The House in the Cerulean Sea
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune Published by Tor Books on March 17, 2020
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
ISBN: 1250217288
Goodreads
A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
Thank you to Tor Books (via NetGalley) for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
FIRST OF ALL – look at the blurb okay?? “This book is very close to perfect.” – Seanan McGuire AKA MY QUEEN. How could anyone NOT want to read this book based on that alone?? Okay fine, if that wasn’t enough, then this bit from the synopsis might reel you in:
“…he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist.”
To me that is like the perfect cast of characters haha. And Linus himself! He’s such a softie – albeit a boring one at the onset of the book. But wow does he grow into himself! This book is truly a shining example of a character driven novel – and after reading about 20% of it, I knew it would go on my list of favorite books. It was a true joy to read, and made my heart all warm and fuzzy.
Found Family
The heart of this book resides in its characters, and their relationship with one another. Arthur Parnassus is the caretaker of the six aforementioned children, and he acts as a father figure towards them. Seeing how nurturing and caring he is to them is just so PURE and heartwarming. He celebrates their individual strengths and helps them overcome their fears.
The children clearly love him, but they also very clearly love each other. Sibling relationships are the best to read about!! And this book is the best because it really shows that it does not matter if your family is blood related to you or not, they can still be your family.
Beautiful Diversity
The diversity in this book is apparent from the onset, as we see the children are all quite different from one another. Of course, this is diversity in a fantasy sense. However, Klune does a wonderful job of paralleling this with real world diversity. In particular, the novel deals with prejudice and stereotypes, and how easily misconceptions can be formed about people. Importantly, he makes the point that change must start with at least one person standing up to the “norm” or to prejudice. I love that he also showed that people’s minds can be changed, but it takes work and you can’t expect to happen instantly.
The core romance (which is pretty light but so cute) is also a m/m romance, and there is a brief mention of a f/f one as well – just wanted to highlight those!
Overall, HAPPINESS in a book
As I said earlier, this book was just a true joy to read. The writing is beautiful, the characters are hilarious and enchanting, and it’s just pure magic!
Also, another key message of the book is that happiness in life comes from really living your life, not just surviving on a day to day basis.
To end, I’ll leave you with this quote:
“I’m afraid I don’t have magic.” “You do, Mr. Baker. Arthur told me that there can be magic in the ordinary.”
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