Across the Green Grass Fields
Ratings104
Average rating3.8
Far better than the last book, which was wholly unnecessary and not good at all. The main problem with this one is that the hero's journey happens in, like, the last twenty or so pages of the book. We are briefly introduced to two companions on the hero's journey but given no time to really bond much with them, especially the skinless dear one. It's all very anticlimactic, which has been a problem for a good chunk of the series. The journey needs to be built up so much more than in this book.
That being said, I enjoyed more than some of the others, most notably the Jack & Jill second book, which was actually bad.
There are lovely paragraphs and some real potential, but the series isn't taking the time and care that it did in especially the first two books. I wanted more of everything in this one, because what I DID get, I mostly enjoyed. It all just needed to be developed more.
I'm not really into horses, so this world wasn't my favorite. I did like the way the world worked and the secret that kept it going. That was a unique spin and it has kept me thinking about how that applies to my life.
I read Every Heart a Doorway for the first time last year and I wrote a review for it which you can read here. I did a reread of it this year and read the rest of the books that are currently out including the short stories. I read them back to back so they kind of all got scrambled in my brain so I thought I would just write a review on the series as a whole. These books are weird but in the best way. You definitely have to suspend disbelief but if you can do that I guarantee you will have fun with this series. I love how many worlds we get to learn about in this series. Some sound delightful and some no so much. I loved the characters some more than others of course. These are all novella length. For the most part I felt like we got a full story and I wasn't left feeling like I was missing something but at the same time I wanted more from each of the stories. Not because I felt like I was missing something I just wanted to know more about the characters and what happened after the ending of the book. We do get that answer for some of the characters in proceeding books so that was good. I've enjoyed each of the stories equally. I don't think I could pick a favorite but I do have favorite characters some of which I am still waiting on stories for so I hope those are coming. Overall I had fun reading these with Destiny and I can't wait for the next release.
This was another fine entry...kind of seems like a series of diminishing returns at this point? I still like it, but after really liking / loving the first four volumes, it's a little disappointing. I do like Regan quite a bit, and I LOVED Gristle, but it kind of felt like...meh? I dunno! 3 doofy unicorns out of 5.
I am just not a horsey girl. I love the way McGuire sees and builds her worlds and the beings that populate them, but this has been the low point of this series for me thus far.
The message was a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes. A sweet story though.
No, no, no...
It starts slowly. It feels as if maybe not as well thought out as the others. The door back... hurt.
I've pretty much forgotten this already but it was fine, all of these books are kind of the same but enjoyable enough reads
I really liked this one again. The story didn't go to fast and the ending was great. It was really made for horse girls though and since I am neither a girl nor loves horses it didn't do as much as it could have for me.
Regan was a great character, much better than fucking Cora, that bitch. The next one ks about her again so not excited, but liked this a lot
Even though this book doesn't feature Eleanor West's school for wayward children, it's of course still about a child who goes through a doorway to a magical realm like the others in the series. Regan loves horses, and her portal takes her to a world of centaurs and unicorns, where she tries to avoid her destiny as a hero and savior in favor of a life with a new family.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the other books in this series. I did like, however, how it talked about the importance of friendships and being polite
This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Across the Green Grass Fields
Like all the Wayward Children, Regan's door appears when she wants nothing more than to have a world where she is accepted for who she is. Unknowingly she enters and finds herself in the Hooflands. A world where equine creatures such as centaurs and unicorns are its inhabitants. With her love for horses, Regan feels at home as she settles in with a family of centaur herders. But all humans who enter the Hooflands are pulled by destiny to save it. And dark secrets are lurking in the land.
Across the Green Grass Fields is not as dark as previous Wayward Children books. But that doesn't mean the story isn't as good. The central theme of the series remains the same. Children find doors to other worlds when they feel they are no longer accepted in our world. What may throw a few readers is the brand new character, Regan, who is introduced. This one is set as a standalone novel, so none of the characters readers have come to know throughout the series will be present.
Seanan McGuire always tackles unique subjects in the Wayward Children series. This time Regan is put out by her friends after sharing a secret about herself. (To avoid spoilers, you'll have to read the book to find out what exactly that secret is.) And unfortunately, because Regan is different from the other girls, once this secret has been told, the whispers and mean gossip begins. Feeling ostracized she leaves school. And so the door to the Hooflands appears, allowing her into a world that will accept Regan for who she is despite her differences.
Each new story in the Wayward Children is as heartbreaking as it is captivating. The depth of imagination that goes into each new world is surprisingly detailed given the length of each book. This is one series I don't want to see come to an end. There are so many possibilities, so many different worlds that can be discovered. If you're looking for a quick read and enjoy fantasy, give this series a try.
5 stars ah! I think this might be my favourite one in the series as of now. Idk. I'd have to reread ‘In an Absent Dream' to be sure, but I love Regan and Chicori and the Hooflands
CAWPILE SCORE
C-7
A-8
W-8
P-7
I-7
L-7
E-7
TOTAL-7.29/10
another great book in the Wayward Children Series. Seanan McGuire is too skilled at making me feel sad but satisfied when I finish these books.
Regan's story was interesting and setup very well. loved the moral of the story or at least the moral that i pulled out of it.
I loved that this had Centaurs in it. I really love this series and I'm sad I binged it all in one month.
I enjoyed this one. It addresses a lot of interesting social problems. I think it's a good middle grade or teen read.
I really hope we discover, at some point, what becomes of Regan after this book, because she's brilliant and I want to know more. I do like this story, but it's so self-contained that it felt strange. I kept expecting threads trailing off some direction or another and there just weren't. I wish I'd had more time to get to know these characters.
I'll be honest: I'm downright angry about this book. My anger started around page 38 and never abated. You see, Seanan McGuire values representation. She does not apparently value correctly representing people. When the protagonist complained that she had not developed breasts and was short, I assumed we were getting some Turner Syndrome representation – you know, a syndrome, that results in delayed puberty and short stature. When instead, McGuire declared her protagonist to have CAIS (complete androgen insensitivity) I was confused. It had been a while since I'd taken my general genetics boards but it took me only 30 seconds on google to confirm: girls with CAIS have normal breast development and normal height velocity with a normal age of maximum height velocity (growth spurt). I kept reading – maybe the protagonist had a secret gonadectomy to explain those features? Maybe the mother was confused? But no explanation was forthcoming and it dawned on me: I don't think McGuire actually ever spoke to anyone with CAIS. And the more I thought about that, the more it upset me: McGuire refers to Regan multiple times as being “intersex,” a term that many women in the CAIS community don't use to refer to themselves. I had originally felt okay with Regan reclaiming the term, but the more I thought about McGuire using it with apparently no community input the less good I felt about it. And I thought about how McGuire portrays herself as a champion of diversity and the harm caused by tokenism rather than true representation. This is not doing it right. Do better. Talk to people with disorders of sexual development and ask how they'd like to be portrayed. At the very least, do a five minute google search. (Failing all of that, I once again offer my services as a professional geneticist who will fact-check speculative fiction for the low cost of a free book.)
(I have other feelings about the book, but this really is the most important one.)
★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
Regan slowed again, suddenly eager for her journey to take as long as possible. Maybe that was why the shape in the nearby growth caught her eye, and she stopped abruptly, sending a pebble clattering into the creek as she cocked her head and blinked at what was surely a trick of the light.
Two trees had grown around each other, branches tangling and twisting like the wicker of a basket. They looped in and out of one another's embrace, until they formed what looked almost like a doorway. That was interesting, but not unique; branches often grew together, and the shapes they made in the process could be remarkably architectural. She'd seen castles in the trees when she was little, castles and dragons and all manner of fabulous things.
But she'd never seen a doorway before.
ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS
excited
...and there were people. Centaurs like the ones Regan knew. More delicate centaurs with the lower bodies of graceful deer and the spreading antlers to match. Satyrs and fauns and minotaurs and bipeds with human torsos but equine legs and haunches, like centaurs that had been clipped nearly in half. It was a wider variety of hooved humanity that Regan could have imagined.
ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS
It had been more than five years since Regan ran away from school on purpose and ran away from home by mistake.
ABC After School Special
* Readers of a certain age might want to consult with a parent to fully understand that reference
Across the Green Grass Fields
The Wayward Children
I think every series has its “waiting room” books or episodes where the author kind of plays around in the world without really moving the main plot forward. Here we get a stand alone story of Regan and her horsey world. Cue My Little Pony. Is it good? Sure, everything McGuire writes is good. Does it give us cameos of our favorite characters from the series (Christopher FOREVER!), no.
As I listened to this on audio, and it was a mere 4 hours long, I was just grateful to go through a portal and learn about a world unlike my own.
This is a deeply meaningful, beautifully written book. It is a complete story that stands alone. Everyone should read it.
Written in the form of a rather poetic children's book, this is on one level, the story of a child who finds a door in the a forest and steps through to another world. On another level this is a story of what identity means, and the fundamental wrongness of labeling people, dictating expected behaviour by those labels and how society inherently punishes those who do not fit expectations.
Again, this is a beautifully written fable for today. Everyone should read it.
Pros: great characters, excellent world-building
Cons: I'd have liked a longer epilogue
Ten year old Regan Lewis strives to be normal, so when she notices that puberty isn't hitting her like the other girls she starts asking questions. Walking home from school after a rough day of bad choices, she finds a strange door and stumbles into another world, a world populated by various equine races. Her presence means their world needs saving, but Regan doesn't believe in destiny, and doesn't want to be a hero.
This is the 6th book in the Wayward Children series, but is a complete standalone novella. Regan has not been in any of the other books and the story is completely self-contained.
I loved Regan as a character and enjoyed seeing her start to question the world and her place in it. I thought the Hooflands were wonderful, with a well developed culture between the various hooved races (which includes centaurs, kelpies, satyrs and more).
While I'd have liked a longer epilogue showing some of the fallout of Regan's adventure I understand why McGuire ended this novella where she did. It wraps up this particular story nicely, though I'm hopeful there's a follow-up novella that continues Regan's story.
The copy of the book I reviewed was an advance reader copy, so it didn't have the illustrations by Rovina Cai. I've seen a few of them on the Tor.com website (www.tor.com/2020/11/17/rovina-cai-illustrates-across-the-green-grass-fields-by-seanan-mcguire/) and they're quite nice and I can imagine they help add to the fairytale quality of the story.
If you love horses and character development, this one's for you.