Second, it is apparently the only planet on the galaxy not being affected by a mysterious plague with a 100% fatality rate which causes humans to literally decay in their own skins.

First, it is apparently one of the few human planets not under the control of Sanctity, an oppressive and vaguely Catholic religious order with a stranglehold on the now-ravaged Terra and the rest of human spacefaring. Dimity bon Damfel survives her hunt, but has mysteriously disappeared by the time our main story opens.įor all its flaws, Grass the Creepy Hippae planet has two things going for it. The alien horses, or Hippae, collect her and her family for a ride, along with equally creepy alien Hounds, in order to catch a “Foxen” which, you guessed it, probably isn’t a red fuzzy mammal (but like British foxes has done equally little to deserve their fate). Grass opens with one such hunt, with the youngest daughter of the bon Damfel family going on her first Creepy Alien Horse ride, to the concern of some members of her family. Completing the picture, we have a society of aristocratic families living on the grassy plains, who spend half of the 2000-day year going out on hunts tailored to the natural wildlife. So, the planet Grass has a lot of grass, in various colours, and it also has creepy horses – who, we quickly ascertain, are actually aliens that look somewhat like horses, except bigger and covered in lethal bone knives. There is a reason why Horse Master exists. There is a reason they consistently lag behind wolves and cats in fursona popularity, despite the cultural obsessions with horse-related children’s literature and My Little Pony. There is a reason the first suggested filter when you Google “ horse masks” is “creepy”. They have a bizarre combination of fragility and power, and long, weird eyelashes. They appear to sleep standing up, and die of inexplicable things like “not being able to burp” or “tripping over”. Horses are giant creatures with giant, alien eyes, walking around on giant single fingers. This is not to suggest they are not also beautiful, worthy animals, without whom the development of global civilisation would be very different, but come on. On some level, of course, all horses are creepy. Marjorie Westriding-Yraier and her family are sent from Terra, along with their actual horses, to try and uncover its secrets, which involve a bewildering array of sci-fi tropes that don’t completely obscure the central mystery of the Hippae and deeper questions about relating to alien life. The Short Version: There are creepy horse-like animals and rainbow grass on the planet everyone conveniently needs to be on to try and stop a devastating interstellar plague.

Grass by sheri s tepper