I received this book for free from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on September 9, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Fiction / Fantasy / Historical
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
ISBN: 9780593686829Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous—but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks’ pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds—monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken’s founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out—and the town’s citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken’s borders belongs to it forever.
Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Determined to rescue Ellis, she figures out a way to defy Mistaken’s curse and begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But there, Greer is hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken’s founding and her own origins.
Playfully drawing from Scottish folklore, Erin A. Craig’s adult debut is both a deeply atmospheric and profoundly romantic exploration of freedom versus security: a stunning celebration of one woman's relentless bravery on a quest to reclaim her lost love—and seize her own future.
If there’s a word I always connect with Erin A. Craig’s novels it’s atmospheric. She does such an amazing job of pulling the reader into the setting and making it as real for them as possible. A Land So Wide is a masterpiece of the wild frontier.
Before going into everything I loved about the novel, I did have one minor issue with it. I know that this is Craig’s first adult novel, and she’s written plenty of young adult, which I think is the issue here. It’s stated that Greer is 27, with her boyfriend, Ellis, and best friend, Louise, somewhere around the same age as her. Yet, it didn’t feel like that. It could be the case that these people grew up in a confined community (in basically a cult setting), but at times, it was still frustrating in how they acted and the choices they made knowing they were in their late 20s. They read more like they were in their early 20s, at the most, instead.
Other than that, it was such an amazing and tense novel. The Bright-Eyed vampire-like creatures were such a creepy creation, especially up to the middle/late novel where we don’t really know what they look like or even see them. Them just being this voyeuristic monster creates a lot more tension and horror then an actual description or interaction. Finding out the background of how Mistaken was created and the whole Benevolence deal was so well done (although I did figure that out quickly, it still made for a fascinating story).
A quick side note on the romance. I was pretty mid on Greer’s and Ellis’s relationship. He’s definitely the better choice out of everyone in the village, especially Lachlan. But I didn’t really care if they stayed together or not, and truthfully, I actually thought Greet and Finn had more chemistry than her and Ellis.
I always love a good monster story, but with this one, the added layers of coming to the new world (Canada) and both the humans and the monsters being similar in nature just goes to show that anyone can be a monster.
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