strange heart and weird horror. But most notable is its particular, careful attention to its characters. Premee Mohamed is a bold new voice." Chuck Wendig on Beneath the Rising "A perfect balance of thriller, horror and humour; reminded me of The Gone-Away World." Adrian Tchaikovsky on Beneath the Rising "One of the most exciting new voices in speculative fiction." Silvia Moreno-Garcia on Beneath the Rising "Every reveal is gasp-out-loud astonishing." Charlie Jane Anders on Beneath the Rising "The Great Gatsby, if Gatsby rose from her coffin in her most elegant gown and avenged herself. And What Can We Offer You Tonight questions the notion that we must be better victims than the villains who don't care how they hurt us-and then shows us how it feels when justice rings true." C.L. Polk "Exquisitely grotesque." Caitlin Starling on And What Can We Offer You Tonight