You know that line that appears in nearly every modern romantasy book, “I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding,”? The House in the Cerulean Sea feels like the deep inhale you’d take after that. Does that make any sense? Maybe not, but it’s the best way I can describe what a breath of fresh air reading this book was.
Blurb
“Linus Baker leads a quiet life. At forty, he has a tiny house with a devious cat and his beloved records for company. And at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, heβs spent many dull years monitoring their orphanages. Then, one day, everything changes.
Linus is summoned by Extremely Upper Management and given a highly classified assignment. He must travel to an orphanage where six dangerous children reside β including the Antichrist.
At the orphanage, Linus must somehow determine if these children could bring about the end of days. But their guardian, the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, will do anything to protect his wards. And, as Arthur and Linus grow ever closer, Linus must choose: his duty, or his dreams . . .”
Don’t you wish you were here? My spoiler-free review of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune:
My boss, a BookTok’er who famously doesn’t like fantasy, recommended this book (a fantasy) to me. She said it was like receiving a warm hug from everyone you’ve ever loved and who’s ever loved you and she was bang on. It’s pure joy! Hilarious and moving, it’s armed to the teeth with an endearing cast of characters I loved with my entire heart.
I fell in love with Linus Baker from the first page. There’s nothing I love to read about more than a middle-aged, socially repressed person, set in their ways, who secretly yearns for more from life (especially when they don’t fully realise they do want more than their lot). That is the set up of what could be a beautiful journey!
The children at the ‘orphanage’ in Marsyas are: Lucy, or Lucifer, a six-year-old boy who loves music, dancing, and cooking, and just so happens to be the Antichrist (although we don’t use that word around here); Talia, a 200-year-old gnome (teenager in gnome years) who loves gardening; Sal, a timid young boy who transforms into a Pomeranian when frightened, and is slow to trust after spending much of his life passed from orphanage to orphanage; Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose origins and species are unknown, but is so incredibly sweet and dreams of becoming a bell boy; Phee, a young forest sprite who loves nature and growing flowers and trees with her magic; and Theodore, a wyvern who has yet to grow into his wings, and loves collecting small objects of meaning for his secret hoard, such as brass buttons.
I don’t think I could pick a favourite character if you held a gun to my head. They each had their own unique sense of humour and interests and its impossible to compare them to each other. Which, I suppose, is exactly what TJ Klune was trying to say. You cannot possibly tar them with the same brush (lumping all young magical creatures into an orphanage out of fear) because they are entirely their own person with endless possibilities!
I used to be a nanny, and TJ Klune writes a group of children so incredibly well. They all felt real, with wild imaginations, and the author gave each of them so much personality, something I found very impressive considering it is quite a large cast of characters for a relatively short novel with only one POV. It was incredibly important for the overall message of the story that TJ Klune pull this off, because the key takeaway for me from this book was to never judge a book by its cover.
Their files, given to Linus by Extremely Upper Management, tell us only what they are, which frightened Linus at first, but it doesn’t say anything about who they are. Regardless of where they came from or what they were capable of, they were children, and that was made clear from the moment we met them.
For the adults we have Zoe Chapelwhite, a sprite who lives on the island and helps Arthur Parnassus, the head of the house, care for the children.
I don’t want to give anything away, but the relationship Linus formed with Arthur Parnassus was so beautiful. It was built over the course of almost the whole novel. The two were slow to trust one another in the beginning and it was easy to see why given their histories, but when they both opened up slightly and started debating about philosophy, I had the biggest, cheesiest grin on my face.
“Arthur. Always Arthur.” (me: ππ₯°ππ₯°)
This entire novel is about choosing acceptance and love over division and fear. We watch Linus slowly decondition himself and question the prejudicial beliefs of DICOMY and Extremely Upper Management. We see him go from his rigid, lonely life, to one full of love and acceptance. It made my heart burst.
Coming back to the key message, about not judging a book by its cover, Klune takes it one step further. He shows us that not only should we not judge, but that we should love and celebrate people both FOR and REGARDLESS OF their differences.
Final thoughts on The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
V.E. Schwab said this book was like being “wrapped in a big gay blanket”, and my boss said this was like being hugged by everyone you’ve ever loved all at once. Honestly, I couldn’t have put it better myself, so I won’t try to.
This book is just pure joy and I loved every single thing about it. I would recommend this book to ANYONE who loves the found family trope and crying happy tears.
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Rating: 5/5
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