#wickhills

I received a free copy from Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date September 8th, 2026.

I adored Mohamed's Siege of Burning Grass, but the widely praised Butcher of the Forest did nothing for me, so I was interested to see where her latest would land. In Wickhills, Ferec is an agent for the city-state of Wickhills, helping the secret police round up traitors and dissuade potential rebels. When a mission goes badly wrong, Ferec suspects that there's a mole somewhere within the Seaborne—and the resulting investigation will embroil him in a battle over the fate of the city itself.

Wickhills is, as the title might suggest, a setting-first book where the city is a main character. The worldbuilding is spectacular, featuring a city that's a little bit of Ankh-Morpork and a little bit of Ennes' Works of Vermin but mostly very much itself. Mohamad has a talent for sneaking in unsettling little tidbits about the worldbuilding: the building in downtown keeps growing new pillars, the streetlights are some kind of creature, don't look into the six inches of water that floods this district or something will Get you. The worryingly organic architecture is paired with the city's tempestuous history and constant undercurrent of revolution barely held in check by the Seaborne, the secret police.

Ferec, our main character, holds sway over the plot by virtue of knowing the city better than anyone else. He's deeply amoral and apolitical, and is governed solely by a strongly held code of professional competence. He's worked for the Seaborne since he was a teen in a high mortality career, and he thinks he ought to feel something when he kills someone, but he never does. However, his complete emotional distance from other human beings makes the narration a little cold. Excellent characterization for Ferec, but it lacks the underlying melodrama that I'm fond of. Ultimately, this is a story about smashing convictionless Ferec against the truth of the Seaborne and the City, and what he will do if his blind loyalty to his profession is shaken. The bittersweet ending is the perfect conclusion to a truly excellent fantasy novel and its morally grey protagonist—it's not the sort of plot to be tied off in a happy bow.

Warnings: None

Words: 812

Au Synopsis: An Au of @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors iconic Love and Other Fairytales. Where the cast is reversed. With the humans being Fair Folk and the Fae are human.

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There is a witch in the woods.

Or maybe there is a woods round a witch. It’s hard to tell, when both have been near each other for so long, that it’s gotten hard to separate them. The woods and the witch.

The witch and the woods.

Both are old, so very very old. Was there a time before? No one in town can remember the woods without the witch. No one in town can remember. They’re not sure they want to.

If you ask the elders they might recall that their own grandmother grew up on stories about the cunning woman in the woods.

Stories that say she is older than the trees that grow in the heart of the forest- stories that say their roots are entangled within her bones. Wrapped around her in her soul. “That’s where she gets her magic”, they whisper to their children, “for you see, there is magic in the wild and green woods. That’s why you must never go there unprotected”

Of course not all of the tales make sense.

Some say that the witch planted the forest. Some say the forest planted her. Grew her deepin it’s dark soil, and spat her out a hazel tree. Some say the witch isn’t even a witch- but a faery. Others say she made a deal for her magic and now she must leave forever-trapped within the boundary lines.

Some say there isn’t a difference- between Witch and Wood.

But no matter how much they say, no one can ever seem to agree on who’s right. And everyone seems to think the other is wrong.

Maybe it’s because people are gossipy and talk too much to ever know what really happened. Maybe it doesn’t matter. The witch knows, even if she’ll never speak it.

She doesn’t speak much of anything. She doesn’t need to.

There is a witch in the woods, the locals know of her, because of course they do.

They don’t know her name, and they know better than to ask for it. She will never give it willingly. Because she was born a Wickhills girl first. Before she was a witch (before there was a town to be called Wickhills) and every Wickhills girl knows that names are power. And power is never freely given.

There is a Witch in the woods, they call her that, because she will not give them anything else to call her.

But she will give comfort, and she will give help, if you know how to ask for it. ‘It’s better than going to our Good Neighbors’ they say, ‘but not by much’.

Still, people from the town by the woods will come to her house, her small little house with spider webs by the doorframe and Queen Anne’s Lace by the window. They will knock three times and be welcomed in.

They will look past the clutter and the darkened room and wonder how such a fearsome legend could live in a space that is so out of place in time, but still so mundane.

Lavender drying by the door frames and the smell of nuts roasting on a fire. They will see an old woman with silver silk spun hair and a small smile.

She will offer tea, and they will drink it.

She will offer a listening ear, and they will use it.

And finally, once they have eaten her food and aired their troubles, she will offer a deal.

And they will take it.

———————

There is a witch who lives in the woods. She has lived there longer than any other human in Wickhils- because she is still human, if only in her mind.

She is an old witch, a wise witch.

Wise enough to know that she will not live forever. Wise enough to not want to.

But she does not want to die without passing on her knowledge. She knows, more than she has ever known anything else, that she cannot leave her title unpassed.

There must always be a witch in the woods, to open their door for those lost, and protect them from the Wild Ones outside. Someone to guard the line between adventure and danger. Say what you will about the people in Wickhills, but even they know It is better to make a deal with the Witch and the Fae, because even at her most terrible, the witch calls herself human.

And she never takes much, just enough for the spell to work. A drop of blood, an old family ring. Something you will miss, yes, but something you can live without.

There is a witch in the woods and she is expecting.

You don’t need a man to make a child. Just a bottle of moonlight, three crow’s feathers and a handful of catmint flowers. Ground together and buried under the snow frost. Watered with her magic and blood.

When spring comes, there will be a babe, a boy. With hair just as dark and beautiful as the Faery Queen’s, and a heart made for love. His mother will name him Virgil, for she waited outside every night.

so the first and my main one is named Titania. she's Virgil and Durant's youngest sister, born only a few years after Virgil was put into the coffin, and was raised by Durant to become the next in line for the throne. Since she was raised by Durant, she grew up quite vindictive and cruel, but softened when she met Logan, Roman and Patton. Once Durant died, and Virgil took over as ruler, she was given the title the "Raven Princess" and rules with Virgil and his boy posse

my other character is Sol, and she's actually a fairy, I just didn't give her pointy ears. (whoops) she's Titania's eventual girlfriend, and was raised in the foster care system when the parents her fairy parents dropped her with didn't want her. Because of this, she knows a lot about human mannerisms and has a solid grasp on sarcasm, even if she can't use it.

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