The Green Man's Quarry

Green Man #6

by Juliet E. McKenna

The Green Man sends Daniel Mackmain to stop threats from folklore making trouble in the everyday world. Now a naiad and dryad want him to deal with the big cat they’ve seen prowling in their woods. Reports like this turn up in the tabloid press from time to time, though no one has ever caught such a cat, or even found evidence of a large carnivore’s kills.

Can Dan discover the truth behind this modern myth before social media turns his hunt into an internet sensation? He knows that not all animals are what they seem. A huge cat which can appear and disappear without a trace must be more than meets the eye. Dan knows one thing for certain. He’s on the trail of a killer.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, British Literature

Paperback

Published October 21, 2023

About the author

Juliet E McKenna is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds, UK. Loving history, myth and other worlds since she first learned to read, she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels so far. Her debut, The Thief’s Gamble, began The Tales of Einarinn in 1999, followed by The Aldabreshin Compass sequence, The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, and The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. The Green Man’s Heir was her first modern fantasy inspired by British folklore in 2018. The Green Man’s Quarry in 2023 was the sixth title in this ongoing series and won the BSFA Award for Best Novel. The seventh book, in 2024, is The Green Man’s War.

Her 2023 novel The Cleaving is a female-centred retelling of the story of King Arthur, while her shorter fiction includes forays into dark fantasy, steampunk and science fiction. She promotes SF&Fantasy by reviewing, by blogging on book trade issues, attending conventions and teaching creative writing. She has served as a judge for the James White Award, the Aeon Award, the Arthur C Clarke Award and the World Fantasy Awards. In 2015 she received the British Fantasy Society’s Karl Edward Wagner Award. As J M Alvey, she has written historical murder mysteries set in ancient Greece.

Who’s to say what will come next?

Learn more about all of this at julietemckenna.com and on Twitter @JulietEMcKenna

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

I really love this series, which uses British folklore and countryside to power a series about dryad's son Dan and swan-maiden Fin taking on weird magical occurrences. In this outing, we encounter one of those mysterious big cats that are occasionally sighted around the place, only in this case it isn't actually someone's oversized moggy.

There's a real sense of peril in this one, with a genuinely scary villain with interesting motivation. I like the building community around Dan, and the way his powers are increasing: he's come a long way since book 1. And the covers for the series are absolutely *spectacular*: the publisher has stormed it.

I had an ARC from the publisher.

[S. Naomi Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really do love this series. This is the sixth book (so far), and they just keep getting better. Back later with a longer review.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always tend to assume I’m going to enjoy an entry in The Green Man series but this one really really works to show us how much scale and depth the series has but also offers a useful mini jumping on point for new readers and it sets out where we are and also hints at new challenges to come. Very very strongly recommend if you want to read one of the best contemporary fantasy series around

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Colette Reap · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this, the 6th installment in the ongoing story of Dan Mackmain, his evolving abilities and his growing band of friends and allies. It is a rattling good read, well paced, subtly rooted in the present and set in a UK that I find pleasingly familiar. I liked the introduction of a level of ambiguity around the behavior of Dan's adversary and some of the people he has to turn to as allies, bringing even more depth and richness to the story. I thoroughly recommend this book; it is getting to the point where reading some of the previous books in the series will help make sense of some events and references but as the preceding books are all excellent this is a good thing.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan is an interesting character – tall and powerfully built with more than his share of charisma, as his mother is a dryad. I’ve enjoyed watching him mature throughout this series as the different adventures have left their mark – including an ongoing relationship with Fin, who shapeshifts into a swan. As with the other books in this series, this offering encompasses a separate adventure, so you pick this one up without any undue floundering if you haven’t had the pleasure of the other Green Man tales. That said, as this is one of my all-time favourite fantasy series – you’re missing out on a wonderful world if you haven’t read all these books.

Rather than urban fantasy, this is more of a rural fantasy as once more McKenna dives deep into the rich alternate history of myth and folklore that weaves throughout British history. Although this time, she turns her attention to an apparently more recent legend – that of large feral cats roaming our wilder countryside. McKenna’s descriptions of the landscape are a joy as they vividly set the scene – and this time around, I particularly enjoyed the tension within the supernatural community when confronted with the risk of discovery. I was also interested in Dan’s own growing sense of his role within the community. He is good at reaching out to entities not accustomed to interacting with others and getting their co-operation – which isn’t something he’s ever thought much about. Until now.

I also really appreciate the lack of angst between Fin and Dan. While a long-distance relationship is never easy, they both have committed to it and it’s refreshing to have a fictional couple who aren’t busy two-timing each other, or thinking about it, or dealing with other similar dramas. Once again, I stayed up far later than I should to finish this cracking read as McKenna spins another story full of adventure and incident in this superb series. Very highly recommended for fans of fantasy in a contemporary setting filled with creatures from British folklore.
10/10

[Ben Jeapes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather a swerve in the Green Man series, though not in a bad way. Each previous book has centred on at least one creature out of British folklore, with a supporting cast of many more. Here, though, it's black cats like the Beast of Bodmin, which I had never really thought of as folklore, just an invention of lurid newspapers in the twentieth century. But I might be wrong, and it hardly matters because they are quite seamlessly tied in to the world of dryads, selkies, hobs, boggarts and others. Juliet McKenna is pushing the bounds of her world and it shows no signs of growing stale.

She is also pushing the bounds of her hero Dan Mackmain. In each book he acquires allies and learns something about the supernatural world, but here he starts to learn about himself. He gets out of one scrape by doing something that neither he nor the reader would have expected a paragraph earlier, but it works and it shows there are still depths to explore.

Unusually there is (what seems to be) an unresolved plot element - an obnoxious and nosy co-worker who pushes her nose a bit too far into Dan's work. Maybe that will be pursued in later books - though it does serve as a handy reminder here of the sheer non-humanity of the supernatural world, unfettered by any legacy of Judean-Christian morality. They don't like this person's nosiness either, and it shows.

[ARR62 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Community

Another excellent story of Dan, the dryad's son, and the Green Man. One of the aspects I like about this series is the character development and the community's growth. Dan started out with just himself and the Green Man and now he's got a swan girlfriend, another who's dryad influenced as employer, the wise women, the Swan's extended family, naiads, shucks, hamadryads, the Hunter, and Aled. (I'm probably forgetting some.) He's been meeting them all along as he solves problems the Green Man says he should ad now, in this novel, he's able to call on them for assistance and guidance. Which is good and I think Dan is slowly realizing he's got a found family. Yay.
This story is different in that the problem isn't esoteric or otherworldly and poses quite the potential to out them all as "other". About which the entity in question is not concerned, at all. Frustrating and more than a little alarming. Not spoiling the reveal for you, this story brings up morality, boundaries, trust, and justice in a different context.
As always, I found the story engaging, the characters fully formed and real, and the hints about what comes next intriguing. (What's Denise been up to, for one.). Enjoy!!

[Martin Owton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing devotees of this series will want to know is "does this one maintain the standard of the series?" Of course it does! Juliet McKenna is book-crafter of the highest standards. That said there are a couple of things that give "The Green Man's Quarry" a slightly different feel to the previous books. Firstly, series readers will be aware of the growth of Dan Mackmain's network of folk who can see or are part of the "hidden world". These really come to the fore in this book making it something of an ensemble piece. Indeed I can see the potential for spin-off stories featuring some of them. The second thing is the nature of the problem this time around. I can't say much more without spoilers and I'm not going to do that; just read it and you'll see what I mean.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-green-mans-quarry-by-juliet-e-mckenna/

Sixth in Juliet McKenna’s series of novels about Daniel Mackmain, sent on supernatural missions around contemporary England (and in this case Scotland) by the Green Man and other supernatural entities; his girlfriend is a swan-maiden, and the villain this time is a chap who is a part-time giant cat and is wreaking personal havoc in various places.

As well as the complex politics of mythic figures from British folklore, there’s a very good sense of place here, with a particularly well realised Scottish castle in a vivid landscape. The British weather is also a memorable character. I enjoyed it.

[Thomas Wrightson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put shortly, this is an ideal jumping in point for newcomers to McKenna's Green Man series, and also very likely a great continuation for those already invested in the series. The story, following the investigation of a mysterious black cat and the murders it commits, is gripping from first to last, and continues the series' theme of reimagining British folklore for the modern age. An absolute must-read for the urban fantasy, whether casual or connoisseur.

For a fuller review, again spoiler free, follow this link: https://thomaswrightson.co.uk/2023/10...

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me. I bought this purely on the grounds that it won the 2023 Best Novel Award from the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) and seemed like it might fit into the "new weird"/modern faerie subgenre that I enjoy. However it lacked any of the ironic or knowing tone that the best in that genre seem to employ and honestly I found the writing immature and undeveloped - is this meant to be YA fiction? I found it clunkily written and the perspective irritating. DNF and would not recommend.

[Michael Cheater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just gets better.

The story of Dan Mackmain continues and each episode is better than the previous. We get to see more of Dan's world as he investigates a series of murders and a haunting across Britain from Dorset to Scotland, an anomalous black cat being the common factor.

Dan discovers new powers inherited from his dryad mother and meets a new group of supernaturals who may be friends or foes.

[Emma Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent story, roaming from Scotland to the south coast and back again, in pursuit of a killer who appears to be a panther shape shifter. Terrified youngsters, a battered wife, a poltergeist infested castle reveal clues to tracking the killer down, but it takes serious work from wise women and cunning men to resolve the matter, and reach agreement.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been enjoying this series, but this one is let down by yet another failed attempt by a writer to get the Scottish accent right. Should've got a Scot to proof read it...I am available. The only other thing I'm less than impressed by is the author's insistence on having the main character always referring to a woman's breasts as "tits". It seems inconsistent with the character to me.

[Sam Worby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine, but the finish is telling in that the author has to explain the point of the main character’s role in the story. Continues to be a bit too heavy on very boring descriptions of character actions and to sound more like a 50 year old woman than a 30 something man…

[Neil McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to the series.
Whenever I finish one of these I go back to the first book and re-read them all again!
There are not many writers that can do that, absolutely brilliant.
Hope there are many many more.

[Wendrie Heywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cunning cats

This story took us from one end of the island to the other. Fascinating to see how the ‘real’ world is woven into the fantastical bits. Thoroughly enjoyed this story, a continuation of the series that ends (without a cliff hanger) so we want to know more.

[KateKing58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cunning Men and the Wise Women meet again after centuries of believing their powers unique. A big question mark remains about how they view future collaboration. I loved the emotional intimacy of dryads fostering each other's 'saplings'

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent Reads: The Green Man's Quarry. Juliet E McKenna's rural fantasy saga delivers a Beano deep cut, a tale of a vigilante big cat that's disturbing forest spirits. Dan and his growing found family are on the case, disrupting county lines gangs and stalkers as they seek the beast. Dark and light.

[Cynthia Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series.

[Bel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great instalment. Really enjoying how the overarching story is coming together in its own sweet time.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!!

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series with its celtic mythology set in present day. I hope there are more stories about Dan and his friends.

[Ay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am pleased to have discovered this author and this series. Bounced right onto the next book.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2023/1...

The latest book in the Green Man series finds Dan and his friends on the trail of a murderous panther, introduces more interesting new things from folklore, and seems to be laying the ground for bigger mysteries to come. I am very intrigued by where things ended and hope the next book comes out soon! I’m pretty invested in the characters and their world at this point. A-.

[Jacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Mackmain, so of a dryad and a mortal man has one foot in the real world and one in the magical. He can see things normal humans cannot and ion previous Green Man books he’s been called by the Green Man to sort out supernatural problems before they imping on the human world, usually with the help of his girlfriend, Fin, who happens to be a swan-maiden. This time there are sightings of a black panther-like cat which has already killed. No, it’s not a zoo escapee, so Dan and friends have to find it before it draws attention to the magical world, and before it kills again. Daniel’s knowledge of the supernatural world and his place within it grows with each book. Juliet McKenna is a writer at the top of her game, well versed in the folklore of the British Isles. I heartily recommend this book, though if you’ve never read any of Ms McKenna’s Green Man books, you could start at the beginning with The Green Man’s Heir. You’ll be glad you did.

[Dan Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still enjoying the series, much to my surprise.

[Pers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every October there's a reason to celebrate and it's the arrival of a new Daniel Mackmain 'Green Man' novel. This year is no exception. This newest novel is incredibly gripping and I'd read 80% of it within 12 hours of picking it up despite having to spend part of my day doing other things besides read! As usual, McKenna packs the novel with fascinating insights into British folklore as well as telling a cracking story. Highly recommended!