Adrift in currents clean and clear

For the sensitive and eerie 10th standalone portal fantasy in the Hugo Award--winning Wayward Children series (after Mislaid in Parts Half-Known), bestseller McGuire expands the backstory of Russian orphan Nadya Sokolov. Nadya was born with a stump for a right arm and raised by the state until she was adopted by American missionaries and taken to Denver. Though she's quite capable with only one hand, her adoptive parents still insist on buying her a prosthetic arm to make her "whole," which only increases her feelings of alienation. When she falls through a watery doorway into Belyyreka, the Land Beneath the Lake, an aquatic world whose people live in partnership with giant turtles, Nadya is happy to find a new home, family, and sense of belonging. But Belyyreka has many dangers, and she'll have to fight to maintain her life there. The setting is evocative and mysterious, and McGuire makes Nadya's attempts to find her place in the world stirring while touching upon disability rights issues and quietly condemning parents who see children (adoptive or otherwise) as status symbols rather than people. Newcomers are sure to be sucked in, and though longtime readers of the series already know how Nadya's story ends, they'll enjoy seeing where it began. This is another gem from McGuire. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Jan.)

This 10th book in the "Wayward Children" series doesn't so much follow Mislaid in Parts Half-Known as it provides an origin story for Nadya, one of the protagonists of Beneath the Sugar Sky. In that earlier story, Nadya found her door and was able to return to the place her heart called home. This is the story of what made the child Nadya certain that she wanted to go to Belyyreka in the first place, and the life that she lived there. Nadya's story is about finding acceptance for the person she is instead of being shoehorned into who her adopted mother believes she should be. In the underwater world of Belyrreka, the arm she was born without is just part of who she is--not something that makes her less than. She grows up with confidence in a world where she contributes and most importantly, belongs, but she loses it all by being saved from drowning and damned to return to the world of her birth--until she can find her door again. VERDICT Readers of the series will enjoy this origin story for an earlier character, while those looking for a place to begin will find this an excellent entry point.--Marlene Harris