Across the Green Grass Fields

Taylor Drew reviewed Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children, #6)

A lot of horse girls

5 stars

I was a bit worried to be interested to a completely new character again without the support of the characters I already know, but I shouldn't have been worried at all. This book was quick and clever and just so sensitively done. It always is, but it felt more noticeable in this story, which starts off with some commonplace childhood bullying and just as commonplace issues surrounding puberty and what it is supposedly required to be a boy or girl. And while I'm certainly no horse girl, I have a lot of respect for just how well that identity fit into the hoof-filled setting.

It's always a pleasure to see how the kids learn to make decisions and process the consequences of their actions. I hope we get to see Regan again in later books!

interlibraryprone reviewed Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children, #6)

An exemplar of how intersex representation can be done by a perisex (non-intersex) author

5 stars

Four star book, but five star intersex representation.

The intersex representation in this book is so good. As an intersex person it's rare to find literature with intersex representation, and what exists written by perisex (non-intersex) authors is almost always about people with ambiguous genitalia. It's generally very fetishy and focused on physical difference.

McGuire instead does it right. Regan has an actual intersex variation (AIS). It doesn't start to manifest until puberty. It's so rare to see intersex-at-puberty stories even though puberty is the time that most intersex people start to develop differently than perisex people. It was just so lovely to see this represented for once.

And McGuire does more than just represent - the reader is rather cleverly provoked to think about how one should best parent an intersex kid. Regan's parents are depicted as well-meaning but haven't really thought things through as deeply as they should …

Four star book, but five star intersex representation.

The intersex representation in this book is so good. As an intersex person it's rare to find literature with intersex representation, and what exists written by perisex (non-intersex) authors is almost always about people with ambiguous genitalia. It's generally very fetishy and focused on physical difference.

McGuire instead does it right. Regan has an actual intersex variation (AIS). It doesn't start to manifest until puberty. It's so rare to see intersex-at-puberty stories even though puberty is the time that most intersex people start to develop differently than perisex people. It was just so lovely to see this represented for once.

And McGuire does more than just represent - the reader is rather cleverly provoked to think about how one should best parent an intersex kid. Regan's parents are depicted as well-meaning but haven't really thought things through as deeply as they should have.

The book has two rather distinct portions - Regan in our world, then Regan in the Hooflands. My main complaint about this book is how it never really brings everything together. We don't see Regan's Hoofland time pay off in how she returns to our world. The book ends abruptly without letting us see Regan return to either her adopted family or her biofamily.

The weak ending is why 4/5 instead of 5/5. The writing is very accessible and easy to read.