Green & Deadly Things

By Jenn Lyons

For fans of S.A. Chakraborty, Robin Hobb, and Martha Wells's Witch King, a page-turning standalone fantasy of necromancy and magical mayhem from Jenn Lyons, the acclaimed author of The Ruin of Kings.

Centuries ago, necromancy almost destroyed the world. That's how history remembers it.

History remembers it wrong.

Mathaiik has trained all his life to join the sacred order of the Idallik Knights, charged with defending their world from the forces of necromancy. Only vestiges of that cursed magic remain, nothing like the fabled days of the Grim Lords, the undead wizards who once nearly destroyed the world.

But when an even stranger kind of monster begins to wake, the Knights quickly prove powerless to stop them. Whole forests are coming alive and devouring anyone so foolish as to trespass, as if the land itself has turned upon humanity.

It's a good thing, then, that the Grim Lords were never truly destroyed. One of their number sleeps below the Knights' very fortress. And when an army of twisted tree monsters attacks the young initiates in his charge, Math decides to do the unthinkable: he wakes her up.

This is only the beginning of his problems. Because said necromancer, Kaiataris, knows something history has forgotten. The threat of this wild magic is part of a cycle that has repeated countless times-life after death, chaos after order. And if she and Math can't find a new way to balance the scales, this won't just be the end of the world as they know it, but the end of all life, everywhere.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 125034218X
• ISBN13: 9781250342188
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Chaos versus Order

Chaos and Order, Life and Death, Love and sacrifice, this story has it all! A really good standalone by Jenn Lyons and an entertaining audiobook to listen to. This was certainly an interesting world with its cycles of different types of magic, opposites which cause great calamities and this story takes place during one of those times with the rise of the Queens. So many secrets and things from the past hidden, now revealed, including one Kaiataris, sleeping in a maze since the time of the necromantic Grim Lords (though that might not be accurate as history keeps being changed!). Kai and Mathaiik are easy to root for and I loved how well the work together, despite their differences of magics. It certainly gets complicated on who to trust and there are many sides working for their own view of how the world should be. It makes for a great story that I really enjoyed and I am glad I got the chance to do so! I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook! The narrator, Torian Brackett, did a great job in bringing Math and his wild ride of an adventure with Kai as they race to keep the extinction of the people from happening due to the rise of the plants! And find balance between all forces of this fascinating world.