The First Thousand Trees

The final instalment in The Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy

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.

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.

Cover illustration: Veronica Park Art direction: Jessica Albert

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Praise for The First Thousand Trees

Readers of climate fiction and post-climate apocalypse stories, such as Alix E. Harrow’s The Knight and the Butcherbird and Mohamed’s own The Butcher of the Forest, will want to dive deep into this compelling and chilling series.

Library Journal

The First Thousand Trees is a quietly ambitious and emotionally rich conclusion. Mohamed trades spectacle for depth, exploring what happens when the apocalypse is past and humanity is left to ask: what now? If you value character, reflection and world-building grounded in human cost, this delivers.

The Maple Leaf Review

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.

Helena Ramsaroop

Mohamed’s writing is sharp and appropriately hopeful and haunting, fluid according to what the situation calls for.

Phylum Press

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