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The Annual Migration of Clouds #3
The First Thousand Trees
Henryk Mandrusiak, finding nothing left for him in his community following his best friend Reid's departure, travels through the devastated land in search of a new place to call home.
"One of the most unique and engaging voices in genre fiction." -- Booklist
"In this rich and nuanced universe, Mohamed offers an emotionally fierce and human story that takes the time and space to personalize apocalypse." -- Quill & Quire, starred review
After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracized within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle's village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place -- rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up -- isn't easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined.
This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse.
"One of the most unique and engaging voices in genre fiction." -- Booklist
"In this rich and nuanced universe, Mohamed offers an emotionally fierce and human story that takes the time and space to personalize apocalypse." -- Quill & Quire, starred review
After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracized within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle's village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place -- rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up -- isn't easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined.
This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse.
156 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2025
15 people are currently reading
447 people want to read
About the author
Premee Mohamed
79 books715 followersPremee Mohamed is a Nebula award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is an Assistant Editor at the short fiction audio venue Escape Pod and the author of the 'Beneath the Rising' series of novels as well as several novellas. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues and she can be found on Twitter at @premeesaurus and on her website at www.premeemohamed.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
October 6, 2025
This series is great but this final installment wasn't what I was expecting. We go back to follow Henryck, a side character from the the beginning of the first novella. After being shunned by his community he ventures to find a new place and encounters a much rougher way of life than he has experienced previously. Through the course of the novella he changes. This is a great, beautifully told dystopian sci-fi series that explores different modes of human survival and attempts to adapt to horrific circumstances. I received a copy of this book for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
September 21, 2025
I love Premee Mohamed’s body of work, and I’ve enjoyed everything of hers that I’ve read. “The Butcher of the Forest” remains one of my all-time favorite novellas.
This particular novella centers on Henryk, Reid’s best friend, and his journey to find himself in the wake of Reid leaving. He has always felt like a square peg in a round hole, and Henryk thinks that perhaps he can start over in his uncle’s town/village. I feel for Henryk…it honestly sounds like he’s on the spectrum in some way, and we just think and act differently than neurotypical people. We often wonder what we’re doing wrong but are unable to figure out how to NOT do the things that make us “weird” to others. Henryk is constantly apologizing to others and assuming that everything is his fault.
A lot of the story centers on his progress (or lack thereof—you decide) in identifying and managing his strengths and weaknesses, and I think there are some good lessons in there regarding self worth and self-sufficiency. I personally think Henryk is doing a lot better than a lot of others would in a post-apocalyptic world—and I very much am including myself in the latter group!
This trilogy of novellas is well-worth your time, and they don’t actually take much time to read. Also, and I consider this a huge bonus, you’re likely to learn at least one new word. Mohamed is very intelligent, and she threw some words in there that I’d never heard of before, which is rare for me because I read so much. I’m always down to expand my vocabulary!
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the advance copy! I’m writing this review entirely voluntarily.
This particular novella centers on Henryk, Reid’s best friend, and his journey to find himself in the wake of Reid leaving. He has always felt like a square peg in a round hole, and Henryk thinks that perhaps he can start over in his uncle’s town/village. I feel for Henryk…it honestly sounds like he’s on the spectrum in some way, and we just think and act differently than neurotypical people. We often wonder what we’re doing wrong but are unable to figure out how to NOT do the things that make us “weird” to others. Henryk is constantly apologizing to others and assuming that everything is his fault.
A lot of the story centers on his progress (or lack thereof—you decide) in identifying and managing his strengths and weaknesses, and I think there are some good lessons in there regarding self worth and self-sufficiency. I personally think Henryk is doing a lot better than a lot of others would in a post-apocalyptic world—and I very much am including myself in the latter group!
This trilogy of novellas is well-worth your time, and they don’t actually take much time to read. Also, and I consider this a huge bonus, you’re likely to learn at least one new word. Mohamed is very intelligent, and she threw some words in there that I’d never heard of before, which is rare for me because I read so much. I’m always down to expand my vocabulary!
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the advance copy! I’m writing this review entirely voluntarily.
August 9, 2025
In a surprising shift, the final installment of this fungal fiction, post-apocalyptic series centers not on Reid, but on Henryk. Left behind when Reid departs for Howse University, Henryk is adrift—isolated from the community, haunted by the guilt of the pig hunt gone wrong, and desperate for connection. He does the one thing he thought he would never do, and sets out on his own with a hand drawn map to visit his uncle Dex, his last surviving relative.
But Sprucedown offers little solace. Henryk’s awkward, anxious nature only deepens his sense of alienation, and his attempts to fit in seem to push others further away. That is, until a routine “fire drill” leaves him stranded in the woods—where he encounters a group of raiders with their sights set on breaking in.
Forget Cad, the fungal parasite embedded in most survivors. Forget Reid, the friend who once shielded him from bullies and chaos. If Henryk wants to survive, he’ll have to find the fight within himself.
Mohamed conjures a world that feels both refreshingly original and steeped in familiar post-apocalyptic resonance. There are shades of Earth Abides in its quiet devastation, and yes, the Walking Dead parallels surface—mostly in the bleak terrain and isolated communities—but trust me when I say... this series stands firmly on its own.
This is a story of outcasts carving out space in a fractured world. A story of rebuilding, even when redemption feels out of reach. And it brings this series to a satisfying, unexpectedly subtle close.
But Sprucedown offers little solace. Henryk’s awkward, anxious nature only deepens his sense of alienation, and his attempts to fit in seem to push others further away. That is, until a routine “fire drill” leaves him stranded in the woods—where he encounters a group of raiders with their sights set on breaking in.
Forget Cad, the fungal parasite embedded in most survivors. Forget Reid, the friend who once shielded him from bullies and chaos. If Henryk wants to survive, he’ll have to find the fight within himself.
Mohamed conjures a world that feels both refreshingly original and steeped in familiar post-apocalyptic resonance. There are shades of Earth Abides in its quiet devastation, and yes, the Walking Dead parallels surface—mostly in the bleak terrain and isolated communities—but trust me when I say... this series stands firmly on its own.
This is a story of outcasts carving out space in a fractured world. A story of rebuilding, even when redemption feels out of reach. And it brings this series to a satisfying, unexpectedly subtle close.
October 2, 2025
The story wasn't my favorite in the series but I did enjoy the atmospheric, dystopian forest setting. And thought the audio narration by Jamie Cavanagh & Eva Tavares was well done. Recommended for fans of books like The marrow thieves or Station Eleven. 10/10 for another fantastic cover illustration!!
October 6, 2025
Author Premee Mohamed expertly concludes her post-apocalyptic trilogy, by following Henryk, rather than Reid, in this last entry. After the disastrous boar hunt (in book one), Henryk feels very guilty, and though no one explicitly confronts him, he is quietly shunned by the people of the settlement. Already feeling alone without Reid, this only deepens his sense of isolation, and one early morning he walks away, heading to where his Uncle Dex had invited him.
Henryk arrives at Sprucedown after a long month of walking. He’s not greeted with open arms, as Sprucedown’s leader Beau, afraid he’s a raider (with which they regularly must repel), mistrusts him. But Uncle Dex vouches for the anxious Henryk, and much to Dane’s (Dex's adopted son) disgust, Henryk is taken in. But Henryk never really feels part of Sprucedown, despite pitching in to help with various jobs. Dane refuses to warm to Henryk, and even kindly, elderly Isabel tells him that everyone senses the young man has not been entirely truthful with them.
During a drill (Sprucedown does many for fear of incursions), Henryk is sent far enough off that he becomes lost and comes upon a girl by herself, seemingly on the run. Henryk, raised in a much more peaceable place, is easily duped and captured by raiders, and must, after a shocking moment, figure out how he wants to deal with the situation.
I was initially surprised that Mohamed would change narrators, but by doing this, she shows yet another response to the privation and dangers of people generations after a devastating war by moving Henryk to Sprucedown. This is a very different, more martial, but also incredibly, shockingly green and wooded place from his home.
Henryk is a gentle soul, bullied for years at home and protected by Reid. Without her, there’s no one to speak for him, and it’s incredibly sad that he was quietly, almost imperceptibly shunned for a mistake (that did result in grievous injury and death to others).
Henryk feels he might have a chance to make a new life in Sprucedown, but he’s still an anxious person eager to avoid conflict, who is not given to violence, and who is constantly blaming himself for every setback. But when things get really bad, Henryk finds he has a strength and determination he had not felt he had.
This is the concluding story in a trilogy about a world damaged irreparably by war, and with each settlement Mohamed has given us, we see people still clinging on or trying to recreate the world that is forever lost. And bleak as Mohamed's world is, there is hope, personified by the gorgeous letter Reid left for Henryk.
There is hope, there is the possibility of building new, and there is always redemption, in this future. I loved this trilogy, and though this is the close of this story, I will always be happy to read more of Mohamed's work, whether in this world or any other she creates.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Henryk arrives at Sprucedown after a long month of walking. He’s not greeted with open arms, as Sprucedown’s leader Beau, afraid he’s a raider (with which they regularly must repel), mistrusts him. But Uncle Dex vouches for the anxious Henryk, and much to Dane’s (Dex's adopted son) disgust, Henryk is taken in. But Henryk never really feels part of Sprucedown, despite pitching in to help with various jobs. Dane refuses to warm to Henryk, and even kindly, elderly Isabel tells him that everyone senses the young man has not been entirely truthful with them.
During a drill (Sprucedown does many for fear of incursions), Henryk is sent far enough off that he becomes lost and comes upon a girl by herself, seemingly on the run. Henryk, raised in a much more peaceable place, is easily duped and captured by raiders, and must, after a shocking moment, figure out how he wants to deal with the situation.
I was initially surprised that Mohamed would change narrators, but by doing this, she shows yet another response to the privation and dangers of people generations after a devastating war by moving Henryk to Sprucedown. This is a very different, more martial, but also incredibly, shockingly green and wooded place from his home.
Henryk is a gentle soul, bullied for years at home and protected by Reid. Without her, there’s no one to speak for him, and it’s incredibly sad that he was quietly, almost imperceptibly shunned for a mistake (that did result in grievous injury and death to others).
Henryk feels he might have a chance to make a new life in Sprucedown, but he’s still an anxious person eager to avoid conflict, who is not given to violence, and who is constantly blaming himself for every setback. But when things get really bad, Henryk finds he has a strength and determination he had not felt he had.
This is the concluding story in a trilogy about a world damaged irreparably by war, and with each settlement Mohamed has given us, we see people still clinging on or trying to recreate the world that is forever lost. And bleak as Mohamed's world is, there is hope, personified by the gorgeous letter Reid left for Henryk.
There is hope, there is the possibility of building new, and there is always redemption, in this future. I loved this trilogy, and though this is the close of this story, I will always be happy to read more of Mohamed's work, whether in this world or any other she creates.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.
July 16, 2025
I read this novella courtesy of NetGalley, but I loved it so much, I'll need to get it on paper.
These are absolute gems of novellas. In a post climate-disaster world, communities are rising and falling, sustaining and exploiting, and people live lives of desparation that isn't quiet, and dignity that is. They fail, and get up again.
The first novella takes a new perspective - while 1 and 2 followed Reid, a desparately brave young woman fighting to make her life better while coping with a disability that would one day brutally kill her, the third novella switches POV to her best friend, Henryk, the walking disaster. Henryk is the opposite of a fantasy of competence - he is afraid, and he doesn't trust in himself. He runs away. He's utterly relatable, and terribly smart, and for me, his perspective brought to mind nothing less than Marilynne Robinson's characters.
The voice is wonderful. The worldbuilding - well, it's simply great. The attention to detail. The loving care. I could have read another five hundred pages of this.
If this is not on all kinds of award shortlists, then I don't know what we're even doing in the sff reading world, because this is where it's at. These novellas are fresh, and literary, and gripping, and I want to force everyone to read them.
[The last sentence this time is not as perfect as in the previous volume, but in context, it comes close. It's beautiful, just not iconic.]
These are absolute gems of novellas. In a post climate-disaster world, communities are rising and falling, sustaining and exploiting, and people live lives of desparation that isn't quiet, and dignity that is. They fail, and get up again.
The first novella takes a new perspective - while 1 and 2 followed Reid, a desparately brave young woman fighting to make her life better while coping with a disability that would one day brutally kill her, the third novella switches POV to her best friend, Henryk, the walking disaster. Henryk is the opposite of a fantasy of competence - he is afraid, and he doesn't trust in himself. He runs away. He's utterly relatable, and terribly smart, and for me, his perspective brought to mind nothing less than Marilynne Robinson's characters.
The voice is wonderful. The worldbuilding - well, it's simply great. The attention to detail. The loving care. I could have read another five hundred pages of this.
If this is not on all kinds of award shortlists, then I don't know what we're even doing in the sff reading world, because this is where it's at. These novellas are fresh, and literary, and gripping, and I want to force everyone to read them.
[The last sentence this time is not as perfect as in the previous volume, but in context, it comes close. It's beautiful, just not iconic.]
October 6, 2025
Thank you to ECW Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
The Annual Migration of Clouds is a novella trilogy in a dystopian setting. The First Thousand Trees wraps up this story. But instead of focusing on Reid, we get a story focused on Henryk.
Henryk was Reid's best friend. But after his cowardice got someone killed during a boar hunt, he feels that he doesn't have a place within the community anymore. As Reid left for her school, he leaves to find his uncle. Unfortunately this village is not at all what he was expecting it to be. Neither are the people.
While I wasn't initially really that interested in his story and I don't think it is entirely nessecary, it was still a solid story to read. We get an idea of how other parts are dealing with the fall out and how they have created their communities. There are other dangers out there than boars for them.
Henryk is just trying to find his way in the world, see if there is a place for him. But he just flaunders and makes mistake after mistake. Or so others feel. I just see someone who is learning. Who doesn't always get it right but he is trying. It is more of an introspective tale.
It is worth a read for sure.
The Annual Migration of Clouds is a novella trilogy in a dystopian setting. The First Thousand Trees wraps up this story. But instead of focusing on Reid, we get a story focused on Henryk.
Henryk was Reid's best friend. But after his cowardice got someone killed during a boar hunt, he feels that he doesn't have a place within the community anymore. As Reid left for her school, he leaves to find his uncle. Unfortunately this village is not at all what he was expecting it to be. Neither are the people.
While I wasn't initially really that interested in his story and I don't think it is entirely nessecary, it was still a solid story to read. We get an idea of how other parts are dealing with the fall out and how they have created their communities. There are other dangers out there than boars for them.
Henryk is just trying to find his way in the world, see if there is a place for him. But he just flaunders and makes mistake after mistake. Or so others feel. I just see someone who is learning. Who doesn't always get it right but he is trying. It is more of an introspective tale.
It is worth a read for sure.
July 1, 2025
It's great to see how Mohamed decided to wrap these characters' stories, while also exploring all the various ways that communities can go wrong, what regime change actually looks like (not great, but frankly, it's all you've got sometimes), and being able to bring a wrap to Reid's individual story. I ended up tearing through this, but that was mainly because Mohamed has become an author I will ready anything I can find from, and there are some absolutely stunning passages here around the feeling of the world falling apart around you. Absolutely pick this up this fall.
October 1, 2025
I would like to thank NetGalley and ECW Press for the eARC. I greatly appreciate it!
I’m so sad this is the last novella to this wonderful series. THE FIRST THOUSAND TREES is not a story about finding one’s home. It’s about learning that home isn’t a place—home is the people who love us, who fight for us, who are there for us. Through Henryk’s POV, we get an intimate portrayal of one’s battles with anxiety and self worth being overlooked in a world ravaged and wearied by a single disease. It was profoundly accurate.
I’m so sad this is the last novella to this wonderful series. THE FIRST THOUSAND TREES is not a story about finding one’s home. It’s about learning that home isn’t a place—home is the people who love us, who fight for us, who are there for us. Through Henryk’s POV, we get an intimate portrayal of one’s battles with anxiety and self worth being overlooked in a world ravaged and wearied by a single disease. It was profoundly accurate.
August 2, 2025
Premee Mohamed's writing is as brilliant and competent as ever. But not gonna lie, this one took me awhile to get through because it is bleak.
As relatable as I find the anxious bean that is Henryk, it's also very difficult to be in his head for long periods of time as he spirals and spirals. And while the series's hope for the future is definitely still alight at the end, the journey to get there in this novella is quite long.
This novella is full of action throughout and maintains a fast pace. If there's a discussion it's normally about something monumental like life and death, as these characters are always on the move and Henryk is always reacting to a recent sequence of events.
So overall this novella feels tonally very different from its two predecessors, almost switches genres to more of a Walking Dead style apocalypse of survival and communities, and has a very different protagonist with very different thoughts to be in. I think you can probably stick to just the first two books if you'd like, but I do feel like this final installment nicely rounds out some experiences and ultimately has a lot to contribute to the characters' final conclusion.
Does the dog die?:
Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
As relatable as I find the anxious bean that is Henryk, it's also very difficult to be in his head for long periods of time as he spirals and spirals. And while the series's hope for the future is definitely still alight at the end, the journey to get there in this novella is quite long.
This novella is full of action throughout and maintains a fast pace. If there's a discussion it's normally about something monumental like life and death, as these characters are always on the move and Henryk is always reacting to a recent sequence of events.
So overall this novella feels tonally very different from its two predecessors, almost switches genres to more of a Walking Dead style apocalypse of survival and communities, and has a very different protagonist with very different thoughts to be in. I think you can probably stick to just the first two books if you'd like, but I do feel like this final installment nicely rounds out some experiences and ultimately has a lot to contribute to the characters' final conclusion.
Does the dog die?:
Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
October 1, 2025
4.25 stars.
Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The final book in this post-apocalyptic novella trilogy, I was surprised that the book shifted focus from Reid to Hendryk instead. Once I had adjusted, this ended up being my favourite entry in the series.
We follow Hendryk, who is wracked by guilt, leaving his community and heading off to join another.
This short book was surprisingly action packed, and I really enjoyed the author's writing.
A worthy conclusion to the trilogy that wrapped up all the stories in a satisfying way.
Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The final book in this post-apocalyptic novella trilogy, I was surprised that the book shifted focus from Reid to Hendryk instead. Once I had adjusted, this ended up being my favourite entry in the series.
We follow Hendryk, who is wracked by guilt, leaving his community and heading off to join another.
This short book was surprisingly action packed, and I really enjoyed the author's writing.
A worthy conclusion to the trilogy that wrapped up all the stories in a satisfying way.
Want to read
August 1, 2025What, this is going to be Henryk story? I didn't see that coming! How is it going to wrap everything up...?
October 10, 2025
The Annual Migration of Clouds series has been an exploration of what happens after “the end of the world as they know it”, which is a very different thing from the actual end of the world. The world is ticking along just fine in this post-climate-apocalypse dystopia, but the humans who caused it all – not so much.
The idea behind this series, and what makes it so compelling and so heartbreaking, is that the world didn’t end all at once. Which it probably won’t in a climate change run amuck scenario. Instead, it’s a long, slow slide of things slipping away, as the infrastructure that supports a high-tech, 21st century (or later) lifestyle erodes piece by piece as roads wash out and coastlines shrink and satellites fall because what we need is beyond any one person’s or even one town’s knowledge and ability to fix.
In the first book, the titular Annual Migration of Clouds, we were able to experience one possible scenario, as we follow Reid and Henryk in a village named ‘campus’ – probably because it used to be one.
Their village is a bit of a liberal, quasi-socialist experiment, not surprising if it truly did descend from a college campus. Everyone who can works, but those who can’t are supported. Everyone has a job to do – and it’s each according to their ability. They keep each other afloat and keep the place protected. It’s a bit utopian, or it would be if they weren’t living at a time when everything they need to keep alive is scarce while an endemic disease ravages the population.
In the second book, We Speak Through the Mountain, we view this world from an entirely different place, as Reid has been invited to the elite, exclusive, enclave of Howse University. H.U. was once a gated retreat for the wealthy and influential, a place where they planned to sit out the apocalypse and only return when it was safe and they could rule over ‘the masses’ they consigned to the fate they escaped.
H.U. invites very few into its rarefied location – just enough to maintain the genetic diversity of their population. And it operates under a kind of benign brainwashing in the way that it makes life so safe and comfortable inside that no one will ever want to leave. Reid asks too many questions about what the ‘haves’ owe the ‘have nots’, and pokes gigantic holes in H.U.’s self-defining narratives about the laziness and barbaric conditions among the villages just like the one she came from, blaming her people for their inability to recover from the apocalypse even as H.U. withholds the technology that might help.
This final book in the trilogy takes a completely different tack and follows, not Reid, but her best friend Henryk. Reid is smart and capable and confident, while Henryk is anything but on all counts. Reid was always the leader, and Henryk was always someone’s hapless follower. Which is how he ended up leaving campus in Reid’s wake, heading for a not-so-nearby village where his uncle lives in the hope of a fresh start.
That’s where Henryk discovers that there were other, terrible, ways that this post-apocalyptic scenario could go. He finds himself in a village run by a tyrant, pushed and pulled from one abusive situation to another, despised for not knowing how things are done and then not being able to do them, and ends up facing death at the hands of raiders who use him to destroy the place he wants to protect even if he’s not very good at it.
All of which leads back to the beginning, as both Reid and Henryk return to campus. While it’s true that there’s no place like home, there’s also nowhere that manages to survive one day after another other any better than the place they grew up in. And there, at least, they have each other as best friends and quasi-siblings – and after both of their journeys, that’s enough.
Escape Rating B: Taken as a whole, now that this series is whole, I still liked the first book best, although the second book was better on my second read because by then I had listened to the first one and the set up made a whole lot more sense. That’s a hint to read/listen to this series in order.
I didn’t like this one as much because a) I didn’t like following Henryk nearly as much as I did Reid, and b) Henryk is one of those characters to whom horrible things just seem to happen, to the point where it’s no surprise that he ends up in yet one terrible situation after another. So I did feel for him but he also drove me nuts.
The different responses to the climate apocalypse read like situations I’ve seen before in this kind of story – just not all together in the same story. But it makes sense that with the breakdown of communication, places that aren’t all that far apart would find their own way to keep going – whether good or bad – based on how and where they started.
Campus feels very utopian, especially in comparison to the other two options. They are doing their damndest to do their best for everyone – even when they don’t have enough to make things good for anyone. It’s the way we wish things would turn out – but we humans are not even capable of that level of fairness now when there actually IS enough if we would just share it. This situation reminds me a bit of the near-future timeline in Khan Wong’s Down in the Sea with Angels – and it’s working just about as well because humans are gonna human in the best and worst of scenarios.
Reid’s foray into Howse University smacks of the situation in the Enclave in Anna Hackett’s Hell Squad series, where a group of the rich and powerful created a sanctuary for themselves so they could safely sit out an alien invasion.
The hellscape that Henryk finds himself in is the ‘red in tooth and claw’ version of humanity that we sort of expect to see in a dystopia. OTOH the folks of Sprucedown started out with a good location and a good plan for survival – which is where the Thousand Trees of the title come in. And very much on the other, they’ve come under the sway of a late-arriving dictator who is more interested in power and personal aggrandizement than in managing the resources that make it all possible. In the end, everyone pays for his hubris. For anyone who has ever read even a part of S.M. Stirling’s Emberverse, particularly the early books like Dies the Fire, this scenario is all too familiar in its hellishness.
In the end, now that we’ve reached an end, this series is three views of an apocalypse, it’s what happens AFTER the end of the world as they know it, and it’s compelling and heartbreaking and sad and scary. Because it might all come true.
Originally published at Reading Reality
The idea behind this series, and what makes it so compelling and so heartbreaking, is that the world didn’t end all at once. Which it probably won’t in a climate change run amuck scenario. Instead, it’s a long, slow slide of things slipping away, as the infrastructure that supports a high-tech, 21st century (or later) lifestyle erodes piece by piece as roads wash out and coastlines shrink and satellites fall because what we need is beyond any one person’s or even one town’s knowledge and ability to fix.
In the first book, the titular Annual Migration of Clouds, we were able to experience one possible scenario, as we follow Reid and Henryk in a village named ‘campus’ – probably because it used to be one.
Their village is a bit of a liberal, quasi-socialist experiment, not surprising if it truly did descend from a college campus. Everyone who can works, but those who can’t are supported. Everyone has a job to do – and it’s each according to their ability. They keep each other afloat and keep the place protected. It’s a bit utopian, or it would be if they weren’t living at a time when everything they need to keep alive is scarce while an endemic disease ravages the population.
In the second book, We Speak Through the Mountain, we view this world from an entirely different place, as Reid has been invited to the elite, exclusive, enclave of Howse University. H.U. was once a gated retreat for the wealthy and influential, a place where they planned to sit out the apocalypse and only return when it was safe and they could rule over ‘the masses’ they consigned to the fate they escaped.
H.U. invites very few into its rarefied location – just enough to maintain the genetic diversity of their population. And it operates under a kind of benign brainwashing in the way that it makes life so safe and comfortable inside that no one will ever want to leave. Reid asks too many questions about what the ‘haves’ owe the ‘have nots’, and pokes gigantic holes in H.U.’s self-defining narratives about the laziness and barbaric conditions among the villages just like the one she came from, blaming her people for their inability to recover from the apocalypse even as H.U. withholds the technology that might help.
This final book in the trilogy takes a completely different tack and follows, not Reid, but her best friend Henryk. Reid is smart and capable and confident, while Henryk is anything but on all counts. Reid was always the leader, and Henryk was always someone’s hapless follower. Which is how he ended up leaving campus in Reid’s wake, heading for a not-so-nearby village where his uncle lives in the hope of a fresh start.
That’s where Henryk discovers that there were other, terrible, ways that this post-apocalyptic scenario could go. He finds himself in a village run by a tyrant, pushed and pulled from one abusive situation to another, despised for not knowing how things are done and then not being able to do them, and ends up facing death at the hands of raiders who use him to destroy the place he wants to protect even if he’s not very good at it.
All of which leads back to the beginning, as both Reid and Henryk return to campus. While it’s true that there’s no place like home, there’s also nowhere that manages to survive one day after another other any better than the place they grew up in. And there, at least, they have each other as best friends and quasi-siblings – and after both of their journeys, that’s enough.
Escape Rating B: Taken as a whole, now that this series is whole, I still liked the first book best, although the second book was better on my second read because by then I had listened to the first one and the set up made a whole lot more sense. That’s a hint to read/listen to this series in order.
I didn’t like this one as much because a) I didn’t like following Henryk nearly as much as I did Reid, and b) Henryk is one of those characters to whom horrible things just seem to happen, to the point where it’s no surprise that he ends up in yet one terrible situation after another. So I did feel for him but he also drove me nuts.
The different responses to the climate apocalypse read like situations I’ve seen before in this kind of story – just not all together in the same story. But it makes sense that with the breakdown of communication, places that aren’t all that far apart would find their own way to keep going – whether good or bad – based on how and where they started.
Campus feels very utopian, especially in comparison to the other two options. They are doing their damndest to do their best for everyone – even when they don’t have enough to make things good for anyone. It’s the way we wish things would turn out – but we humans are not even capable of that level of fairness now when there actually IS enough if we would just share it. This situation reminds me a bit of the near-future timeline in Khan Wong’s Down in the Sea with Angels – and it’s working just about as well because humans are gonna human in the best and worst of scenarios.
Reid’s foray into Howse University smacks of the situation in the Enclave in Anna Hackett’s Hell Squad series, where a group of the rich and powerful created a sanctuary for themselves so they could safely sit out an alien invasion.
The hellscape that Henryk finds himself in is the ‘red in tooth and claw’ version of humanity that we sort of expect to see in a dystopia. OTOH the folks of Sprucedown started out with a good location and a good plan for survival – which is where the Thousand Trees of the title come in. And very much on the other, they’ve come under the sway of a late-arriving dictator who is more interested in power and personal aggrandizement than in managing the resources that make it all possible. In the end, everyone pays for his hubris. For anyone who has ever read even a part of S.M. Stirling’s Emberverse, particularly the early books like Dies the Fire, this scenario is all too familiar in its hellishness.
In the end, now that we’ve reached an end, this series is three views of an apocalypse, it’s what happens AFTER the end of the world as they know it, and it’s compelling and heartbreaking and sad and scary. Because it might all come true.
Originally published at Reading Reality
September 24, 2025
Premee Mohamed’s The First Thousand Trees is the final book in The Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy. The Annual Migration of Clouds introduced readers to a grieving world dealing with economic collapse and climate disasters. We Speak Through the Mountain expanded this world by exposing issues related to ethics, complicity, power, and access to resources and knowledge. Different from the previous two novellas, The First Thousand Trees follows Henryk as he leaves his home after the events of the first book. He sets off to find his uncle’s village and when he arrives, Henryk faces a new set of challenges. His new community is not as welcoming as his old one, and he feels like an outsider. Henryk navigates these feelings while searching for his place and purpose as he tries to make a new life for himself, a life without Reid and far away from the only home he’s ever known.
Like the previous novellas, The First Thousand Trees explores themes of grief and power, and it also focuses on home, humanity and violence. It shows how, despite massive transformation and tragedy, humans are still prone to repeating cycles of violence. Through exploring this, Mohamed highlights the importance of change, choices and forging your own path. Everything is a choice—we can choose to try to break out of harmful cycles, and we can make choices to try to positively impact the world. It’s possible to make different choices instead of trying to rebuild systems that are broken, and the characters in this book must dare to make their own future. Under all the circumstances in the trilogy, this book reflects on what it means to begin again and not just survive, but live and thrive.
I think about these books often and I know I will return to them. The First Thousand Trees is a satisfying and thoughtful conclusion to the trilogy, and Mohamed offers readers a profound meditation on survival, humanity, and hope.
Thank you ECW Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC to review.
Like the previous novellas, The First Thousand Trees explores themes of grief and power, and it also focuses on home, humanity and violence. It shows how, despite massive transformation and tragedy, humans are still prone to repeating cycles of violence. Through exploring this, Mohamed highlights the importance of change, choices and forging your own path. Everything is a choice—we can choose to try to break out of harmful cycles, and we can make choices to try to positively impact the world. It’s possible to make different choices instead of trying to rebuild systems that are broken, and the characters in this book must dare to make their own future. Under all the circumstances in the trilogy, this book reflects on what it means to begin again and not just survive, but live and thrive.
I think about these books often and I know I will return to them. The First Thousand Trees is a satisfying and thoughtful conclusion to the trilogy, and Mohamed offers readers a profound meditation on survival, humanity, and hope.
Thank you ECW Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC to review.
June 27, 2025
This is the third and final book in Mohamed's Cli-Fi trilogy-
I expected this novel to follow Reid as she returned to her campus, but instead we follow Henryk on his journey to his Uncle's more Northern community.
Feeling bereft after Reid's departure, Henryk sets out on a wild adventure, traveling with a makeshift map to find his Uncle. With more luck than skill, he's able to find the community. Henryk is taken in conditionally and really does give it his all to fit in and be visibly productive in a vastly different community than the one he left. He struggles much in the same way he struggled at home, making some poor decisions, and being, in general, not very welcome. Much like his past, as series of disasters follows him, and while none are notable his "fault" dystopian communities seem to have no time for accidental blunders. After a particularly spectacular error Henryk somewhat redeems himself and makes a choice to move on.
For me, I wanted Henryk to desperately have sort of a hero's arc of redemption, but that does not occur, and to be honest, this seems so realistic as so many of us work very hard at being in community with others, and despite our efforts we aren't always successful.
In the end, the message I took away again was that people often survive better together, and no one really wins unless everyone can share in the winning. I love this message as it's one I believe in whole heartedly.
The writing again is precise and story construction is on point. These novellas are great for book club as there's so much to discuss- themes of belonging, community, class systems, the environment, poverty and wealth, community building and more!
Many Thanks to ECW press, the author and net Galley for ARC copy to read and review.
I expected this novel to follow Reid as she returned to her campus, but instead we follow Henryk on his journey to his Uncle's more Northern community.
Feeling bereft after Reid's departure, Henryk sets out on a wild adventure, traveling with a makeshift map to find his Uncle. With more luck than skill, he's able to find the community. Henryk is taken in conditionally and really does give it his all to fit in and be visibly productive in a vastly different community than the one he left. He struggles much in the same way he struggled at home, making some poor decisions, and being, in general, not very welcome. Much like his past, as series of disasters follows him, and while none are notable his "fault" dystopian communities seem to have no time for accidental blunders. After a particularly spectacular error Henryk somewhat redeems himself and makes a choice to move on.
For me, I wanted Henryk to desperately have sort of a hero's arc of redemption, but that does not occur, and to be honest, this seems so realistic as so many of us work very hard at being in community with others, and despite our efforts we aren't always successful.
In the end, the message I took away again was that people often survive better together, and no one really wins unless everyone can share in the winning. I love this message as it's one I believe in whole heartedly.
The writing again is precise and story construction is on point. These novellas are great for book club as there's so much to discuss- themes of belonging, community, class systems, the environment, poverty and wealth, community building and more!
Many Thanks to ECW press, the author and net Galley for ARC copy to read and review.
September 25, 2025
The First Thousand Trees is the third installment in Premee Mohamed's novella series that started with The Annual Migration of Clouds. In this installment of the series we catch up with Henryk after the events of the first book. If you haven't read the rest of the series then this is your spoiler warning as I will discuss some elements of books one.
After Reid leaves for the mysterious University Henryk is left alone with the shadows of his mistakes hanging over him. He decides to leave and go searching for his uncle who he last saw at his parents funeral. With only a limited map to follow he ventures alone and is surprised to find that the way is easy and he does find the farm his uncle had invited him to visit, but his welcome there is not a warm one. The tree farm his uncle works at is very warry of outsiders and rely heavily on its members to do their own work and pull their own weight. Henryk struggles to fit in with the larger society of the farm even as he begins to make headway with his Uncle's small circle.
Premee is supremely gifted in making a big story out of only a few pages, and this is no different. Life after an ecological collapse drives people to adapt and not all in the same way. This fresh perspective on how some of the other survivors have learned to live in a harsher symbiosis with their environment is really interesting as the land has shaped the people even as the people act to reshape the desolation around them, one acre at a time. I was also excited when I realized that we would be getting a fresh perspective on the world from Henryk's perspective especially after his tumultuous experience in the first novella.
I really enjoy this series and I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi/dystopian stories. I especially enjoy the imagination of how life goes on after a planet wide ecological collapse. Please consider picking up a copy from your local indie bookstore or library, and happy reading.
After Reid leaves for the mysterious University Henryk is left alone with the shadows of his mistakes hanging over him. He decides to leave and go searching for his uncle who he last saw at his parents funeral. With only a limited map to follow he ventures alone and is surprised to find that the way is easy and he does find the farm his uncle had invited him to visit, but his welcome there is not a warm one. The tree farm his uncle works at is very warry of outsiders and rely heavily on its members to do their own work and pull their own weight. Henryk struggles to fit in with the larger society of the farm even as he begins to make headway with his Uncle's small circle.
Premee is supremely gifted in making a big story out of only a few pages, and this is no different. Life after an ecological collapse drives people to adapt and not all in the same way. This fresh perspective on how some of the other survivors have learned to live in a harsher symbiosis with their environment is really interesting as the land has shaped the people even as the people act to reshape the desolation around them, one acre at a time. I was also excited when I realized that we would be getting a fresh perspective on the world from Henryk's perspective especially after his tumultuous experience in the first novella.
I really enjoy this series and I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi/dystopian stories. I especially enjoy the imagination of how life goes on after a planet wide ecological collapse. Please consider picking up a copy from your local indie bookstore or library, and happy reading.
Read
June 18, 2025If The Annual Migration of Clouds offered a fresh perspective on Harry Potter, and We Speak Through the Mountain revisited the tropes of Divergent and similar YA dystopias, then this third installment, The First Thousand Trees, reads as Mohamed’s response to works like The Walking Dead. Here, the return to an isolationist, tightly controlled social order proves ineffective against external threats, especially the most dangerous kind: other humans.
The narrative shifts focus to Henryk, a stark departure from Reid and the more capable protagonists of Mohamed’s earlier works. Incompetent, unreliable, and prone to paralyzing overanalysis, Henryk disrupts the narrative momentum built in the second book, making this installment feel more fragmented.
Mohamed deliberately rejects familiar post-apocalyptic blueprints. The pastoral commune, the techno-utopia, and the authoritarian stronghold are each explored and ultimately dismissed. A nomadic model rooted in Indigenous traditions is also proposed and left behind. Yet she offers no clear alternative. What remains is a flicker of youthful optimism, a naive yet persistent hope that a better world might still be possible. This unresolved tension leaves readers wondering what future Reid might carve out, especially while burdened by a less capable companion. And as with all of Mohamed’s work, it challenges us to flesh out an ending for ourselves and reflect on what better alternatives we might envision for our own fractured communities.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing an advance reading copy.
The narrative shifts focus to Henryk, a stark departure from Reid and the more capable protagonists of Mohamed’s earlier works. Incompetent, unreliable, and prone to paralyzing overanalysis, Henryk disrupts the narrative momentum built in the second book, making this installment feel more fragmented.
Mohamed deliberately rejects familiar post-apocalyptic blueprints. The pastoral commune, the techno-utopia, and the authoritarian stronghold are each explored and ultimately dismissed. A nomadic model rooted in Indigenous traditions is also proposed and left behind. Yet she offers no clear alternative. What remains is a flicker of youthful optimism, a naive yet persistent hope that a better world might still be possible. This unresolved tension leaves readers wondering what future Reid might carve out, especially while burdened by a less capable companion. And as with all of Mohamed’s work, it challenges us to flesh out an ending for ourselves and reflect on what better alternatives we might envision for our own fractured communities.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing an advance reading copy.
July 8, 2025
This third installment was a bit disappointing for me. I don't mind a POV switch, but almost everything built in the second book is gone and never touched on in this one. All possible roads left by the cliffhanger ending of the second book just thrown out, and instead, we follow Henryk.
Henryk's story is slow, and honestly, like 50% of the novella is Henryk learning and failing to do most tasks in this town he ran away to. Which would probably be fine if he was a more interesting MC. During these failures, there are some solid side characters and love a story where the dog isn't just something to kill for "emotional stakes."
The novella is only around 150 pages, and not much happened outside of the above-mentioned tasks until page 82. Once things get real, the story picks up, but even things falling apart are the result of Henryk failing again. I was really hoping he would have some sort of grand redemption or epiphany, but (while he does sort of get his shit together briefly), he falls right back to his old self and runs away. Also, no one is pissed that he mostly caused all that?
The writing is still really well done, and there is a solid amount to like. Good messaging on change and how we are always better together than alone. On making a home vs. finding a home. The action was action-ing, again solid characters, and the bringing of the story full circle in the end was nice and hopeful. Just wish there was either one more book or that this one would have tied to the second more.
Thanks to ECW and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Henryk's story is slow, and honestly, like 50% of the novella is Henryk learning and failing to do most tasks in this town he ran away to. Which would probably be fine if he was a more interesting MC. During these failures, there are some solid side characters and love a story where the dog isn't just something to kill for "emotional stakes."
The novella is only around 150 pages, and not much happened outside of the above-mentioned tasks until page 82. Once things get real, the story picks up, but even things falling apart are the result of Henryk failing again. I was really hoping he would have some sort of grand redemption or epiphany, but (while he does sort of get his shit together briefly), he falls right back to his old self and runs away. Also, no one is pissed that he mostly caused all that?
The writing is still really well done, and there is a solid amount to like. Good messaging on change and how we are always better together than alone. On making a home vs. finding a home. The action was action-ing, again solid characters, and the bringing of the story full circle in the end was nice and hopeful. Just wish there was either one more book or that this one would have tied to the second more.
Thanks to ECW and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2025
This book is unique in The Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy, as the only one narrated by Reid's best friend Henryk. The story follows him as he leaves home and journeys to his Uncle Dex's community of Sprucedown, where he meets his adopted cousin Dane, and mentor Isabel. The story is told through beautiful, metaphorical language and could be read as a standalone book.
Henryk's characterization felt somewhat unexpected. He is plagued by misfortune, and deep self-loathing. Throughout the series, he is portrayed as someone who spends a lot of time thinking, however in this story he makes many quick and damaging choices. This might be explained by his anguish at being away from his only friend, Reid, and expecting to never see her again, perhaps clouding his judgment.
Overall, this series has shown three paths for people living together and taking care of each other in the postapocalypse. This final book leaves the reader with the timely message that holding on to the destructive way of the past, our extractive present, is no longer viable. And that success in this future means living in a way that is gentle to the land. Mohamed leaves a note in the Acknowledgements that she might someday return to this story, and I hope that's true!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Henryk's characterization felt somewhat unexpected. He is plagued by misfortune, and deep self-loathing. Throughout the series, he is portrayed as someone who spends a lot of time thinking, however in this story he makes many quick and damaging choices. This might be explained by his anguish at being away from his only friend, Reid, and expecting to never see her again, perhaps clouding his judgment.
Overall, this series has shown three paths for people living together and taking care of each other in the postapocalypse. This final book leaves the reader with the timely message that holding on to the destructive way of the past, our extractive present, is no longer viable. And that success in this future means living in a way that is gentle to the land. Mohamed leaves a note in the Acknowledgements that she might someday return to this story, and I hope that's true!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
June 24, 2025
Thanks to ECW Press for the free ARC to review!
I'll start with the end because this final entry in the trilogy provides a satisfying conclusion to Reid and Henryk's story, combining the threads of the three books and highlighting their growth into adults. Of course, I wish each entry in the trilogy had been longer than a novella - there's so much hinted at about this world that I wanted to explore in greater depth - but at the end of The First Thousand Trees, I felt that these characters' story had reached its natural end. It's not epic. It doesn't adhere to the tropes of dystopian fiction. It's refreshing and realistic.
The story that precedes that conclusion is a harder one to review. Henryk goes to find his uncle's village and discovers a more dystopian world than his own, with glimmers of utopia peeking through the autocratic governing system where everyone must work to be worthwhile of resources. The social critique is on the obvious side, but Mohamed's rich prose and the way she makes Henryk so incredibly awkward, yet highly thoughtful, saves the story from becoming didactic. I enjoyed the way Mohamed opened up Henryk's character, gave him an authentic voice, and made him maybe too relatable - she uses Henryk to ask "what makes a human life worthwhile?" Henryk can't fit in no matter how hard he tries, but his narrative shows how, despite his limited abilities, he has so many thoughts and, if left to them, could perhaps change the world. But this post-apocalyptic society doesn't want thoughts or thinkers, only an immediate guarantee of survival, so he is pushed aside - quite literally at one point, to the detriment of the entire settlement and all it worked for.
Read this book for its moments of beauty: the prose descriptions of a great reforestation project, the land's regrowth after apocalypse, and the people, like Isabel, who are trying to bring it back to life. The series as a whole contains these moments and such people, but we're so hardwired to focus on the quest and hero rather than the world they inhabit that it's easy to overlook these details when they contain the greatest warnings and hints for positive change.
I'll start with the end because this final entry in the trilogy provides a satisfying conclusion to Reid and Henryk's story, combining the threads of the three books and highlighting their growth into adults. Of course, I wish each entry in the trilogy had been longer than a novella - there's so much hinted at about this world that I wanted to explore in greater depth - but at the end of The First Thousand Trees, I felt that these characters' story had reached its natural end. It's not epic. It doesn't adhere to the tropes of dystopian fiction. It's refreshing and realistic.
The story that precedes that conclusion is a harder one to review. Henryk goes to find his uncle's village and discovers a more dystopian world than his own, with glimmers of utopia peeking through the autocratic governing system where everyone must work to be worthwhile of resources. The social critique is on the obvious side, but Mohamed's rich prose and the way she makes Henryk so incredibly awkward, yet highly thoughtful, saves the story from becoming didactic. I enjoyed the way Mohamed opened up Henryk's character, gave him an authentic voice, and made him maybe too relatable - she uses Henryk to ask "what makes a human life worthwhile?" Henryk can't fit in no matter how hard he tries, but his narrative shows how, despite his limited abilities, he has so many thoughts and, if left to them, could perhaps change the world. But this post-apocalyptic society doesn't want thoughts or thinkers, only an immediate guarantee of survival, so he is pushed aside - quite literally at one point, to the detriment of the entire settlement and all it worked for.
Read this book for its moments of beauty: the prose descriptions of a great reforestation project, the land's regrowth after apocalypse, and the people, like Isabel, who are trying to bring it back to life. The series as a whole contains these moments and such people, but we're so hardwired to focus on the quest and hero rather than the world they inhabit that it's easy to overlook these details when they contain the greatest warnings and hints for positive change.
July 19, 2025
I loved this. Reading the trilogy was completely worth it to get to this installment. This novella follows Henryk instead of Reid, and as a result is much more introspective.
I loved Henryk as the protagonist. He is soft and capable but imperfect in ways many protagonists are not allowed to be. He's a really interesting foil to Reid, who is brave and principled despite the Cad that actively works against her. In Henryk we find a character whose actions have been dominated by a fear not imposed by disease like his friend, but inherent to himself and having led to disastrous consequences. Throughout the novella he deals with the shame and ostracization he experiences as the result of his mistakes and explores self worth and community when society places so much emphasis on pulling your own weight.
I felt much more emotionally invested in this story than the previous two, in part because of the way his failures subvert the expectations of the selfless hero we've come to expect. Premee Mohamed's writing is lovely and really shines in the interactions between Henryk and his cousin Dane. If you're a fan of climate or dystopian fiction, definitely give this series a shot.
4.5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press for an ARC in exchange for this honest review.
I loved Henryk as the protagonist. He is soft and capable but imperfect in ways many protagonists are not allowed to be. He's a really interesting foil to Reid, who is brave and principled despite the Cad that actively works against her. In Henryk we find a character whose actions have been dominated by a fear not imposed by disease like his friend, but inherent to himself and having led to disastrous consequences. Throughout the novella he deals with the shame and ostracization he experiences as the result of his mistakes and explores self worth and community when society places so much emphasis on pulling your own weight.
I felt much more emotionally invested in this story than the previous two, in part because of the way his failures subvert the expectations of the selfless hero we've come to expect. Premee Mohamed's writing is lovely and really shines in the interactions between Henryk and his cousin Dane. If you're a fan of climate or dystopian fiction, definitely give this series a shot.
4.5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press for an ARC in exchange for this honest review.
June 29, 2025
*Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book!*
We pick up after the events of The Annual Migration of Clouds, where we find Henryk paying for his cowardice actions. He is ostracized in his community and ultimately leaves to find a new home with his uncle Dex. We follow his journey to the new location, and the challenges that arise trying to find his own way in a broken world.
This novella concludes the trilogy, and I think it’s a good ending with enough ambiguity that we can make our own thoughts (happy or not) about what the next part of the journey is for these characters. There’s a ton of action and tension in this short novella, that is very satisfying to the progression of the story. I’m glad I read the first two novellas before this, as I needed the context for this novella. My favorite quote from the book is towards the end, no spoilers but I believe it strikes a chord with all that is going on in the world today:
“Of course we are not the first young people to leave home and declare that we are going to be the ones to save the world, but I feel that we’re some of the first who might actually be able to do it. And that’s something too.”
We pick up after the events of The Annual Migration of Clouds, where we find Henryk paying for his cowardice actions. He is ostracized in his community and ultimately leaves to find a new home with his uncle Dex. We follow his journey to the new location, and the challenges that arise trying to find his own way in a broken world.
This novella concludes the trilogy, and I think it’s a good ending with enough ambiguity that we can make our own thoughts (happy or not) about what the next part of the journey is for these characters. There’s a ton of action and tension in this short novella, that is very satisfying to the progression of the story. I’m glad I read the first two novellas before this, as I needed the context for this novella. My favorite quote from the book is towards the end, no spoilers but I believe it strikes a chord with all that is going on in the world today:
“Of course we are not the first young people to leave home and declare that we are going to be the ones to save the world, but I feel that we’re some of the first who might actually be able to do it. And that’s something too.”
August 10, 2025
Thank you to ECW Press for providing an advanced digital edition of The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed.
The First Thousand Trees is the final book of The Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy. The conclusion of the trilogy focuses on Reid’s friend Henryk Mandrusiak. After being ostracized from his community for his role in a tragic accident, the death of his parents and Reid’s departure, Henryk decides that it is time to leave. Knowing that his uncle is alive, Henryk sets out to find him with the help of a crude map. Despite many obstacles and the harsh environment, Henryk does locate his uncle. Henryk’s struggles continue as he tries to fit into this new and regimented community.
I found this final entry to be quite bleak and quite sad. Despite the darkness,
I think some hope was offered in this dystopian world.
I enjoy Premee Mohamed writing style and would gladly read her next novel.
September 9, 2025
The final book in the The Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy follows Henryk as he attempts to find a home for himself after feeling ostracized by his community. For the first third of this novella I was really enjoying the worldbuilding and all the description of Sprucedown, but as the story progressed that descriptive writing all but disappeared. By halfway through the story turned into vignettes of random plot heavy scenes with no time spent on character motivations or narrative flow. Multiple characters seemed to exist only to be external reflections of Henryk's anxiety. The conclusion also appeared to be entirely unrelated to the rest of the book. The reader is supposed to accept that Henryk knows that his anxiety makes him an unreliable narrator, but also that we should accept all of his thoughts at face value because it turns out that his anxiety is always right.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 7, 2025
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This was not the sequel I expected, given how the last book ended. This third book follows a different character than the previous two books. This shift in perspective is an interesting and irregular choice, but I do believe that it did help make the story feel more complete plot-wise. While I do wish this had been another Reid-centred book (or that this wasn't the final book in the trilogy), I still did enjoy following Henryk as he tried to find a new home.
My only real criticism is that everything that was built up and left off in the second book pace-wise was left behind in that book. This third installment was as slow as the first book. which isn't necessarily bad, but it is jarring.
Definitely recommend this series for literary fiction fans who want something swift to read.
This was not the sequel I expected, given how the last book ended. This third book follows a different character than the previous two books. This shift in perspective is an interesting and irregular choice, but I do believe that it did help make the story feel more complete plot-wise. While I do wish this had been another Reid-centred book (or that this wasn't the final book in the trilogy), I still did enjoy following Henryk as he tried to find a new home.
My only real criticism is that everything that was built up and left off in the second book pace-wise was left behind in that book. This third installment was as slow as the first book. which isn't necessarily bad, but it is jarring.
Definitely recommend this series for literary fiction fans who want something swift to read.
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June 30, 2025I wondered why I felt such a disconnect in this story. It felt like I was missing something and I am just discovering what that is… I didn’t realize this was the third book in a series, as it wasn’t advertised as such (thanks NetGalley). I think had I read he fist two novellas before reading this this novella, I would have felt a little more anchored inside of this world.
I was intrigued enough by this story to know I want to go back and read the previous novellas. I think the writing is great. I have read this author before and was born away by the amount of emotion they were able to park into such a short book. The same can be said in The First Thousand Trees. You are immediately compelled by these characters, even when you are disappointed by their actions.
I will have to revisit my review after reading the first two books.
I was intrigued enough by this story to know I want to go back and read the previous novellas. I think the writing is great. I have read this author before and was born away by the amount of emotion they were able to park into such a short book. The same can be said in The First Thousand Trees. You are immediately compelled by these characters, even when you are disappointed by their actions.
I will have to revisit my review after reading the first two books.
July 8, 2025
A fitting conclusion to this novella trilogy. Books one and two take a more hopeful approach to life after a modern apocalypse, but this book takes a more somber look at contribution, selfishness, and a group with a stricter view of community. While the previous books examined shiny attempts at utopias that reveal a darker undercurrent, The First Thousand Trees takes a more rustic and rough-around-the-edges approach and the nuances captured here were well done. I liked Henryk as a character, and the character development he wrestles through. The ending was a true fit for the trilogy, and I'm very thankful to have read them! A huge thank you to ECW Press for accepting my Netgalley request and to Kriti for the buddy read!
August 6, 2025
In my review for the second book, I wrote "I have no doubt that the plot points will be addressed in the next book", in reference to the incomplete feel and cliff-hangers left by We Speak Through the Mountain. Well - I should have had doubts, because the mysteries and unanswered questions posed in book two were completely abandoned and never referred to in this final instalment of the series. This is the main reason for my rating not being higher - if this had been a standalone novella, I'd probably have enjoyed it more.
In this final part of the trilogy, we follow Henryk a short time after the boar hunt which went tragically awry due to lack of action on Henryk's part. This poor guy is just not built for the post-apocalyptic lifestyle, fucking up at pretty much every turn. It's actually kind of a refreshing change from the competence shown by most main characters in dystopian/apocalyptic fiction, but I can definitely see that it could be a frustrating read for people who have less patience with helpless characters.
In the whole series, but this book in particular, I felt that Cad was underutilised - in fact, in this final part of the series the disease may as well not have existed at all and you pretty much could have read the whole book and completely forgotten about it.
This novella was an interesting exploration of the dynamics of this authoritarian post-apocalyptic community, and on its own was wrapped up satisfactorily. However, I can't really say the same about the trilogy as a whole, due to the unresolved threads from book two.
Thank you to ECW Press who provided me with an eARC through Netgalley.
In this final part of the trilogy, we follow Henryk a short time after the boar hunt which went tragically awry due to lack of action on Henryk's part. This poor guy is just not built for the post-apocalyptic lifestyle, fucking up at pretty much every turn. It's actually kind of a refreshing change from the competence shown by most main characters in dystopian/apocalyptic fiction, but I can definitely see that it could be a frustrating read for people who have less patience with helpless characters.
In the whole series, but this book in particular, I felt that Cad was underutilised - in fact, in this final part of the series the disease may as well not have existed at all and you pretty much could have read the whole book and completely forgotten about it.
This novella was an interesting exploration of the dynamics of this authoritarian post-apocalyptic community, and on its own was wrapped up satisfactorily. However, I can't really say the same about the trilogy as a whole, due to the unresolved threads from book two.
Thank you to ECW Press who provided me with an eARC through Netgalley.
September 15, 2025
This was an interesting story, set in the point of view of a side character from the previous book. It's about fitting in, or in Henryk's case, not fitting in, and how awful that can make life in a small, fearful community. I had a hard time understanding what exactly was so awful about Henryk. I guess his not fitting in was mostly self-inflicted. Maybe that's the point of this story, that psychological phenomenon regarding how when you are very isolated and alienated, you become paranoid and make things even worse, self-perpetuating cycle of social exclusion. Very interesting and well written, but also a real downer. Things do start looking up at the end though!
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