Adrift in Currents: A Review of Seanan McGuire’s Latest Fantasy

Hello readers. Amanda here with a review for the newest book of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear. This is one of my favourite Fantasy series. I read a digital advance copy from Netgalley.

Welcome, or Welcome back! My name is Amanda and this is where I share spoiler-free book reviews and other bookish things. Thanks for visiting. Let’s get Smitten For Fiction.

“A mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy — a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll’s and C. S. Lewis’ classics” —NPR

About The Book 📚

Title: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear

Series: Wayward Children #10

Author: Seanan McGuire

Publication Date: January 7, 2025

Publisher: Tordotcom

Genre: Action & Adventure, Fantasy

Pages: 160

Setting: Russia, America, Belyyreka (the Land Beneath the Lake)

Content Warnings: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/5f9ca52d-d9b5-45a3-b935-17ecb1d402f4/content_warnings

Three Words That Describe This Book: emotional, identity, adventurous

About The Author

Photo by Beckett Gladney.

Seanan McGuire is the author of the Wayward Children series, the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, the Velveteen series, the Indexing series, the Ghost Road series, the Alchemical Journeys series, and other works. McGuire also writes under the pseudonym Mira Grant.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/seanan-mcguire/

MiraGrant.com

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/mira-grant/

https://www.seananmcguire.com/

My Review

› The Wayward Children series:
Every Heart a Doorway
Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Beneath the Sugar Sky
In An Absent Dream
Come Tumbling Down
Across the Green Grass Fields
Where the Drowned Girls Go
Lost in the Moment and Found
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear

I love the cover for Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear. It conveys the magical whimsy of this Young Adult Fantasy series with LGBTQ+ characters. I’ve read every book in the series at least once. The audiobooks are also fantastic.

› Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is about Nadezhda, who goes by Nadya. Born in Russia with an incompletely formed right arm, Nadya grew up in an orphanage. She always did the right thing, hoping that someday her mother would come back to find her. She was adopted by an American couple who brought her to Denver, Colorado, enrolled her in English lessons and forced her to wear a prosthetic arm which she hated. She became very sad living so far from everything she had ever known and was frustrated that her new family didn’t see her as a complete person.

“This was not her choice. This was her body, but it was not her decision, and that alone made it very heavy, and difficult to carry.”

At ten years old, while admiring the turtles in a pond near her home, Nadya fell and went through a door into Belyyreka, the Land Beneath the Lake. Here she meets vicious frogs, smart foxes, enormous turtles, and incredible friends.

› McGuire knows how to create fully-developed characters and the Wayward Children series has a diverse LGBTQ+ cast. There is incredible world-building and beautiful writing. The plot is fast-paced and engaging. I had such a good time reading this story even though it broke my heart. It made me want to re-read the entire series again.

APPEAL FACTORS
Storyline: action-packed, character-driven, issue-oriented, open-ended, unconventional, tragic
Pace: fast
Tone: emotional, inspiring, sad, sweet, reflective, magical
Humour: amusing
Writing Style: well-crafted dialogue, compelling, descriptive, engaging
Character: authentic, complex, strong female, well-developed, diverse
Disability representation: deaf or hard of hearing, physically disabled
LGBTQIA+ Representation: queer

Read Alikes:
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
A Dealy Education by Naomi Novik
A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab
Down Station by Simon Morden

› In the past I have given a rating out of ten and converted that to a star rating, but I’m no longer giving a star rating here on my blog. I will continue to do that on Goodreads and The Story Graph.

› Final Thoughts
• Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear is an inspiring and emotional gateway fantasy story with a strong female character who is physically disabled. This fast-paced, atmospheric, and suspenseful story is about self-acceptance, found family, and love.