The Green Man's Silence by Juliet E Mckenna
Publisher – Wizard’s Tower Press
Published – Out Now
Price – £14.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook
For prior updates you should probably also look at The Green Man's Heir by Juliet E McKenna and The Green Man’s Foe by Juliet E McKenna
You can jump in here though and catch up later
Daniel Mackmain has always been a loner. As a dryad’s son, he can see the supernatural alongside everyday reality, and that’s not something he can easily share. Perhaps visiting East Anglia to stay with Finele Wicken and her family will be different. They have their own ties to the uncanny.
But something is amiss in the depths of the Fens. Creatures Dan has never encountered outside folk tales are growing uneasy, even hostile. He soon learns they have good reason. Can he help them before they retaliate and disaster strikes the unsuspecting locals? Can the Green Man help Dan in a landscape dominated by water for centuries, where the oaks were cut down aeons ago?
A modern fantasy rooted in the ancient myths and folklore of the British Isles.
The ongoing series can have both a comfort and a trap for the reader. The comfort is a world, approach and characters that help me know what I’m going o get; explore how characters can evolve with time and wit the right author I know I can often have a great read. The danger of a series is you know the beats; the hero cannot die; the format is precisely the same as the last five books and it holds no surprises anymore. A great author knows to ensure we are kept on our toes. I am so pleased to find Juliet E McKenna knows this as I reached the third Green Man book and with the Green Man’s Silence the format is altered and suggests a larger aim for the series at the same time.
Dan Mackmain a thirtysomething expert carpenter and builder is also a Dryad’s son with a human father so he can see the supernatural world we live in and has great healing powers to boot. He has recently found himself sent on missions (often with little instruction) by a powerful force we know as the Green Man. In his last encounter started a relationship with a water ecologist Fin who also has the ability like many in her family of turning into a swan. Fin gets an unusual invite from her mother for Dan to join the family for a visit in the Fens of East Anglia and Dan finds more supernatural spirits and the natural order being unbalanced by an ambitious academic but this time dan appears to be on his own facing deadly danger.
One really important aspect is McKenna is demonstrating our view of the countryside in the UK tends to lump it all together and by moving to the East Anglia Fens we get a reminder exactly how rich and diverse the UK can be. McKenna also uses this to explain the rich history of the ancient settlers battling the waters of the sea and rivers; these novels do use our history and connected myths in an interesting way to give the stories depth that thus is the latest in a many centuries long battle between good and evil with humans and non-humans all playing a role. But it also means woodlands are replaced with marshes and dykes that mean the Green Man hasn’t really got a base to work from.
I’ve been so used to the format already of the last two books that this time its quite noticeable the Green Man is absent. No clues, direction or steering Dan has to work the problems of this novel out himself. This does start to move him from say a useful chess piece into his own leading character with agency. Dan isn’t stupid he’s been around and seen things and this novel allows him to show his skill. Dan is quick witted and great at a plan – how to case a room; how to bargain or protect himself from spirits and the ‘joys’ of researching in a dusty library. The initial mystery is personal for him too. A disturbance in the supernatural world Fin’s family finds and a threat their own home. Of course things get murkier soon after but I wouldn’t want to spoil things too much Gentle Reader but I do think we see by the finale where this series may be heading and confirm some early theories (famous last words)!
As well as McKenna’s development of Dan and the wider series we get a lot of mini adventures. The delightful use of a species known as Hobs who love to trade magic for bargains, and this even allows a form of time travel to appear in the series. We get action; subterfuge and good old detection all moving at a brisk pace in this story before a rather fine final battle. As always, this story is told in Dan’s first person with trademark dry wit, matter of factness even in the face of magic but this time we also start to realise how much he cares for Fin who is a very capable partner for Dan in intelligence and resourcefulness. One plot point is his worry when she finds he has a criminal record. The pace for this relationship is steady and not insta-love but actually feels like grown adults starting to realise they may indeed have a long-term thing. Quite refreshing compared to some other series I can think of.
I think now I can firmly say I’m here for the long-haul on this series and each novel is a fun read and yet also a smart one where mythology, history, action and adventure all mix to give me a lot of fun reading them. What more can anyone ask for. Oops I may be starting the next book very soon. Join us?
