As of right now, there's only one more book in this series and I actually find myself dreading reaching the possible conclusion. So here's something I never thought I would ask of any author: [a:Juliet E. McKenna|215177|Juliet E. McKenna|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1483961347p2/215177.jpg], please keep this series going. ( )

Another folkloric adventure for Dan Mackmain when a trip to meet his new girlfriend’s mum turns into a difficult mission to stop a would-be magician enslaving the local spirits. The Fenland setting and menacing hobs, sylphs and nereids really make this one. And that ominous ending has me ever so keen to see where McKenna takes this series next. ( )

This is the third book in a series which hadn’t been planned. The first book, The Green Man’s Heir, was, I believe, a one-off, but proved so successful McKenna dug out an old project and rewrote it to provide a sequel, The Green Man’s Foe. Which did equally well. And with good reason. These are fun, well-crafted urban fantasy novels, more Mythago Wood than fang-banger, which is a decided advantage. In this novel, written from scratch as part of the series – and I’m not alone in hoping there are more – has narrator Dan Mackmain, son of a dryad, in the Fens, preventing a nasty piece of work from using John Dee’s crystal ball, as used by Edward Kelley, for nefarious – and, it has to be said, petty – purposes, which unfortunately are having an adverse effect on the various folklore creatures of the Fens. So not only do we have local English mythology, and Mackmain’s life as revealed in earlier instalments, but also John Dee and his alchemy. It’s a clever mix, and it works extremely well. I thought this a much better book than the preceding volume, and its combination of modern life, English folklore and Elizabethan occultism worked perfectly. Given The Green Man’s Foe was nominated for awards, then this one deserves to win them. ( )