This is the weakest of these I’ve read so far, unfortunately. Can’t believe itks nominated for the Hugo. ( )

Sadly this 6th installment of the Wayward Children series is by far my least favorite of them yet- if I had to use one word to describe "Across the Green Grass Fields" it would be "tired". Although the writing is fine and the worldbuilding is done well, there is nothing exciting about the plot, the world itself, or the payoff.
I love that McGuire addresses the topic of "there's no right way to be a girl" so often in this series, but in this installment it felt cliché and pandering to the reader. It felt very much like McGuire was just writing "omg look Reagan is different and likes horses, but she can Still Be a Girl! Girls don't have to only wear dresses! Look! Reagan can wear PANTS! And climb trees! Yay girl power!" Which I guess would be fine if this was a picture book introducing young readers to these ideas? But I KNOW McGuire can write about challenging stereotypes and gender better because she literally did it earlier with nearly every other book in this series.
Also, the climax of this book is one of the worst I've read. It's so utterly D R Y. I won't spoil it, but to read a story where the main character is constantly reminded of her great destiny only to have it end like this...well...again, it feels tired. It was sad writing. I finished the book and felt like I had only read half a story.
The best parts of this were the found family elements with the centaurs (we need more books with centaurs!) and Reagan and Chicory's friendship. I loved those bits! Unfortunately that's about all I enjoyed, and while I'll definitely read the next one because it almost certainly involves Cora, I'm glad this book can be viewed as a standalone and skipped in any future rereads. ( )

I thought I wouldn't like this book, the plot seemed like it wasn't my thing, but I was pleasantly surprised! I've realized that I prefer the books that follow one character as they discover an amazing world, and I'm not so much into the ones with multiple characters doing quest things.

This book has cozy vibes and I just enjoyed following Regan and her new friends/family going about their daily life. ( )

An enjoyable read. This could certainly be read as a standalone, but having read at least some of the earlier books would make it easier to understand the mechanics. I really hope we find out in a later book what happened after the end. The story does draw to a natural close, but I want to know what happened after that. ( )

I'll be honest: I'm downright angry about this book. My anger started around page 38 and never abated. You see, Seanan McGuire values representation. She does not apparently value correctly representing people. When the protagonist complained that she had not developed breasts and was short, I assumed we were getting some Turner Syndrome representation -- you know, a syndrome, that results in delayed puberty and short stature. When instead, McGuire declared her protagonist to have CAIS (complete androgen insensitivity) I was confused. It had been a while since I'd taken my general genetics boards but it took me only 30 seconds on google to confirm: girls with CAIS have normal breast development and normal height velocity with a normal age of maximum height velocity (growth spurt). I kept reading -- maybe the protagonist had a secret gonadectomy to explain those features? Maybe the mother was confused? But no explanation was forthcoming and it dawned on me: I don't think McGuire actually ever spoke to anyone with CAIS. And the more I thought about that, the more it upset me: McGuire refers to Regan multiple times as being "intersex," a term that many women in the CAIS community don't use to refer to themselves. I had originally felt okay with Regan reclaiming the term, but the more I thought about McGuire using it with apparently no community input the less good I felt about it. And I thought about how McGuire portrays herself as a champion of diversity and the harm caused by tokenism rather than true representation. This is not doing it right. Do better. Talk to people with disorders of sexual development and ask how they'd like to be portrayed. At the very least, do a five minute google search. (Failing all of that, I once again offer my services as a professional geneticist who will fact-check speculative fiction for the low cost of a free book.)

(I have other feelings about the book, but this really is the most important one.) ( )