The House in the Cerulean Sea

To sum up this book.....two characters are trying to move a desk from a closet to a better spot in front of the window. They need to be careful they don't damage it. It seems like a simple bit of storytelling....the act of moving the desk from a small dark space to a larger brighter one is what is significant except one character 'Sal' makes a comment about how another kid cracked the corner of the table when they first put it in the closet. Sal takes a moment to say that even though things are cracked or chipped there's still good in them'..........This basically sums up how exhausting this book is. Every paragraph, every page....there's an overbearing and preachy lesson. It feels fake and forced. It's like someone decided to write the book and start with the 'agenda' rather than the story. Yes, by all means, right a book about inclusivity and accepting your differences, but do it in a more natural way. Stop telling the reader the same thing on every page, stop making up trite instances to prove it's okay to be different. The book was exhausting. I'm three quarters of the way through and struggling to finish.

Now that I’ve read The House in the Cerulean Sea I can’t believe it took me so long to read it, but I’m so glad this story was my first novel of 2021. 40-year-old Linus Baker has been working as a Case Worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth for many years and, though he leads a solitary and rather humdrum life, he takes pride in his work making sure that orphanages for magical, non-human children are taking good care of their charges. He never lets himself get attached to the children—until he’s sent to Marsyas Island Orphanage, run by a Mr. Arthur Parnassus, where six extraordinary, potentially dangerous children are living. There’s Talia the garden gnome; Chauncey the tentacle ‘monster’; Sal the were-Pomeranian; Theodore the wyvern; Phee the forest sprite; and Lucy, the son of Satan. Linus must live with them for a month, reporting back to DICOMY, and decide if the orphanage should stay open. And DICOMY would prefer it if he didn’t fall in love with Arthur and his little family of misfits while he’s there. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a big, warm, comforting hug wrapped up in a novel, and it’s one of the most hopeful fantasy novels I’ve read. If you’re looking for a book that will bring you shameless joy and fill your heart to the point where you think it might burst, then look no further than this one. It’s such a tender story and a love letter to found families. As Arthur himself states, calling his house an orphanage makes no sense; no one is coming to adopt these children, as far as Arthur is concerned the children are his, and as such he is incredibly protective of them. Unfortunately he needs to be in a world where magical and non-human people are treated like monsters that need to be feared, to the point where some of the children believe it themselves. With Arthur, however, they’re given a chance at a childhood where they’re able to learn and play and express themselves without having to worry about being punished simply for existing. The orphanage might be where these children live, but Arthur is their home. It would be so easy for this novel to be twee and so overly sweet it could cause cavities, but Klune writes these children so well and in such a way that it’s impossible not to fall in love with them. They all have their own strong personalities, and their own issues to work through, but at their heart they’re all children who are desperate to be loved and desperate for a place they can call home. Linus and Arthur are also utterly lovely and it was so refreshing to read a romance blossoming between two adults in their forties, one of whom is a little overweight and whose hair is thinning. Linus isn’t a young Case Worker who’s fresh on the job and learning the truth behind some of the behaviour DICOMY’s strict rules are allowing, but a man who’s been trying to do his best f...

Terrible way to get a gay romance out there! Disappointed to say the least. If there was a negative star i would have given it. All gay romance and very little about the magical children the story was supposed to be about. Don't waste your time with this one.

I'm sitting here trying to find my words, and I just cant. Seriously, I can't even with you TJ. I've been dying to get my hands on this book forever it seems. But let me tell you... I. Wasn't. Ready. I can't find the words to say just how much I loved this book. TJ is one of my favorite authors that I have to greedily snatch up every new book he writes. Some are off the wall hilarious, I'm looking at you TLSH. Some are captivating, I'm looking at you The Bones Beneath my Skin. And some are so moving I can't even put into a category. I'm looking at you, The House in the Cerulean Sea. But if you take nothing out of this review, please consider this... This book, in a nutshell, reminds us to stop seeing only the outside of someone. The outside is only a body and has nothing to do with the inside. No matter your sexuality, religion, gender, or race, you will never truly know someone until you reach the inside. And in the world we are living in right now, more people need to read this book to remember to stop judging people you don't know, or haven't gotten to know. You may never learn that those people were more extraordinary than anyone could imagine. Thank you TJ for reminding me of this.

Have you ever read something that is something completely new yet familiar at the same time? That's how I feel about The House in the Cerulean Sea. I am totally in love with this book and I'm having a hard time pinning down exactly why. The best comparison I can come up with is that the story reads like what I'd imagine would be the result of Douglas Adams and Diana Wynne Jones combining forces to write a fantasy version of the Island of Misfit Toys but with paranormal creatures instead of toys and a dash of Good Omens thrown in for good measure. The story follows middle-aged and easily forgotten caseworker, Linus Baker, who gets sent by upper management to investigate a troublesome group home for magical children that has seemingly been kept a secret from everyone. What Linus finds when he gets to the orphanage was nothing he was expecting or even remotely prepared for. This book is heartwarming, sentimental, weird and absolutely and utterly delightful! I picked it up for the queer romance and I kept reading for the six dangerous children, their mysterious caretaker, the invisible case worker, and the found family trope. The children are a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist and they are weird and just downright perfect! My heart was a puddle of heartwarmed goo by the time I finished this book. I immediately wanted to go and start this book again when I finished and that is the highest praise I can give a book. I quickly fell in love with the children and their mysterious caretaker, Arthur. I fell in love with Linus too but it took a bit longer. It was quite easy once we got to see him interact with everyone at Marsyas Island. The worldbuilding in this book is on the light side for a fantasy book but that doesn't mean that it wasn't absolutely delightful and well done. I want to go live on the island with everyone and have adventures with them every Saturday. A major theme running through out the book is that you don't need to live up to other people's expectations of what you should be solely based on who or what you were born. You don't have to be a monster even if look like one and that's what everyone expects from you. It's okay to be different. It's crucial even. It's about finding yourself, your place, and your happiness and being true to it. I've had this book finished for a while now and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I am a sucker for the found family trope and the one in this book was so precious! I could read a whole series about them! And the romance! It wasn't overwhelmingly at the forefront but it was sweet and beautiful and I was rooting for it as soon as they met on page for the first time! Also, can I comment on the fact that this is a standalone contemporary fantasy? I can't remember the last time I read o...