If you’re in the mood for a YA portal fantasy with ace and trans rep, this might be for you. Although to be fair, it’s maybe more portal-adjacent because we don’t actively spend time in those other words. In this first book in the Wayward Children series, we learn that Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is a sanctuary for children who visited other worlds but for some reason left or were rejected from them. Their families don’t believe they traveled anywhere, and Eleanor takes them in under the guise of providing treatment.
In this one, we’re following Nancy, who visited an underworld. We learn along with her that there are a variety of types of worlds, primarily defined by whether they are Nonsense or Logic worlds. As Nancy get to know her peers, dark things start happening. Actually the book was darker than I had expected. However, I really loved the concept behind it, and a couple of the characters were lovable.
Other characters were less lovable. Even Nancy herself was a little hit or miss for me, and I would have liked a little more development of her. The worlds we hear about are fascinating, and I wished we could have learned more about those, as well, though I think that will come in future books in the series. I can say with certainty, though, that I would probably never want to visit one of those worlds myself. While I had a pretty good time with this book, I don’t feel a need to continue the series, in part because I didn’t really care for the characters that book 2 is about. I still recommend this, though, and maybe one day I’ll return to the series.
