The Green Man's War

Green Man #7

by Juliet E. McKenna

Finalist - Best Fantasy Novel (The Robert Holdstock Award), the British Fantasy Awards, 2025

For a few years now, the Green Man has sent Daniel Mackmain to resolve clashes between ordinary people and the supernatural world. Dan has found allies among folk from myth and met other humans who can see the uncanny.

He has also made dangerous enemies. Someone has decided to put a stop to this interference once and for all. Dan and his friends are about to find themselves in the firing line.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2024

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

[Jacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Mackmain, the son of a dryad and a mortal man, is given another job by the Green Man, but he has to figure out exactly what the job is before he can do it. We’re about halfway through the book before Dan discovers the real (urgent and dangerous) problem, but not to worry there’s plenty of action right from the start including a bunch of pickaxe wielding kelpies in search of lost property. The stakes get higher as the book progresses, and Dan brings in help from a lot of the characters we’ve met in earlier Green Man books, ones who have a foot in the human world and the magical one. Besides kelpies, expect swan maidens (and men) dryads, wise women and cunning men, not to mention dangerous hags and a main antagonist who might be impossible to overcome… but Dan has a plan. As usual Ms McKenna keeps up the pace, the interest and the danger while showing a vast understanding of British folklore and traditions. I had this as an advance reading copy from the publisher. It’s due out on 15th November, and well worth reading – though if you haven’t read the other Green Man books (starting with Green Man’s Heir) I recommend you treat yourself and start from the beginning.

[S. Naomi Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, another fantastic entry in Juliet E McKenna's continuing Green Man series. This one is a bit darker and the stakes are a bit higher for Dan and co, but honestly, that just makes it all the more readable. I will try and get a full review together later but for now be assured this is definitely worth a read.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continue for entertain and surprise in equal measure. This is a darker moe ominous instalment as Dan and friends are the target of the mystery and the foes they meet. Very satisfying and hints at new directions for the series too. Very strongly recommended!

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

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent Reads: The Green Man's War. The 7th of Juliet E McKenna's rural fantasies ramps up the stakes as a series of strange events point to a powerful enemy. Dan must rally his allies to save not just his friends, but hundreds of ordinary folks. It's going to need all their skills to save the day.

[Ben Jeapes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The challenge of writing a series well is that you can't press the reset button at the end of each book. As the series goes on the protagonist will gradually accrue a number of friends and enemies, all of whom must be accounted for if they are not just going to be quietly forgotten. Sooner or later they will start bumping into each other. And that is what happens here. Done badly, you would get an Avengers Assemble-like melée with everyone rubbing shoulders and jostling for the limelight.

But this is done well. Dan Mackmain remains the undisputed star, the half-dryad, half-human unwitting pawn in the Green Man's quest to remove supernatural threats from the British Isles. An old enemy returns and Dan must draw on the help of both new and many old friends to fight it. The key is that they themselves are not natural allies. In fact, of all the Green Man books so far, this one probably takes the longest tidying up after the main action has been resolved. What has been woven together for convenience takes careful picking apart again, with the author's usual attention to detail.

I did feel the precise nature of the threat, and its location, felt a little sprung on us in the third act, but there's only so much prefiguring you can do. The method of defeating it is ingenious and no sure thing. Lives are at stake. In short, this latest book in the series raises the bar yet again for later books by the author and indeed for any other authors of contemporary fantasy out there.

[John Hulet · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting story

Since I don’t live in the UK it is very interesting to hear the authors take on how society functions and how it would impact someone like Dan trying to get by. My American sensibilities are kind of shocked by the nanny state of things and the lack of respect for individual rights….and it would make responding to these challenges incredibly hard with everyone just waiting to call the cops and tattle..

The action sequences are really cool and I love that Dan isn’t invulnerable nor some sort of combat savant. That’s really well done.

[Nicole Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love rhis seriez so much!

These books are so refreshing amidst the usual in the genre. A male protagonist, for one. Zero vampires or werewolves, for two. Not that there aren't shapeshifters, there are. Lots actually, and they're super interesting. All the mythological creatures are richly drawn with their own cultural legacies, and each discovery feels like the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what lies beneath.

These books are a fresh treat, every time. If you love "urban fantasy" but are tired of same old thing, buy these already!

[Martin Owton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 7 of this series that goes from strength to strength. One of Dan's early deeds returns to haunt him meaning that he has to call upon the wide circle of friends he has built up. Pretty much everyone who has featured in the previous books makes an appearance before the story ties up. The deep folklore of the British Isles is again plumbed for a solution. As usual the plot is complex and the pacing is spot on.
Cannot recommend this series highly enough.

[Mr Mike Hardwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Another good addition to the series, thoroughly enjoyed every page.
So much going on with the Mackmain “war cabinet” that I would of liked to have known a little more of the opposition’s machinations, but then no one can see what the enemy is planning.
An excellent series.

[Sam Worby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Main character still has moments of sounding like a 50 year old woman rather than a man in his thirties (so much stopping for a “pee” on long car journeys, omg that made me laugh). And the obsessive highlighting of why any course of action taken by the main character did not create a plot hole was pretty grating by the end. However, it’s fine: cosy folk monster battles solved by FRIENDSHIP FTW.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeps getting better

This latest iteration of the series is full of familiar faces and new foes. Folklore inspired stories with all modern problems thrown in. A great addition to the story arc . Read it .

[Wendrie Heywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wyrm!

The cover does give that away, the wyrms are back and need to be dealt with. The plan is secret and quite scary. Well written, read in almost one sitting and now I want the next!

[Neil McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent story to add to the series!

Whenever I finish one I start the series again!
Not done that with any author other than David Gemmell or Bernard Cornwall.

Exciting original and could be happening now in our own backyard really really good books.

[Pers · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, McKenna's tale is full of compelling characters, a fast-paced narrative, and commentary on the state of Nature in Britain.

[Cynthia Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series, and I already am looking forward to rereading the entire series, perhaps next year. Highly recommended to fans of contemporary fantasy and British folklore.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable, like the rest of the Green Man series.

[Bel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining easy read as always

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books!!! More please!

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series, with its mix of mythology and modern day. I loved the real modern day consequences of dealing with nasties.

[Nighteye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, cool setting woth new folklore things to meet but with familiar characters and a few new ones.

[Ay · Rating 4 out of 5]

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