A LAND SO WIDE, by Erin A. Craig, Pantheon, Sept. 2, 2025, Hardcover, $28 (ages 16 and up/ new adult/ adult fiction)
A young woman discovers a town secret so big it could end everything she’s ever known in A Land So Wide, by Erin A. Craig.
Like 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. —Synopsis provided by Pantheon
You may now author Erin A. Craig from her fantasy/horror/romance YA novels — The Thirteenth Child, House of Roots and Ruin, Small Favors and House of Salt and Sorrows. But A Land So Wide, which draws from Scottish Folklore, is her adult fiction debut.
And what a debut.
A Land So Wide is a dark romantasy set in the remote Canadian wilderness. The story follows Greer as she seeks to make her own path in life. Greer is independent, smart and willing to fight for what she wants.
As is always the case with Craig’s writing, the setting is impeccable. Whether in the isolated settlement or the wilds that surround it you feel as if you are standing there next to Greer. There’s always a hint of danger laced throughout. A Land So Wide is the definition of a dark fairytale.
A Land So Wild moves quickly and pulls you in from the first chapter. And Craig’s exploration of security versus freedom and the past defining the future provide depth to an already encompassing story.
Though it would be OK for older young adults, A Land So Wild leans heavier into violence and other situations better suited for more mature readers.
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