"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-winning 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...

A standalone Wayward Children story containing all-new characters, and a great jumping-on point for new readers."

A great "jumping-on point" but if you are smart enough to subscribe to the Tor newsletter around Thanksgiving they gave free copies of all the previous volumes for your e-reader!

I may have a new favorite in the Wayward Children series! As most of these books, it did have a bittersweet ending. I loved Regan and the Hooflands. (nah, Lundy is still my favorite)
As a typical little girl I loved horses and unicorns. As a teenager, I rode and showed horses. This book brought me back to my childhood. Of all the worlds in this series, the Hooflands is where I would like to go.
These books are short. I  wish they were much longer. What this installment is a little lacking in is a bit more character development and world building. While I loved this book, it felt a little rushed; I mean, the quest was only about a chapter long. Though that may be exactly the point of the book, with its take on destiny and heroes. I really want to know more about the culture of the creatures in this world.  There is so much more to explore here.
I hope Regan shows up at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children and we get to go back to the Hooflands. I really want that door to reopen..

Seanan McGuire has done it again, I discovered her first book in the series a couple of years ago and each of hers that I pick up, I cannot put down. Seanan paints such a magical world that I can't help but get fully absorbed in. The main characters are always so endearing and sweet and the author handles each of their challenges in such a way my hear aches for them and I cheer them on in their journey. I'm always a little conflicted when the door closes on another story, but hopeful the next will be just as charming.

Highlights
~A friend who won’t let you pet snakes is no friend at all
~Unicorns are Very Beautiful, Very Dumb, and Very Tasty
~Centaurs are a girl’s best friend
~Thumbs are a superpower
~Santa cannot leave candy in horseshoes
~We could have avoided all of this if you’d just given your kid a day off from school

That’s it, pack it up, everyone else can go home. Seanan just won 2021, and we haven’t even gotten past January. Talk about setting the bar high for the rest of the year!

(…There’s a dressage joke in their somewhere, but I don’t know enough about horses to put it together. Ah, well. Pretend I did!)

Across the Green Grass Fields is equally welcoming to long-time readers of the series, and those who have never picked up a Waryward Children book before; it stands alone perfectly. And as ever, it’s incredible how much awesomeness McGuire managed to pack into so few pages.

‘Children are people, actually’ and ‘there’s no one way to be a girl’ are both big themes in McGuire’s books, and Across the Green Grass Fields incorporates both. At the beginning of the book, poor Regan has spent most of her ten years of life squeezed into the tiny box of her ‘best friend’s’ ideas about what a girl should and should not be – and do, and like. (Insert some wryly hilarious commentary on how Regan’s love of horses is considered perfectly acceptable for a girl…despite how big, smelly, and potentially dangerous they can be. It’s the kind of thing McGuire does so well; neatly highlighting the paradoxes in our societal programming and holding them under a microscope for us to take a good long look at.) When Regan discovers that she’s intersex, the box finally shatters, and she runs away – and ends up in the Hooflands, a world populated not just by centaurs and unicorns, but hippogryphs and perytons and kelpies too; every magical creature you can think of and plenty you can’t, so long as it has hooves! Here, humans are harbingers of disaster, but despite that, Regan is welcomed, loved, and functionally adopted by the centaur herd who find her.

All the Wayward Children books are about finding your true home; that’s what the Doors do (but possibly not what they’re for. We may never know what they’re for, and I’m okay with that). But it’s not just Regan’s love of horses that makes the Hooflands home for her; in being the only human in that world, no one thinks she’s strange for getting taller but not curvier – it seems like she won’t go through puberty without hormone treatments, but that’s okay, and it’s okay in a way it might not have been if she’d stayed in our world. In the Hooflands, there’s no one to compare herself to and be found lacking; there are no societal beauty standards, no peer pressure, no labels. No confusing Wikipedia articles! She’s just…human.

And there’s no wrong way to be that.

We don’t know a lot of specific details about the journeys of most of the series’ characters through their own Doors; how old they were when they went, how long they stayed. Regan finds the Hooflands when she’s ten, which is alarmingly young considering that she’s supposed to save it from something terrible. But she doesn’t have to save the world at ten. It’s okay. She gets to just be.

For a while.

The Hooflands is pretty idyllic for Regan, but it’s never that simple with McGuire. There are all kinds of prejudices among the different species, and even the creatures Regan is told are mindless monsters…maybe aren’t, actually. And that’s a hard thing to wrap your head around as an adult, but it’s hard for kids, too; learning that even the people you love, who love you, aren’t perfect. It’s hard not to compare Regan’s human parents with her centaur family: both love her dearly just as she is, and support her the best way they know how, but they’re still flawed. They make mistakes. They don’t always understand. The truths they tell her are perhaps not the only truths, or not true at all.

It doesn’t make them less loving. It’s just that they’re mortal, and therefore imperfect. That’s a hard moment, when you realise that as a kid, but McGuire has never pretended that being a child is easy, and never flinched away from portraying those hard moments, reminding us of them. Children are people too, and those of us who aren’t children anymore really need to remember that. Too many of us forget.

Another thing we should remember: It’s the ones Regan’s been taught are monsters who turn out to be people. And it’s the ones who are supposed to be people who are, in the end, the very worst of the monsters.

The worldbuilding is a delight; I will never stop being impressed with the sheer diversity of the magical creatures in McGuire’s books. Most people know what a centaur is, I think; far fewer will recognise the Hoofland’s perytons. We even get a creature I’d never heard of before! I’m a hardcore folklore fan, okay; I do not encounter magical creatures I don’t know very often – unless an author has created their own, obviously. So it delights me when I get to discover a new one! I use this to illustrate just how well McGuire knows her myths, that she can draw on so many, but she passes all of it through her own filter of awesome and creates so much that is wholly and uniquely her own. The Hooflands is purely her own creation, and it’s a marvelous one; I especially loved the details of centaur courtship, and finally getting an answer on how baby centaurs work! All the delights, though, are woven through with McGuire’s signature wry, half-dark humour; unicorns aren’t very magical in the Hooflands…but they sure are delicious when barbecued! And that’s just so hilariously-horrifyingly typical of McGuire’s spin on the fantastical.

Equally typical is what Across the Green Grass Fields has to say about chosen ones, and how they’re made – but that’s something you really need to read about for yourselves.

Tl;dr: another beautiful, brutal, and powerful instalment in a series that really ought to be mandatory reading by now. It’s out tomorrow, and you really mustn’t miss it!

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.

I have read the first three books in the Wayward Children series and I completely adored them! Obviously I was exited to get to Across the Green Grass Fields. Yes, I haven’t yet read the fourth or fifth book in this series but it didn’t matter as this story can stand on it’s own. (Though I do need to get around to the other books soon.)

Seanan McGuire’s writing in the Wayward Children series is gorgeous. I always end up pulled into it from a few sentences. I’m not great when it comes to describing writing styles, all I can say that I love the way McGuire writes and I need to read more books by them. An interesting aspect of this series is the fact that the worlds change with each book, which makes exploring these stories all the more fun. The world in Across the Green Grass Fields was very interesting, I adored how everything was “horse themed”. I was intrigued by all the different beings in this world and I wanted to learn more about everything.

Another interesting aspect of this novella is the fact that we get to see Regan, the main character, from when she was ten to sixteen (if I’m not mistaken with the numbers). It was amazing getting to see Regan’s thoughts and personality throughout the years, especially since she spends all that time in a fantasy setting. Regan’s new adopted family was interesting as well, I enjoyed learning more about them and their relationships with each other and the world that they inhabit. There were two characters that were introduced towards the end of the story that I was curious about, but we didn’t get all that much from them. Which is to be expected from such a short book.

The story was an interesting one. In some ways it felt like a quiet one, since a lot of it is focused on Regan growing up and learning about the new world. Not saying that nothing exiting happens, far from it. This story just felt like it didn’t have the highest stakes, which isn’t a negative it’s actually something I really enjoyed about it. The ending did leave me a bit unsatisfied. I just wanted a little more from it, I wish that McGuire wrote one more chapter for this story. Other than that I really have no complains about this story.

Overall, Across the Green Grass Fields was a fantastic book. The world is fantastic, the characters interesting and the writing gorgeous. What more could I ask for? Obviously I recommend this book to everyone. I’m so glad that this was the first book that I read in 2021.

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
Available Now

Seanan McGuire is back with another installment in the Wayward Children series. In this stand alone novella, Regan discovers a doorway leading to the Hooflands after facing a devastating betrayal by her best friend. In a world inhabited by centaurs and unicorns, Regan’s appearance can only mean that something big is going to happen as humans are seen as true heroes and must begin their heroic journey immediately. But as time goes on, Regan convinces her new centaur family that she isn’t a hero, merely a young girl who wants to be accepted for who she is and to find a place where she truly belongs. 
This novella truly can be read without any knowledge of the previous installments in the series, though all of the books are definitely worth reading. Like the other books in this series, McGuire takes great care to create relationships between characters that are loving, kind, and accepting. Regan learns from her parents that she is intersex after an emotional discussion about her lack of physical development as compared to her friends. Her parents are incredibly honest and supportive in answering Regan’s questions and remind her repeatedly that she is perfect as she is. In the Hooflands, Regan learns that unicorns are silly creatures that need constant attention from their farmers, the centaurs and this information is a delight to watch unfold. The world building is incredibly well done and I loved the support and love found among the cast of characters. 
Perfect for young adult fantasy readers, this is a wonderful invitation to pick up this amazing series. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

The Wayward Children series was one of my favorite discoveries of 2020, so I was thrilled to get my hands on a an advance copy of the latest book. Across the Green Grass Fields is the sixth novella in this portal fantasy series, and would make a great jumping in point. Each novella can be read on its own or as part of the whole, and follows different characters — some focus on the discovery of another world, while some focus on the aftermath of the return to our world. Across the Green Grass Fields is the former. It follows Reagan, a self professed horse girl, as she struggles with her intersex identity and what it means to to be feminine. I love what Seanan McGuire does in these books, and the way she is able to pack an emotional punch while addressing social issues in under 200 pages — and make it look effortless! I’m already looking forward to the next in the series!

Regan had to deal with a lot of drama at school before she fell through a portal that told her to "be sure." She winds up in a world of magical equines that expects humans to step up and be heroes. While with the herd, Regan learns that there are different kinds of bravery, and not all quests are what they seem.

Across the Green Grass Fields is the sixth book of the Wayward Children series, but is a standalone novel with new characters. New readers to the series can jump in here and not worry about a cast of characters they don't recognize. With our first introduction to Regan explaining she was as perfectly normal as physical exams at age 7, we know something is going to be off. She's so determined to remain the best friend of the local Mean Girl Laurel that she will ostracize those that Laurel wants to exclude and will do all of the performative feminine things that Laurel approves of. Laurel has very fixed ideas of what is a proper girl and liking snakes or bugs or excessive physical activity sets her off. Regan finding out she is genetically XY with androgen insensitivity, a very real condition leading to intersex children, means that Laurel has more than enough ammunition to exclude Regan and publicly shame her. Laurel is essentially a TERF, doing more harm to girls that don't fit her narrow view of biology and gender roles.

Regan is a Horse Girl, loving to ride and care for them. Tumbling into a world of centaurs taking care of unicorns is perfect for her. We spend more time in the beginning of the book getting to know her and the world, seeing her grow into herself. She doesn't believe in Destiny, and the family she creates protects her as much as she protects them. It's a wonderful thing to see because this family is one of choice and love, not appearance and behaving as others feel she should be, which is the world that Laurel represents. She still loves her parents, and it was never a question of her leaving them deliberately or trying to hurt them, which we sometimes see in portal fantasies. When she does meet her Destiny (not a spoiler to say that she does, it's the way of these kinds of fantasy novels), she takes this into consideration. She has come to love Hoofland, nature, and cooperation, and these are the lessons she had learned as she grew into herself. I enjoyed seeing that side of her really come to the fore, and for her to be sure about who she was, even if she didn't know much else. Books like this are exactly why Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors.

You know, at this point I am just so in love with every installment in this series.

Across the Green Grass Fields is another beautiful story in Wayward Children! I loved that there is an intersex character here and it just amazed me how this book showed us that there's no one way to be a girl, that we don't have to conform to everything—especially when it comes to gender identity and expression. I do wish it was tackled more though, and that I wish we could have seen the main character Regan truly embrace herself and tell others off (*cough* Laurel *cough*).

The world-building and the writing style, of course, was amazing. (What more did I expect, really)

"We can't stand here all day and expect the world to come to us."

I also loved that plot twist in the end, as well as the little yet important lessons we're left with at the end of the story.

"We have always held the land above the one who rules it."

There was something so poetic and disturbing in that plot twist, and I guess this wouldn't be a Wayward Children book without its dark and whimsical atmosphere. I loved it, of course!

Another excellent addition to the Wayward Children series! Across the Green Grass Fields introduces a memorable lead character as well as a unique new world peopled by centaurs and unicorns. Utterly delightful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Seanan McGuire for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First I should say that I absolutely adore the Wayward Children books and will read them as long as the author writes them.  However, this was my least favorite and the one with the most flaws.

First, time advances way to quickly so that you are skipping over great spans of time.  Second, there are lots of unanswered questions in the end.  Third, the actions and conversations had by everyone are too sudden, too incongruous and strange.  I ended up really not caring about anyone.  The set up was a bit long for such a short book and the ending was abrupt and solved nothing, leaving me very unsatisfied by the whole thing.

This is written like a short story that McGuire wrote without putting much thought into it.  It suffers from a lack of interaction with the school and the other wayward children, and also from the story not being fully developed.  If this was a longer book and had been fully fleshed out it would have been much better.

As someone who has read almost every Seanan McGuire title written (I'm not up to date on the Incryptid series) I felt like I sort of knew what I would be getting. The Wayward Children books have always been remarkable, beautiful stories. Every child on the verge of adolescence has felt like a stranger in their own bodies, and in the world around them. The characters in McGuire's books have all managed to find that place where they truly belong. That so many of them have lost their way to their "true" home is just as much a part of growing up. I am reminded of Susan in the Narnia books, who grew to old, too adult, to be allowed back. 

Regan, in Across the Green Grass Fields is a beautiful example of someone who doesn't quite fit, and a perfect representative LGBTIA character. Rarely is an intersex character given centre stage, and rarely has an author touched so gently, and beautifully on how identity, change, growth, and self worth are so much a part of what surrounds us. The delicacy with which McGuire shows us, and her protagonist what personhood really means is astonishing.
Beautifully bittersweet, I could have stayed in the Hooflands with Regan and her centaur family for much longer, but at the same time, the ending was perfect exactly the way it was. Tears and all

Always excited for a new volume in this series and consistently so impressed by McGuire’s phenomenal attention to great representation (this time with a main character with AIS).

Beautiful coming-of-age story about self-acceptance, identity, friendship, family, power, and equality. This reads as a perfectly executed update to 20th century escapist children's fantasy in how the story acknowledges various perspectives and calls out exploitative, colonialist actions. It can be read as a standalone or as a continuation of McGuire's wayward children series.

There are not enough stars to give this book its due. There are also not nearly enough pages!!!  Wayward Children books are the best part of a new year, and I am heartbroken it will be a full year before I get the next one.

Beautiful rep. The dire importance of chosen family. Reality as written differently for different people. Power dynamics.  AAAAAAAHHHH! I love it so much.

A fantastic addition to the Wayward Children series! I really enjoyed Regan's journey to become and accepting herself in the Hooflands. I'm not going to lie the ending was slightly devastating. I can't wait to read the next books in the series!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Horse people, this is the story for you. After a close friend betrays Regan's trust, she runs into the woods and discovers a door reading "Be Sure." Through that door Regan finds the Hooflands, home to all manner of equestrians including centaurs, kelpies, and unicorns. This entry in McGuire's Wayward Children series is delightful and diverse, possibly my favorite of the series so far.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this novella.

The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is one of my favourite series ever, so when I saw book 6 on NG I instantly hit request. 

This novella follows Regan, after finding out that she’s intersex and being betrayed by someone she thought was a friend, Regan feels lost and confused when she stumbles upon a magical door. 

As always, the writing was superb, I was instantly mesmerised by the world Regan discovers, and while it wasn’t really my thing, I could appreciate it regardless. 

This novel also weaves in discussions around toxic friendships, finding your place in the world, found family and discovering that there is no right or wrong way to be who you are. 

This does have a very ambiguous ending which I wasn’t a fan of, though I know a lot of people will love. And while I was a little bored in places, overall I loved being back in this wonderful world with new characters and I can’t wait for the next book!

I love the Wayward Children series, and the latest installment, ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS, is no exception. Here are 3 reasons to read it:

1.) One word: Centaurs. When Regan, a horse loving young girl, is transported to a world of centaurs, she's finally found a place she belongs. I've read plenty of fantasy books where centaurs are mentioned and maybe one or two where a minor character is a centaur. In ACROSS GREEN GRASS FIELDS, we get to see a whole world of centaurs and what their lives are like in the Hooflands. It's creative and mesmerizing.

2.) This is a perfect stepping point into the series. The Wayward Children series follows a pattern of past and present in the book releases. The first book takes place in the present, focusing on a school for wayward children who have returned from portal worlds. The second book provides the background of a character, telling the story of their own journey into their portal world, and the series continues alternating. In the first 5 books, you meet new characters, but the central group is largely the same. In ACROSS GREEN GRASS FIELDS, you get the background of a new-to-the-series character, Regan. It is likely she will meet the central group in book 7, but for book 6, you don't have to have any prior knowledge of the series going in. It's a great introduction if you want to see if you would like the series and want to commit to reading the prior books (it should be noted that each book is a novella, so the books aren't terribly long).

3.) The themes of found family and belonging- While growing up, Regan is desperate to fit in. She sees what it's like when you don't fit a very specific mold of what a 'girl' should be, and it scares her. The only time she feels truly comfortable and herself is when she is with horses. There is so much beauty when she crosses world and finds a place to belong. Ironically, in the Hooflands, humans are rare and singled out, yet it is in that space where she finds a family who treats her with respect and love, as one of their own. I loved her adventures and the way she grew into herself in her new home.