The Green Rider series has been one of my favourites for years. It was really nice to see Laren's earlier Rider days and to learn about Tavin, and the role he played in helping Sacoridia in his time as a Rider.

As with all of these books, it had its emotional moments, which were stunningly navigated.

My only complaint is that I'm always left wanting more.

Captain Laren Mapstone recalls Rider history!

A trainee rider, an undetected empath Tavin Bankside, is accompanying Lieutenan Laren to the North through the Green Forest via a town notorious for where bandits and worse gather. Mapstone is a target for the brigands, some of whom are what’s left of the Darrow Raiders, those vicious thugs who’d butchered her beloved Sam.
Unknown to the Green Rider’s administration, Trainee Tavin doesn’t know how to handle his particular gift. To him it is a curse.
As Tavin and Laren journey they are surprised by a group of marauders and Mapstone is severely injured. Somehow Tavin manages to get her to the protected Waystation within the Forest.
Forester Abram Rust has noted a disturbance and after battling more bandits reaches them. He immediately sends Tavin off to find a mysterious hermit who lives in the Forest. The hermit terms himself a Wanderer, and might be able to heal Mapstone.
The Hermit is a strange, otherworldly fellow who recognises Tavin’s gift and teaches him to shield and ground himself. (Mapstone has been leaking her inner memories strongly and Tavin has been unable to avoid them. It has been pure hell for Tavin as Laren’s terrors and traumas have overwhelmed him.) Eventually Tavin’s able to help Mapstone who’s been struggling in a cycle of grief and anger, so frozen by all she’s experienced and seen that she’s psychologically locked herself away. Tavin helps her go from the withdrawn Ice Lady to a Lieutenant who is able to acknowledge her memories, freeing her to have the more normal relationships of fellowship with the Green Riders, rather than avoiding them.
An interesting addition to the Green Rider’s history. Unique, unusual and enduring.

A DAW ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to continue my obsession with Kristen Britain's work!

This short story is a 3 star for me. I loved being back in Sacoridia, and learning more about Laren Mapstone. Tavin and the hermit even grew on me, and I was sad to see them go by the end. The reason for the three star is that sometimes the story lacked depth and seemed a bit predictable. I kept wondering if there was perhaps a more interesting moment in Mapstone's history that we could have learned about? Or perhaps what would have happened if Tavin revealed what he learned from the hermit and what that meant for the future.

Before the eighth and final book of the Green Rider series, Kristen Britain tells the backstory of fan-favorite character Laren Mapstone. Green Rider trainee Tavin Bankstone is not thrilled to travel with Lieutenant-Rider Laren Mapstone. Although acclaimed for her battles against the Darrow Raiders, Laren is emotionally closed off and cold. When Laren is injured in an attack, they seek refuge in a waystation. But as Laren’s emotional control comes down, Tavin must quickly learn to control his empathic abilities before it destroys them both.

Although I love the Green Rider series, Spirit of the Wood felt like an unnecessary side story only the most diehard Green Rider fans will enjoy. Since it was described as Laren Mapstone’s backstory, I found Spirit of the Wood extremely disappointing. Instead, the novella was more about Tavin Bankside than Laren, only giving the barest details of Laren’s past. With tempered expectations, you might enjoy this one but feel free to skip it and wait for the final installment of the Green Rider saga.

Character driven, cozy, and all too real, Spirit of the Wood is an accessible entry to the Green Rider series that delves into Laren Mapstone's past. Written as a prequel to the series for its 25th anniversary, Kristen Britain pens an enchanting adventure, placing the reader alongside the characters on a journey that is as hopeful as it is tumultuous.

Join new recruit Tavin Bankside as he journeys into the Green Cloak Forest, on a training mission with the “Ice Lady”. Difficult to talk to, but relatively easy to be around, Laren Mapstone has surrounded herself with an iron-clad mental shield, making her emotionally unavailable and chilly due to her role in the fight against the Darrow Raiders. While Tavin doesn’t necessarily mind, as he has always been exceptionally in tune with the emotions of others, he is feeling a little lost and unsure – of himself and his companion – as they set out into the forest.

While Tavin doesn’t have the best first impression of Laren, he is a worthwhile and earnest companion, curious but dedicated. He’s more soft-spoken and introspective, and, as the duo travel deeper into the forest, heading toward the waystation at its heart, his casual conversation and questions chip away at Laren’s hard exterior. Britain artfully takes the reader along for the journey, with lush, vivid details that make the reader fall into step alongside the characters as they go through meals and routines: setting up camp, taking care of horses, eating meals, and even sharing stories. It’s cozy and comfortable, remaining so even when the story takes a darker, more emotional turn as Laren is gravely wounded by a group of Raiders intent on revenge for her actions in the battle that precedes the novella.

As Spirit of the Wood is a prequel story, it may be better suited to fans of the series, as it intimately explores Laren’s backstory through nightmares and memories, all felt deeply by Tavin. Trauma runs deep, and its impact, and the vulnerability that comes with it, can run a person ragged and raw. Anger, pain, sadness: all can change a person forever. Tavin experiences this firsthand through Mapstone’s fever dreams and states of semi-consciousness as he nurses her back to health at the waystation, with the help of a few friends.

That being said, it doesn’t necessarily live up to the synopsis. While Spirit of the Wood is very much Laren’s story, it is told through Tavin and is largely possible due to his magic-enhanced emphatic ability. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a feminist-led fantasy due to the fact that Laren is unconscious and delirious for a large portion of it. That small quip aside, the novella did generate interest in the Green Rider series for me due to Britain’s writing style and attention to detail. I adored Tavin as a character, and sympathized with him greatly. If anything, I’m a little disappointed that he’s only a small blip on the Green Rider radar as far as the series is concerned.

As a prequel novella, Spirit of the Wood has great potential to draw in both new and returning readers, while simultaneously fitting into the ever-growing cozy fantasy niche.

This is possibly one of the best books in the series. I don't usually give a synopsis, and I won't this time, but this goes back to a throwaway moment that I have always felt could be fleshed out into something amazing. And it was! Touches of humor, characters that aren't perfect (one of my biggest pet peeves is perfect characters) and who make actual mistakes, an amazing plot that is almost cozy fantasy, all of these made this particular story exactly perfect. Treat yourself by reading this. Oh! And best of all, you don't need the rest of the series to read this book. In fact, it would make a really good alternate starting place.

I throughly enjoyed this look at captain mapstone and with a arider who though not called long to the service has played a intricatl part in shaping mapstone character for future novels. I espeically loved the drawings they added a nice touch to the novella. The Spirit of the wood though a novella is a great addition to the series as it allowed us to see further into this world in a small glimpse and a quick read. Mapstone is a complex character and it nice to see her get some relief from her grief at losing her beloved Sam. Nicely done.

This was a great read and a compelling Green Rider prequel. In Winterlight, we saw Karigan get a glimpse into the future that the kingdom would have had if she had never become a Green Rider, and now in this story, Tavin sees a similar dark future for the kingdom that would occur if he were unsuccessful in saving Laren Mapstone.
I love the way this novella comes after Winterlight, since it has that similar theme of each person being instrumental in saving the kingdom, and that even an action that seems small can have a big effect.
It’s also great how in even such a short book, we see two people start off barely knowing each other at all and going through enough that by the end the dynamic they have is very compelling and left me a little sad and melancholy. Kristen Britain is a brilliant writer and storyteller that way, across the whole series, and this installment still has that.

This was a nice novella within the Green Rider universe. The language did seem a bit simple and repetitive at times but it was enjoyable.

A bittersweet, emotional addition to the Green Rider series. A must-read for fans of the series!

Filled with grief, empathy, and healing, this prequel novel shines light on Colonel Mapstone's past. The story is told primarily through the perspective of a subordinate Green Rider named Tavin who comes fully into his empathic Talent while helping Laren survive a near-fatal wound.

Set in the Green Cloak forest, a place more deeply magical than the rest of Sacoridia, the tale introduces a Forester named Abram and a mysterious, whimsical being known as the Hermit. Both assist Tavin in saving Laren, and reveal secrets of the Green Cloak (and the future of Sacoridia) along the way.

The writing is thoroughly engaging and well-paced. I was impressed with Britain's ability to maintain tension in a story that has so many meditative and reflective moments.

The illustrations (done by the author) were lovely and insightful as well.

Spirit of the Wood Follows Laren Mapstone and her trainee Tavin through a singular adventure to the north. Much of the book is from Tavin’s viewpoint and we learn about Laren through him and his abilities. Through him we receive flashbacks of Laren’s life, as well as, his own. It paints a vivid picture of how Laren became who she is and the horrors she endured to get there.
I have been a long-time reader of the Green Rider series, and Spirit of the Wood hit me hard. They all do, honestly, but this one especially. Maybe because of how long its been since I read them and the friend that introduced me moved away without a goodbye, or possibly it was simply because this is an amazingly haunting book that will sit with you. As was stated in afterward, this book was a long time coming, and one we desperately needed. Some how Britain has managed to weave a story while wrought with sadness still brings hope. The Green Rider series is not a light read, it is an action-packed series full of heroics and all of the emotions on the spectrum and while short this novella is no different. You do not need to read the others first as this is a prequel.
I received an arc of this and am leaving this review of my own volition.

I received a free copy of the novella from the publisher via Netgalley.

I've very much enjoyed Kristen Britain's Green Rider series, and this novella was no exception.

I enjoyed viewing the universe through different eyes than Karigan's. Tavin was a relatable and enjoyable point-of-view character, and it was fun to see Laren Mapstone from a less heroic perspective.

I enjoy the mystical aspects of the series, and Spirit of the Wood did not disappoint in that regard.

Britain tellls a beautiful personal story in this volume. While Spirit of the Wood could be skipped, it shouldn't be. This refreshing story makes me want to revisit the main series.

Spirit of the wood - Kristen Britain ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ wonderful epic fantasy.
Release date November 7, 2023.
Kristen Britain is one of the authors I read before we had Kindles and Nooks. Back when you learned about books from librarians, fantasy magazines and book stores. Back then I bought every DAW book regardless of the author and only because I almost always loved any book they published. I still have the first addition of Kristen Britain's book Green Rider.
There are a lot of good writers in the world and then there are writers that surpass that by a mile, Kristen Britain is one of the latter.
This was a great book. Epic, beautiful and heart breaking.
This is the story of Laren Mapstone’s past and a young green rider named Tavin, who's growing into his incredible powers. Trapped together, injured and only the wards around the waystation , a Forester and one other special person to protect them from the angry mob hunting them.
This is a story of growth, understanding another's anguish and finding the power to overcome fear. Such a beautiful, powerful story.

If you love epic fantasy, powerful world building and characters you will remember for years, you should read this amazing author and this brilliant series 'Green rider'. This is the type of powerful writing that addicted generations of readers to epic fantasy. It's full of great hand sketches, also.

I received this ARC from DAW and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #kristen_Britain #Greenrider #epicfantacy #spiritofthewood #DAW

Spirit of the Wood by Kristen Britain, a nice novella that provides some background into a main character via a side character in a great way.

I loved this story. The world building was developed enough a new to the series reader could easily know what was happening, but for seasoned Greenies it touched on several familiar places and people. I really appreciated our MC and narrator Tavin, his ability and his growth as an individual. There was enough action happening to keep us on our toes, but also time for character growth that can often be missing from novellas. While some may be disappointed that we don't get Mapstone's narration like in the full novels, instead we get an unfiltered, emotional snapshot of her past. I would be remise if I didn't mention that one of the topics explored in the book could be triggering, however, I do feel they were handled well. I will also issue a tissue warning. Finally, there was a few Easter eggs, if you could call them that, in the book that I look forward to seeing how they grow. Overall, a very enjoyable novella. * I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.

I am not one for novellas. But, Kristen Britain could write a thousand page treatise on mixing concrete, and I would dive in without reservation.
This book is another fantastic example of KB's wonderful storytelling. It filled in some of the blanks of Laren's tragic backstory, gave us some history of the Green Riders, and also a tantalizing hint of what is yet to come. I would recommend this title to anyone already in love with the Green Rider series, which I would recommend whole-heartedly to anyone that enjoys fantasy that really tests its characters and readers alike.
Wonderful work, as always!

A story of a fantastical wood and feminist saga of horse riders and villains.thank to #netgallet and the publisher for an advance copy.

Full disclosure: I apparently live under a rock and had never read any of the Green Rider books, so I was intrigued when this indicated that the novella would be equally enjoyable to new readers and prior fans.

As a new reader, you're launched directly into the universe, but the tale is still enjoyable, and kept me turning pages until the end. It was engaging and assumed an ability to extrapolate rather than assuming ignorance and hence expository info dumping. For the most part this worked well although occasionally left me slightly confused.

And enjoyable short that will likely lead me into looking at additional books in this collection!

4.5/5 Stars

Characters: 4.5
Plot: 4.5
Readability: 5
World Building: 5

Fiiiiine, I'll finish the Green Rider series.

In all seriousness, I loved this story, and I'm so grateful to NetGalley.com for giving me an ARC copy of it. And a special thanks to Kristen Britain as well. I've been a big fan for a while. I haven't finished all of the Green Rider books because I had some...disagreements with one of the books. I won't go into that here because this is about THIS book.

I had expected that this story would be more in Laren's POV. She's been my favorite in the series since I picked up the first Green Rider book in a secondhand bookshop when I was still a teenager. However, I wholly enjoyed getting to know Tavin and getting to see some other call backs to the first green rider book I was particularly excited to see the outpost where Karigan met Abram and read about the events of this book in the rider's log

Having read the books, I wasn't surprised by the ending, but I still had my fair share of feelings. Anyway, if you're new to the Green Rider books or been along for the ride for a while like I have I still wholly recommend it. I finished it in less than a day so it's a nice quick read and it's motivated me to get back into the series.

P.S. I would die for Winterberry.

📖 Title: Spirit of the Wood
✍ Author: Kristen Britain
📚 Series: Green Rider #00 (Prequel) #7.5 (Publication)
🌍 Country of origin: USA
🔖 Genre: Fantasy, Cozy
👥 Favorite character: Lt. Laren Mapstone
💬 Favorite quote: “Remember, young Tavin, to have empathy for others is a strength, not a curse, not a weakness.” - Imnatar
🌟 Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5/5 Stars

Hi everyone, it's your favorite liVRarian Rydia, here with yet another book review, I'm on a roll! 📚

Today I would like to share with you a book that left me speechless. A book I felt was written just for me, a story that felt like the return to a group of friends that I never knew I had but still always were there. Although this last statement might be a bit 'false.' 🤔

When I was younger I enjoyed dabbling in our family's library and I found out a book that just 'Called' me. The title of that book was 'Green Rider' and since I've always liked fantasy, adventure, magic, knights and well, horses (Texas girl) the book just felt awesome. 🐴 I can't recall much of what I read because it was almost 10 years ago, probably a bit less or a bit more I can't remember. So when I found out that it wasn't a standalone book in my dad's library and a series that has been running for longer than I could be alive I applied to review an ARC of the latest installment 'Spirit of the Wood'. My gosh, I was completely blown away by it! 💥

This book is certainly for fans of the series, it has too many winks and references to the series that fans would enjoy (I sorta kinda remembered a thing or two) so if you've read them before this book is certainly for you. 📚

While reading this story I just felt that the story was written just for me! This books focuses mostly on 3 characters. Tavin Bankside, Laren Mapstone and 'The Hermit'. (Left intentionally vague because, as always, I'm going to try to avoid as many spoilers as I can but as you've come to know and see it's usual with my reviews it's almost unavoidable). 🤫

The worldbuilding hits just home it's super familiar, like you're visiting a national park which I'm pretty sure she based it off considering she was a forest ranger but it feels even more magical, Sacoridia feels like a place I'd like to visit someday. 🌲

The stakes aren't that high since it is very character-driven, having Tavin learn more about his special ability and using it to heal the sick and wounded lieutenant Laren. To do so he must learn to control it by attuning to the Spirit of the Wood and for this he gets help from a mysterious hermit who in addition to teaching him how to control his ability which Tavin has long considered a curse, he teaches him about nature, respect to nature, animals, oneself and others. 🌿

Don't expect lots of adventures, battles, characters or events, for this is a more cozy, more intimate story that speaks much about the struggle of growing up different. Of how society teaches us how we should be <spoiler> Tavin's uncle questioning his manhood just for being so sensible hits hard on the heart of us who are more sensible than the common person. </spoiler> 💔

I couldn't help but identify with Tavin's struggle <spoiler> which is his special ability is empathy! </spoiler> because I'm also a sensible person and I've felt different throughout most of my life due to it. Laren also is someone I could identify with and also shows us how some people react to how society treats us, at times putting up a barrier between our true self and what we allow them to see. Which is why she gained the nickname "Ice Lady", many if not all of us girls have at some time and some point in our lives have become the 'Ice Lady'. ❄️

The hermit is also a really fun character and his squirrels are just adorable and helpful to the characters and the plot! He serves as a mysterious master but at the same time, much like the other characters he keeps up improving himself and adapting to the circumstances. 🐿️

But the story, Rydia, why haven't you spoken much about the story? 🤔

Because I ‘feel’ this story is more about what the characters feel, go through and learn to deal and cope with events past and how they affect their present. Nothing much really happens in this book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, sometimes we need to take some time off and reflect a bit and this is just what the book felt like. Sitting down with a friend, catch up and in the end say goodbye and leave a better person than the one that arrived. 👋

I could summarize the story in a few points, Laren gets wounded, Tavin treats her, Tavin learns to help her better and then when she’s fine they continue their way. That’s it? Yeah that’s pretty much it but it’s not what happens as to how it happens~! It also foreshadows events on the series and it shows how our actions today affect the future, sometimes in ways we can’t even imagine! <spoiler> This will be shown in a vision how Tavin’s actions changed the future! </spoiler> 🔮

There’s also an epilogue that shows what happened with our protagonists and trying not to risk much I’m just going to say get some tissues. 😢

Kristen Britain certainly knows how to make a girl happy and while this book is certainly enjoyable by anyone, I will go as far as to say this book was written more for a female audience in mind which is the only ‘negative’ point I can find. 👩

I highly recommend “Spirit of the Woods” to anyone who loves fantasy, who feels different, who wants a short rest from a convoluted world, to anyone who wants to learn more about themselves because just like Tavin and Laren, you can also learn more about yourself in this novella. This serves as a perfect introduction for the world and previous knowledge of the series just would enhance your experience with the story. 🌲

Oh and if you love horses and nature, this book will just feel all the more nicer! 🐴🌿

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐