I love all of the Wayward Children books, but my favorites are the ones where we see the world beyond the doors. The world of Belyyreka is super interesting, and it was great to see where Nadia was, and what her life was like there. The descriptions are so vivid and the story is so atmospheric it felt like you were there. I can't wait to see whose story is going to be next!

This is an installment in the Wayward Children series I have been waiting for--the Drowned Girl. And it is so good, and so bittersweet. The world our main character finds herself in is just so fascinating and different from anything I could've come up with. McGuire does a solid job of addressing the thorny issues that swirl around well-meaning adoption that is a form of white-knighting, as well as how society tries to tell stories about people that they don't even recognize themselves in.

Really loved this, though it will also break your heart multiple times over.

Since this is the tenth book in the Wayward Children novella series, perhaps a quick recap of what the series is about is in order. Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is for children who (like Dorothy, Alice, and the Pevensie clan) have journeyed through a Door to another world and returned to a home they no longer fit into. Disbelieving parents send these “troubled” kids off to boarding school – and if the kids are lucky, that school is Eleanor West’s, where they will find refuge, respite, and adults who understand them while they await the day their Door will find them once again. The odd numbered books in the series take place in the characters’ present day and usually involve a core group of students going on a quest to save a classmate (even though Eleanor has a “No Quests” rule they find ways to work around). The even numbered books, like this one, focus on one student’s backstory – their portal adventure.

As such, Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is a great jumping on point for readers new to the series who may not realize it’s part of a series. We have one focal character – Nadya, who in the odd numbered present-day sequence last appeared in book 3, Beneath the Sugar Sky – and one new world to explore, Belyyreka also known as the Land Beneath the Lake.

We got little of Nadya’s backstory when she appeared in Sugar Sky. Basically we were told that she had spent a “lifetime” in Belyyreka and then fell in a river and found herself back on Earth. So this volume gives us her complete story. Again, I won’t spoil the plot of the current book, but McGuire has a lot to say about both living with a physical difference you don’t consider a disability but others do (Nadya is born in Russia missing one arm, but doesn’t consider herself to be at a disadvantage because of it – but she also recognizes that the kids who are not missing limbs are the ones who are more likely to get adopted and she does what she can to help them make the good impressions they need to make) and how not every adoption experience is the beautiful, loved filled, all-for-the-right-reasons 1980s television movies of the week (and Lifetime or Great American Family Channel movies in the current day) would have us believe (Nadya does eventually get adopted, but for what is obviously all the wrong reasons). Going through the Door that manifests in a turtle pond brings Nadya eventually to a different sort of adoption experience, and we as readers get to see the effect going from a situation in which a child is not understood into one in which the child is accepted as is can have on a child’s mental health and self-image.

Belyyreka is another fascinating McGuire creation, a world where everyone breathes water (including, automatically, anyone who stumbles through a magic Door from an air-breathing world). McGuire’s worldbuilding is always rich and detailed and Belyyreka is no exception. I’m sure there are folkloric antecedents McGuire built this world off of, but I am unfamiliar with them and haven’t had a chance to research before posting this review. The society Nadya finds herself a part of involves humans who fish and farm with the aid of giant turtles. Yes, you read that correctly: giant turtles. Prior to this book, my favorite giant turtle was Gamera. I think now (without spoilers of any kind) it's Burian.

To be clear: reading Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is a complete experience – one could read this and not read any of the other books in the Wayward Children series, and not feel cheated (just as one can read the first Oz or Wonderland or Narnia books and feel like a complete story has been told). But I hope that readers coming to the series through this book will want to seek out Beneath the Sugar Sky to see where Nadya’s story goes next, and then be intrigued enough to read the rest of the series. It definitely made me want to re-read Sugar Sky.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I love this series! Whether it's introducing a new character or filing in someone's backstory, I'm always happy to see a new book come out. I love seeing what's on the other side of the new doorway and revisiting these characters.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the tenth installment of the Wayward Children. I can't quite believe that we are already at a tenth installment. That we have journeyed so far with these characters and world.

This time we follow Nadya into her journey into our world and into her drowned world. We met her in Beneath the Sugar Sky. I have to be honest that I couldn't remember a whole lot from her since it was quite a few books ago. But I enjoyed getting to know her again.

Nadya hasn't had an easy life (and to be fair, none of the kids have). When she goes through the portal it is the first time she gets the chance to make decisions for herself. Where she is accepted for who she is, stump and all.

The world that she goes to, the drowned world, is mostly under water. They can breathe underwater and when she comes there, so can she. But there is also a portion above water, where rivers and wood connect. Where there are talking animals.

Giant turtles help the drowned in what they need to survive. Nadya starts a companionship with one of the young turtles. Honestly, it is mostly a gentle story that Nadya has when in this new world. She makes a life for herself, a future. She seemed so sure.

But my complaint with this book is the ending for Nadya. It came very sudden. For her and for us as readers, and I'm not quite sure I'm satisfied with it. There wasn't enough explanation in this part of the story and we are too far into everything for there to not be more explanations.

It’s January, and that means that it’s time for a new Wayward Children novella! In Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear, we are reintroduced to Nadya, a turtle-loving Drowned Girl that we first met in Beneath the Sugar Sky. In that book, Nadya was one of the students of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children who accompanied Sumi’s daughter, Rini, on her quest to bring her mother back to life. Before she traded places with Sumi’s soul in the Halls of the Dead, long before she first made her way to the waters of Belyyreka, Nadya was an orphan. Abandoned by her birth mother, she was raised in an orphanage where most of the visiting families would pass her by because of her missing right forearm. Eventually, though, an American couple arrives and whisks her away from her home in Russia to the mysterious, distant city of Denver, Colorado. Not going to lie, folks. Of all the places Seanan McGuire has taken readers of these books over the last decade, the one I least expected was right here in Colorado.

Nadya’s new parents want to help her fit in, so she takes English classes and is eventually taken to a doctor to be fitted for a prosthesis, something that she had never considered, because she is whole as she is. A prosthetic arm makes the forearm she never had suddenly visible to her classmates at school. Since neither of them consulted with her on the idea before deciding she’d get it, Nadya’s less than thrilled with the whole thing. Feeling unloved, she goes for a short walk to visit a nearby turtle pond that had always cheered her up, a place she frequently would visit with her adoptive father. That’s when she sees it. Carved into a turtle’s shell are the words “Be Sure.” Reaching for the turtle to try to help it, since someone was clearly cruel to it, Nadya falls into the pond and through the doorway that had formed there.

Waking up in the drowned world of Belyyreka, Nadya is quickly befriended by the humans who live there. Many of them are like her, swept-away people chosen by the Doors from their own worlds. She finds a home among them, learning to work with turtle partners to fish and explore. She even finds a turtle partner of her own, named Burian, who will eventually grow large enough for Nadya to ride on their adventures. But all good things must come to an end eventually, and we readers already know that Nadya will make her way to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children in due time.

Seanan McGuire has once again crafted a phenomenal addition to the Wayward Children series. As with all of the even numbered books, this one deals with the backstory of a character rather than a present-day adventure. Nadya’s story is a great guide to acceptance of one’s self, and finding ways to be true to that even when others try to change who you are. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is available today. I know I needed it more than I realized. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2025/01/07/adrift-in-currents-clean-and-clear-a-review/

I don’t know if turtle girls are a thing like horse girls, but if they are then wow do I have a book for you 😆

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the tenth and latest installment in the Wayward Children series, and I loved it. The whole series has my heart, as we explore the stories of these children who get sucked into all these different portal worlds. I thought the world McGuire created here in Belyrekka was so beautiful and lush, definitely befitting the fairytale atmosphere. This is one of the standalone portal stories, so we follow Nadya who we met in the main storyline but this is just her story from before she came to Eleanor’s school. While I can’t completely speak to the disability or adoption rep, it seemed carefully and well done.

I absolutely loved this small story and I already can’t wait for the next one.

Nadya was missing an arm since birth, and her adoptive parents forced her to wear a prosthetic. She finds her way to Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake. This world of water contains child-eating amphibians, giant turtles, and all kinds of impossible things. Nadya is considered a Drowned Girl, accepted by the river and its people. There are dangers in Belyrreka, and Nadya must fight for everything she holds dear.

This is the tenth book of the Wayward Children series, but each book can be read independently. I felt bad for Nadya, who was either abandoned or simply not seen on her own merits since she was born. Her adoptive parents are well-meaning but want to have the appearance of a perfect child. Of course, she would fall through a door into another world, one where her missing arm isn't the first thing about her that people see. She adapts well to her new world and finds a place for herself among the people there. Dangers exist that are different from the ones she knew in Colorado or Russia, but she adapts even to those.

This story is novella length, so it wraps up quickly. The ending felt almost abrupt and was certainly sad. Nadya had been happy in Belyrreka, and I liked that place and that version of her.

5/5

*Read thanks to NetGalley

Gah, why not just pull my heart out, that ending. You know it's going to happen if you know Nadya's story (so you if you're me get immersed and forget.) So yes it's a standalone book but it's even more powerful if you read the 3rd book and know what happens to her.

I love the WAYWARD CHILDREN series because the author says so much and makes you feel so much in well under 200 pages.

This quote gives a good feel for the story: "A future is a monster of its own breed, different for everyone, and ever inescapable."

The story has a dreamy feel to it. The door found this time leads to a really intriguing watery world. Feels a lot like an old school fable or myth.

That ending will get ya but at its core I think it shows that there's always hope.

I highly recommend this series and hope that there are more.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I gotta admit I didn't read the other books in the series. Obviously, this could have changed my opinion, but as a true outsider I think the author is a pretty strong writer, but I am perplexed on how the "real world" scenes are more intriguing than the "fantasy portal world."

Regardless, she ended the book very well. Well enough that it made me want to go back and read the first book of the series to give more background and fill in the info I might be missing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy!

I'm starting to think none of these books are going to live up to In An Absent Dream for me, and it's about time that I accepted it. And, at least, this book has giant turtles, sentient foxes, and an underwater world for this book's wayward child- Nadya - to explore.

I really enjoyed the world building in this one, and I liked Nadya has a main character. The ending- even though I knew it was coming, because how else would she end up at the school for Wayward Children?- felt like a kick in the gut. I really, really hope Nadya gets to return to the home she loves at some point in this series. I had trouble remembering her from previous installments- and I think it's just because there are so many books at this point that I'm struggling to keep track of the main plot lines when the kids are together. I also definitely missed a book somehow, so maybe I need to go back and read #9 in order to fill in any holes. I'd love to see Nadya in the next installment- and I'm assuming there is one. I'm not sure how long Seanan McGuire will keep writing these, but I'm along for the ride!

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear gives us the story of Nadya, buffeted through her childhood by people who thought they were doing the right thing, or what they thought others would think or approve as the right thing, and never considering how Nadya felt. Nadya, visiting her beloved turtles to deal with the latest “right thing” dealt to her, a prosthetic arm, falls through the door and finds herself in a drowned world as a “Drowned Girl”.

In the world of Belyyreka, Nadya is treasured for what she is, and not as a project or as an imperfect girl who needed fixing. Nadya thrives in. Belyyreka, as it becomes her real home, as her former life fades from her memory.

This made the denouement that much more painful.

Four and one-half stars, enthusiastically recommended:

Another wonderful installment in the Wayward Children Series. This story focused on Nadya.

After being adopted by an American couple, Nadya has a difficult time adjusting to life until she arrives in Belyrreka, the Drowned World! McGuire is a master at writing these perfect novellas. The world that Nadya falls into is crafted beautifully and teeming with sentient turtles and other creatures.

Thank you to NetGalley & TorDotCom for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

the stories in this series are often bittersweet, but i love them all the same. i really loved the world we got to explore in this installment - giant turtles, cities underwater, talking animals, etc. i also really love the prose style Seanan uses in this series. it's more obvious to me since i just read The Innocent Sleep, also by her, which has a very different prose style. it is amazing how she is able to go back and forth between different styles. one critique that i would have of this one is that although we got to know Nadya more, it still felt a bit surface-y. i think more time was spent on the world than on the conflicts moving the plot. ultimately though i still enjoyed reading this one, and remain excited for any story in this series/universe.

REP: disabled main character (limb difference - right arm, from birth) [queer author, disabled author, neurodivergent author]

QUOTES:
"No single person could do absolutely everything without aid, and so her own limitations weren't limitations at all, merely different standards."

Another fine entry in this Hugo-winning series. This is an even-numbered entry which means it's backstory, rather than the more interconnected "real" world story of Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of Nadya, a one-armed Russian orphan adopted by the sort of well-meaning (religious) American who wants to show the world how good a person they are.

Nadya, perfectly content with only one arm and more interested in the wild turtles nearby than her "mom" thinks wise, falls into the turtle pond and comes out in the Drowned world of Belyyreka where adventure ensues.

This is a fantastic standalone and a reasonable jumping on point for the series.

These backstory novels often serve as a launching point for continuing the main story. With the most recent stories focused on Antsy, Cora (another Drowned girl), and now Nadya, I cannot wait to see what the 2026 release has in store!

Oh, I loved reading this book! I love Seanan McGuire's writing and this world so much, and this latest story, another one with the kid first coming to a new world, was great, I really enjoyed getting to Nadya and the world that fits her!

Nadya was born without one arm, and was raised in an orphanage, before a couple from America adopt her. She's strong and resilient, and being forced to wear a prosthetic, without being asked if she wanted to, yeah. Her thoughts about her adoptive parents, about how they treat her like a thing and not a child, felt very true!

The world of Belyrreka, of the drowned and all the water, and the turtles, I really enjoyed watching Nadya learn and explore it as a scout, with Burian. The understanding this world has of the doors and the children that find themselves in different world was really well done!

Of course, this is an even book in the series, meaning that this is a story of a child's time in their true world, meaning that they eventually end up back in our world, no matter how much they don't want to. Nadya's future, back with her adoptive parents, well, I really hope she's going to be able to get back to Belyrreka and the life that she built there!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Seanan McGuire!

"Stories had to have beginnings, which meant someone had to be where they were beginning, or there was no purpose to them. She was just at the beginning of a story, that was all, and this was perfectly possible.

I fall more in love with this series with each installment. What I love so much about 'Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear' is how realistic it feels to being a child. There's such little control, everyone older knows better than you, and for some kids, like Nadya, you have to learn quickly how to say the right things to please adults. Her story is so heartbreaking because how young she is when she understands and decides that she simply must deal with these things her new parents are doing.

There's a little bit of a difference in this one with the door and the 'Be Sure' which I thought was a nice small change as it was tailored well to Nadya's character. An excellent edition to the series, it makes me want to go back and reread!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

the wayward children’s series has taken me on so many strange and winding journeys, and i love pretty much every minute of them. and this installment was no exception! nadya’s backstory was wonderful to sink myself into, her world of water and turtles and fishing boats one of my favorite worlds seanan has had us visit. i still don’t know if i enjoy the books that take place at eleanor west’s or within the worlds, but for now i am along for the ride. this is a solid 4.5 star read

Although Nadya was born with only one arm, she never found herself lacking in any way. However, when she is adopted by American parents and taken away from her homeland of Russia, they deem it necessary to fit her with a prosthetic. Nadya has smiled politely and been obedient throughout all of the major changes that have happened to her, but the uncomfortable prosthetic is too far and leads her to wandering by a turtle pond, which is the only place she ever truly feels at peace. After trying to help a turtle with a strange message carved into its shell - Be Sure - Nadya finds herself in Belyyreka, a land of giant frogs, talking turtles, and water as far as the eye can see.

This was as well-written as the others in the series, and once again the world-building is incredible. It's such a short book, but it's so richly described and well thought out. I think this prequel could work as an entry point to the series, albeit a sad one, but I found it more rewarding having read the other books. Overall, not the strongest entry in the series, but still solid. 3.5 rounded up.

Ouch, this one definitely hurt my feelings. It was so great to see Nadya again and to get her whole story. While I remembered where we left her in Beneath the Sugar Sky, I couldn’t remember too much else about her or her door, except that she, like Cora, is a Drowned Girl as well but from somewhere else and it had something to do with turtles. So basically, I had my heart broken for Nadya by the end of this one (which, to be fair, is pretty standard with this series). Loved it, though - another excellent addition to a gorgeous series of novellas!! It was also just nice after the last few installments having plenty of connective tissue to come back to a character we haven't seen in a while. It keeps everything feeling fresh.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for letting me check this one out early in exchange for my honest feedback! Release date January 7 for those interested!