Title: A Land So Wide
Author: Erin A. Craig
Publisher: Pantheon 2025
Genre: Horror
Pages: 352
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Read Horror - Cryptid
Where I Got It: Library
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.
I went into this book completely blind and was so grateful for that fact. I didn’t even read the summary on the back past the first paragraph. Something told me to just wait and dive in! Ultimately, I really enjoyed this creepy adventure tale. We get a strange village in a strange land (it’s never revealed exactly where although I have some suspicions). where “things” lurk outside of the Wandering Stone. What happens outside of those stone? And what does it have to do with Greer? I really enjoyed following the slow reveals of the mysteries of Mistaken. I called a few of the twists, but not all of them. I do enjoy when a book pleasantly surprises me. Be advised that this book does involve death, some gory moments, and body horror aspects.
Next up on the TBR pile:
