Across the Green Grass Fields

Wayward Children #6

by Seanan McGuire

A young girl discovers a portal to a land filled with centaurs and unicorns in Seanan McGuire's Across the Green Grass Fields, a standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-wining Wayward Children series.

“Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to "Be Sure" before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines―a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Novella, Fiction, Audiobook, LGBT, Adult

174 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2021

About the author

Hi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.

Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).

I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(

Reviews

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time I tell myself I won't read the next book in this series.
Every time I end up picking it up anyway.

Honestly its' probably because the writing, themes and representation (intersex main character this time!) are awesome. I just don't think I'm the right audience (except book 4, I loved book 4!).

Unicorns, horses and centaurs fans and middle grade readers (not sure if it's officially how it's categorized but it read like one to me!) will love it!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss

1.) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
2.) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
3.) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
4.) In an Absent Dream ★★★★★
5.) Come Tumbling Down ★★★

"She knew better now. The world was bigger now. She was bigger now, and that made all the difference."

In this story, we get to grow up alongside Regan Lewis! We are introduced to Regan at seven years old, where she is quickly already learning the expectations that society puts on girls, especially girls who are different. Regan comes from a good family, who love and care about her, and she has a big space in her heart for horses! She also has two best friends, and they do everything together! That is, until she really learns the consequences of what it means to be different, and what happens to girls who don’t play by the rules that society place on them.

"They thought children, especially girl children, were all sugar and lace, and that when those children fought, they would do so cleanly and in the open, where adult observers could intervene."

We get to see Regan at 11, becoming worried that her body isn’t developing the way other girls’ bodies are. She doesn’t need to wear a bra yet, she doesn’t need deodorant yet, and she hasn’t started her period yet. And once the pressure gets too great to bear, she asks her parents who (very kindly, knowledgeably, and empathetically) explain to her that her body hasn’t started developing these things (or maybe won’t start developing these things on their own without some help) because she is intersex.

This book really made me realize how much I am slacking as a reader and reviewer with reading books with intersex main characters. Off the top of my head, I can think of only two others, and that makes me feel very bad and I hope to change that soon. But, regardless of chromosomes or androgen insensitivity, Regan is a girl and has always been a girl. And I really loved how her parents constantly reminded her that she was exactly as she was meant to be. Truly, I had so many happy tears over her parents, truly a tier above.

Regan is still very unsure of herself and this new information, and after confiding in someone who she probably should not have, and after they say some incredibly hurtful things to her, she runs away into the woods to try to get home, yet a magical door appears and she steps into a world filled with horses, and kelpies, and centaurs, and unicorns!

I loved this world, like, I loved this world so much. Also, I have never been and will never be a horse girl, and this hooved world was still everything to me. And once Regan is discovered in this world by a pack of centaurs who herd unicorns, we find out about a prophecy that states all humans must be given to the queen, because whenever a human shows up in this magical land that means that something bad is about to happen! But it is not stated anywhere when the human must be given to the queen, therefore Regan gets to spend a lot of time with her centaur family.

The heart of this book is about destiny, and what it means to be destined for something. Whether it’s about your gender, your childhood, your family, or even maybe saving a whole magical world filled with horse-like creatures! All these expectations can be so very heavy, but they do become lighter when you have a found family to help with them. They also become pretty light when you are able to realize that you and your journey and your life are worth so much more than the expectations placed on you from society, from friends, and from any kind of destiny that you did not ask for.

"She still didn’t believe in destiny. Clay shaped into a cup was not always destined to become a drinking vessel’ it was simply shaped by someone too large to be resisted. She was not clay, but she had been shaped by her circumstances all the same, not directed by any destiny."

This entire story has a really beautiful message about found family, and finding your people, and how unconditional love is all about unapologetically choosing the people you love over and over again. Blood will only ever be blood, but choosing the people who are your home is another level of love. We also get to see Regan at 15, when it is time for her to fulfill her destiny after spending four years being unconditionally loved. Side note: I would die for Gristle and Zephyr.

The reason I am giving this four stars is because I didn’t love the end of this one. I truly enjoyed the reveal, and the symbolism about destiny was not lost on me, but I just truly wanted a more concrete ending. I am scared to wish for another book in this world, since I didn’t love the revisit to the Moors, but (without going into spoiler territory here) I just really wanted to see things that I didn’t get to see! Also, in part one, I feel like this author may not spend a lot of time with children in 2020, but that is a very minor critique that I have.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I truly felt so much happiness flipping these pages. I love seeing all the different ways you can belong in the Wayward Children series, and I think these stories contain a lot of hope, and healing, and light. And, how I close off every review of each book in this series, I’m going to keep praying that we get Kade’s story next.

Trigger and Content Warnings: blood descriptions, bullying, intersexphobia, abduction, and brief captivity.

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Buddy read with Maëlys, & Destiny! ❤

❤ Reading Rush 2020

[Emily May · Rating 2 out of 5]

After giving this some thought, I think I was only rating this book 3 stars because I had loved the early books in this series and was reluctant to believe I'm just not enjoying them anymore. Truth is, the last two have been really disappointing.

Across the Green Grass Fields was actually quite boring for me. Unlike with the characters in the earlier books, I never felt any strong emotional ties to anyone, and I found the fantasy story here-- centaurs, unicorns etc. -- dry and uninteresting. I did not personally have a horse phase so I think some of the equestrian love was lost on me.

Perhaps I'm just tired of this concept after reading six books circling a similar theme. And, don't get me wrong, that theme is one that's very close to my heart: that there's no right way to be a girl. That's what's at the heart of all these books and it is a much-needed message, but I'm at the point in this series now where I'm getting deja vu. I feel like I'm reading about the same things and the same characters with names and certain details changed.

I will wait and see what the reviews say for Where the Drowned Girls Go, but I'm just not the type of reader who keeps coming back for exactly the same thing over and over again. I hope McGuire does something exciting and fresh with the next book.

[Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It will surprise absolutely no one when I say that I loved this book with my entire heart. Seanan McGuire has such a gift when it comes to getting you to feel so attached and connected to characters in less than 200 pages and this book was no exception. I've said this a hundred times before but it is worth repeating: if you haven't read anything from the Wayward Children series yet, you ABSOLUTELY need to. I love this series so, so much and I hope that it never ends. My heart is so heavy but so full!!!!!!!!!

TW: interphobia, bullying

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOW AVAILABLE!!!

3 1/2 rounded up.

i still love this series, but if i’m being honest, the last two have been, in my heart, more “very good friends” to me than “soulmates.” it’s not down to me losing interest in this concept or (heaven forbid) any diminishment in mcguire’s skills, because Juice Like Wounds, a short story i read weeks after this one, is both a perfect short story and my absolute favorite wayward children piece yet.

i still haven’t managed to review book 5, Come Tumbling Down, because i felt like there was something wrong with me for not loving it. i really liked jack and jill in the other books, and i’d been looking forward to more of their story as soon as i learned they’d be returning, so when i was left underwhelmed after reading it, i worried that i’d become too damaged for that particular door to open for me again or maybe even too broken to take joy in anything anymore &blah &blah &emo weeping.



and then there was this one, this one about a portal to a world with friggin’ unicorns in it, which is all i've ever wanted since my babydays.



wayward children + unicorns sounds like something i made up in a dream as the cure for all of 2020 (so far), and while i’d be grateful for a portal anywhere right now, and tho' i DID love what dum dums these particular unicorns were, the story as a whole just struck a medium chord with me.

i’m going to reread this when it comes out in january, with the expectation that 2021 will find us all in a better place and i will be able to enjoy everything more, but i think i figured out why it didn't transport me over the moon.

each of these books is different, not only in the nature of the world behind the door, but also in the "why" of the story, which is something i love and admire with mcguire/grant in general—her imagination and conceptual risk-taking, but here the storyweight didn't work for me.

i don’t consider anything i’m about to say here a spoiler, but i’m going to put it under a spoiler tag for reasons that should be clear to anyone who has been on this site for a minute.

the shape of the story is more or less the same as the others: character doesn't 'fit' into their birth-world, finds a door that opens onto a place and people more suited to/aligned with their particular misfit qualities, conflict/action sequence leads to choice (made by or FOR the character) to stay or return to their 'old' world.

all of which is true here, but there's not much in the way of tension or "rising action." it's not all cake and ice cream, but even for a very short book, the conflicts are mild.

quoting too much but still not giving away anything crucial:

...everything about the moment was inevitable; everything about the moment had been coming for her since the moment she’d walked through a door that wasn’t and into a world that somehow knew enough to know that it was going to need saving.

Not just saving: saving by someone who loved it. If the door had opened now, today, and dropped a gangly, long-limbed Regan wearing fresh new jeans and smelling of her mother’s perfume into the field, she wouldn’t have been fit for saving anything at all. She had never been given the opportunity to become that version of herself, but she knew in her heart that the other Regan wasn’t somehow the better one. The other Regan would never have understood the simple joy of fishing in the lake during her morning bath, hooking fat, slow bass under the gills with her fingers and flipping them onto the shore. She wouldn’t have seen the colts growing up, or lay with Chicory in fields of sweet grass, wondering about the shape of the future. If she was going the save the Hooflands, she had to be this version of herself, this awkward, half-wild, uncertain girl who’d grown up on a centaur’s back, racing through woods and breathing in air that always smelled, ever so faintly, of horsehair and hay. That other Regan had been the first sacrifice necessary to save the world, and she had made it without even knowing, and still she had no regrets.

i really appreciate the acknowledgment that in order to make anything better, you first have to understand what about it is broken—or even able to be fixed, and that only by immersing herself into the world, the culture, getting a sense of the people, being invested in its success, can she even consider an attempt to save it. mcguire’s sort of addressing one of those pervasive tropes of kidlit—the human savior come to 'fix' everything in a fantasyland that seems 'backwards' or 'weird;' a situation much less charming in its real-world equivalent. so the whole ‘point’ of the first 3/4 of the book is regan being groomed to save the world—not necessarily through training for the role, just…making her love the realm and its people, making her a part of its fate.

so, i love the message, but the path to the lesson isn't as rich or fraught as some of the earlier installments, and the Great Big Standoff was...not very intense.

TL;DR: this isn't my favorite in the series, story-wise, but i'm forever in awe of her writing ability—her worldbuilding, her conceptual range, the way she's always trying out new storytelling angles within this series. even the ones i don't love in my reader-heart i admire from a critical standpoint.

also, unicorns.



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hahaha yoonicorns, y r u so dum?



review to come.

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THAT'S ENOUGH WORK FOR THE DAY GOTTA READ ABOUT UNICORNS NOW SORRY BYE

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seanan mcguire. unicorns.



i think i just found my will to live.

come to my blog!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Full review, first posted on FantasyLiterature.com:

Centaurs, unicorns, kelpies, fauns, perytons … Teenage Me would’ve loved this book. I was the type of girl who rode horses whenever the occasion offered and used my artistic talents to draw them, all the time, to the point where horses are still the only animal I can reliably draw well without needing to look at a picture. So I came to Across the Green Grass Fields predisposed to like it.

Ten-year-old Regan adores horses and rides them regularly. She also has a mother and a father who are loving and attentive (something that can’t be taken for granted in YA fiction), as well as a close school friend named Laurel whose friendship Regan has hung onto for years. Laurel is clearly the toxic queen bee type, but Regan remains Laurel’s loyal shadow for several more years, even after Laurel permanently and cruelly rejects their other best friend, Heather, for bringing a snake to school (snakes not being as socially acceptable as horses). Regan somehow doesn’t fully realize, or maybe just doesn’t want to admit to herself, that Laurel could turn against her as quickly and terribly.

This being a WAYWARD CHILDREN novella, it’s a foregone conclusion that Regan will be different from the norm in some significant way. When Regan is ten going on eleven, she confronts her parents about why she isn’t physically maturing yet, and finds out that she’s intersex. Though her parents break the news as gently as they can, Regan’s world is rocked, and she makes the mistake of confiding in Laurel. I have to digress for a moment to say that, even with the abundance of mythological creatures in this book, Regan’s choice to disclose her physical difference to Laurel was probably the most unbelievable thing in the whole novel for me.

Regan had known from the beginning that Laurel’s love was conditional. It came with so many strings that it was easy to get tangled inside it, unable to even consider trying to break free.

Regan knows, far better than most girls, how unforgiving Laurel is of anyone who doesn’t conform to the norm and how cruelly she can lash out, and no amount of McGuire’s explaining why Regan made this choice made it seem a likely one to me.

Be that as it may, things predictably go wrong fast, Regan runs away from school — and finds herself faced with a magical doorway in the woods that leads to the Hooflands. The Hooflands is inhabited by large, muscular centaurs, lovely and brainless unicorns, carnivorous kelpies, and every other imaginable creature with hooves ... except horses (“What’s a horse?” asks one of the centaurs). Everyone has hooves of some kind, and humans are exotic creatures that show up once in a blue moon to heroically save the Hooflands from some terrible trouble and then disappear. Destiny? or perhaps not. In any case, Regan and the centaur herd that adopts her are in no hurry to send her to the queen of the Hooflands to face whatever trial may await.

McGuire spends a full quarter of Across the Green Grass Fields describing Regan’s childhood in our world, particularly the “vicious political landscape of the playground, where the slightest sign of aberration or strangeness was enough to bring about instant ostracism.” It’s well-told, with sympathy for everyone involved (well, except Laurel). In the Hooflands, Regan finds true friendship for the first time and begins to accept herself and understand that being “normal” is not the be-all and end-all she had thought it was. The tone shifts gears to become a pastoral, fairly slow-paced story, with the exception of one fairly frantic chapter. Even the climactic scenes toward the end of the novella don’t achieve any real sense of urgency.

Also, while these final scenes do slot in with the themes that McGuire has been addressing throughout the book, they felt rushed, and the same sense of improbability resurfaces around the events that occur toward the end. Maybe Seanan McGuire wrote this a little too quickly, or maybe she's just more focused on themes than plot. I really wanted more of an epilogue … in both the Hooflands and in our world.

This entry in the WAYWARD CHILDREN series doesn’t have any obvious links to Eleanor’s Home for Wayward Children or the characters in the other books in the series, at least at this point. Across the Green Grass Fields does have some great moments and poignant insights into human nature and life, but it lacks the full impact that the best books in this series have.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, Teenage Me would’ve loved this book. Adult Me sees the narrative flaws in it, but I was still moved by the characters and their obstacles. Across the Green Grass Fields is worth reading if you’re a fan of the series.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review ARC!

Initial post: YES! Approved for the ARC of the latest Wayward Children book on NetGalley ... and immediately started reading it, because I have no self-control whatsoever with some series.

[Nataliya · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’ve read any of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series entries, you’ll know the shape of the story. A child who for one reason or another doesn’t quite fit into our imperfect world finds a door that takes them into a magical oddball world that’s just a bit better suited for them. A bit of heartbreak ensues as they can’t stay there forever.

Regan is described as intersex (the book states androgen insensitivity, but it really seems more of a Swyer syndrome presentation), and after a friend’s cruel reaction (“Regan had known from the beginning that Laurel’s love was conditional. It came with so many strings that it was easy to get tangled inside it, unable to even consider trying to break free.”) she walks through a magical door and ends up in Hoofland, a world populated by centaurs and unicorns and other magical hoofed persons. A world where she seems to fit in just fine, but where she knows she might not be able to stay.

“Manure was manure, even when it came out of a unicorn.”

I’ve loved one of Wayward Children stories and was alright with the rest (I haven’t read them all but most), but maybe I’m getting used to their formula too much. Or maybe I’m getting a bit too cynical for them. Whatever’s the reason, this one ended being a quick read with very mild impact.

It seems that Seanan McGuire may have stepped a bit over that thin line separating earnest and didactic. She’s not always subtle with the message she’s trying to convey, but here it felt particularly heavy-handed, making me think that it must be aimed at an age quite a bit younger than my chronological one. And it’s less biting than McGuire is capable of, with the story on a milder side, and even the climax of it a bit too soft while at the same time too overtly preachy. Sometimes a tad of subtlety takes you much further than anvil-like heavy-handedness. Sometimes spelling out your message too precisely is to the detriment of the impact.

Not to mention that the flow of the story felt a bit artificial and not quite consistent, and by the end a bit too rushed as well. The plot was sparse, tension is low, characterization is unremarkable. Read it in two hours, forgot it in one. My least favorite of the series.

But hey, maybe it’s just that I’ve never been much into horses and that’s why it left me cold? Who knows?

2.5 stars.

“Where I come from, all those things are fairy tales,” said Regan. “Centaurs too.”
“I’m not a story!” protested Chicory. “Stories don’t have to shovel unicorn poop.”

——————

Also posted on my blog.

[emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best part of this series is that it grabbed me immediately. The VERY FIRST BOOK sets up a magic boarding school universe in which my favorite book is real and also a murder mystery is happening, and also it's so short.

The worst part of this series is that it will never be like that again.

The pro and the con of Wayward Children is that you never know what you're going to get. If you hate one book you can love the next, but also if one book is a perfect read for you the next is guaranteed to be completely different too.

So far, this has meant - for me - a five star, then a three star, then a three and a half, then two fours, and then this two and a half.

What a rollercoaster.

This world and these characters were bleh to me. It's a horse-girl world that feels like it's exclusively for 11 year olds with Lisa Frank school supply sets (do they still make those?) and they don't even get to the magic until well into the story.

Which is, as established, very short.

So at least it had that going for it.

Bottom line: Onto the next!

----------------
pre-review

calling all horse girls.

review to come / 3ish

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currently-reading updates

if i don't read an installment of this series every so often, i assume i will lose my mind

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

#1 Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
#2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
#3 Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
#4 In An Absent Dream ★★★★★
#5 Come Tumbling Down ★★★★★
#6 Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★★
#7 Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★★
#8 Lost in the Moment and Found ★★★★★

I say this all the time, but... I really don't know what I ever did to deserve the existence of this series. I'm in tears just writing this little snippet. This series means so damn much to me, words can never even describe.

This was honestly everything I wanted it to be. At first, I thought this was my new second fave in the series, but it might even be my #1 when I think about how badly I forever need characters like Regan, reminding me that it's okay to mourn for myself and every other little girl who wasn't allowed to fit in for one reason or another — and who had to find, or create, her own world to exist happily in.

Buddy read with Melanie ♥

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original pre-review:
I love this series so much, and... there are kelpies in this one? Be still, my former horse girl, eternal equine fae-loving heart. 😭💖 If you need me, I'll be over here screaming. Forever.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Amy Imogene Reads]

yes yes YES!

my heart will break the day we stop receiving installments in this series.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t love this one as much as the other Wayward Children books (though I think I like this one more than Beneath the Sugar Sky), but this was still very enjoyable! I’m eager to get to the next one.

[Hamad · Rating 3 out of 5]

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“Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

Every Heart a Doorway ★★★ 1/2
Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★ 3/4
Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★
In an Absent Dream ★★★★
Come Tumbling Down ★★★ 1/2
Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★ 1/2

I think I am a fan of this series because they are such easy reads. There is something great about them and although I have not given any of the books 5 stars so far, I think they are well written and well continue reading the novellas in this series. Across the Green Grass Field is the latest addition to the series and it is a standalone, it is not related to the other stories, it has totally new characters and I think I prefer if the author continue doing that, I will read as many standalones as the author produce in this world.

This time we follow the story of Regan, I should mention that the beginning of all of these books are my favorite part in the book, there is such a magic to how McGuire starts a story. It always starts with young kids and parents and I like to explore the dynamics that we are presented. We are first introduced to Regan as a 7 year old girl and I loved how she tells us about the kids world and problems and how adults often seem to not see things as they are. Regan has 2 friends and everything is good until one of her friends is a bit different (because she likes to play with snakes) and she is thrown out from their social circle. When Regan is 11 years old she notices that she is different too and she decides to talk to her parents who are so wholesome and supportive and they do reveal that she is an intersex. Of course that is confusing for her and not fair but her parents keep reminding her how she is perfect just the way she is. Regan then finds the door which taker her to the Hooflands, a world full of all kind of equine creatures; from unicorns, to Centaurs and more! The hooflands creatures know that having a human is a precursor for something happen to big and that is the rest of the story.

“If your friends would stop wanting you around because you’re not exactly like them, they’re not very good friends,”

I like how McGuire always care about representations and throughout this series we have all kinds of reps so far, from fat rep to Ace rep, Gay reps and even a hijabi rep!! This book has an intersex as the main character and I am not sure if I ever read other books with this rep, I felt there was a focus on this at the beginning but not much after that. At the same time, I think that is kind of the point, being intersex should not define Regan and she should just be herself and live life as it is. There were indirect hints and metaphors to this throughout this story and I think I prefer that it was done this way. I just wanted more from the ending because I actually cared about what happened next and that’s why I was bummed by the open-ending (kind of).

The writing is good and descriptive as usual, the book was very easy to read and fly through. I read the whole thing in ~2 hours. I grabbed it to check it out and I was at 50% before I realized that. The world is a world full of equine creatures and terminology so if you like horses then this is definitely a must-read. I found the tone and world to be less grim than the previous stories and it is not a bad thing.

“There’s nothing wrong with being limited, as long as you have people around to make sure those limitations don’t get you hurt.”

Summary: I enjoyed reading Across the Green Grass Fields because it was addicting and simple yet have important reps and messages. The writing is good, the characters are fun to read and the plot is not bad (I wanted a but more toward the ending though). Still recommend for fans of horses and fans of the series!

[Elle (ellexamines) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Destiny wasn’t real. Destiny was for people like Laura, who could pin everything they had to an idea that the world was supposed to work in a certain way, and refuse to let it change. If these people said her destiny was to see the queen, she would prove them wrong. She wasn’t their chosen one. She was just Regan, and as Regan, she ran.

This is the first book I have finished all semester not for class, and while it was certainly very readable, I feel as if this tread some of the same ground earlier novellas trod (and better). This was missing both a sense of originality, and the characters I loved so much from earlier novellas. This is definitely the most disappointed I’ve felt by any book in this series.

Across the Green Grass is not a bad book. Seanan McGuire’s writing style really does work for me most of the time, and it's 160 pages, so I had fun anyway. The ending twist is interesting. I loved Gristle, the Kelpie, and Chickory & Pansy, the centaurs.

As this series has done stories of girls who don’t quite fit, I think this is... just fine. McGuire is clearly infatuated with girls who are just a bit wrong for what is expected by their gender, and those kinds of stories tend to resonate with me as well. This one is satisfying enough.

In general, though, this felt a bit… well, lacking? I think where this series has ended up succeeding for me is in the dynamics between recurring characters, and the fact that several characters get to grow in various ways in one short novella. Often each subsequent narrator is someone we already know, but wanted more from. Here, we have an all-new character to start rooting for, and no characters we know from earlier books. I really missed the presence and character development of other narrators.

I guess I feel like I just don’t care very much about this book either way. I don’t think this particular book made an argument for why it should exist.

Verdict? If you’re reading this series for fun little stories about people who don’t quite fit, you’ll probably like this. If you’re reading this series for the characters who already exist, you’ll probably be a bit bored. I’m hoping the next book goes back to our old characters.

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[Boston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never not be amazed at Seanan McGuire’s ability to put years of a life into a 150 page book and not make it feel rushed at all. From worldbuilding to character depth to meaningful conversations, Across the Green Grass Fields is just as adventurous and fun as the rest of the books.

[Tina (Trying to Catch Up) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Young Adult Fantasy, and this is the 6st book in the Wayward Children series. This book is said to be a standalone, so you do not have to read then other 5 books in the series before reading this book. I have read all five other books in this series before reading this book. This book I was really looking forward to because I loved the other books in this series. I found this book fall short of the other books. I really hated the ending. I also saw the big twist way before it was reveal. The characters where good. I enjoyed this world, but the was parts of the world that needed to be more developed. I have to say this book disappointed me, but maybe I would have loved it more if I did not read the other five books in this series. I also found the ending to be a let down.

[April (Aprilius Maximus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.) Every Heart A Doorway ★★★★
2.) Down Among The Sticks and Bones ★★★★.5
3.) Beneath The Sugar Sky ★★★★.5
4.) In An Absent Dream ★★★.5
5.) Come Tumbling Down ★★★★
6.) Across the Green Grass Fields ★★★★

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"She still didn’t believe in destiny. Clay shaped into a cup was not always destined to become a drinking vessel’ it was simply shaped by someone too large to be resisted. She was not clay, but she had been shaped by her circumstances all the same, not directed by any destiny."

representation: intersex MC.

[trigger warnings are listed at the bottom of this review and may contain spoilers]

★★★★

This wasn't my favourite in the series, but it definitely wasn't my least favourite either! I'm not a horse girl and never have been but that didn't stop me from loving The Hooflands and all of its interesting creatures such as centaurs and unicorns! It was also refreshing to read about an intersex main character because let's be real, intersex people are severely underrepresented in books.
In this book, we follow Regan as she finds out that she's intersex and that's why she isn't going through puberty like her friends. She finally confides in her best friend but is deeply hurt when she immediately calls her a boy and yells at her to get away from her. So she runs and stumbles across a door and of course, she goes through and finds herself fitting in with a herd of wonderful centaurs who raise her like one of their own. Things change though when the Queen of the Hooflands demands to see her and even attempts to kidnap her and take her away from her new found family.

As per usual, Seanan McGuire's writing is just otherworldly. No one else writes like her and you can immediately tell whenever you pick up one of her books that it's one of hers due to her distinct writing style. It's also so impressive how she manages to flesh out characters and worlds in so few pages. So while I really enjoyed this one, the ending was a little bit anti-climactic for me and therefore wasn't 5 star worthy, but it was still a wonderful read, even if we (unfortunately) don't see any of our favourite characters from the previous books. I can't wait for the next one!

trigger warnings: snakes and snake bites, fantasy violence, bullying, interphobia, kidnapping.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the review copy!

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

proof that horse people are actually pretty cool

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

3ish stars.

My least favorite entry in the series so far. I didn’t connect with the rando protagonist (although I loved her centaur family), and overall I thought the writing and the plot were pretty mediocre. Still, it’s a Wayward Children book and it has merit as such. And I liked the reveal at the end.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this isn't my favorite book in the Wayward Children series, built upon misfits who escape into the worlds that are *just right* for them, I definitely have no issues with either the characters or the realm.

I mean, who doesn't want to slap a unicorn that tries to eat my mattress? Plus, they're great EATIN'.

The great opening to the book sits us firmly in the middle path where we deal with everyday bullying that really comes from those who should have been our best friends. Being socially awkward and just a little different is a subject that appeals to most people, too. There's a nod to intersex, but it is NOT the main core of the story. Growing up is, and learning to love is, more. Of course, loving doesn't have to be a who. It can also be your life.

Nice, but not that hard-hitting. Like I said, I was much more impressed with the prior ones.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has become a tradition for me to read the newest volume of this series in January of any given year and I'm hoping it will remain that way for a long time to come, because this series is AWESOME!

This 6th volume features an as-yet unknown 10-year-old girl called Regan that eventually has difficulty in school thanks to children (especially girls) being incredibly cruel. Regan is a person who tries almost militantly to be mundane in order to fit in. Eventually, that no longer works.
So she runs. Until she ends up in front of a door with the familiar instruction to "be sure".

She goes through - and is not seen again in her birth world until 6 years later (not a spoiler).
What she finds on the other side of the door is a splendid world inhabited by all kinds of equines - from unicorns and centaurs on sprawling grasslands to kelpies in the water. Her adventures are what this book is all about.

Well, almost what the book is "all" about. As usual, the author uses a tale full of fantastical creatures to talk about being different, about growing up and making sense of the world around you. No, you don't need to be "special" (at least not in my opinion), but if you are, it's also not a disadvantage.
Therefore, it was especially uncomfortable to read the first few chapters in Regan's birth world and see the damage the other girls (and even Regan herself, to some extent) caused. However, grievances exist in the world and can only be resolved when being pointed to, addressed and, well, resolved. And this is what the author is trying to do, I think. She's doing a pretty good job of it, too.

The writing style has been top notch from the start and hasn't let up since. I was once again emotionally involved to an almost ridiculous level and kept marvelling at but also dispairing of all the things Regan saw and had to live through.
The audiobooks had different narrators, with the author herself having read two of the stories while Michelle Dockrey read one and Cynthia Hopkins two others; Annamarie Carlson, the woman reading this one, was new but also did a very good job.

Definitely the most wonderful thing about this series, for me, is the worldbuilding and the different realms the Wayward Children are going to and coming back from. Of course, the characters themselves are wonderful as well, but the worlds are the main event for me. Here, we got grasslands so vivid, I could hear the wind in the blades of grass, see the gorgeous different shades of green and taste the fresh water.

Another great volume in one of my all-time favourite series.

P.S.: Rovina Cai did the illustrations again (love her work for this series).

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, because it is impossible to not like Wayward children books but I felt that the adventure was really tame. This was advertised as a great way to get new readers into the series and I don’t fully like that - this is the sixth book, most of us are reading it because we are commited to the series. So it felt a bit strange that this was not connected to the other books like the others - but maybe it will tie in to future books later. The usual found family, feminist prose and great LGBTQIA+ rep was perfect as it always is in this series. The twist was different from what we have seen before, but I guess there are no two books that are the same in this series. Excited to see how the series continues, I will be waiting next January as usual!


2021.01.12
I grabbed the digital release in pre-order :) I am really looking forward to reading and savouring this! I am not a horse girl and never have been, but I am looking forward to Seanan’s prose and another Wayward Children quest. Review to follow once I finish, and my goal for this year is to grab an ARC of the next book so I will probably end up re-reading and reviewing the other books in the series as well.

2020.02.10
Is this a new character? I don't remember her.
I'm always happy to find a new book in this series, but I'm always hoping to finally get a book about Kade.

[rachel, x · Rating 4 out of 5]

#1) Every Heart a Doorway ★★★★★
#2) Down Among the Sticks and Bones ★★★★★
#3) Beneath the Sugar Sky ★★★★★
#4) In an Absent Dream ★★★☆☆
#5) Come Tumbling Down ★★★★☆
#7) Where the Drowned Girls Go ★★★★☆

➸ Trigger warnings for interphobia, coming out themes, bullying, kidnapping, murder discussed, and minor blood & physical injuries depiction.

▷ Representation: Regan (mc) is intersex.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • Twitter • Instagram

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across the Green Grass Fields is another fantastic installment in the Wayward Children series, and a good entry point if you haven't tried the books before! This one is the backstory of Regan, a young girl who opens a door to another world- the Hooflands, populated by centaurs, unicorns, and other hooved animals. It's incredibly well-paced with a story arc that addresses difference and acceptance (as do many of McGuire's books).

Regan ends up in the Hooflands after finding out she was born intersex and has a friend be nasty about that revelation. While there she learns how to be a good friend and becomes comfortable in her own skin. Part of what happens in this other world is really about seeing the personhood in everyone, not just those who are the same as you. It's a beautiful, engaging story and among my favorite entries. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Across the Green Grass Fields is another fun book in the Wayward Children series. It's a stand-alone novel and I missed revisiting some of the characters from previous books. This time we visit a new world, the Hooflands. While the story is cute and somewhat engrossing, I didn't feel like the story lived up to its potential. I never truly felt "there" and I didn't care all that much about Regan, the MC.

Maybe I'm just losing interest in this series, or maybe it's time it comes to an end. Or maybe the author just lost a little of her magic with this one and she'll find it again in the next world she visits. I'll be hoping for the latter.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 4 out of 5]

CW: Bullying and slurs against intersex child

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

Well, I feel like this wasn't quite as engaging as the other books but I have yet to pinpoint exactly why. The Quest felt a little bit forced, a little non-eventful and even a little bit rushed. This, more than any of the other books, felt like I was reading an extended nursery rhyme. However, I did love Regan by the end of the novel and I am utterly fascinated with where Seanan is taking this series. The children are all so unique, diverse, and utterly loveable.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book pretty much had me in the bag as soon as we found out the magical world is called "the Hooflands." Unicorns? Yes. Centaurs? Yes gawd. This really is a fantasy for the inner horse girl in my heart, plus we get intersex rep to boot. I think this will be a crowd pleaser for all those who love this series, and I personally was jazzed to see the pacing set just right, which has been my main issue with the previous books.

[Katie Colson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading Vlog/Review: https://youtu.be/wgOrTa2sHBQ

!PRECURSOR! I'm sorry. I adore Seanan McGuire and this series. Not trying to shit on either without cause.

Why was this written? I can't understand.
We waited a year for this?
It doesn't serve the plot in any way I can see.
I get that they're novellas and that they follow different times and different characters basically in each one. But this character seemed...pointless? I really don't want her to show up in upcoming stories.
I much prefer the group settings. With Cora, who I am similarly bored by, at least we got other more intriguing character to round out the story.
I thought In An Absent Dream was a good off shoot because we already like and care for Lundy. But even that felt like a waste of time.
I will continue reading this series no matter which books are disappointments because when one is a success, it is a MASSIVE SUCCESS. Still recommend the series, just not this one.

[Julie Zantopoulos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of the Wayward Children series that I am not giving a five stars to. It's not that I didn't appreciate the themes being discussed, but the book felt rushed, and lacking compared to the rest of the books. I appreciate the diversity, as always, but I didn't connect with the characters the way I usually do. I have my favorite storylines and characters and it was okay that this didn't follow a known student (I knew it wouldn't) but I don't really care for equine themes and I found myself not being as immersed in the world or the creatures. It was still whimsical, but the themes she discussed ended up being a little less advanced and intricately woven than I've come to expect, though I appreciate the inclusion of intersex characters. Not a favorite but I will, of course, continue with the series.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Across the Green Grass Fields is the sixth book in the Wayward Children's series, which follows various children as they travel to or from a magical land via a door or some kind of entrance way. The worlds the children go to are never idyllic (in fact some are down right terrifying), never without their own troubles - yet they are the perfect place for the chosen child.

This installment is a great entrance point to new readers of the series as we follow Regan into the Hooflands, a world filled with different magical horse type creatures. Here, they become embroiled in the political machinations of an omnipotent queen, while finding a new family in a group of centaurs. We have themes of destiny, finding your own path, self acceptance and the importance of kindness and listening to people who are different to the societal norm.

All in all, I actually really enjoyed this. It has a different tone to the other books (perhaps with the exception of In an Absent Dream), preferring to follow one child and with no mention of any previous characters. The world is very logical too, reliant on rules and hiarachy and the descrimination of those that don't fit in. I really liked the side characters Gristle and Zephyr too (although they were woefully underused). The plot, as is expected for such a short book, fast paced and to the point. There's no time for second guessings and pondering on this adventure, and I liked the overall message of forging your own path.

I really hope Regan shows up in future books. Their journey was rather poignant to read about, and has a lot of scope for future storylines. I just love the inclusive feel of these books.

[Eilonwy · Rating 3 out of 5]

11-year-old Regan has just had the worst day of her life, between being told a life-changing piece of information about herself by her parents the evening before, and then being rejected by her best friend at school when she shared the news. So when a doorway appears before her with the words “Be Sure” entwined in the twigs above it, Regan has no doubt. The Hooflands is a wonderful place to grow into one’s teens when you’re the only human and can’t be compared to anyone. It would be even more wonderful if a requirement to Save the World wasn’t hanging over your head.

Seanan McGuire has a lot of axes to grind, and each of these Wayward Children books seems to grind one or more of them. This one opens with a peeve of mine, which is the tendency of so many adults, when presented with conflict between children, to abdicate the situation and insist that the children “work it out among yourselves.” Because conflict resolution between people who have never been taught conflict resolution works so well. Did any of us actually learn to make any situation better when we were 7-year-olds, trying to work out various difficulties for the first time ever in our short little lives? If we did, it was probably by accident. And then when no one teaches us conflict resolution, we grow up to become adults who feel helpless in the face of fighting children, so because we don’t know what to tell them that would be actually useful, we tell them to work it out themselves, and on goes yet another generation of cruelty, ostracism, and physical violence.

As a result of the conflict presented early in this book, Regan’s friend Heather is cut out socially and remains an outcast through the entirety of elementary and middle school. I could not shake my conviction throughout this story that it was Heather who needed that Doorway far more than Regan did. I also couldn't understand Laurel's obsession that girls have to be girly-girls in all ways, but I was more of a Heather as a child, complete with the shunning, so what do I know.

Bu nevertheless, it is Regan who gets to escape. And again I was disappointed. Regan is horse crazy, so the Hooflands, where most of the population is an equine of some sort (centaur, unicorn, kelpie, hippogriff, etc.) or at least hooved (satyrs, perytons) seems the ideal place for her. But when I was a horse-crazy child, I didn’t just love horses — I desperately wanted to be one. Horses are by definition beautiful and graceful, and they are also strong and fast. As a tween girl, I quickly figured out that the first two assets were strongly desirable, but not always attainable, while the latter two started to be discouraged for girls. But horses get the whole package, and being a horse (but also a person) would have solved so many seemingly irreconcilable desires for me. So I found it personally frustrating that Regan stays entirely human, even if her human shape (and thumbs!) do turn out to be very useful to the centaur clan who become her family. (I was intrigued that Heather and Laurel in the real world had names that would have fit right into the centaur group, but Regan does not, but this never seems to be pertinent to the story in any important way.)

I found the worldbuilding in this book to be a little lacking, especially when it came to the unicorns. (They’re born with needle-sharp horns already. Which realistically makes birth next to impossible no matter how much centaur help they get, plus how do they nurse? There’s a reason almost all baby horned mammals in our world are born without horns. The only exception is giraffes, and their horns are flat against their heads at birth, and in a position that doesn’t interfere with nursing the way a unicorn horn as typically illustrated would.) I also found the ending to be lacking how did that human man pretend to be Queen Kagami all those years? What did he eat? Who emptied his chamber pot? At the end of the book, when he appears to be barely able to move, who is helping him if no one ever sees him? This just did not hold water for me at all as a plot.

The most interesting element of this book to me was that Regan meets a character who came through a Doorway but wasn’t happy about it at all. Up until this point, I’d believed that Doorways open only for people who need them, and guide those folks to the place they truly belong. But now it turns out that Doorways can be utter mistakes, as well.

Last comment, the plot is pretty leisurely for such a short book, but it didn't drag too badly.

So as usual with this series, I find this book full of food for thought, but also problematic. Honestly, if these weren’t novellas, I probably wouldn’t keep reading them, but since they’re so short, I’m willing to keep looking for more gems.