The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite series and every year the new installment is one of my most anticipated releases. This year even more so because we would travel to an equine world! It took me a while to write this review because I wasn’t completely sure how I felt about the story. Today I’ll try to relay my thoughts! So let’s jump in.
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…
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children #6
Published by Tordotcom on 12/01/2021
Pages: 174
Goodreads
Cover
I really like this cover, the colors are gorgeous! And the door on this one is a bit more subtle. If you didn’t know there was a door on every book in this series you might not have noticed it. The cover fits the story quite well and I like it a lot.
Review
In this sixth installment in the Wayward Children we go to a new world and our main character is a new character as well. We meet Regan at age 7. It starts off with some messages about girls and friendships I really appreciated. This was a very promising start! Next we see Regan at age 11 and we learn she is intersex. I don’t think I had ever read a book with an intersex main character before. Because of that and the fact that I’m not intersex I can’t say much about the accuracy of the portrayal. I did however absolutely love Regan’s parents. They kept reassuring her that she was perfect and that she was exactly who she was supposed to be.
The adults all agreed, without a word exchanged, that if Regan’s act of human heroism was to give comfort and friendship to one lonely centaur girl, they would consider her efforts to have been well spent.
Regan was always a ‘horse girl’ or ‘penny girl’ as we used to say, and after being hurt by someone she trusted she finds a door. And once she goes through that door she finds a world with horses, and kelpies, and centaurs, and unicorns, a.k.a. heaven ;). Well, spoiler alert, it’s not actually heaven haha. Regan ends up with a herd of Centaurs and they become her new family. I really enjoyed that part!
This book has a lot to do with destiny and the expectations that come with being destined for something. The ending was surprising but something I really enjoyed. And of course this book, as the previous instalments do, has some important messages. Unfortunately I never really clicked with this book that has so many things I loved. I didn’t really care about the characters and was even a bit bored at times. It was so hard for me to rate this one because there were some amazing elements but in the end the overall enjoyment wasn’t as high as I thought it would be.
Do you ever struggle with your rating for a book? And have you read all the books in this series yet? Let me know down below! I love to talk to you.
I’ve heard about their books but didn’t realize it was a series, albeit of standalone books. Definitely have to check these out.
I usually struggle with review scores when I don’t particularly like a book but recognize it has innovation or importance of some kind. Still, I try to stick to my enjoyment of it when rating.
Vicki S. recently posted…I Slip Inside the Rhythm of the Song the Empirium Is Already Singing