I have been meaning to read books by this author for sometime and I recently received the previous Wayward Children ebooks via Tor.com. Since it was stated that you could read this one without having read the others I dove right in. I'll definitely be reading her books much more quickly. She is an amazing author. 
This story reminded me of authors I read as a child, Madeline L'Engle or C.S. Lewis. It also explores the topic of being intersex which is not frequently touched on in fictional stories. 
 The story is about a 10 year old young girl named Regan. She has a group of friends who seem to be maturing and developing much quicker than she is and so she asks her parents about it. They admit that she has an XY chromosome that makes her develop more slowly than other girls. Upset she tells her "supposed" best friend Laurel who shuns Regan and makes a huge scene about her being a boy. 
Devastated, Regan runs away from school through the woods to get home. There she finds a doorway where one should not be. When she enters she finds herself in a magical place known as the Hooflands. She finds solace with a herd of centaurs who take care of a herd of unicorns. There she will develop a family of friends who accept her as she is. 
This was a very quick and enjoyable read. Definitely recommend for fans of the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis or The Time Quintet by Madeline L'Engle.

Horses are kind of terrifying - they are very large and supremely intelligent. Seanan McGuire made me love these various species and root for each of them for their own reasons. Regan's adventure is warm and full of humanity, even as she is the only human inhabitant of the world in which she found herself.

Not “bad” (no Wayward Children novel is ever "bad"), but this particular addition to the series connected less, with me personLLY, than earlier additions. Regan’s story, while conceptually clever+fun, surrounds a mild plot & a quiet final confrontation. Still love the world + overall idea but not a fave. What I do continue to love is that Seanan brings real world hot button tops and treats them like they should be -- just as part of life. Like Regan intersex status -- once she leaves Earth, it is of no consequence. Who she is -- THAT is what matters. Seanan doesn't forget these lessons -- they're all part of the draw to her many worlds.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the 6th installment of the Wayward Children's series, but it really does stand well on its own and can serve as an entry point into the series for new readers. Frequently these books follow characters introduced in previous books of Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, but Regan is a brand new character. At a critical pre-teen age, Regan makes a discovery about her body that unfortunately alienates her from her best friend, and she is granted an escape through a magical door. She enters the Hooflands, where all sorts of hoofed creatures live-- from centaurs to unicorns to fauns. I was a bit of a horse girl myself as a child, so I always find myself enjoying "horse girl" books. I thought the world was very interesting and it was a nice mix of various hoofed creatures that each have their own characteristics and lifestyles. As a human teleported into the Hooflands, Regan is expected to accomplish a heroic task, so she is taken in and cared for by the first group of Centaurs that find her. Previous humans have always disappeared from the Hooflands after completing their task, so what will happen to Regan?

It has a lot of the same themes as previous Wayward Children books-- a misfit child discovering a world where they do fit in and are accepted for who they are. It plays off the fairy tale troupes as well while still being interesting to read. The ending did feel a little rushed; I would have liked a little bit more concrete of one for Regan and her place in each world. But it's still a short enjoyable read, and I did find myself relating a bit more to Regan than previous characters. Will recommend to fans of the series and to all horse girls looking for a place to fit in. :)

I have enjoyed every book in the Wayward Children series, but Across the Green Grass Fields is one of the best. I found Regan’s story to be captivating and charming. This installment was a little lighter than some of the other books in the series, but I think it gives perfect balance. Also, it’s great to see an intersex main character, something we see so rarely in literature.

[Review will be going live on my blog (at the link provided) on 12 January]

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire is the latest addition the the Wayward Children series. Like several Wayward Children books (but not the most recent few) it stands alone and just follows one child on her journey through a door to another world. You can read it first or last or in between. (If you want a bit more background on the setting, you can check out my review of Every Heart a Doorway, the first Wayward Children book, but it's not necessary to have read it first.)

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…

There are several themes explored in this book. First off, Regan is a horse-loving girl, so it is no surprise she ends up in a world full of magical horse-adjacent creatures like centaurs, unicorns, kelpies, and so forth. The reason she ends up there is a bit less common, from what we've seen in the other Wayward Children books. Regan does not come from an unhappy home, but inadvertently finds herself in a difficult social situation, which is what triggers the door. 

The other really interesting thing about Across the Green Grass Fields is the way in which it subverts the portal fantasy genre. Allusions to Narnia and the Wizard of Oz serve to emphasise how silly the child-as-chosen-hero narrative is. I won't spoil the ending, of course, but I found it extremely satisfying and sensible.

Overall, another excellent read from McGuire. I highly recommend this book to fans of the Wayward Children books and general fans of portal fantasy. As I said at the start, you needn't have read any other books in the series before picking this one up, so it's a perfectly good place to start.

4.5 / 5 stars 

First published: January 2021, Tor.com
Series: Wayward Children book 6 of 6 so far, but stands alone.
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Barring the first story in the series, all of the other Wayward Children novellas have been about already-established characters, and I say, “barring the first story,” because that’s the one that, well, established all the characters. While nearly all of the books could be read as standalones, they are so much richer when you have the foundation under your feet, and I can see why some may have been intimidated to just pick up and random book, knowing they might be missing some vital context.

So it was nice to see a story that really could be read as a 100% standalone, without characters from other stories making appearances, at least so far as I could tell. Regan’s story is one that could be picked up by somebody who’s heard good things about the Wayward Children series but who perhaps can’t get their hands on Every Heart a Doorway, but who still wants a glimpse into the kind of rich and compelling narrative these novellas hold without feeling lost or like they’re missing something.

Regan’s character is one that I think many people can empathize with to one degree or another. While in her mundane life, she tried hard to fit in, tried hard to fit into the boxes that other people dictated she should fit into in order to be ‘normal,’ even when doing so was a painful experience that cost her dearly. Only Regan didn’t quite fit into that box as well as she wanted, after receiving some news from her parents that on a biochemical level, she wasn’t quite like the other girls she knew. A moment of betrayal in telling the person she thought was her best friend, the one she’d worked so hard to please and be liked by, and Regan’s life began to spiral in directions that ultimately led her through a mysterious door and into the Hooflands, where she meets centaurs and unicorns and all manner of fantastical beings, all with hoofed feet. It’s there that Regan not only finds herself and finds acceptance, but also where she, as the world’s designated newly-arrived human, she discovers that she has a grand destiny to fulfill.

Honestly, I could spend years reading about the Hooflands and be quite happy to do so. The world that McGuire sets up in complex and real, with distinct cultures and geography and mythology and prejudice, and it feels deeper and more fleshed-out than some worlds I’ve read about in full-blown novels, where the author has so much more time to establish things for a reader. If next year I find that McGuire has sold a trilogy of novels set in the Hooflands, I will pre-order them all, I swear. There’s just something about the place that I love, and I feel like there are so very many stories that could be told there, all of them ones I’d want to read about. This isn’t my favourite otherworld that has featured in a Wayward Children novella, but it’s pretty damn close!

That being said, there was a moment of internal inconsistency that I wanted to mention, and I’ll preface this by saying that I read an ARC (advance review copy) and what I’m about to say might end up being erased from the final publication, but it stood out to be so much that I wanted to tackle it in this review. Shortly after Regan stumbles into the Hooflands and meets Pansy the centaur, Pansy utters a little colloquialism, “hay and horseshoes.” Which seems fitting, and was kind of the equivalent of our, “sunshine and rainbows.” You know, all the good things, everything being happy. But later on the same page, Regan mentions horses, and Pansy has no idea what a horse is. Now maybe this was just a case of someone not reflecting on etymology, because that happens all the time in real life, but it seemed very weird to me that someone would know what horseshoes were but not horses.

I can’t even give this one my usual handwave of assuming that everyone in the novel is speaking a language that isn’t English and everything I read is essentially translated for my benefit, because Regan is certainly speaking English, and Pansy is perfectly understood and seems to speak the same language, so it ended up being one of those weird internal inconsistency issues that kept nagging at me. Especially since Regan later mentions horses to another character, who doesn’t seem confused as to what a horse is at all. Or if she is, she doesn’t say anything about it.

But that one issue aside, the rest of the story was so very damn good that I was riveted from beginning to end. I loved seeing Regan’s progression as a character, I loved seeing more of the Hooflands and the people who lived there, and I loved the way the story took a turn in the end that made it feel very much like a great myth was being told, with Regan making unlikely allies who help her on her journey to fulfill her destiny. It was a fantastic read, and Across the Green Grass Fields quickly rose to become my second-favourite story in the entire series. And given how much I’ve enjoyed all the other books, that really says something!

Long story short, if you enjoyed the other Wayward Children books, you’ll love this one just as much. And if you haven’t read any of the other books yet but can’t find the first one or are intimidated to start at the beginning of a multi-book series (which is understandable; I often feel like if I start at the beginning, I ought to see it through to the end, and I don’t always have the time or ability to commit to that), then Across the Green Grass Fields is an excellent taste of what you’re in for if you decide to tackle the rest of the series. It’s a proper standalone that’s equal parts thought-provoking and exciting, giving readers a new and unique story while still feeding the craving for more books in the multiverse that is the Wayward Children series. I can’t recommend this one enough; it was brilliant, and I utterly loved it!

It should be no surprise by now that I am a huge fan of Seanan McGuire.  She writes well, her characterizations are all very well done, her plots are fantastic and on rereads, you start to realize that she has Something to Say.  
  
"Across the Green Grass Fields" is the latest installment in the Wayward Children series.  It can be read as a stand-alone, the series proper starts with "Every Heart a Doorway", so if you're a completist, start there.  One of the themes in this series, sometimes explicitly stated is the power that adults have over children and how, sometimes with the best of intentions, that power is abused.  Not "abuse" as it's been coded in the past, but the more subtler forms.
 
Seanan's protagonists are aware of this power imbalance and sometimes are able to take the power back.  Sometimes not, which while heartbreaking at points, is also much more honest.
  
I love this series and feel it gets richer with each addition and each reread.
  
#NetGalley #AcrossTheGreenGrassFields

I have read all of the Wayward Children series and they are honestly one of the best things about January every year! This sixth offering is no exception and is a great place for new readers to jump into the series as it stands on its own perfectly. We follow Reagan, a young girl who goes through a doorway and lands in the Hooflands, where she runs with herds of Centaurs while trying to avoid her destiny. I absolutely adored this book and thought that Reagan's story was so beautiful. The discussion around what makes a good friend and what acceptance actually looks like was powerful without ever feeling preachy, which I really appreciated. At its heart, this is a great adventure story with some fabulous characters and I would highly recommend it, both to fans of the series and definitely for new readers.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

OK. Whelp. I have DEFINITE mixed feelings about this.

Positives: this series is an absolute knockout for representation and Green Grass Fields is a great addition to that pantheon. Regan is intersex, which despite the excellent explanation provided (organically, not in a giant infodump) by Regan's parents, I still went to go do further learning about. I really appreciate a book that makes you want to learn more. I can count on one hand the number of intersex characters I can recall reading about, so kudos so Ms. McGuire. I can't say with any authority whether this was an accurate representation but it certainly seemed so, to this reader.

I also absolutely loved the beginning portion with Regan in school: her experiences with other girls really hit home for me. Being different and liking things that are unusual (like Heather and her snake; I too found a garden snake as a little girl and was absolutely FASCINATED [to the complete and utter horror of the other fourth grade girls]), will get you ostracized at lightning speed. Sadly, I still clearly recall those days. And I too was absolutely horse-mad. So I could really identify with Regan in that regard.

Being (formerly?) horse-mad, of course, I also enjoyed the Hooflands very much. Of all the "worlds" the children visit in this series, that's the one that would draw me in and tempt me to stay. What's not to love? Centaurs! Unicorns! Kelpies! (Ugh, Gristle, what a cutie.)

So why a three star book? Wellllllllllll despite all the absolutely lovely heartwarming ideas of acceptance, destiny, self love, etc, the actual PLOT really faltered at the climax. The climax turned anticlimactic really quickly, and then, uh, nothing else really happened. Regan uncovered the Wizard of Oz scenario, left the castle, and ... went home. Nothing seemed resolved, nothing really happened. I don't know it was rushed, or if the themes were the plot instead of an actual plot being the plot (does that make sense?) but there just wasn't any there, there. The end left me as a reader dangling off the edge of the proverbial mountain like the Grinch's sled, waiting for something, anything, to actually happen. No closure, no finality. The centaurs were just abandoned. The "government" was left in absolute ruin with very little explanation from Regan other than a few sentences in passing to the same henchmen who were willing to bash her over the head and kidnap her. You really want THOSE GUYS left with the information and power amidst the rubble of their government system? Gristle, one is left to assume, ate the "queen" but who really knows. And what did Regan do when she returned "home"? Absolutely nothing is answered. 

So, despite the inclusiveness, the important themes, the beauty of the writing, the gorgeousness of the Hooflands, and Regan herself who was otherwise a terrific, complex character, I just could not bring myself to give more than three stars. I need a more complete plot in my stories and I hope that the next Wayward Children book (because I LOVE this series and I'll keep reading it as long as McGuire writes it) will have one.

Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series continues here in Across the Green Grass Fields. This is actually a standalone novel, but I would strongly recommend reading the whole series (in general, as well as in order).

All Regan ever wanted was to be a normal girl. A normal girl who adored horses more than anything. But when Regan's world is shaken, and her best friend proves to be less than stellar, she finds a door.

That door led her to a world where all of her dreams came true. As a girl who loves horses, you can imagine the wonder in her soul when she comes across centaurs, unicorns, kelpies, and more in the world she has entered.

“At seven, Regan Lewis was perfectly normal according to every measurement she knew, which meant she was normal in every way that counted.”

Seanan McGuire has done it again. She's written a compelling and emotional read, one that cuts right to the soul of its readers. Across the Green Grass Fields is a truly amazing read, one that will be sticking with me for some time to come.

One of the many things I love about the Wayward Children series is how different each and every character in the series is. Yet each and every one of them feels human to the readers – even those who personally identify a bit more as a mermaid.

That element shined true once again here, with Regan's character. She is very much a child in the beginning of this book, and it shows. Her story could have been the story of any one of us, with her being forced to make a decision about conforming to the demands of those her age, or not.

There is so much more to this story than meets the eye. Once again McGuire has woven more representation into this world than many other series I've read (combined!). She has consistently created representation in her very human characters, and that is beautiful.

“Regan thought it must be nice, to believe children were innocent angels incapable of intrigue or cruelty.

Then there are the horses. The horses! Regan's love of them felt so pure and sweet, and all of that before she stepped through the door and found more equines to fall in love with. She became part of a centaur herd, and it was like she finally found her home.

All while being tossed in the middle of a story. Literally. The expectations of this world were full of surprises, and that alone is enough to leave the reader thinking – and wondering. Not just about what will happen next in this world – but what our own doors would look like, if we were ever lucky enough to find them.

This book is probably my favourite out of the Wayward Children series together with In an Absent Dream! Again, this one was such a quick and enjoyable read that I could easily finish within a day. I really liked the magical world, the characters and the plot, and loved that the main character is intersex. Also, the message of the story is just beautiful. It tells us that destiny is not something that can be decided for us, instead, we decide our own destiny. My only dislike is that this book felt a little bit disconnected from the rest of the series. The rest of the series partly took place at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children and this book didn't mention the home at all. Further, I was kind of disappointed by the open ending. I understand why the author chose to stop writing where she did, and I guess this might be the best possible ending for this book, but still, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!! Hopefully, Seanan McQuire will give me answers in her next book. I will be trying to wait patiently for it to come out.

In what I understand to be a soft reboot of the Wayward Children series, Across the Green Grass fields tells us the story of Regan, a girl who struggles with seeing conformity as true acceptance before she finds a doorway asking her to “Be Sure”. 

This series has been a noteworthy one in my 2020 reading journey as I went through all five previous novellas this year, and I’m happy to say I enjoyed book six as well. I absolutely loved that not only is our protagonist Regan intersex, but that there are conversations on page about what that means. There were a lot of personally resonant messages throughout the novella, as there have been in other Wayward Children books, about the challenges of being a girl; in this one, the performative and rigid nature of femininity and girlhood predominates, with a unique emphasis on how being intersex adds additional considerations.

As always, the magical world of the Hooflands intrigues and captivates as many of the other worlds have in this series. A whole world populated by magical equines of various types, each of them filling different roles, was well executed. Regan’s friendship with a centaur named Chicory was particularly sweet to me.

However, I did have more critiques of this novella than others. The conflict Regan left behind in her home world—the all too real pain of conditional friendships between young girls and the ostracization and exclusion that can fester within them—felt more compelling than the conflict in the magical Hooflands. The lack of a story within a story (i.e. in the previous novellas, there was often a plot ongoing at Eleanor West’s school as well as the story of a character being told) made this one fall flat for me. Finally, the ending left a lot to be desired; there’s no satisfactory or even detailed conclusion to Regan’s journey, just an abrupt stop without so much as a frustrating cliffhanger. For these reasons, this is one of my least favourite entries in the series.

Still, I have a soft spot for the Wayward Children series and Across the Green Grass Fields was still an engaging, magical, and quick read with a unique world. For the worldbuilding and the intersex protagonist alone, this is worth a read and recommendation for me, and I’m hopeful that subsequent entries in the series will reintroduce a subplot again to add the depth we’ve come to expect.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Well, this year has been so long that I didn’t realize I already read an ARC of this earlier this year until I started reading. The good news is that it was just as enjoyable the second time around. Here is my original review: I love the Wayward Children series and wasn't sure there would be more, so I was really excited when I found this title.  In Across the Green Grass Fields we are introduced to a new world full of centaurs, unicorns, and other creatures. This book has the same whimsy and creativity of the other books in the series and I'm glad this is a new world that we haven't seen before. I read it in a couple of hours, so it was an easy and fantastic read!

Across the Green Grass Fields was such a good read! I was a bit hesitant picking this up since some books in the series were big big misses to me, but all of my expectations were met! McGuire’s writing continued to be wonderful and they did an amazing job at setting the tone for this odd and fantastic novella.

I loved Regan! Huge congrats to McGuire for the intersex rep–there is very little representation of intersex characters in lit and the way they decided to show that was very well done. I really could have done without the prejudice, though? I also loved how unapologetically into horses Regan was. I’m best friends with a horse girl, so reading about a horse girl protagonist immediately endeared me to the story lol

And the world-building regarding the Hooflands was so cool! McGuire created such a unique world with its own complex culture in just a few short pages and made it seem so real. It was so interesting to read about the herd and the work they did and the relationship dynamics between everyone.

I was a bit bummed that the ending was… the end. I would’ve liked to read about the reaction surrounding Regan’s comeback as well as what happened in the Hooflands after she did what she did. Even so, great addition to the series!

Over the past few years, I’ve come to love Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series fiercely. And thanks to the wonderful people at Tor.com, reading the newest installment a bit ahead of its publication date has become something of a Christmas tradition for me. These novellas are all beautifully written and poignant and full of heavy topics handled with a light but respectful touch. Across the Green Grass Fields is no exception to this rule. 

In this sixth volume of the loose series we meet Regan, a young girl who loves horses and lives in fear of being shunned for any reason. She tries to surpress anything about herself that might make her stand out, but it’s not enough. When Regan finds out why she doesn’t fit in easily with the other girls, her sense of betrayal drives her through a Door into a world she didn’t know she was searching for.

The Hooflands are populated by every hoofed creature imaginable. Unicorns, fauns, kelpies, selines, perytons, and minotaurs abound. But Regan finds her true home in a herd of centaurs, where she learns that being a strong woman doesn’t look the same for everyone. Within this herd, Regan finds love and acceptance and empowerment. Her human parents in our world also loved her fiercely and accepted her unconditionally and would have done anything to help her feel empowered, but something about the presence of hooves and furred flanks has cleared her vision enough to finally accept and love herself. 

This story, like all of its predecessors, deals with some heavy topics in lovely, respectful ways while never impeding the plot in any way. The tale at the heart of this book was meandering but compelling, and I enjoyed it immensely right up until I didn’t. The ending seemed incredibly abrupt, but as that’s how it would have seemed for Regan, I think that was the point. But even though I understand the choice, it still left me a teensy bit dissatisfied with the final pages.

Across the Green Grass Fields is an achingly lovely story about a girl who loved horses but not herself, who finally found self-acceptance among the hoofed inhabitants of another world. It was a solid new installment in a series that resonates deeply with a multitude of readers, and I think they’re going to really love this one.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received a copy of this young adult fantasy novella eArc from NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings.  This be the sixth book in the series.  While I try to post no spoilers, if ye keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

I say this every time I finish one of these novellas but I seriously could read dozens of books set in the various worlds.  This be the sixth installment and ye do not have to read any of the others for this one to make sense.  I actually highly recommend reading this series in publishing order because I feel that the reader gets the best flow that way.

This one completely floats me boat because it deals with ponies (me first love).  Not just ponies but kelpies, centaurs, unicorns, etc.  I was absolutely delighted with the world.  I was also delighted with the character of Regan and her new found family.  The chosen one trope is twisted here.  The evil in this book is found both in our world and in the doorway world.  The idea of cruelty in children is spot on.  Yet there are loving parents in this one.  There is love and kindness all over the place.  There is also selfishness, conformity, wrong choices made, and manipulation.  The major complaint with this book is that it felt like it needed to be longer and more fleshed out especially towards the end.  The ending itself left me unsatisfied though it made sense with the rest of the book.  Perhaps I just need more of Regan because I loved her so.  Arrrr!

Side note: The next book in the series, where the drowned girls go, is scheduled for January 2022.  Apparently there be three more after that, one each following January.  I will be waiting.  Arrrrr!

Beautifully told story about self acceptance and finding your own way forward. 
Also, there are unicorns!

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

This book was a welcome return to McGuire's "Wayward Children" series.  The descriptions of the interactions between grade school children were all too real to me, especially the intolerance for anything perceived to be other than normal.  I did rather miss the interweaving with the past books and characters from the earlier books in the series, but this book still stands quite capably all on its own.

There’s no right way to be a girl.

Regan is horse-crazy, which is acceptable form of girlishness in her tight circle of friends, particularly with her best friend, who places everything in a neat box of girl or not-girl-enough. Regan wants to be girl enough, but some days she just doesn’t understand. And when she doesn’t develop like the other girls, her parents drop a huge secret on her—a secret that escapes to her friends. So Regan slips into the woods to take the long way home, and finds a door…

I really really loved this novella, which was about a girl who was destined to be The Chosen One because all humans are Chosen in some way, and who had a queen hunting for her because change was bad and humans brought change. Which is a horrible way to describe this book, so I’ll give you another horrible explanation: a girl who discovered she was intersex after living in rigid gender conformity, and then found herself a species of one surrounded by hoofed creatures.

It’s a delightful found family story that covers growing up, conformity, being yourself, and what it means to be a girl. Plus it has delightful side characters (Chicory!! Gristle!!), and a delicious twist on the chosen one trope and the concept of history and propaganda and government.

I need MORE of this story. MORE, DAMMIT! I need to know what happens to Regan, and I need more Gristle, dammit.

Minus one star because of the short ending and because the villain’s was Laurel (dammit, the one time I share a name with a character and she’s a baddie).

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.