The Wayward Children series a collection of novellas surrounding kids who didn't quite fit into their worlds or their families that at some point in time go through a door to another world. But the thing about doors is sometimes they appear again when you aren't paying attention and you go through them again. When that happens you may end up at the School for Wayward Children where you wait with others, hoping to find your door home again.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is one such story. Nadya was orphaned write after her birth and was great at helping to take care of all the children at the orphanage where she lived. She didn't mind she was missing half an arm. She got along just fine without it and even if it bothered some it didn't bother her. She was adopted by an American Christian couple and came to live her life in America. It was there she learned not everyone saw her arm the same way.

Nadya found the door when she was sad about the family who adopted her and wanted her to wear a prosthetic arm. She never doubted herself until that day and while looking at the turtles she so loved to visit she ended up in a water world. She spent almost a decade there, with a tortoise to call her own and a boy who became her husband. This is the story of those adventures and the wonderful times she had exploring the world of Belyrreka until a day that brought her back.

I really liked Nadya and her kind heart and way of taking care of those around her. Seanan McGuire does such a great job with all the worlds people end up in and how interesting and different they are from one another. She is incredibly imaginative bringing the world and characters in it to life in a short period of time. I knew Nadya would end back up in our world since I saw her at the school and we get a brief introduction to her. But I was sad all the same when she ended up on this side of the door again.

As most of these books, they are self contained stories that don't have to be read in order to understand what is happening, however it does help. I still suggest reading them in order to get the full impact.

Narration:
Barrie Kreinik did really well at capturing the atmosphere of the story. Her Russian accent for Nadya and some of the river folk in Belyrreka worked really well. I enjoyed her performance and how well she was able to make me care for Nadya so much in just a short period of time.

Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: limited at the introduction

Listen to a clip: HERE

I have grown quite fond of this series and discovering more about the different worlds. I am also a big fan on the layout for these books---bouncing between Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, and the different worlds the children find themselves in. I honestly, could not remember Nadya's character but it is also from my least favorite book in the series---which I haven't reread. This book deals with the topics of adoption and disability. Overall, I liked the story and learning more about one of the "children" but I felt this one ended so abruptly. Maybe I need to finally re-read
Beneath the Sugar Sky again to refresh my memory of the rest of Nadya's story.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another beautiful installment from the Wayward Children series. Seanan McGuire delivers another unique story, this time we are shown Nadya’s backstory.. Nadya was born without an arm and raised in a Russian orphanage. She is adopted through a Missionary program that brings her to the States. Her new parents are great and provide everything that she could possibly want but don't take the time to get to know the real her. When Nadya is given the chance to enter through the door she does and finds herself in a magical world filled with water, giant turtles and people that understand the Drowned Girl.

This was so good and definitely hit me hard emotionally. This deftly addresses the topics of adoption and disability in a refreshing way that made this story one of my favorites. I love this series and never want to see it end. Plus it has giant turtles 🐢. what more could you possibly want??

The audiobook delivered a great story that was well narrated and immersive.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

5 ⭐️

I will keep reading this series forever, however, it might be time to revisit some of the earlier installments because I've really gotten fuzzy with the overall narrative. Nadya is a compelling character and I appreciated a lot of the aspects of her world, specifically the ways it existed in conversation with her disability. As with many of the installments in this series, Seanan does an incredible job highlighting the more subtle ways that parents/adult figures can fail or harm a child due mostly to their own selfishness. There is also such a specific type of dread knowing already that Nadya will lose her world and still feeling the gut punch when it happens.

This is a solid chapter in the series, though not one of my favorites, and I'm not sure ultimately how much it will stick with me. The backstory novelllas are some of my favorites, but I think the emotional impact would be greater if I could remember how the characters fit into the bigger picture.

Seanan McGuire comes through again! I love falling into the world of the wayward children, and this installment fits right in. I truly hope we get to hear more from Nadya in future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC.

Bonus--perfect pick for the narrator! I love hearing the Russian accent and the narrator does an outstanding job bringing Nadya's thoughts to life.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. I really enjoyed the chosen narrator and how they brought so much depth and emotion to the story. This was a great depiction of disability representation specifically in regards to individuals with missing limbs and prosthetics.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for an advanced listener copy of this book. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

I love this series of books so much. Seanan McGuire treats her characters so tenderly, sculpting out full worlds and deep personalities in such a short number of pages. It's clear that these stories are crafted with love, and I am in awe of her talent.

In this book, we get Nadya's story. Nadya has appeared in previous books, and we know how this story will end, but we never got the chance to know her full tale. Here, we get it. Knowing what will come in the end holds a bittersweet sting because the drowned world is an easy one to fall in love with.

A satisfying and well-crafted tale. Please let there be more for years to come.

Another wonderful installment of The Wayward Children. It strikes a fine balance between heavy topics and lightheartedness. And the magic in every world is so different and beautiful. I loved it.

I very much enjoyed this book. It got me interested in the story right away.

I very much enjoyed this book ( audiobook).

I do very much recommend.

I always enjoy this author’s writing and returning to the world of Wayward Children. The descriptions of the drowned world were beautiful, and the way it worked was intriguing. However, I felt that dedicating an entire book to Nadya wasn’t entirely necessary since we were already familiar with her background. That said, I still gave it four stars. I really appreciated how disability was represented in this story—it wasn’t portrayed as a limitation, and Nadya was shown to be fully capable of achieving anything despite not having an arm.

Another Wayward Children book, just as wonderful as the last!

Nadya is a fantastic little girl and I loved her and her love of turtles. The world that Nadya finds herself in feels so unique and I love how even though all of the worlds each child visits, they all have a certain feel to them that connects them all together.

Reaching the end made me anxious as always. I am always hoping that, maybe this time, the children can stay.

Thank you to Netgalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

Another charming and bitter sweet fairytale-esque story for the series. However, the moral thrust of the story seems to get stronger with ever novel and, even as I agree with the ideas expressed, I found the push of ideals overpowered the character and plot, to an off-putting amount.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the 10th book in the Wayward Children series. This one tells Nadya's story, who we met in a previous book. However, this series does not have to be read in order, and I find each one to be perfect as a standalone, too.

Nadya, born in Russia with one arm and orphaned at birth by her teenage mother, is adopted by Americans who eventually fit her with a prosthetic arm. She loves turtles, and she didn't ask to leave her homeland, or ask for a replacement arm that she never missed. When she falls through her doorway, she finds Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake. Nadya is a Drowned Girl, who finally finds a home in this strange land.

Sometimes the books in the Wayward Children series are hit or miss for me. There are some worlds and characters I don't love. I really enjoyed this one. Belyrreka was fascinating, and Nadya's story was just as moving as I expected it to be.

I listened to the audiobook, as I have for all the books in this series, and as usual it was a 5 star listen. Barrie Kreinik did a great job.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 rounded up. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

Another amazing installment in the Wayward Children series. This book is Nadya's story and I gotta say, this was my favorite world yet! It was so unique and captivating, with the different layers of water with different densities and aspects of each one. The giant talking turtles, giant frogs, and talking foxes that abound in this world make it so fun (well...the frogs don't make it fun, they're jerks)! Nadya lives in Belyrreka until she's 19 and there are some older elements, so I'd put this book in the lower NA category, which is a first for this series.

Seanan McGuire, as always, touches on some important topics while also cramming in an insane amount of world building and fantastical elements into a such a short book! Nadya's story is about disability/ability, ableism, immigration, assimilation, belonging, family, identity and acceptance, and advocating what we need. The narration was top knotch as well! We had a different narrator than previous books, and I enjoyed her storytelling. My only complaint is that the book ended very abuptly and I wanted a little bit more before we were cut off from Nadya's story, because her perspective is so valued and touching.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is the 10th installment of Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series and it is one of my favorites.

McGuire's writing wraps you up in a familiar comfort and warmth then pulls you underneath where the drowned girls and boys go. The narration fits the story and the character so well. And in the end, you're left with the ache that these stories are known for, the what now? What next? After everything that happened, what do we do now?

Fanatic read. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the series or just enjoys solid writing.

the story of nayda- a russian girl adopted and a girl that never fit in. one day at the turtle pond turns into a magical adventure.

The Wayward Children series has such an important place in my heart, and with this latest adventure, that fact only solidified. The consistent world-building and explorations of what makes each of us lost and found again in the right place is fascinating and melancholy. I loved the narrator too!

I am always, always going to love this series. In the 10th installment Seanan McGuire has done it again. These books are enchanting and thematically strong, and the narrator was fantastic. The one downside is I prefer the books focusing on the entire cast at the school instead of the origin stories for each character (that being said, Seanan McGuire. Drop Kade’s book and my life. Is. YOURS) . I never get tired of these books- I think I could read them forever.

Turtle-iffic!! 4.5 stars.

Had to say going into this book I had slight reservations. The last two books were some of my favorite in the series and we were going in to follow Nadya which we had not seen since book 3 who we only briefly knew.
But never a disappointment. Seanan McGuire's captivating world building is amazing as always.
A great addition to the the series.

The only thing I would have liked was an epilogue. It is no secret that Nadya re-finds her door in the halls of the dead. I would love to see her return. Who was still there? How had timed passed, if it had?

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

I quickly fell in love with the magical otherwordly realm Nadia gets drawn into from the pond. Her story is sad but not necessarily helpless. I love her personality and outlook on life given that she isn't "whole" in the eyes of the world she's from. She gains strength and builds a life in the new world. Listening to this audiobook I was hopefully for a happy ending, but was absolutely devastated by the ending. I am not further intrigued by the author and may pick up other books in this series to see if they are written similarly. Overall I really enjoyed Adrift on Currents Clean and Clear.