The Grey Land
#7043.80 adjusted 3.81 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 2016–2018 Reading commitment Low Peadar Ó Guilín Last reviewed 2026-10-24
Overview
Peadar Ó Guilín's Grey Land books combine fantasy, horror, folklore, myths and legends. The magical Sídhe have been expelled from their home and forced into the Grey Land, a place under the earth, a place of darkness and death, and now they have returned to take back what they lost: teenagers are trained for the most horrific three minutes of their lives, the Call, when they wake alone in a horrible land with the Sídhe close. Nessa, who insists that she is going to live and that nobody will stop her, and Anto survive their Calls, and the second book turns their luck against them when Nessa is labelled a traitor. The Call was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize.
Dark fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Grey Land Peadar Ó Guilín
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Call; Rating read from the first entry on the author's page (published 2016), the title being cut off in the snippet. | 2016 | 1 | core | 3.82 (15,717 ratings) |
 | The Invasion | 2018 | 2 | core | 3.71 (3,110 ratings) |
Nessa and Anto against the Sídhe of the Grey Land.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Grey Land? The Grey Land's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Grey Land? Publication order, starting with The Call. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Grey Land finished? Complete (2016–2018).
- How much reading does The Grey Land take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books).
- How is The Grey Land ranked? #704 in this site's official ranking, based on 18,827 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #704?
Ranked #704 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.80 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (18,827 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 2 rated core books rate within 0.11 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #703, The Merlin Codex (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 2 books · Complete · 19k ratings · Ranks #704 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Call (2016)
- The Invasion (2018)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- YA Book Prize, 2017: finalist: The Call; Shortlisted; year inferred from the book's 2016 publication, to be confirmed.
- YA Book Prize, 2017: finalist: The Call; Shortlisted for the 2017 YA Book Prize (The Bookseller), per Locus and The Irish Times.
- Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year, 2017: finalist: The Call; Shortlisted.
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Suggestions computed from what The Grey Land and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Sisters of the Salt Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.92
- The Red Abbey Chronicles Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.90
- Legado Ranger Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.89
- The Leviathan of Babylon Mythic fantasy / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.75
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.80 across 18,827 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Penryn & the End of Days (Susan Ee) and The Grey Land (Peadar Ó Guilín) accepted 2026-10-23
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Author page on the rating platform (ratings and years) Tier 2
- School Reading List (series notes) Tier 2
- Pasco County library catalogue (publisher teaser and first-publication note) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-23
Rule: Core Canon = The Call (2016) and The Invasion (2018).