Publisher – Wizard’s Tower Press

Published – Out now

Price – £11.25 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook

A while back, Daniel Mackmain's life took an unexpected turn. Now the Green Man expects him to resolve clashes between those dwelling unseen in wild places and the ordinary people who have no idea what's out there. Dan's father is human and his mother's a dryad, so he sees what's happening in both these worlds.

Once upon a time, giants walked this land. So says everyone from Geoffrey of Monmouth to William Blake. This ancient threat is stirring in the Wiltshire twilight, up on the chalk downs. Can Dan meet this new challenge when he can only find half-forgotten fairy tales to guide him? Will the other local supernatural inhabitants see him - or the giant - as friend or foe?

It can be strange how some myths are always with us – we still find the ideas of vampires fascinating but others can appear to fade away. Very few people are afraid of Pixies. It is sometimes worth delving into these stories as to why they were scary. In Juliet E McKenna’s very very good rural fantasy The Green Man’s Challenge we get a story that re-invents one of the lost myths. It makes giants terrifying and delivers a fascinating supernatural tale to boot.

In 2020 Daniel Mackmain like so many of us is avoiding people stuck on his employer’s estate alone (bar the occasional dryad and black shuck to cross paths with). But the half human half dryad is once again compelled by the mysterious force of nature known as The Green Man to head down south to tackle an ancient menace rising. At the same time his girlfriend Fin calls to say she thinks she may have seen a giant. Dan and Fin head down to the countryside around Swindon and uncover ancient myths, new friends and foes ad find some legends are far worse when finally confronted.

This is the strongest yet of the Green Man novels I have read, and both plays to the format’s strengths and once again is prepared to start changing the wider storyline and nature of the story. For me this story in particular really plugs itself into the mythology of the UK in a really strong way. We get tales of giants, dryads and also ancient white horses – some really core UK mythology. Here McKenna fits the story not just into the myths but knits them to the ancient history of the people who have lived in these parts for ages. The forests we meet are not tamed in certain places; the burial mound that tourists visit are very different numinous and dangerous places at night and the mysterious chalk outlines we see occasionally on hills get a more powerful and magical explanation. There is a sense of a wilder, older, and more powerful magical world surrounding unaware humans and a rising threat is now seen in the books that it plans to mess around with humanity once again. For a story just a few hundred pages it feels uniquely mythic and modern at the same time. The best example is one of the foes are giants and while you or I may just be expecting now unimpressive tall people like a standard CGI fantasy McKenna’s giants are unique, mysterious and have a touch of the cosmic horror about them as strange and violent shape-shifting creatures trying to get back into our world. The confrontations in the book are powerful and McKenna remind sus the old myths were showing we frightened of them – here we find out why.

Alongside this we again get Dan’s matter of fact but dryly funny first-person narration. His practical planning nature once again excels as he investigates this, but we also get to see him still working out how a loner works when they are in a stable grown up relationship. Fin is a more than capable match for Dan and this time we meet other members of the shape-shifting community that neither knew about. McKenna throws in more rural contemporary issues such as illegal immigration ‘farms’ and this time the story just accurately recalls the endless dislocation and worry that life in 2020 provided us. Its not the core theme of the book but its always worth noting that you don’t need to forget about major events to make a story work and it helps give your story depth. I also really liked the additional hints as to where this wider story arc may be heading, and McKenna starts to again put in place some future ideas that suggest Dan may be moving into a more pro-active stance about the stranger events starting to materialise around the UK.

These are definitely one of the most interesting contemporary series around at the moment with a grown-up approach that is both refreshing and long overdue. Less snark packed hijinks and more very exciting modern contemporary fantasy tales with a lead character you could imagine you’d actually trust to sort something out and a world that feels now a lot more magically dangerous than I’d expected when I first heard about the series. Good thing I have the next book ready to start reading then! Highly recommended!