Oh this series...*sigh.* Even the ones like this, that I don't personally have as deep of a connection with (I have never been a horse person - in fact, I find them quite terrifying), still have a certain ring of truth and insight and childlike hope mixed with the bittersweetness of growing up, all wrapped in a magical fairy tale framework, that I just cannot help but love. 

 

A quick blurb courtesy of Goodreads: "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…"  

 

Well, I already said in my little intro blurb, but this had everything that I love about the Every Heart a Doorway series. Even though I'm not into horses, I did love the breadth of horse-related and hooved mythological creatures that make appearances in these pages. Mythology is definitely the way to win me over. The classic fairy tale storytelling vibes and narrative voice are transporting AF, as I've come to expect and love from these books. And McGuire remains spectacular in her queer/LGBTQ+ representation. It's a bit less all-encompassing here, as this is the first novella in awhile that does not take place, at least in part, at Eleanor West's...so there was really only one MC, as opposed to a group. But our narrator here, Regan, begins her journey through her door and into the Hooflands after learning that she is intersex, and her adolescent experience with puberty will, therefore, look a bit different than her friends' more "typical" ones. I so rarely see intersex people represented in literature, and even more rarely as children/youth, so this is beautiful. 

 

Outside of the normal coming-of-age themes that each of these stories centers, Across the Green Grass Fields tackles the nuances of childhood friendships, the social structures that frame what girls and/or boys should or should not do/enjoy, and how flouting those structures can be socially devastating. To that end, there are some difficult messages about friendship, the tough lessons about how siding with those whose friendship is conditional (against someone else) will eventually come around when you don't meet their conditions. My heart broke for Regan in that moment - despite it being a lesson she perhaps needed to learn, it doesn't make watching it happen any easier. As an opposing perspective, I loved seeing how being raised in a place without external expectations of what you “should” be (as a girl, as a human) is so liberating, and safe, and allows someone to become who they are based only on who they want to be. *deep sigh* How lovely. And again, for Regan, it was something she needed to learn through living it, but it was such a more uplifting sort of lesson to watch her learn. This lesson was bolstered by the way the hoofed peoples saw themselves and each other, highlighting the advantages and accepting the limitations of every type of horse. What a way to show how it could be that way for humans too. We are all different, but those differences make us strong in unique ways and joining them together (so each benefits from what the others bring to the table that they don’t have) is better for everyone, as opposed to silo-ing apart from each other based on said differences. Just, as always, phenomenal, necessary, and heart-filling messages. 

 

The other primary theme was that of destiny: whether one's biology is one's destiny (IRL) and whether one must fulfill an expected "heroic" destiny (the Hooflands). Watching Regan realize that you can only hide for so long, that you eventually have to face your fear/secrets/nerves, is inspiring. it doesn't mean you have to face it the way people expect you to, but you do have to figure out how to face it for yourself. It was a simple, but lovely meditation on destiny - and breaking from it or living up to it in an unexpected way - and it played out with a twist that was small, but that I didn't see coming. It was a creative look at breaking cycles and coming to terms with oneself (and breaking from the “norm” as a result), with all the promise for the future mixed with the bittersweetness that is a hallmark of growing up (and of this series).     

 

“…because some things spin from generation to generation, and never really change, no matter how much we wish they would.” 

 

“Girlhood wasn’t destiny unless you wanted it to be.” 

 

“Because it was tame, Regan could walk safely, without fear of meeting anything larger than a raccoon or deer. Because it had been wild, she still caught her breath when she heard something passing in the brush, when a branch snapped for no apparent reason. Such is the dichotomy of forests. Even the smallest remembers what it was to cover nations, and the shadows they contain will whisper that knowledge to anyone who listens.” 

 

“I can be beautiful and limited at the same time. […] There’s nothing wrong with being limited, as long as you have people around to make sure those limitations don't get you hurt.” 

 

“...both of them laughing with delight at the simple joy of being alive, and young, and together in a world that was better when not experienced in isolation.” 

 

“The hills are heavy with the bones of would-be heroes.” 

 

“Destiny wasn’t real. Destiny was for people like [...], who could pin everything they had to an idea that the world was supposed to work in a certain way, and refuse to let it change.” 

 

“…an exception was always easier to grasp than a category…” 

 

“She didn’t feel like a hero. She didn't feel like much of anything beyond an exhausted teenager. She still felt like she was saving the world.”