Across the Green Grass Fields

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.

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.

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.