6 Books with Juliet McKenna

The rolific Juliet McKenna is a British fantasy author with more than 15 novels, ranging from secondary world fantasy series to rural contemporary fantasy. Under a pen name, she writes historical fiction as well. Today she tells us about her Six Books.

 1. What book are you currently reading?

The Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim. Arabian Nights-style myths are the inspiration for an original and intricate fantasy world, and this story quickly promises to be an exciting quest tale. It soon turns out to be a whole lot more besides.

 

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott. She has an incredible talent for finding new perspectives on so many of the classic plots and characters of epic fantasy and science fiction. Her fresh eye makes for original, powerful and compelling drama.

 

3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to re-read?

I’ve just scratched that particular itch with a reread of The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. I read Jade City, Jade War and Jade Legacy as they were published and have been promising myself a continuous read-through for a while. The trilogy is every bit as good as I remember, and going straight from one book to the next definitely added to the experience.

 

4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about – either positively or negatively?

I’ve had mixed feelings about the last two Discworld books, Snuff and Raising Steam, since first reading them when they were published. I adore the Discworld and like so many fans, I was eager to read every possible story as long as Sir Terry could possibly write them. But even while I was still deep in denial/ignorance about the impact of his rare variant of Alzheimer’s, I felt something was ‘off’ with both books. I tried to tell myself I was being hypercritical or distracted or something. Now that I’ve read Terry Pratchett A Life With Footnotes*The Official Biography, I have a far clearer understanding of his condition while those books were being written. They’re undoubtedly of interest to Pratchett scholars, but I don’t think they’re worthy of inclusion in the series, certainly not for new readers who don’t know that sad context.

 

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

The Moon in the Cloud by Rosemary Harris, along with the two other books in this trilogy. In the first story, Noah’s feckless son Ham persuades a poor musician called Reuben to go and find two lions and two sacred Egyptian cats for the ark. He promises safe passage for Reuben and his wife in return, when the great flood comes. Looking back, so much from this little series has stayed with me, starting with a writer taking history and myth and creating something fresh and unexpected. I met characters I could really relate to, without ever losing sight of how different their lives and world were to mine. I learned without consciously realising it how important humour can be, as a counterpoint to real, serious peril and that genuine villainy takes different forms. Most of all, I understood that for a story to matter, there can be no guarantee that virtue will be rewarded, unless it rolls up its sleeves and does the hard work for itself.

 

6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?

The Cleaving is a retelling of King Arthur’s story from the perspective of the women closest to him; his mother Ygraine, his half-sister Morgana, his wife Guinevere, and the enchantress Nimue. These women simply come and go when the story is centred on the king and his knights, but they would have had lives of their own when they were off-stage, so to speak. They would have known each other and they would have talked to each other. Would Arthur be such a hero to them? Once I shifted my focus away from the king, I saw a very different, untold story. Add to that, rereading early versions of these legends reminded me how much magic and mystery has been stripped out of recent retellings that aim for historical realism. Excalibur’s not the only enchanted sword in these stories by a long way, and the sorcery that’s around every corner includes curses, quests and prophecies as well as eerie, unknown lands. I decided to bring all those things back.

Thank you Juliet!

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Microreview: The Green Man's Silence by Juliet McKenna

 The Green Man's Silence continues the story of Daniel Mackmain, changing up him, and the entire series.

When last we left Daniel Mackmain, things had been looking up for him. After his adventures in the Cotswolds, he has a sort of relationship going with Finele, the swan may he met on his adventure there. Now, visiting her and her family back in their coastal home, Daniel finds that a new problem affects them--and him. An entitled heir is riling up the supernatural denizens of the Fens, with doubtless no good purpose. And the Green Man, Daniel’s patron, is mum on the matter. Loner Daniel is going to have to forge new relationships to face this latest problem.

The Green Man’s Silence is the third book in Juliet McKenna’s Green Man series.

As the series has progressed, from The Green Man’s Heir  through The Green Man’s Foe, and now to The Green Man’s Silence, McKenna has been expanding the sphere of her urban(rural) fantasy verse. More lore about the supernatural universe. More about Daniel’s history and background. Building on previous episodes to enrich the relationships and worlds that Daniel finds himself in. As the son of a mortal man and a dryad, and the agent of a mysterious entity known as the titular Green Man, we have a protagonist who has one foot in our world and the other foot, as the series progresses, crosses more and more into the supernatural world.  

Take this third book, The Green Man’s Silence, as illustration. In the first book, Daniel starts off gamely enough as his mother’s son, but living a most regular life otherwise, until events push him into the supernatural outside of the context of his mother. He steps further into the borderlands of faerie, as it were, but its clear that while he knows more than the average person, he is still way in over his head. By this book, Daniel’s ties to the supernatural have gotten deeper and more permanent.It’s not just his burgeoning relationship with Finele, although associating with her and her family (many of whom are of her swan man nature) but it is also the base assumptions and the water that he swims in is significantly more supernaturally aspected and focused.

That is a strength, and perhaps for some readers, a mild drawback of the book. This book amps up the supernatural lore, plotting and ties significantly. There are many more moving parts to the supernatural world and Daniel, and us, get meshed in with those as he struggles to deal with the problems Finele and her family are having with the local would-be-magician causing problems for them and for the rest of the local supernatural population. The choice to, as the title suggests, keep the Green Man offstage paradoxically gives the author room to introduce a lot of other elements and powers within the supernatural realm for Daniel to negotiate with. These entanglements in order to deal with the antagonist do complicate the narrative. 

In a sense, too, they also crowd out the villain a bit. Although in the previous books, the antagonists do not take large swaths of pages, the focus on Daniel meaning necessarily that they do not appear over much, in this third novel especially, the would-be magician really is offstage for good rafts of the book, personally. His actions and effects are outsized, and are always a threat, but this is a novel where his actual presence on screen, as it were is a little more limited. I don’t know if this novel heralds a tonal and textual shift in the series, and I will be curious as to where The Green Man’s Challenge goes in this regard. 

One thing is clear though, and that McKenna is not content to simply repeat the formula of the first book and just come out with christmas cookie cutter shaped narratives of Daniel’s story in different settings. As he gets ever deeper into the woods (or the fens, if you take Finele’s perspective) of supernatural doings, the author is willing to make changes to how the stories run, and what Daniel has to deal with. This book, then, after the first two, feels like some of a very transitional book, or one might say, given its setting, it’s a Esturarial book--a book sitting in the in-between zones of two different worlds. I know a bit about estuaries from my college days--Estauries are between the sea and the land, between salt and fresh, a zone ever and always changing, with inhabitants who are only successful if they are ready to adapt to that change. But estuaries, for all that, are some of the most fecund regions on the globe, rich places for life to develop. 

So, too, is the richness of this book. It’s a transitional book, its a book where the text, the plot and narrative, the worldbuilding and yes the main character himself is in this borderland and liminal space, and it is richer for all of it. Daniel building a real relationship with someone who is not his Mom and Dad and navigating that space. The wealth and welter of supernatural creatures and their relationships with each other. The sense of place that the Fens, our third locale in this series, provides, especially showing how deep the history of the area really goes. 

I look forward to the next book to see where McKenna continues to go with Daniel and his ever changing world.

---

The Math

Baseline Score: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for a rich estuary of character and worldbuilding as she changes up Daniel and his narrative

 Penalties: -1 The novel is definitely a gear shift, and readers new to the series will not find traction here. 

 Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

 Reference: McKenna, Juliet.The Green Man’s Silence (Wizard Tower Press, 2020)

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Microreview [book]: The Green Man's Foe by Juliet McKenna

The second book in the Green Man series deepens and broadens the otherworldly adventures of a Dryad’s son.

Being mortal, but also the son of an otherworldly being isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. Ask Daniel Mackmain. After dealing with a threat to a wood and coming in contact with a very powerful supernatural entity, the titular Green Man, it is no wonder that his success in dealing with a rather nasty problem (that had some unfortunate consequences for him with the press and with the police) has resulted in the Green Man calling him on again.  At a new construction  job site in the lovely Cotswolds, a mysterious figure seems to be influencing the local kids...and trying to get into the job site Daniel has been hired for. But what is he after? And why?

This is the second story of Daniel Mackmain, The Green Man’s Foe.

While I was enthusiastic and interested in subsequent novels after the first novel in the Green Man’s sequence, I recognize that The Green Man’s Heir was a nicely self contained novel and one could one and done the series. So the extension of that into subsequent novels is something I was curious about.  

McKenna tackles this in a number of ways. Crucially, her writing style and format lends itself to readers starting the narrative here as easily as in the first novel. You don’t need to have read The Green Man’s Heir or remember it well in order to pick this one up and go with it: McKenna layers in everything you need to know about Daniel, his nature, his heritage and role and his capabilities. We get mentions and some discussions of the previous novel, and we do get some touchbacks to his mother and father but this novel leaps forward. Although we get a character besides his family recur from the first novel, this one is in a new location, a new situation and a new problem for Daniel, so deep knowledge of the terrain is not needed and one can launch themselves into this Cotswolds adventure without missing much from the first novel. 

The relatively mortal nature of the protagonist also lends to the serial nature of the story and allows for readers to pick up the story here, if they so wish, and launch themselves into Daniel’s latest adventure as their first. He has knowledge and ties to the supernatural, but he is very mortal, and as such he has to rely on his very mortal skills, luck, and determination to see him through than what might be considered more traditional Urban (Rural?) Fantasy tropes and powers. You don’t need a catalog of Daniel’s magical abilities, because aside from being able to see Dryads, Nixies and the like, there really aren’t any.  This allows the author to focus on more low powered action and character, immersive setting and excellent plotting, which are her strengths from other books in any event. 

So what does happen here? Daniel gets a job overseeing the renovation of an estate, Brightwell House, into an estate in the lovely Cotswolds, a region of England I’ve only seen in pictures (it also happens to be the home turf of the author, and the writing shows that). The immersive writing, a style that had me wondering if Blithehurst House in the first novel was real (it is not), really suits McKenna here, as she brings Brightwell House and the Cotswolds to life. A drifter is nearby, though, doing *something* with the local disaffected youth, and the Green Man did convince him to take the job with dreams of the place. So a chunk of the novel has Daniel trying to figure out the supernatural nature of the problem. The drifter and his bad influence on the local youth and their habits seems straightforward enough--but how that ties into the supernatural and what Daniel has to do is part of the mystery and joy of discovery in this book. There are definite reasons why Daniel is involved in matters by the Green Man, and we get some more exploration of the supernatural world that Daniel has more than a foot in at this stage.

The book also introduces a secondary character that is going to, based on descriptions of subsequent novels, become more important in future books: Finele Wicken. Finele is more explicitly a supernatural being than Daniel is. She is a swanmay, able to change into a swan, as can all the members of her family. She’s also a ecologist specializing in wetlands and water (a suitably modern job for such a being).  Finele is not the “love interest” in any facile sense, she has her own agenda and perspective, and is something of a “Consultant” in the matters. 

This novel does start raising issues not really explored in the first novel, and Finele’s intersection with Daniel does bring to life his often lonely nature. We really get a good sense here, even more than the first novel, how much Daniel keeps people at an arm’s length, especially romantic entanglements. His nature (not really a power but he does have a degree of supernatural charm), and the nature of his mother means that bringing home girlfriends to Mother is something Daniel doesn’t have a lot of experience with ,and there is a pathos to that isolation of a lonely life that I felt resonant with my own. Connecting him with Finele here, in this novel, is a good character development, then, so the same beats aren’t endlessly repeated. 

Given the rich characters, the worldbuilding and rotating settings, it is no wonder that there is a lot of runway for McKenna to continue to explore Daniel and his supernatural heritage and world, and this novel very successfully builds on the first, provides an onramp for new readers and provides superstructure and scaffolding for future books in the series. If you like the ruralistic urban fantasies of, say, Alex Bledsoe, or Paul Cornell, The Green Man’s series is definitely the cup of tea that you want to give a try.  I look forward to continuing to read and see where the series progresses.

The Math

Baseline Score: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for excellent characters and worldbuilding 

+1 for making it very accessible for new readers

Penalties: -1  Some of the elements of the mystery solving felt a little repetitive. 

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

Reference: McKenna, Juliet. The Green Man’s Foe (Wizard Tower Press, 2019)

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Six Books with Juliet McKenna

 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 rooted in British folklore, followed by The Green Man’s Foe and The Green Man’s Silence. She writes diverse shorter stories enjoying forays into dark fantasy, steampunk and SF. 

Today she tells us about her Six Books:

1. What book are you currently reading?

I’ve just finished Monkey Around by Jadie Jang. It’s a debut urban fantasy set in San Francisco and it’s really good! Maya McQueen is a barista, social activist and monkey shape-shifter who needs to find out why other supernaturals are disappearing and/or turning up dead. Jang has drawn on Asian and other myths to create a supernatural world that reflects the Bay Area’s multicultural population so she’s offering something intriguing and refreshing. The pace is fast, the plot is tight and the writing draws you in from page one. Maya and her friends – and enemies – are people you’re really going to care about.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. I read Jade City when I was one of the World Fantasy Award judges. It’s a modern secondary world fantasy set in the city of Janloon which has echoes of Hong Kong, Tokyo and any number of other places without being a copy of any of them. Janloon is the source of magical jade that confers superhuman powers, and it’s where the rival clans who control the jade live and fight for supremacy. I found the book utterly compelling. So compelling in fact that a tiny part of me wondered what she could possibly do with the second instalment that would have the same impact. Well, Jade War expanded this world in fascinating directions, so I am waiting impatiently to see what happens next.

3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to re-read?

I’ve been meaning to reread Melanie Rawn’s ‘Dragon Prince’ books for ages now. These books had a real impact on me as a reader, what, thirty years ago now, and I’m convinced they helped steer epic fantasy in a new and positive direction at the time, alongside the writing of authors like Katherine Kerr and Elizabeth Moon.

4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about – either positively or negatively?

Shaman’s Crossing by Robin Hobb. This is the first book of The Soldier Son trilogy, and I had to make a real effort to persevere with it. I’m such a fan of the three ‘Realm of the Elderlings’ trilogies that came before this, that the very different setting, characters and themes really jarred. At the time, I didn’t think I would have stuck with it, if it had been written by any other author. Since then, I’ve wondered if I would have had those problems if some other author had written that story. I don’t think so. I’ve realised I was bringing far too many unfair expectations and preconceptions with me. I’m glad I went on to read the whole trilogy as by the time I had completed the story, I could appreciate Shaman’s Crossing on its own merits.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?

Warrior Scarlet, by Rosemary Sutcliff. She’s better known as the author of The Eagle of the Ninth, and I loved that, as well as her many other books. Warrior Scarlet though, that’s the one I went back to most often. Drem is a boy in Bronze Age Britain whose hopes of becoming a warrior seem doomed by his withered arm. If he can’t kill a wolf, how can he defend his tribe? It’s a story about coming to terms with the fact that life so often isn’t fair, that people can end up excluded through no fault of their own, and about rising above adversity for your own sake, not anyone else’s. That might sound a bit grim but it’s really a very humane and compassionate story about the realities of growing up.

6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome? 

The Green Man’s Challenge is published on 28th September 2021, and it’s the fourth story about Daniel Mackmain, a hard-working carpenter who just wants to get on with making a living in modern-day rural Britain. The thing is though, Dan’s mother is a dryad and that means his life gets complicated because he can see supernatural spirits and creatures causing problems that ordinary people can’t explain. Who else is going to stop that sort of trouble before things get a whole lot worse?

This time, Dan’s girlfriend Fin, who comes from a family of swan shapeshifters, thinks she’s seen a giant. Normally, the first thing he would do is look for folklore about something he has to tackle. This time he soon learns that there’s not a lot to go on beyond children’s stories. No one can even explain where those fairy tales came from in the first place. Dan has to look for help elsewhere, from the supernatural inhabitants, and from other humans who have a foot in both worlds. It’s not easy to work out who he can trust. Everyone has secrets, and not everyone’s convinced they can trust him.

Why is this awesome? Because bringing British myths into the modern world offers such intriguing possibilities and some really dramatic clashes.

Thank you, Juliet!

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.