The Land you Never Leave is brilliant.  I loved it. Think of a strange mash up that involves a nightmare world of creatures from the Land That Time Forgot, add the bloodthirsty goings on and characters from Apocalypto add in some characters that feel as though they belong on the front of a Marvel comic or Watership Down. What can I say.  It works. This is seriously a riot of a book.  Just one question, why isn’t everyone shouting from the rooftops about this series.  It’s so good.  And Angus Watson – so funny, such hilarious banter and creative cursing, such adventures, such a great cast of characters and such bloodthirsty antagonists that made me fear that everyone would die – but then, after all, you die when you die!  Wootah, just wootah.  Did I just gush a little, I’ll hold back for the rest of the review. Or maybe I won’t.

I’m not going to talk about the plot at all.  Also, this is the second in series and not to beat about the bush you need to read the first, I’m not joking, no diving headfirst into No.2.  You’ll miss so much backstory, history, character development and actually a damned good read so please don’t deny yourself the pleasure.

So, what makes this series so good.  It’s good fun but at the same time it’s bloody awfully terrible.  The writing is really good, you simply fall into the series and become totally embroiled and the characters make you care.  I loved some of them.  I hated some of them, really hated some of them – you’ll know if you’ve read this.  And it is of course gloriously over the top.

The characters, well, we have the Wootah – previously the Hardworkers or Mushroom People, now befriended by the Owsla, prior enemies but now joined in the same quest to save the world as foretold by a young Wootah Boy named Ottar. Finnbogi. what can I say about Finn – he’s like a walking hormone. He does come from a different planet and can’t understand women in the slightest.  The Owsla are a bunch of genetically enhanced female warriors who kick some serious ass.  They are the least likely bunch of misfits that you’ll ever read about but they grow on you so easily and so quickly.

In terms of the writing and style. This isn’t a book that pays attention to olde worlde style dialogue.  It’s not trying to be historically correct, in fact far from it, This book isn’t taking things seriously, but, be warned, at the same time as having some genuinely laugh out loud moments, there are also some bloody and brutal moments.

This isn’t going to be a long review and that is not in any way a negative thing or a reflection of my feelings. Basically, this is a great read and I can’t wait to pick up the third.  In fact I actually listened to the audio for this one and it was so, so good. I highly recommend it.

This series is the crazy over the top historical adventure that I didn’t know I wanted in my life. Vikings, crazy creatures, an insane plot and lots of death defying.  I can’t remember bursting into so much spontaneous laughter for a long time whilst genuinely feeling over the top worried about the central characters.

Read this series. I implore you.

I bought my copy from Audible.

5 stars