The Butcher of the Forest

The Butcher of the Forest is simple story, but it's oozing atmosphere. The titular forest really feels like a hostile, unknowable fairy land, and every encounter with its inhabitants is unsettling in a new way. It's brought to life beautifully and the biggest draw to this book is definitively the forest itself, but the human society is painted just as vividly. I especially liked Veris conflicted feelings towards the children she is charged with saving.

The broad strokes of the story feel predictable, but the details bring them to life with dreadful intensity. This book really scratched an itch for me for fantasy that actually feels fantastical, with unknowable and untameable magic, when most fantasy I've tried to read in recent years has felt rather stale to me.