I was so excited to read this book by Seanan McGuire! When I saw it was available for review, I knew I had to snatch it up!

This book follows the story of Nadya, a Russian orphan who was adopted by an American family. Nadya was born with only one arm, but it has never bothered her. She never felt as if she needed a second arm since she was fully capable of doing everything she wanted to! She has always been a people pleaser, ready to keep the peace wherever she went so she could have a better life. But life in America is not what she hoped for. Her new parents are more concerned with making her “whole,” when she never felt like she was anything less than whole. When they fit her with a new prosthetic arm, that was the last straw. When she goes to visit her beloved turtles, she tumbles through a door and ends up in a magical land called Belyyreka.

I thought this was such a fun read! It’s full of whimsy and magic, and you get to watch Nadya grow as a person once she’s in Belyyreka. She finally feels like she belongs. There is a lot of world building and character development, which is vital to the story. By the end of the book, you feel like you truly know Nadya, and you are great friends.

I have two complaints about this book. The first is that while Nadya’s adopted mother (Patsy) is very difficult to get along with, it’s indirectly blamed on her being a Christian woman trying to impress her friends. I was a little turned off by this as it seemed more of a judgement of Christian people in general, and not so much of the character herself.

My second complaint is that while there is so much world building and character development, the ending was sorely lacking. What happened to Nadya? The book ends in a sort of cliff hanger and we’re left wondering what happened to her. I would have loved for there to be at least one more chapter explaining things.

All in all, I am still a big fan of the Wayward Children Series. Definitely read them if you get a chance! They’re are all pretty short reads but definitely interesting! I rate this book as 4 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received this book for free from netgalley for my honest, unbiased opinion.

I had completely forgotten that we’ve met Nadya before and actually know how her story ends. If you’re shocked by the abrupt ending and want to know what happened to her, go back to Beneath the Sugar Sky. This was one of my favorites, though. I love the unusual world that Nadya fell into and the different characters, including the turtles, that surround her.

“It is a pleasant thing, to linger in currents clean and clear, where we know nothing will hurt us. Sometimes, though, the fishing is better where the water moves more quickly. Sometimes, we must move on.”

I received an eARC of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire in exchange for an honest review. Here are my thoughts!

🐢 Nadya never imagined leaving Russia, but when an American couple decides they would like to adopt a child her whole life changes. Whisked halfway across the world, Nadya does her best to hold onto herself while also becoming the all-American girl her new parents want.

For a while Nadya manages, but when her adoptive mother forces a prosthetic arm into the space where she has always lived without one it’s too much. Buoyed by her love of turtles and tortoises, Nadya finds herself in the drowned world of Belyrreka. More quickly than she would’ve thought possible Nadya finds herself at home in this world of talking foxes, giant turtles, and breathable water…but can she stay? 🐢

It’s no secret that I love the Wayward Children series (I literally have a tattoo inspired by it), so I was hyped to get my hands on the next book before it was released. I soon found myself comforted by Seanan McGuire’s universe that is determined to remind us that there is no right or wrong way to exist, but…I also found myself a bit bored.

We knew how Nadya’s story was going to end, even if we didn’t know the specifics of how she arrived at that ending. When done right, knowing the ending and sitting through the story to get there can be tantalizing in the best way possible. McGuire just missed the mark on it this time, at least for me.

It’s unfortunate because Belyrreka is such an interesting world with a weird mix of magic and science keeping it afloat and Nadya is an amazing character. This just didn’t feel like a story that needed to be told.

This book isn’t bad by any means, but it’s definitely one of the weaker ones in the series for me coming in at 3.5 stars. Read it for yourself when it’s released on January 7th!

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

Pros: great characters, thought provoking

Cons:

Nadya was abandoned to a Russian orphanage on birth, having been born without a right hand. She never considers herself lacking something until a Christian American couple adopts her and gets her a prosthetic. Unsure of her future, she falls through a door into a world with giant talking turtles.

This is book 10 of the Wayward Children series, but it is an origin story novella, so while Nadya is a main character in Beneath the Sugar Sky (book 3), you don’t need to read that to understand her story here. Nor do you need to have read any of the previous book to have a full understanding of this book.

McGuire is a master of creating empathy with her characters. Her clear but lyrical prose allows you to follow Nadya’s thoughts regarding her missing hand - how she doesn’t feel its lack, nor does she feel it needs replacing to be ‘whole’. Too often books align with the parents in this situation, expecting gratefulness from the recipient of their ‘aid’, unwanted and unnecessary as it may be.

It’s a thought provoking read, not only for the prosthetic, but also about Nadya’s adoption and some reasons why families choose that option and how it can affect the child in question.

I loved Nadya’s spirit and cleverness. Her kindness. Her resilience.

Belyyreka’s a challenging world to get your head around. I loved the giant turtles and how they were used in the story.

The ending, as usual for the origin novellas in this series, has an abrupt ending. We do know what happens to Nadya next, after this story ends. Strangely, that knowledge left me with more questions of how things go after the end of Beneath the Sugar Sky. Maybe those will be answered in a future novella.

If you haven’t read any of the Wayward Children books, this is another entry point that requires no previous knowledge, and it’s a great little story.

We finally get the Drowned Girls story in this book. Nadya has a very sad story. I had mixed feelings about the book. The words and language in this book are stunningly beautiful as is always the case in her books. But I left this book wanting more and still feeling sad even though other books filled in the after story.

These books keep getting better and better. I keep reading these not just to see what weird world Seanan has thought of this time, but also what drove the character it’s about to end up in another world and why they came back.
I love that this one included adoptive parents who we’re doing the oddly mean performative thing of adopting a disabled child and expecting her to fit a certain mold, and how we can really feel her devastation at coming back from the other world she had just lived a whole life in.

5/5 stars.

For fans of the Wayward Children series, we are already familiar with part of Nadya's story from Beneath the Sugar Sky. This is how the story of how she found her door to Belyyreka in the first place and where her fascination with turtles began. I have said it before and I'll say it again, Seanan McGuire is doing something truly spectacular with this series and diving deeper into themes with each subsequent entry. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear explores themes of adoption, physical disability and ultimately at the end mourning a life once lived in another world. The Wayward Children series are short novellas but they pack so much meaning, plot and characterization into them. I'd highly recommend the series for fans of all ages.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear gives us the backstory of Nadya, a character first introduced in Beneath the Sugar Sky. While this book didn’t manage to unseat my current favourite Wayward Children books, it hit many important notes and earned its place in my top five.

From the start, Nadya is a delightful character who will charm readers. Unlike the other books, this entry falls into the “cozy fantasy” camp. There are extremely low stakes throughout the book-the greatest antagonist is a giant frog who is really just trying to live his life-so if you want a chill entry point into the series, this is it. It does make the pacing a bit weird, which is my only criticism of the book, as the second half relies heavily on time skipping and doesn’t really build to anything beyond just showing you how Nadya lived her life. Still, I had a great time with this book, would definitely recommend it, and will definitely be picking it up.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear. Below is my honest review.

I hated knowing what was coming (thanks, Beneath the Sugar Sky) because I really loved Nadya and the turtles in her true home world. I really would have liked a little more depth (pun) of plot for this one, as it kind of felt incomplete to me. But I really really really really loved the turtle Drowned Girl world!

Highly recommended, especially if you keep up with the series. It's a fantastic series.

I absolutely loved Nadya's story and learning more about Belyyreka. Especially as her lore has been hinted at in the previous Wayward Children books, and we don't get much description about what a Drowned Girl is or why they're called that. I loved learning about Nadya's ability to talk with animals that aren't turtles, and her companionship with Burian. I hope there's more to her story, especially as when we last saw her she was with Nancy, waiting for her door to open.

For context, Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is an even-numbered book in Wayward Children. That means we see a Wayward child, how they found their door lost it, and returned to Earth. So it is going to have a downer ending by default.

Her name was once Nadhezda Sokolov, and Russia was her home, her mother. At the orphanage, she could arrange for younger children to present their best on adoption day. But the nuns who run the orphanage, fearing that their little leader will age out and struggle in her homeland, arrange for her to stand out to a wealthy Christian American couple that are called "missionaries" for a reason. They want to find a Russian child to "save" from what was once the Soviet Union and paid many bribes to get past the obvious red tape and bureaucratic regulations. While Carl seems interested in the idea of being a dad, Pansy wants to look good in front of their pastor. Of course the nuns are insulted because they know Russia is not backwards and they've worked hard to care for the children. But they see an opportunity for Nazheda to find a home, and subtly point out her missing arm. That's all it takes, and the missionaries choose "Nadya" to adopt. But they start making every choice in her life, until one pushes her into another world.

In Belyyreka, Nadya is not treated as a thing or a charity case. The humans tell her that it's not a time when heroes are needed, but they welcome her with open arms while showing no judgment about her missing hand. Giant frogs want to eat her, while helpful foxes guide her to safety and warn her not to return to the forest where she emerged, unless it is an emergency. This world has water, so everyone is Drowned, but you will never be lost. That is, unless you venture too far to be found.

We had met Nadya back in book three of Wayward Children, the teenager who loved hanging in the pond with Cora, her roommate and best friend. It had seemed strange why her Door never appeared to someone more sure of herself, until we learn how we get to that Drowned World of Belyyreka. And it paints a picture of how Cora's best friend at Eleanor's school became a serious yet quirky child that prefers the company of reptiles to most people. Going to a Drowned world removes Nadya's previous instincts to do what she is told, as she does what she needs. She had to act and make choices, rather than react.

Seeing her adoptive parents explains a lot; it gives strong Diana Wynne Jones vibes in viewing their imperfections. Pansy is a typical wealthy Karen who has never bothered to challenge her worldview while looking good in front of others. She wants her pastor to like her, and the congregation to admire her and Carl. While Carl means well, he caves to what Pansy wants, while sneaking occasional ice cream to Nadya as an apology. He lacks the means to do one simple thing: ask Nadya what she wants, and what she likes. And his cowardice enables Pansy's self-righteousness. No wonder Nadya refuses to return to them in the present, as her time in another world taught her what real parental love is.

Some worldbuilding notes: Belyyreka seems to exist on the Nonsense side of the Compass though we know that it's relatively close to the Halls of the Dead, because Nadya breaks no rules that cause her banishment. Foxes warn her not to explore further when she can return to the surface, but more for her benefit in terms of not dying. Because it may be a world where death is the key to enter, but Drowned doesn't always mean dead, You can always sink in the wrong bodies of water.

What a devastating book. It was a pleasure and honor to read it early.

I love this whooooole series so much. I did miss the other characters, but really enjoyed being a part of Nadya's story from the beginning. I anxiously await *every* installment.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire


I was already a big fan of Ms. McGuire’s when the first wayward children book, Every Heart a Doorway, came out, and I loved it! As a kid who grew up loving the Oz series and resenting the Christian imagery in Narnia, it was right up my alley. It is a wonderful book and this is an excellent series, definitely deserving of its Best Series Hugo win. In this series, the odd numbered books are the main timeline, and the even numbered books tell stories outside the main timeline - sometimes introducing us to new characters when they travel through their Doors, and other times showing up backstory of preexisting characters.

I was overjoyed when tordotcom and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear . I hope for eARCs of the wayward children books every year and once again this year I was finally lucky enough to get one!

This story is an even numbered book, so it is not advancing the main story forward - it more of a character study of Nadya. We met Nadya way back when the gang went on a journey to resurrect Sumi. We hadn’t learned that much of her story except that her Door led to a world of water with turtles in it, and that she eventually made it back there.

This story is heartbreaking - we learned that Nadya was abandoned at a Russian orphanage by a teenager who was planning on giving her up even before she saw that she was born with a missing arm. The orphanage part isn’t the heartbreaking part - it is the way Nadya is treated by the right wing religious couple who adopt her as an act of charity, not love. Nadya’s time in her world is wonderful but too brief, and I was so sad when she was ripped away at the end of the novella, heartened only by my memory of her ultimate happier ending.

I tried to savor this book but failed, rushing through to the end because I couldn’t put it down.

I cannot wait to devour the next one!

In Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear, we learn more about Nadya, a Russian orphan who gets adopted by an American couple. As always, I love the representation and social commentary that Seanan weaves into these stories. In this case, we were given disability representation and a very interesting conversation about international adoption and cultural identity. I enjoyed this aspect of the book the most. Once Nadya got settled into Belyrreka, the story fell a little bit flat for me. I loved the turtles! Although this was not my favorite in the series, I certainly recommend it and will be purchasing a physical copy of the book.

To say I love this series is an understatement. This is one of my favorite series of all time. Seanan McGuire is incredible at creating worlds and characters you will love and care for so much.

Thank you so much to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the latest of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series and is one of the greats. It follows Nadya, a child who was born with one arm and was abandoned in the hospital soon after her birth. Nadya grows up not feeling the lack of a second arm and is content to lead the children in the orphanage to the outcomes she feels are best for them.

Her tragedy comes when the well-meaning nuns at the orphanage set her up to be adopted. An American couple brings her back to the States, tearing her away from Russia—the land and the language she knows. She is expected to be a perfect, grateful daughter, especially when they insist on a prosthetic Nadya neither needs nor wants.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear explores the difference between intent and impact and the difference between the golden and platinum rules. It is as thought-provoking as the rest of the series and is more heart-wrenching for showing Nadya’s early story instead of what will happen when she gets back to this world from her doorway.

Overall, this latest installment to the Wayward Children series is well worth the read.

Yet another heartbreaking installment in this series. Not quite as brutal as Antsy or as fraught with indecision as Cora, Nadya’s tale was the cool, and thoughtful sort of story I’ve come to expect from this series. Belyyreka was gorgeous and wild and so much more immersive than some of the other worlds we’ve visited. Across the board this was a lovely addition to the series.

This is the story of Nadya, a girl we have already met at Eleanor's School for Wayward Children — we have seen how her tale ends up, and now we backtrack to see how it began. I love this series, but I'm not sure this book justifies the deeper dive than the original brief glimpse of Nadya's story we'd already gotten.

Why didn't I enjoy Adrift more than I did? First off, I thought that Nadya was a compelling character, and I love how the author consciously makes a point to explore different viewpoints from all different circumstances and walks of life... but honestly, in this case I found Nadya's personal challenges more interesting before she fell through her door. The world she fell into was peaceful (and I like turtles as much as the next person), but once there, it just didn't seem to be much of a hook to build a story around. Now, the drowned woods, the talking fox, the horrifying giant frogs? Good stuff, instantly intriguing. But once Nadya settles into her new life, that's about it, story-wise. And even the way she eventually finds herself back in her original world just seems... anticlimactic.

All in all, this was a nice little slice-of-life story, but I wish there had been a little more meat on its bones.

Seanan McGuire once again proves her mastery of storytelling in Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear, a novel that beautifully blends fantasy with deeply human emotions. The story is set in a world both familiar and strange, where McGuire's lyrical prose draws you into a journey of self-discovery, loss, and redemption.

The protagonist’s journey is filled with moments of quiet introspection and intense action, making it a compelling read from start to finish. McGuire’s ability to create richly detailed worlds is on full display, and the characters are vividly brought to life, each with their own complexities and struggles that make them feel real and relatable.

What sets this book apart is its exploration of the delicate balance between hope and despair. McGuire tackles these themes with sensitivity, weaving them into the narrative in a way that feels both natural and profound. The pacing is generally well-handled, though there are moments where the plot meanders slightly, which may slow down some readers.

Overall, Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is a hauntingly beautiful novel that will linger in your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page. It’s a story of resilience, of finding clarity in the midst of chaos, and of the quiet strength that lies within us all. While not without its flaws, it’s a book that will resonate deeply with fans of McGuire’s work and newcomers alike.

It's one of those like, I'm going to read all of the Wayward Children books, but they come out so erratically and don't tie together that I tend to forget who is who and why I care about them. I liked this story, I did, I'm just not sure about why it's being told now.

. Thank you Tordotcom via NetGalley for the eARC of my most anticipated book of 2025!

If you think we didn’t need a backstory of a character whose story was settled earlier in this series, you are wrong.

I am emotional!! McGuire makes me care about characters so much that I’ve committed to a series, which I haven’t done since I first read Twilight in 2008 (lol). Even more so, she makes me care about characters that I admittedly didn’t really think twice about in earlier books.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the backstory of Nadya, a Russian orphan adopted by American parents and a Drowned Girl, whom we met in books 1 & 3 of the Wayward Children series. We spend years with Nadya in Belyyreka, a Drowned World with talking turtles. I am not typically fond of talking animals in my stories, but it really worked for me in this one. (Yes, it helps that turtles are my favorite).

Overall, I have never found a World to be so comforting, which is why it is so devastating and cruel to have cast her out. She finds safety, security, and bodily autonomy - something she lacked as a child outside of Belyyreka: “I am fine. I do not need a protez—a, ah, prosthetic—arm. I am happy as I am.” “But you can’t be,” Carl insisted. “You must want to be a whole little girl.” Gut punch!!

This book was sad and hopeful. Nadya is brave and resilient and whole and she talks to turtles and I adore her.

I cannot wait for more of this series.