Series: Wayward Children #6
Release Date: January 12th 2021
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: 174
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I listened to the Audiobook on Scribd
Rating: 3.25/5 stars

Synopsis

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…

Review

Across the Green Grass Fields is the sixth instalment in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. Each instalment follows a child who has gone to a magical land (think Narnia). When the children return to the real world they end up at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, a place for them to live while they try to find their doors. In this instalment we follow Regan as she enters the hooflands and must venture on a quest to save the herd that takes her in.

I absolutely love this series and each of the books has been really engrossing with fascinating worlds. I’m always really impressed with the amount of world building and character develop McGuire manages to pack into such a small page count and Across the Green Grass Fields is not different. The world Regan enters is full of horse type creatures and on her journey Regan meets centaurs, kelpies and other mythological creatures.

Like the previous books I really enjoyed the story and learning about the world Regan has entered, but for some reason I didn’t love this one as much as the others. I was excited to see all the different creatures but the kelpies don’t really enter the story until near the ending. I think because I wasn’t as interested in the world I wasn’t as invested in Regan’s story. I think perhaps because none of the characters from previous books featured in this story I also wasn’t as desperate to read on.

Despite not being completely hooked, I still really enjoyed this story. It was a solid three star read and I really love the overarching plot and themes of this series. McGuire has created a really spectacular series in Wayward Children and I can’t wait to see where she takes things next. I know they’ve already had two books already but I’d love to return to Jack and Jill sometime soon!