Tag Archives: Seanan McGuire

Should ‘Across the Green Grass Fields’ Win a Hugo?

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The more Wayward Children books I read, the more I feel like they come in two types. There seems to be a main thread which holds true to the premise of the series, aka what happens to (portal fantasy) children, when they come back from their quest? And a second category which seems to mimic more traditional portal fantasies, aka separate the MC from the normal world and let her go on a QUEST!!

Of the parts of this series I’ve reviewed for this blog, In an Absent Dream seemed to belong more to category two, while Come Tumbling Down seemed to fit more in category one.

I’m finding that despite exactly everything this series is attempting to subvert, I still seem to like ‘type two’ installments better. In some ways, they read more like the traditional portal fantasy which I know and love.

Luckily for me then, Across the Green Grass Fields (AtGGF), was more ‘type two’.

Of course, I think the parts of this book which resonated with so many people, and hit the hardest (therefore making it a Hugo contender), take place ‘IRL’ before Regan ever crosses over into the Hooflands. It’s in her life as an everyday girl, combatting the changes of puberty, as well as an almost Mean Girls level of social stratification that we find the hurt and meaning of this well crafted story. In short, how devastating it can be to perform girlhood incorrectly.

Listening to the beginning of this novella was a stark reminder of just how cruel children can be, and just how much trauma can occur at such a young age (and how strict the culture is on young girls (and later women))

Then, we cross over into the Hooflands, and the adventure starts. I’ve read some comments that the worldbuilding here is sub-par but I still found it to be engaging and awe inspiring, as any magical realm should be.

Perhaps in the mode of someone looking for a door myself, I just wanted to stay in this world and peel it back layer by layer. What mystical creatures could we take for granted? What even stranger beasts might we see when we go to the fair? How might our preconceived notions unravel as we venture out into the wilds?

Some of the denizens of the Hooflands were familiar while others were not. Maybe someday I’ll try to chase down all the references and see what might have inspired the creatures and culture we experienced within this volume.

Finally, there was the ending . . . I won’t spoil it here, but I think in many ways it was also a subversion, and — maybe because I’m just stuck in my ways — probably the novella’s weakest point.

Alright, but Should it Win the HUGO?!!

This was a pretty tough call, which ultimately came down to more subjective than objective reasoning. I really enjoyed AtGGF and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. In terms of Wayward Children installments, I felt it was more the type of story I was looking for than the previous novella.

However, the competition for ‘Best Novella’ is fierce, and I just enjoyed Psalm for the Wild-Built more (but I probably enjoyed AtGGF more than The Past is Red).

So, no. If the award was left only up to me, I would not give Across the Green Grass Fields a Hugo for Best Novella . . .

What are your thoughts? Did I miss my mark? What was your favorite part about this book? What was your favorite creature from the Hooflands? Was it the Peryton? Apparently they were invented by Jorge Louis Borges in the mid-1900s . . . the more you know!!!

Let me know your answers in the comments. See you next time!!

#WyrdAndWonder Day 27 – Celebrate a Portal Fantasy: Come Tumbling Down

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So admittedly, I’m not really following the assignment here. For day twenty-seven of #WyrdAndWonder we’re supposed to be celebrating a Portal Fantasy.

I READ a Portal Fantasy.

But I can’t quite bring myself to celebrate it which has put me in a bit of a bind as far as prompts go. If you’re just coming into the Wayward Children Series please do not allow the review of this volume to sway you from picking it up. Also, start at the beginning with Every Heart a Doorway.

It’s genuinely a good series. I certainly enjoyed In an Absent Dream very much and every volume I’ve read before that although I missed reviewing them (maybe I’ll go back).

However, this novel just didn’t quite ring true for me. And I think there’s a couple reasons why . . .

— Careful. Spoilers abound —

Did We Need Another Trip to The Moors?

Probably not. I struggled to remember a bit just what happened in our last adventure to The Moors, but luckily it’s glossed pretty early on in the CTD (along with every other character’s backstory) so I was able to gather that at the end of Every Heart a Doorway, Jack ends up killing Jill and they return to The Moors and for these two — based on everything written about in Down Among the Sticks and Bones — this is a happy ending.

And in my humble opinion, a pretty complete ending. The next two books were about other characters, and complete (ish) in their own ways. I expected that in a similar manner we would meet new characters and then they’d get their own books, until McGuire had run out of axes to grind (I don’t actually mean this in a bad way. I love the representation and messaging in all of these books!)

But The Moors were done. They had served their purpose and quite well I think.

Only The Moors weren’t done with us apparently . . .

Ensemble Cast for a Solo Quest

Did Jack really NEED to go back to Eleanor’s School and assemble the squad? I might argue no. It’s never bad to have a group of friends help you through a tough task, but unless she’s an oracle and could see how each choice would go astray without them, or their was some sort of prescribed fate requiring that she go to them, I’m not sure why she bothered. She tries many times to get them to allow her to go on without them and they pretty much always respond with “we’ll help because that’s what heroes do“.

However, I’m not sure they really did help all that much (except maybe Christopher’s bone minions holding back The Master for a bit at the end; and Cora becoming a currency). Kade sacrifices himself but it’s immediately reneged, and Sumi seemed little more than a cheerful but heartless taskmaster. If she was hinting at (or beating a dead horse [with no skin] about) some deeper meta trope or theme (or satire) it was completely lost on me.

A Bit of a Talkie Adventure

All of the above (for me) led to a bit of a talkie time, with characters explaining the significance of situations or interjecting randomly just to have something to do in the scene. Maybe I was just having an off couple of days and this didn’t land right for me, but those were the general impressions I had.

Read?

I can’t really say no, because I have not read past this point yet so I’m not sure how important this is to the larger narrative of the series (which I do enjoy). However, if it’s immaterial to the progression of the other books (doubtful as after appearing in 3/5 books, Jack seems to be firmly in the Main Character category) then I’d say you could miss it.

But You’re Supposed to Recommend a Portal Fantasy!

Oh right. Well as I mentioned before, I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series, and In An Absent Dream gave me a lot to think about. Otherwise I’d say you couldn’t go wrong with Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer.

Anyway, that’s all I have for this round. Has anyone read this one yet? What about the rest of the Wayward Children series? Other Seanan Mcguire? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to chatting about this one!

Should ‘Finna’ Win a Hugo?

by in Book Reviews, Sci Fi Month, Sci-Fi and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hi again. Another Wednesday, another review. This time we’re talking about Hugo Award finalist Finna by Nino Cipri. I’ve reviewed quite a bit of Hugo finalists already, so if you’re interested in checking out any of those, please do.

Also, it’s #SciFiMonth, which is always a great time. The two posts I’ve done for it so far are a review of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary and Five (non-American) Authors I Want to Read. I’m hoping to do more as the month goes on so I’ll be storing them in the Sci Fi Month tag if you’re interested in the latest.

Anyway, onward with the review!

In general, I really enjoyed this story. I think nearly everyone has shared the experience of getting so totally and completely bassackwardly lost in a big-box store like this (specifically IKEA) that it isn’t hard to imagine you’ve accidently stepped off the path of your own reality and entered into some kind of labyrinthian alternative composed entirely of the latest trending cabinetry.

(Or at the very least had an experience like SCP-3008)

It felt almost cathartic to have it confirmed, and to find out that the corporation who designed such a place, knows about it and attempted to smooth over the problem in the only way they know how: some faux hip instructional bullshit.

Everything mentioned above is enough for an incredible story, but the fact that this is merely the platform on which to explore romance, marginalization(s), trauma, and the path toward healing, to my mind, is what makes this story stand out. It’s also pretty funny at times.

The last element of Finna which I felt interesting to note was it’s use of the multiverse (trope?) theory. In late 2021, we are seeing multiverses EVERYWHERE in fiction. The obvious ones right now are Marvel’s What If, Loki, Into the Spiderverse and the upcoming Spiderman No Way Home, but I feel we’ve seen a lot of multiverse fiction even within the Hugo finalists from 2020 (which means we’ve been in this moment for a while).

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson made expert use of the multiverse to heighten the tension and moral questions of the story. Michael Zapata’s The Lost Book of Adana Moreau was another 2020 award winner which relied heavily on the multiverse (kicking myself for not reviewing it here. sooo goood!). I’m unsure whether portal fantasy counts as a multiverse story, but that would add The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire, and Naomi Kritzer’s Little Free Library to the trend as well.

All of these stories use the multiverse to express a variety of different questions and themes. What do you do when you (literally/physically) are confronted with a better version of yourself? With one that’s worse? What would have happened if you had done that one thing differently? If your entire world/circumstances were different, who would you be then? There’s a kind of nature vs nurture argument happening in these stories, but also a kind of fatalism.

While I’ve enjoyed many multiverse stories, I’ve started to feel the message has shifted (I would say unintentionally), and I’ve asked myself why do our hero’s actions matter if there are infinite realities in which those actions didn’t take place?

What I enjoyed about Finna was that it seemed to posit that this was a source of freedom rather than despair. There is a universe in which you are a coward and there is a universe in which you are brave, and there are universes in which you do not exist at all. So do whatever you want. You’re not beholden to any other version of yourself.

Perhaps I’ve read too much into what was on the page, but to my mind, this take was quite refreshing and also a relief.

So . . . Hugo Award?

No. Despite all the good and heavy things packed inside of Finna, I’m still thinking that Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby is the choice. I mentioned in my review that Riot Baby was almost a mood instead of a book. Plus as a writer I could just feel that there was a lot to study and emulate within that story. I did not get the same vibes from Finna.

But know this. Finna will definitely be a hard 2nd place to dethrone, and though it isn’t my choice this time, I would still like to encourage everyone to read this story and see what you take away from it. Also, there are an infinite amount of universes in which Finna was my 1st choice so think on that!

In an Absent Dream: A Parable of Wanting to Keep Your Pie and Eat it Too

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I’m still making my way through the list of 2021 Hugo contenders (I’ve reviewed these Hugo contenders already), but this week I’m reviewing a novella which isn’t on that list, but is part of the same series as an entry for Best Novella, so I guess I’m kinda making progress towards getting a another title crossed off the list (which is soooo long).

Unfortunately, I read the previous three Wayward Children books long before I decided to start blogging again, so at this point there are no reviews for them, but if I ever do a reread, I’ll make sure to drop the links here.

Anywho, In an Absent Dream (IAAD) is the fourth book in the aforementioned Wayward Children series, which in general terms, seeks to answer the question: “What happens to (portal fantasy) children, when they come back from their quest?”

As we have seen in each of the previous installments, there is still plenty of story left to tell.

For the main character of IAAD, Kathrine Lundy (though she decidedly prefers just Lundy) that even means (many) returns through the series’ pivotal “doors”. If I’m remembering correctly, we actually spend a lot more time in the portal world, called The Goblin Market, than we have in other Wayward Children books which is interesting, but of course, as with each book in this series, it is still time spent after whatever quest a more stereotypical fantasy would have been written about. In this case, the usurping of an evil wasp queen, and a tragic run-in with some baddies called The Bone Wraiths.

I understand that these details are absolutely NOT what these books are about, but I can’t help but still sometimes wish that I could read about these events somewhere, even if it is just a “boring ol fantasy story”. I like those too.

Anyway, if you have read the first book in this series, Every Heart a Doorway, you’ll recognize Lundy (or recognize that you should recognize Lundy) and so while this title is a standalone, it ties in with the other books, and gives more backstory to their history which is always fun. I’ll admit that I hope we’ll get to see an adventure from Lundy’s father as it’s mentioned many times that he also did a tour in the Goblin Market.

In terms of prose and language, IAAD is extremely well crafted, as are most books I’ve read by Seanan McGuire. She always manages to turn at least one well-worn phrase subtly on its head so that it evokes some new meaning to suit the story.

OK. Ok. Skip to the part about the pies . . .

Yes! The pies! Specifically, wanting to both keep and eat them simultaneously. This is essentially the main theme of the story (at least for me). Some things you just can’t have both ways. What I found interesting about this novella was the way McGuire uses the setting to express this theme, and what she uses it to say, or at the very least question.

Now, in IAAD, The Goblin Market is really quite an awe-inspiring place, filled with magic, adventure (sadly offscreen), fun and glory, but each of these thrills has a cost which cannot be deferred or delayed. It is expected of the Market’s denizens to each pay “fair value” for any goods or services they require, but things like friendship or love, also seem to have their costs as well.

It’s a strange place which seems to be both better and worse than the real world we live in. In the Market people can work hard and avoid debt, but nobody can really “get ahead”. What’s strangest about the whole thing, is that people can’t really offer charity either for doing so just puts another person in debt to the would-be philanthropist.

In the course of trying to understand “what debt is”, Lundy discusses all kinds of things like prices which are based off the proportion one makes (although perhaps difficult to figure out in the Market’s bartering society), and how a system like this could still provide for the sick and elderly. The implications of such a system seem to be infinite.

So what’s the pie we can’t both eat and keep?

Honestly, I’m not quite sure. For Lundy, it is living in two worlds, wanting to both be a part of her life with her family, and also with her friends in The Goblin Market. For us, it seems to be something to do with late-stage capitalism.

We know from experience IRL that what we have now doesn’t seem to be working to everyone’s benefit, and so The Market presented in IAAD calls to us as an ideal of something we could strive for. With enough rules and moderation in place, perhaps we could build something which would be fair to everyone.

Although, as Ruthanna Emrys notes for Tor.com, The Market has:

. . . gone so far into capitalism that it’s come out the other side into “to each according to their needs, from each according to their ability.”

https://www.tor.com/2019/01/10/fairness-and-feathers-reading-seanan-mcguires-in-an-absent-dream/

Essentially The Market has become communism (I had to look up Emrys’ quote). And as we see in the novella, fair isn’t fair either. So perhaps — and this is rather a downer — the novella shows us that we can’t have a form of capitalism that is moderated enough to actually benefit everyone without it being the communism we all loathe and fear.

We can’t have capitalism without all the stuff we don’t like about it, because then there’s nothing left. The good things we like about it are also the bad things we hate about it and so to get rid of those things means it wouldn’t be capitalism anymore?

If we get rid of the pie (yummm) then we no longer have pie . . .

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! For only like 180 pages, I think this story still gave a LOT to chew on.

See you next time!