The Green Man's Heir

by Juliet E. McKenna

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 368
Series: Green Man #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

A hundred years ago, a man with a secret could travel a few hundred miles and give himself a new name and life story. No one would be any the wiser, as long as he didn’t give anyone a reason to start asking questions. These days, that’s not so easy, with everyone on social media, and CCTV on every street corner. So Daniel Mackmain keeps his head down and keeps himself to himself.

But now a girl has been murdered and the Derbyshire police are taking a closer look at a loner who travels from place to place, picking up work as he goes. Worse, Dan realises the murder involves the hidden world he was born into. When no one else can see the truth, who will see justice done?

Juliet E. McKenna’s The Green Man’s Heir was a bit up and down for me. In the first half of the book, the main character acts like a teenage boy, and the way women’s bodies are described is just… facepalm. I think there are reasons it’s that way, for characterisation and to later contrast the purely mortal sex with the temptations Daniel experiences with the naiad — but that doesn’t mean I had to enjoy reading it.

That aspect does improve, but the pacing feels pretty weird, with the book falling pretty sharply into two halves: it feels like two novellas in a series welded together to make a single book, even though the ending leaves plenty of room for the sequels as well. It feels like one arc (the wose) gets resolved in a fairly neat way, and then it leads into a whole second story that’s only tenuously linked.

The second half is definitely my preference, though; Eleanor seems pretty great, and the lore is pretty fun. I won’t spoiler what Daniel runs into, because it’s a pretty cool reveal.

Overall, I probably wouldn’t keep reading the series if it weren’t for the second half of the novel, where it feels like things settle in and some of the annoyances smooth out. Right now, I’m willing to give the second book a try and see how it goes.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)