The House in the Cerulean Sea

by TJ Klune

paperback, 416 pages

English language

Published Feb. 2, 2021 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-21731-8

(7 reviews)

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 …

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

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.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

11 editions

Phil in SF reviewed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)

Delightful character arc

4 stars

Content warning revelation of Linus Baker's character arc may reveal the gist of the plot

Linus Baker evaluates orphanages that house magical children. For some reason, the department he works for is extremely rigid and controlling for their workers (they issue demerits to workers??!). But he's given the assignment to investigate one orphanage by Extremely Upper Management. For reasons I never quite understood, this orphanage is different. Extremely Upper Management pays special attention to them, and nearby residents fear the magical children extra vehemently.

Despite a premise that doesn't quite hold together, a delightful story emerges during Linus Baker's 4 week visit to the orhpanage. The children are kooky! The headmaster, Arthur Parnassus, and Linus Baker develop a friendship. Linus gets to learn that maintaining a distance and objectivity limits him, and he gets to break out of a decades long deference to authority and fear of connection.

If you listen to the audiobook as I did, Daniel Henning does a wonderful job of voicing a multitude of characters that gets to the essence of each of the children and adults. I often find it hard to follow audiobooks with lots of characters, but Henning's narration does such a great job of making each of them distinct and memorable that I had no problems.

ansate reviewed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Finished

No rating

I was iffy in the beginning and well into the middle, but i cried over children for the last couple of chapters. (Im not sure i actually care that much about any of the adults??)

Elena de Esparta reviewed La casa en el mar más azul by TJ Klune

EL cozy fantasy está arrasando

No rating

Seamos sinceros: estamos ya hartos de las grandes aventura y de los señores faes de moralidad dudosa y grandes dotes en el arte de amar. Y el cozy fantasy es nuestro escape, nuestra contracultura de la contracultura. Y este libro es un buen lugar por el que empezar.

Situemos en un mundo muy parecido al nuestro aunque hay seres sobrenaturales y estos tienen descendencia y a veces (demasiadas la verdad) estos quedan huérfanos y hay tantos que hasta crean una nueva sección en Servicios Sociales para visitar y valorar estos sitios y la posible peligrosidad de estos niños. Y Linus Baker es uno de estos trabajadores con mayor antigüedad.

Un día recibe el encargo de ir a un orfanato que está fuera de los registros y que entre los niños que va a ver se encuentra el posible Anticristo pero el mayor problema será que el director del mismo es la persona más amable, paciente y misteriosa que Linus ha conocido en su aburrida y monótona vida.

La cosa de los cozy fantasy es que la historia puede parecer casi predecible hasta que no lo es. Hay comentarios muy interesantes sobre como la sociedad ve a los niños que choca con como son en verdad, sobre la identidad y las locuras que hacemos por encajar ocultando esas partes de nosotros que no nos gustan y como los seres más inocentes nos aceptan sin más porque lo único que les importa es ser queridos y respetados.

Vas a llorar, reír, reír tontamente porque Linus y Arthur son idiotas que no saben que están el uno por el otro (yo me imagino a Michael Sheen como Linus y a Taika Waititi como Arthur, para que os hagáis una idea) y vas a querer adoptar a todos esos pequeños (incluso a Lucy, el supuesto Anticristo). Pero sobre todo vas a pasar un maravilloso rato y vas a leer su epilogo tantas veces como la escena del beso de la primera temporada de Our Flag Means Death.

cliftonmr reviewed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

A nice read

No rating

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but it turned out to be a charming gay romance story but also so much more.

John McChesney-Young reviewed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Review of 'House in the Cerulean Sea' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Sweet romantic queer dramedy with charming magical children. My only two complaints are that the general course of the plot was predictable from quite near the beginning and that the Underlying Message was conveyed entirely without subtlety. It's a good message, mind you, but I prefer the moral of the story to be offered rather than being hot over the head with it. But it's a fun and quick read and I definitely recommend it.

n0madz

rated it

Oct 4

KnittedMushroom

rated it

Aug 15

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