About

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a standalone novel written by T.J. Klune.

The House in the Cerulean Sea book cover

Blurb

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.

Review

I'm finding it hard to rate/review this book. I've been saving it for a rainy day and the chance came last weekend. Overall, the plot wasn't that interesting to me nor was it a comforting read. Guess I had too much expectation from all the glowing reviews I've come across. I liked the initial chapters, especially Baker's first meeting with the kids at Marsyas. I thought I was in for a magical ride and shenanigans but other than a few scenes, magic was just a background detail. I did enjoy the ending, better than expected.

Click to view spoilersBaker argues at the end that the management should get to know the kids better. For Talia, he says: "She is fierce and funny and brave. She is prickly, but once you get past it, there is a loyalty underneath that will take your breath away." I would've liked if we got to see this in action, instead of a summary. Same goes for the other kids.

The world building was sparse. This is kinda addressed in the book itself by Arthur. But I wish it wasn't so. For example, Lucy is portrayed as Antichrist, is that related to religion in a specific region or does it apply to the whole world? We see rain lasting for months where Baker lived, but sunshine around the island. Is that just a plot device or something to do with magic? Baker learning to understand various languages and Calliope's meows felt like another aspect of the island's magic, again I'd have loved to know the details.

From the use of abbreviations like DICOMY and names like Extremely Upper Management, I thought the book was going to be whimsical, but it was rather serious for the most part. As the saying goes, it was "neither here nor there".

Baker is meticulous and has memorized a lot of RULES AND REGULATIONS, but forgets his umbrella frequently. The kids trust each other and Arthur/Zoe, so I found it baffling that they would get scared during Baker's first Saturday exploration event. I could get why Baker was uncomfortable and thought things could go wrong, but the kids must have been through many such weekly events and used to Lucy's antics, so why get scared on home territory?

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟☆ (the last few chapters pushed it from 3 stars to 4)

What others are saying

From Weatherwax Report:

I very much so enjoyed my time with this book and it was a great way to lighten my mood and give me something to listen to while I colored. It’s a very warm story that I think will appeal strongly to some and maybe fall short for others depending on what it is you want in your fantasy.

From MarilynW's review on goodreads:

As much as I enjoyed the characters, and their rambunctious daily activities, the repetitious preaching is very heavy handed. For me, the messages being portrayed would have held more sway if some restraint had been used in their delivery. So much in this story is overdone, often to good effect, but the messages the story pushes begin to take on a nagging quality that takes away from the rest of the story.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2021 bingo categories:

  • Found Family (HM)
  • New to You Author
  • Backlist Book
  • Genre Mashup