The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man's Wife

by Premee Mohamed

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 115
Rating:

Synopsis:

Lucas is dismayed when his brother Kit is chosen to take part in the Hunt: a chase that takes place every seven years and acts as a sacrifice to the Rider and his Wife, ensuring a plentiful harvest, at least that year. Determined to save his brother, all he has left, Lucas hatches a plan to save Kit and accompany him in his struggle to survive—setting the scene for a race through a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with more danger than either boy could ever imagine. The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife is a thrilling, post-apocalyptic chase, marrying Fairy Tale, Western and Adventure. Hang on tight!

Premee Mohamed’s The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife is weird and atmospheric, like many of her novellas. I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of them, if not all, and this one’s gonna linger with me a bit as well, pondering its secrets. It’s basically a story about a kind of Wild Hunt, wrapped round with some rules (one victim, marked, anyone who interferes can also be killed, if the victim can survive until morning they’re safe) and spiced up with twins, where of course only one of them gets marked.

I loved Luke and Kit’s closeness, it felt really organic and grown out of the life they were living, and I loved the setting as well. Mohamed doesn’t tell us everything, sketching in the world and the boundaries of it, and that leaves plenty of scope for imagination. What exactly is going on in the other world they step into? Does the girl they meet escape? Will there be retribution for what Lucas and Kit do in order for Kit to escape? And why exactly is the hunt happening, anyway? And so many other questions.

It’s a fascinating novella that leaves lots of questions lingering, taking its power from that atmosphere and the bond between the two boys. I wasn’t even sure entirely what was happening at times, but… nonetheless, it got under my skin.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

The Butcher of the Forest

by Premee Mohamed

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 160
Rating:

Synopsis:

At the northern edge of a land ruled by a monstrous, foreign tyrant lies the wild forest known as the Elmever. The villagers know better than to let their children go near—once someone goes in, they never come back out.

No one knows the strange and terrifying traps of the Elmever better than Veris Thorn, the only person to ever rescue a child from the forest many years ago. When the Tyrant’s two young children go missing, Veris is commanded to enter the forest once more and bring them home safe.

Received to review via Netgalley

The main character of this novella, Veris, once went into the forest to save a child. It’s no ordinary forest, and her journey is the only time anyone has been known to be successful in entering and leaving the forest, let alone bringing a lost child back. When the local Tyrant’s children go missing, he has her brought to him: she must go and retrieve his children, or he will kill her family.

Well, what choice does she have? It’s an interesting set-up, since she’s a middle-aged protagonist, and she’s full of aches and pains as she makes her way into the forest — and she’s no great witch, holds no great power to find her way, just a bit of knowledge and some luck. And the luck’s tenuous.

It’s a genuinely creepy story in that tense sort of way, with a lot of blank spots at the edge of the canvas of things we don’t really get to see/understand. The focus is on Veris’ journey, and her efforts to find the children, despite the sense that there’s so much more going on.

I found it enjoyable, though I’m still sort of letting it settle.

Rating: 4/5