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

Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.

I wrote a long review for this, and then my child closed all my apps when I got up to get them a water... so here are my basic thoughts instead:

• Characters bland (I couldn't tell you anything about Veris except a list of what happened to her on page)
• World does not feel real (and not in a cool magical/fairytale way, but as in I can't picture it in my mind beyond the events of the book)
• The writing felt a little utilitarian, like reading an article or maybe a blog post. Wasn't bad per se, it just didn't pull me in.
• The pacing was whiplashy - it's possible some of the above issues could have been resolved if we ever had a time to sit with characters/moments. It needed to be either shorter (and more fairytale like) or longer (and more developed) than it was
• As a result of all of the above, I couldn't get invested in the kind of basic plot of there's something spooky in the forest, save the children

If you're just looking for a basic read to give you the spooky vibes and atmosphere of the season, or you're more of a plot reader than a character-driven reader, this might work fine for you.