My Rating for The House in the Cerulean Sea
Genre: Fantasy; Length: 396 pages
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune gets 4 stars for its heartwarming story of chosen family set against the whimsical backdrop of a magical orphanage.
Interestingly, I picked this book up at my local Barnes & Noble from their “blind date with a book” table. I thought it was such a cute idea. The staff had picked out a bunch of books, wrapped them in gift wrapping, and written a short description on each one. This one said:
A magical island
The House in the Cerulean Sea
A dangerous task
A burning secret
That hooked me. I couldn’t see the title of the book, but it was enough to make me buy it. I saved it for a few months until the perfect time to treat myself. Then I unwrapped the book and found The House in the Cerulean Sea. That’s all I knew about the book going in!
THITCS was magical and adventurous! My literary baking adventure led me to make Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream, inspired by the ice cream shop that the whole crew visits in the town. The ice cream parlor in the book sounded so cute and nostalgic, so I had to come up with an ice cream recipe! What food did THITCS make you think of?
Synopsis
The House in the Cerulean Sea follows Linus Baker, a stuffy caseworker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He lives a quiet forty-year-old life in his tiny house with his cat and occasional run-ins with his grumpy neighbor.
His life is a hamster wheel of corporate doom until one day, he is unexpectedly summoned by “Extremely Upper Management”, and served a very special assignment. Linus must venture to a far-off island and observe an orphanage of magical youths to determine if any of them are so dangerous that they could bring about the end of days.
At first, in true Linus spirit, he takes his assignment very seriously. He plans to conduct his strictly-business trip, complete his impartial assessment as quickly as possible, and return to his quiet life. But as he gets to know the quirky children, and the dedicated orphanage manager, Arthur Parnassus, Linus softens and begins to understand their magical charm.
My Take on The House in the Cerulean Sea
Spoiler Alert!!!
This was such an adorable book! Loved it! The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars was that it was a little kid-ish.
My book club loved the parody of corporate culture. The descriptions of “Extremely Upper Management” and Gunther, the annoying coworker cracked us up. (I kept picturing Gunther, the barista from “Friends”, anytime he got in the way.) I can totally imagine how boring Linus’ life was like before “the assignment”.
Klune’s strength in this book is the world-building. It shows especially when Linus first gets to the island and is introduced to the kooky cast of characters.
- Territorial Talia, the bearded female gnome
- Phee, the forest sprite, who is especially ornery
- Skittish, shape-shifting Sal
- Chauncey, who desperately wants to be a bellhop when he grows up ?? (bless his heart)
- And most dangerously, Lucy – short for Lucifer – son of the devil himself
The interactions between the kids are so joyful and innocent. I especially liked their “adventures” in the woods and how they all used their imaginations to fight monsters and protect each other.
Villagers and Pitchforks
This may be one of the rare books without a strong conflict that I actually like. The main conflict occurs when Linus finally convinces Arthur to allow the kids out of the orphanage and into the neighboring town. They enjoy themselves, but it is soon followed by backlash from the townsfolk.
The way the townsfolk othered our favorite kiddos was very akin to X-men or The Umbrella Academy. They treated the magical youths like “mutants” or “freaks”. In the end, the townspeople eventually accept Arthur and his crew, and everything turned out fine. More importantly, Linus and Arthur get together and raise all the kids as their own – the cutest ending ever?.
It’s refreshing to read a story with a queer protagonist where homophobia isn’t the central struggle or conflict in the novel. Instead, it seems that the prejudice against magic is a proxy for racism or homophobia. Still, the protagonist gets to experience love, family, and happiness, so if you’re ready for a book with a queer protagonist that doesn’t end in tragedy, this one’s for you.
Critique for The House in the Cerulean Sea
Believe it or not, I don’t really have much critique for The House in the Cerulean Sea. It was heartwarming and light, while also being fanciful and adventurous. But because of that, it didn’t really deliver on that tagline on the back cover (which made me buy the book in the first place!)
- There was A) a magical island, sure, but in the most benign way
- B) The dangerous task was not-so-dangerous
- and the C) burning secret of Arthur’s past turned out to be not-very-threatening, and easily overlook-able
Along those lines, it was such an innocent book that, although there was a central romance plot, there were no sex scenes. For that reason, the book seemed a bit younger than the way it was marketed. I could see this being a good YA or middle grade novel, that is also fun for adults, if not a purely adult novel.
Conclusion
Though not the dangerous epic I was promised, The House in the Cerulean Sea delivered on something I didn’t know I needed. It was a magical, pure, heart-warming adventure featuring a queer romance and a host of whimsical characters. This was a great book to read just for the joy of reading and exercising your imagination, rather than the plot.
I can’t wait to read TJ Klune’s next book, Under the Whispering Door. Let me know if you’ve read it and what you think!
Recommended Reading
If you liked this book, check out other books like The House in the Cerulean Sea.
- Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sandu Mandanna
4 responses to “The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune | Book Review”
This has been on my TBR for a while, but generally, I tend to be sceptical about hyped-up books, so I have been avoiding this for a while now. But knowing that it doesn’t end in ‘tragedy’ and it seems to be a pretty lighthearted novel based on your review, I might as well give it a try.
Yeah! I think it’s worth a read. It not like some other overly-hyped books that actually turn out to be bad/boring (for example, see my review of Lessons in Chemistry)
Blind date with a book is such a cute idea! :] I’ll have to step into my B&N sometime…
This book recently made it onto my to-read list because I discovered the rabbit-hole that is the subreddit “suggestmeabook.” (As if my to-read list wasn’t long enough to begin with…) I’m on the waiting list for Libby but may end up purchasing it, hehe. We shall see…