The House in the Cerulean Sea

Really good story. City life vs out of city living, color vs grey, magic vs nonmagic. Wonderful way to describe all of the above

I can't say enough good things about it. The author touches on so very many taboos. It really makes you think while you are reading this delightful book. The characters are very well fleshed out, and I've come to love them all. I would love to meet each one. There are so many topics that our world needs to fix.

I thanked. My coworker who recommended this seriesThis book brought color into my life.Enjoy period period all the characters are wonderful.But Linus is at the top of list.Read it and find out for yourself

This was first experience reading anything by author TJ Klune. I honestly wasn’t sure if it would be something for me.Then I started reading it and loved it.I’m a fairly avid reader, but I find that it’s rare to find a book with a completely new story line. This story is something entirely different, totally captivating, and genuinely made me laugh and shed a few tears.This may have been my first read by TJ Klune, but it definitely will not be my last.

The word "perfect" popped into my head as soon as I finished the last page of this book. The characters, the plot, the settings, and all the other elements of constructing a story were so masterfully done that I was captivated, heart & soul. Please read this wonderful story with tissues handy.

This was a refreshing and beautiful story that makes you reflect about the preconceived notions we have about others and how we shouldn’t judge based on stories, but based on our own experiences!

Books jump out at me; regardless of the subject.This book was no different.I love the cover; the colors, the font of the title.It's whimsical though the storyline is much deeper.It's about getting to know others. Looking beyond the differences of each other and finding the magic inside; what makes us special.It had a Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children feel to it.(Please TJ, don't let Tim Burton get his hands on it.)I'm already looking into reading the second book.

When I first started reading this book, it felt too juvenile for me to continue. I'm glad I continued because I ended up enjoying it. It is not a book I would usually read as it's a little too heartwarming for me, but it was a palate cleanser that I needed.I don't know why I liked this book. I don't really like Linus much, and the plot is very predictable. I was much more interested in the interactions Linus had with those around him. I did like watching him grow and move out of his comfort zone. I liked that he became more of a person and not the worker-bee who's just doing his job. Still, the constant talk of his appearance and weight and saying, "I'm just me," did get a bit grating. I did not feel the love connection between Linus and Arthur. There is zero chemistry between them.This book is predictable, with no surprises and repetitive dialogue. Despite these things, I had fun reading it and actually had trouble putting it down. It was a nice escape from the world's current dramas, and it was nice to read something lighter than my usual dark fantasy with morally grey characters. Everything in The House in the Cerulean Sea is very black and white. The bad guys are bad, and the good guys are good. It's amusing because part of the message of the book is that there is no black and white.

This book was soooo perfect. Linus, a case worker is assigned a secrete orphanage on a far away island that harbors magical youths to ensure everything is up to code with the building and it's mysterious Master, Arthur. Linus is tasked with staying for an entire a month and along the way he grows closer to the 5 magical youngsters, Arthur, and the island sprite Zoe who protects the island. This book is full of love and the most amazing found family story. I cried so many happy tears! It also deals with hate and prejudice towards people/creatures who are different in the most beautiful way. The thread of hope, understanding, and being kind in the face of discrimination is beautiful. I will absolutely be purchasing a hard copy and re-reading! I cannot wait to see what the second book includes, I love this world and everyone in it!! Read this now, you won't regret a single moment! I laughed, I cried, I laughed again. TJ Klune is a wizard with words and world building, I have loved every single book he has written!

I loved this book with all my heart in spite of Agenda pushing ending but it didn't spoil the book for me. The book is warm, touching, sweet, whimsical, with wonderful characters that one can fall in love with. It is an easy read and once I began I couldn't put it down. It left me with feeling of love and compassion for everyone around me and especially for those are not represent a general mold. Regardless of your affinity for styles or types of books - please read this one and it will guarantee to leave you better than before you would open the first page.

The cover on this. It's magical. The description appealed, but that art was compelling as well. What a surprise this book was, writing that fought successfully against sleep and everything else I should have been doing.There will be a spoiler in this, which I don't think I've ever done before. But really, I extrapolated and expected that bit based on the available and it was lovely. Brilliantly written. If you are the sort of person (as I am usually 🤦🏻‍♀️) that feels it will diminish enjoying the book to know anything key in advance, please read no further than the 'Spoiler' heading and give your attention to this amazing tale instead.I don't know that I've found an author in years that made me *feel* quite so much. I quite literally cried in many spots, sometimes laughing at the same time.The development of characters is incredibly well done, they turned real in the story in a very short time. Often an author can flesh out a character or two very well, but to use a visual metaphor, the other characters are slightly fuzzy and out of focus. Every person the author writes about in this is in clear focus, there is no 'main' character polished to the detriment of others. Even when only given a few sentences, characters breathe on the page. I must say, my benchmark for this style of writing is Bujold, and she is a very high bar to even approach in my opinion. TJ Clune has made me love these characters, and be hungry for more, in just the same eagerness to know how they fare.**Spoiler ahead!**I believe in supporting authors writing about gay experience as I feel that if people just are open to learning about different people it should surely get better? Well, I'd hope. That said, I almost wish that review quote wasn't on the cover.While this IS a moving and beautiful tale where two main characters fall in love - that happen to be men - it deserves more than to be thrust in a box as "about" homosexuality. While this author treats this just as deserved (we are all just people), and it is moving, this story is so much more than just the deft handling of a lovely romance.For context, I'm an old lady, long married to an old man. I beg you, if that cover quote made you feel this might not be the story for you, reconsider.I'm off to buy the second book, as well as anything else this author might have written. A book that makes an old and tired woman simply get lost in feelings like this one did, what a treasure. ❤️ I hope you love it too.

This book was such a breath of fresh air from my normal read. This book is a fantastical story that follows Linus, an inspector of orphanages for magical children. Linus is put on a top secret assignment to inspect a home on a faraway island to make sure all are safe and appropriate guidelines are being followed. On the island he lives with two magical adults and a gaggle of magical children ranging from the Antichrist to a garden gnome- each with wonderful personalities, interests and backgrounds. I felt like it was a mix of Harry Potter and X-men and it was a delight to read- funny, sweet, poignant, creative. I loved the themes woven throughout the book focused on accepting differences, not judging people based on appearances, and putting the good of humanity and love first always. It was very refreshing given the current political climate. I’d recommend if you’re looking for a light fun read and also as a YA book!

I wanted very much to not like this book... and ended up loving it. “The House in the Cerulean Sea” is a fantasy book—a genre I left behind in high school after reading Lord of the Rings, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land. I much prefer real life: history, biographies, medical, science, exploration. But a much-respected, intelligent cousin recommended it and I thought, time to expand your reading!I didn’t care for it at first as I was bored (of course, which the author wants us to be!). So much dialogue too—I thought I was reading a play! But somewhere along the way... the characters came alive. The island came alive. The main character began to develop and grow, and despite the obvious morality lessons along the way, I just loved the flow of the story, the “unique” personalities, and wondered where this journey would take us. My favorite character? The AntiChrist (and no, the book is not anti-Catholic, and I am Catholic). It’s not an original plot: it’s one we’ve come across many times in movies, adult fantasy books and children’s books, from Harry Potter, to the Island of Misfit Toys, to Pinocchio. But it is so freshly told, and up-to-date for these times, that it’s really hard not to fall in love with the kids, the two main characters who protect them and the ending was just amazing. Well done, TJ Klune!I was most and pleasantly surprised by all the references to music from the 1950s: Everly Brothers (and the very night I read the book I was off to see a tribute band of them!), Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and my ultimate favorite... Buddy Holly. That the AntiChrist and I share a love of Buddy Holly made me laugh out loud!I only had a small curiosity: why does Klune refer about three times to how dumb or useless “men” are? This jarring global statement seems to contradict the main message of the book of inclusion, to accept people or creatures as they are without prejudices, allowing differences. It just seemed an odd juxtaposition in an otherwise crisp, colorful and creative tale that has stayed with me and warmed my heart for days.

Linus Baker is a case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, a..k.a. DICOMY. He's been doing it for 17 years, is carefully attentive to the regulations, and believes what he's doing--including maintaining distance from the children in the orphanages--is helping to keep the children safe. The orphanages are generally rather stark, and often rundown, but Linus's inspection visits help keep them from being abusive. He has not hesitated to recommend closure of orphanages where he finds the children are being mistreated.Linus isn't popular at work, or for that matter anywhere. He lives a quiet life, is devoted to his work, loves his old record albums played on his even older Victrola, and cares for his rather cranky cat. It's quite a surprise when, at work, he is summoned to a meeting with Extremely Upper Management, to be given a highly classified assignment. He is to visit the Marsyas Island Orphanage, where there are six very dangerous children.He isn't even give the files on the children till he's about to leave, and the files are very sparse. However, the children are a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, a were-Pomeranian, a green blob no one has been able to classify, and the Antichrist. Lucifer, a.k.a. Lucy.Linus needs to determine if these children can continue to be kept safely, or if they are going to trigger the end of the world.Then there's their caretaker, Arthur Parnassus. There's nothing about Arthur in the files Linus has been given. Arthur proves to be a charming, elegant man, fiercely devoted to his charges, and with a strange lack of any apparent background.Oh, and there's the ocean, which Linus has longed to see but never has seen, and which absolutely enchants him. As does Arthur, it should be mentioned.Less appealing is the village on the shore just across from the island, where there's a certain obvious hostility to magical children, homes for them, and those who work with them.Linus and Arthur grow closer, while Linus also gradually finds that even with these children, he sees them as children, to be protected by him and DICOMY, not to protect the world from. But as he grows closer to Arthur, and learns more about the island and its residents, he realizes that Arthur also has secrets. Possibly a big secret. And that DICOMY may be less benign than he has long thought. That perhaps he has been attributing his own motives to DICOMY.There's also the little question of how dangerous Lucy really is.It's a story that really pulled me in, and where we find both magical creatures, and the magic of found family, along with the courage to be who you choose to be, not just who people tell you that you are.

About me: Indigenous American woman, 40. Mom and wife.I run a book club at work, and this was voted on by the club. I voted for something else.I really did not love this book at first. When asked why, my answers were that I don't read a lot of fantasy (honestly, I don't think I read any) and I didn't like the style of the dialogue. At all.In fact, I disliked it so much, that by chapter two, I came to Goodreads to let the reviews influence whether I would finish it or not, hoping that I'd read some non-spoilery reviews that would make me want to keep reading.Imagine my surprise with the Mayflower Menace brigade came for this book because the author shared that he was inspired by the Sixties Scoop when writing it. I read one particularly irritating review that came from a reader who had LOVED the book until she found this out, and then came here to denounce the book.I'll admit, I did not spend hours combing through the reviews and the Internet trying to see if any Natives actually held these beliefs. We are not a monolith.I am petty and a little bit stubborn, so I was going to read this book no matter what at this point. This singular review was enough to encourage me to read it so that I could form my own opinion and add an Indigenous voice into the mix.I fell in love with the book when we reached the island. It turns out I didn't necessarily dislike the author's writing style, although it isn't my favorite, it was the way he wrote Linus' inner and external dialogue- which is very Linus, and makes a lot of sense. I loved the way he wrote the other characters and described the scenery and touched on very real subjects in a personal and effective way. It was wonderfully inclusive. Touching.I cried and I laughed. Not many books can do that.Anyone speaking for Indigenous people and demanding that people stop reading the book- don't. You don't speak for us. Even Native voices can't speak for all of us.As a Native woman whose grandfather lost everything because was put under conservatorship because he was wealthy, even though he was of sound mind, as a Native woman whose mother was so dark that she grew up ridiculed and ashamed, as a Native woman who is spending her life bringing awareness to our history, our future, our struggles, our joys, and who is championing marginalized people as loud as she can so that she can save lives- I request that you please do not stop reading a book this enlightening and inclusive unless you have a PERSONAL conviction, having read it yourself, that it is harmful. I've read the book, and I just don't see it.In fact, like I was with the film Killers of the Flower Moon, I was glad for extra light being shone on what history held for my people. I think it's fantastic that more people are now aware of the Sixties Scoop than were before, thanks to this book.I eagerly await reading the sequel.

I loved the title and the cover of The House in the Cerulean Sea and thought this book could be worth my time. How wrong I was. It was worth my time and is also worth your time.Linus, the main character is a stodgy, unassertive man whose job it is too inspect and review specific types of orphanages. Linus follows his government work manual to the letter and his only redeeming characteristics seem to be that he stays detached from those he reviews and that he is unequivocally truthful.Linus is sent to for one month to inspect an orphanage and its overseer and finds more than he expects.The story’s characters, some from myths who are unexpected and unusual but with the complex emotions of orphans and some are like those we see in our every day lives.I felt a bit off balance for the first few chapters not knowing if things would go well or very badly but I then became so absorbed in the characters and story line that I couldn’t put the book down.Messages were well written and they fit each characters’ personality and situations and didn’t interrupt the story’s flow. I was so wrapped up in the overall story I didn’t realize until near the end how closely the messages fit with today’s world attitudes which says much for TJ Klune’s writing style.Some may say the story line was too far fetched but this is a well written fantasy that is a story, not a novel and I loved every minute of this book.Bottom Line: This book is fun, funny, interesting, set in a beautifully described location and introduces us to characters we learn to love. The subtle messages are introduced without any preaching. I wouldn’t recommended if it had been otherwise.Read it. I believe you’ll enjoy it too.

I really loved this book! I fell in love with all the characters on the island, and I found the overarching message so relevant and timely. Like all good fantasies and fairy tales (which this is, really), the magical, fantastical characters are stand ins for those in our world who are different in some way, and who therefore inspire fear, misunderstanding, discomfort, and prejudice - and have been the recipients of hate, abuse, torture, and other atrocities throughout human history. Humanity does not gave a good track record in this regard, we can probably all agree. How many atrocities have been perpetrated in the name of "keeping our families/children/communities safe"?This theme can be seen in the signs stating "See something, Say something" that Linus and others encounter everywhere they go. This brings to mind the "See something, Say something" campaign in the United States earlier in the 2000s that led to a 21st century form of McCarthyism made more virulent through increased digital and social media - the effects of which we are still reeling from.Again, however, as in the best fairy tale tradition, compassion, integrity, understanding, a sense of fairness and justice, and, most of all, love win out - maybe not to change everyone or the whole world, but enough people to start to make a difference. It calls to mind Margaret Mead's famous quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has." While of course, on the surface, this statement seems naive and idealistic - and perhaps even "untrue" - change starts somewhere, within one's own world - an island and a small village across the sea, for instance. And Klune has given readers just that message.But this book is more than a social/political message - so much more. The writing is lyrical and immersive, the characters are so lifelike and endearing and so richly drawn, the plot is subtle where it needs to be and strident when it's called for, and it all packs a searing emotional punch that brought me to tears in a few places.I am reminded a bit of Shrek in its metaphoric layers, and another of my favorite modern fairy tales, Kelly Barnhill's The Ogress and the Orphans, had the same effect on me. As the great Jack Zipes says about the power of fairy tales: they show us that there is reason to hope, that in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, even the most powerless among us can sometimes topple tyrants and injustice. Something this author and story has shown us, and that's a good thing to keep in mind.

WOW!!! Just WOW!!!!I have sat with this review for a couple of days because I simply don't have adequate words for how wonderful this book truly is. TJ Klune is a storytelling genius and I will read every single book he ever writes from here on out. Magic flows from his fingertips.I have been reading for over 40 years and this is easily one of my Top 5 most favorite books I have ever read. I laughed, I cried, I laughed a whole lot more and I shed so many tears of happiness.The children that he created for this story may be magical creatures, but they are children none the less and many times I had to remind myself that they were "magical creatures" who look so different from those of us mere humans. These children are beautifully written, beautifully unique and they have all lived through far too much tragedy in their short lives. Well....Talia is an exception to this statement, as she will tell you she is quite capable of taking care of herself at 263 yrs old. While Linus reminds her that Gnomes don't reach maturity until 500 years old, Talia isn't phased by him or his lack of faith in her ability to take care of herself. HAHAHA!Linus lived a mundane and lonely life before DICOMY (Department in Charge of Magical Youth) assigned him to a special top secret, Level Four nonetheless, case at a secret orphanage on an island. He packs up his cat, Calliope, hops on a bus and train and heads off on his assignment. Little does he know that his life is about to be turned upside down, sideways and everything he thought he knew about life is about to be thrown out the window.Once he arrives at the orphanage, he meets Talia, the Gnome, Phee, a forest sprite, Theodore, a wyvern, Chauncey, a jelly like critter of unknown origin, Sal, a were-Pomeranian and Lucy, short for Lucifer the anticrist, along with their caregivers, Arthur and Zoe. Everyone is leery of Linus, some more than others. I won't give any spoilers by telling you more about the characters. What I will say is that each child is beautiful in their own unique way, each child teaches Linus something important about life and I hope you see the lessons, as they made me love them even more. Some characters developed more than others, I would've liked to have seen more of Phee, but I understand why we didn't, as Sprites are very solitary and her relationship is more with Zoe than anyone else in the book. I have to admit I had a favorite, while I loved them all and each one had a storyline that gave me tears of either empathy, love or both, Talia was my favorite fierce, mischievous and independent little girl. She reminded me of myself and I think there will be a character in this book that will remind you of yourself. I think there's a piece of us in many of the characters if we really pay attention to them.Linus learns so much about himself and life as he spends a month on the island and adventures into the nearby village with the children, Arthur and Zoe. There's prejudice, bigotry, compassion, empathy, recognition and growth throughout this story. It really is a great representation of humans and how diverse we are. Despite these children being written as magical creatures, they are unique, they are different from the average human and this book depicts how humans judge others based on preconceived ideas, appearance and stereotypes. It is hopefully an eye opener for some to judge less and love more, while it's a reminder to all of us to be kind, loving and remember that our uniqueness makes us beautiful in our own special way.