A matter-of-fact prose interlaced with lyrical turns, The First Thousand Trees is the third in Premee Mohamed’s series of post-apocalyptic novellas that began with The Annual Migration of Clouds, and We Speak Through the Mountains.
There are some aspects that are minimally described for the reader who, (like me) is jumping into this series at its conclusion: That it is set in Alberta, that the mystery illness — Cad, a mind-altering fungus that marks its hosts with green-blue vasculature as it moves through the body, eventually taking over the person’s functioning — only plagues some citizens. (I went outside the book to uncover those details.) And, unlike the preceding novellas that featured Reid (a Cad-afflicted youth), Trees follows her unmoored best friend, Henryk, as he seeks out a new life following loss and rejection in his home community.
The book begins towards the end of Henryk’s travels, nearing a new colony 500 km away. Using a crude map gifted by his uncle Dee five years’ earlier, he comes across Dane, his abrasive and brash “cousin” who leads him to Sprucedown and his uncle. In this new community headed by Beau, the rules contrast those of the “social safety net” home he left behind; everyone has a job, hard work is the currency, and preparation and diligence are the languages spoken. Every action taken in Sprucedown is to preserve survival following climate change, a pandemic, and industry meltdown.
Without giving the story away, it was a challenging read in two aspects. First, the characters were difficult to support. Everyone in his new home — including his own extended family, remains guarded and ill at ease with Henryk’s presence, heavy with loss. More demanding on the reader was how our naive protagonist, who first comes across as uncertain (and understandably so, given the circumstances leading to the young man’s departure from home), never escapes the ghosts of his feelings of inadequacy and grief for what once was to find footing on a hero’s journey. Henryk’s mental and emotional state leaves him at a loss and never frees him up to fit in. (Isabel, a middle-aged resident of Sprucedown, appears to be the only one who sees how his trauma shackles him.) His motivation is a search for peace, but the heaviness of the past and yearning for what once was weighs him down.
In this regard, it’s interesting to consider the questions that The First Thousand Trees asks of the reader: Is it preferable to build an entirely new way of living? Is there any value to resuming the trajectory of “before times”? Can we (or should we) ever truly “let go” of the past? This speaks to both the personal journey of the characters, but also the ways in which society adjusts following major events (such as a pandemic)? While I do think it would have helped to read the preceding novellas to truly absorb the lessons Mohamed is asking us to consider, it’s a fast, well-written read that poses questions that can still resonate with us all.
About the Author
Premee Mohamed is a Nebula-, World Fantasy–, and Aurora Award–winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, AB. She is the author of the Beneath the Rising series of novels, as well as several novellas, and her short fiction has appeared in many venues.
About the Reviewer
Bryn Robinson (she/her) lives in New Brunswick, Canada, where she uses her PhD in experimental psychology to help her support mental health research in the province. She prefers contemporary fiction, narrative non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry that is emotional, reflective, and if it can do it with humour, all the better. Bryn also writes on Campfire Notebook, where she regularly features original poetry. When not reading, she's searching for birds in the New Brunswick forests and seascapes, camera in hand.
Book Details
Publisher: ECW Press
ISBN: 9781770417342
Paperback / softback
5 in x 8 in - 136 pp
Publication Date: 30/09/25