The House in the Cerulean Sea
By T.J Klune
5 stars
For the longest time I was terrified of reading this book because the amount of hype it got. I didn’t want to go in with the greatest expectations and then have this book fall short. I finally decided to give it a go and oh boy was I so wrong about this book. Not only did this book meet the expectations set by the booktube community, it surpassed them to the point where I think The House in the Cerulean Sea is one of my new favorite books of all time.
In The House in the Cerulean Sea we follow Linus Baker, a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Who is tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. We also follow Arthur Parnassus, the master of the orphanage. Who would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
I honestly had a very hard time writing this review, there is so much to say about this book and not enough words to properly express what this book made me feel. In my opinion, this book is a masterpiece, it is a beautiful love story about discovering a family in an unexpected place. It is about our prejudices, about finding a home in the place we least expect it and least want to. I couldn’t get enough of this story it broke my heart and it build it back up. For me, this book is literally perfection.
This book is a praise on being different, and that is shown through the characters, and because the character are the best thing that has ever happen to me we have to talk about them. First we have Linus, a by-the-book type of guy who arrives at the island with so much prejudice that at first I had a hard time connecting with him. HOWEVER, Linus has one of the best character developments I have ever seen, seeing Linus become a caring and loving made my heart explode with happiness. Then we have Arthur, for most of the book Arthur is a mystery, however it is no mystery how much he loves the children under his care. Honestly, if we all were a little bit more like Arthur the world would be such a loving place. Last but not least we have the children, and needless to say, the children were my favorite characters of all time. Each kid has a different personality, likes and dislikes but in the end they are all so pure and you just want to hug them. I love Lucy´s humor (for being the antichrist he really is a funny guy), I love Talia´s protectiveness, I was sobbing at Sal´s character growth, Theodore´s love for buttons filled my heart, I was in awe at Phee´s talents and last but not least, my favorite character of all time Chauncey. This green amorphous blob who dreams of nothing more than being a bellhop has my heart for all eternity.
In just under 400 pages TJ Klune managed to make me laugh so hard my stomach hurt, sob my eyes out both out of joy and sadness. The House in the Cerulean Sea was a magical and whimsical escape from reality that I so desperately needed. Although this book is categorized as young adult, I think every adult should read it as well, it is not only magical, but it has incredible life lessons that are extremely relevant to the world we are living in. This book shows us that it’s okay to be different, and that although people sometimes fear what they cannot understand, we only need a few people to make a big change. At its heart, this is a story about acceptance and seeing someone for who they are on the inside.
I have so much more to say about this book, but I fear I don’t have the proper words to explain how it made me feel. So I’ll finish by saying: if you have not read this book I have no idea what you are waiting for. In this book you will find a masterpiece of a story about love, found family, acceptance and finding what we are looking for in the most unexpected place. 100% a book I will think about for many years to come.
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