SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: https://t.co/25vGBZPLNo
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) January 28, 2021
Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): A lonely middle aged inspector comes to an orphanage filled with the strangest magical kids, and finds more in them, and himself than he could possibly have imagined.
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) January 28, 2021
Just Incredibly Charming and Easy to Love. Worthy of all the praise its received.
2/3
The House in the Cerulean Sea is a stand alone fantasy novel by author TJ Klune and it's been a book that I've seen a ton of love for online. I'd skipped it originally - I think I saw one review that was merely okay and so hadn't quite expected all the gushing - but eventually weeks of seeing it on people's top books of 2020 list wore me down and I reserved it from the library. And so, when I was looking for something delightful with a happy ending and joyous plot to read for the first book of 2021, I picked this up.
And yeah, The House in the Cerulean Sea is utterly delightful - a queer story of a middle aged man going to inspect a home for magical kids with extraordinary powers who are feared by the world and falling in love with them and the home's caretaker. It's not a story that will provide many surprises - you will expect most of the plot developments to some degree before they happen - but it pulls them off with just enough variety and good execution to make them all work, and all the characters are wonderfully well done. I can't quite call it one of the best books of 2020, but it's certainly one of the more delightful and I definitely recommend it for someone looking for a happy ending despite some serious themes.
--------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------
Linus Baker is set in his life in middle-age, and is in no way lonely. A case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY), his job is to visit orphanages for magical children around the world, and to ensure they're being treated well and given what they need. Linus cares for the children and approaches his job with a kind eye...but also is absolute about the need for him to be an independent objective eye, without bias affecting his reports. And so he has approached his job for years.
But when Linus is surprised by a call from Extremely Upper Management, he finds himself on a job like no other: to an orphanage on the tip of an island by the ocean, featuring six of the most extraordinary children - for example, one is Lucy, the literal antichrist. But to Linus' surprise, he begins to care for the children, who are so extreme in their differences that it seems like they might never be able to live elsewhere....and he also begins to care for the orphanage's mysterious master, Arthur.
Soon Linus will have to make a choice about not just the orphanage's future, but his own future, and whether he is willing to keep an "objective unbiased" eye in the face of all he sees in this House full of strange and wonderful children.....
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The House in the Cerulean Sea is not subtle with its intentions, from its announcing that Linus is lonely from the start, to demonstrating how the children deserve love, to showing the prejudice they face from both the non-magical world in general and the individuals they encounter along the way, etc. It's a tale about a man who has been taught all his life to be detached, even though he genuinely cares, being brought out of his comfort zone and learning that he can't do that, that he has to do something, and you will see that coming a mile away.
And it works so well, because its characters are just great and you will easily fall in as much love with them as Linus does. Oh Linus is easy to empathize with in his emotional journey to caring and in how we see from the start that he does care, as he deals "objectively" with a girl who used telekinesis in a moment of anger at another orphanage. And his falling in love with Arthur and his decision to stand up for the children - first to the town and then later to his own bosses - are really well done. As is of course, the demonstration of the prejudice the children face, as seen by the signs in the town asking people to call authorities if they see something (sound familiar?) or how while there are some townspeople (like the lovely mayor) who are able to treat the kids just like...well, kids....there are plenty of others willing to succumb to their fears of people they don't see often or understand. It's all well done to make the plot work.
But none of that would work, and none of that would have much meaning, if the kids themselves were not so great and they are. So you have Lucy - short for Lucifer - a boy who's probably the antichrist who loves listening to music from dead artists and is afraid to be away from Arthur, his parental figure, because his nightmares are literally house shaking and no one else can deal with them. You have Talia, a rare female garden gnome, who wants nothing more than to build the best garden possible; you have Phee, the Forest Sprite who wants to learn how to control her power; you have Theodore, a wyvern who loves to get buttons as gifts; you have Chauncey, a blob who was told he was a monster so he feels the need to hide under beds but wants instead just to help people like a bellhop; and Sal, a were-dog who is afraid of anyone he doesn't know and of the one time he reacted to abuse by turning another person. They're all children, wonderful children who you care about as much as Arthur does, as much as Linus comes to, because they're all bright and caring and precocious and deserving of a good life - just like any other children.
The book's charm is amazing and all of the above is tremendous, but it's not quite as good as it could be because it kind of dodges certain issues and let's things get resolved perhaps a bit too easily. So for example, an early part of the book hints that the "schools" that magical children get sent to aren't what they're said to be (and are harmful), but that's never followed up on. Similarly, once Linus makes his fateful choice in the final chapter, things get resolved happily in an incredibly easy fashion that seems unlikely from such a discriminatory world (look at our own). And yet, I honestly don't care that much - the book does well enough dealing with its issues, and I'm happy to read one in which everyone can be happy.
So yeah, this is a hell of a charming novel about kids who just want to be able to grow up and be happy, of a man who realizes that they should be able to and that he can do something to help, and that he can find love in another, and about a world that can and should be better if people try. Really worth your time.
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The House in the Cerulean Sea is not subtle with its intentions, from its announcing that Linus is lonely from the start, to demonstrating how the children deserve love, to showing the prejudice they face from both the non-magical world in general and the individuals they encounter along the way, etc. It's a tale about a man who has been taught all his life to be detached, even though he genuinely cares, being brought out of his comfort zone and learning that he can't do that, that he has to do something, and you will see that coming a mile away.
And it works so well, because its characters are just great and you will easily fall in as much love with them as Linus does. Oh Linus is easy to empathize with in his emotional journey to caring and in how we see from the start that he does care, as he deals "objectively" with a girl who used telekinesis in a moment of anger at another orphanage. And his falling in love with Arthur and his decision to stand up for the children - first to the town and then later to his own bosses - are really well done. As is of course, the demonstration of the prejudice the children face, as seen by the signs in the town asking people to call authorities if they see something (sound familiar?) or how while there are some townspeople (like the lovely mayor) who are able to treat the kids just like...well, kids....there are plenty of others willing to succumb to their fears of people they don't see often or understand. It's all well done to make the plot work.
But none of that would work, and none of that would have much meaning, if the kids themselves were not so great and they are. So you have Lucy - short for Lucifer - a boy who's probably the antichrist who loves listening to music from dead artists and is afraid to be away from Arthur, his parental figure, because his nightmares are literally house shaking and no one else can deal with them. You have Talia, a rare female garden gnome, who wants nothing more than to build the best garden possible; you have Phee, the Forest Sprite who wants to learn how to control her power; you have Theodore, a wyvern who loves to get buttons as gifts; you have Chauncey, a blob who was told he was a monster so he feels the need to hide under beds but wants instead just to help people like a bellhop; and Sal, a were-dog who is afraid of anyone he doesn't know and of the one time he reacted to abuse by turning another person. They're all children, wonderful children who you care about as much as Arthur does, as much as Linus comes to, because they're all bright and caring and precocious and deserving of a good life - just like any other children.
The book's charm is amazing and all of the above is tremendous, but it's not quite as good as it could be because it kind of dodges certain issues and let's things get resolved perhaps a bit too easily. So for example, an early part of the book hints that the "schools" that magical children get sent to aren't what they're said to be (and are harmful), but that's never followed up on. Similarly, once Linus makes his fateful choice in the final chapter, things get resolved happily in an incredibly easy fashion that seems unlikely from such a discriminatory world (look at our own). And yet, I honestly don't care that much - the book does well enough dealing with its issues, and I'm happy to read one in which everyone can be happy.
So yeah, this is a hell of a charming novel about kids who just want to be able to grow up and be happy, of a man who realizes that they should be able to and that he can do something to help, and that he can find love in another, and about a world that can and should be better if people try. Really worth your time.
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