The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune Series: Cerulean Chronicles #1
Published by Tor Publishing Group on March 17, 2020
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary, Fiction / Fantasy / Humorous, Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay
Pages: 305
Format: Audiobook
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A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER!
A 2021 Alex Award winner!
The 2021 RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner!
An Indie Next Pick!
One of Publishers Weekly's "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020"
One of Book Riot’s “20 Must-Read Feel-Good Fantasies”Lambda Literary Award-winning author TJ Klune’s bestselling, breakout contemporary fantasy that's "1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in." (Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of Soulless)
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
Other TPG Books by TJ Klune
The Cerulean Chronicles
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Somewhere Beyond the SeaThe Green Creek Series
Wolfsong
Ravensong
Heartsong
Brothersong
Standalones
The Bones Beneath My Skin
Under the Whispering Door
In the Lives of Puppets
We Burned So Bright
Murmuration
Into This River I Drown
How to Be a Normal Person
BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Extraordinaries Series
The Extraordinaries
Flash Fire
Heat WaveAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The writing style is almost lyrical, a lot of words, a LOT of words, but they weave together really well to create a narrative and characters that you really fall in love with. And the narrator on the audiobook? Honestly, it really brought that lyrical quality to life for me. Though not going to lie, we know I struggle with multiple characters more often than not, and I did keep a list of the kids pulled up so I could keep track of who was who and their individual specialness. But for all the reasons I loved this book, and there’s more I plan to tell you about, I had hesitations on that enjoyment as well. I’m going to throw out a word that strikes me now and we’ll come back to it. Utopia.
Things stood out to me as I read this book that weren’t stated obviously but were a strong theme. I don’t care if it’s magical children, race, religion, gender, or any other thing that one group of people can say another group of people are dangerous or scary or less than. Governments through the years, including our own, have created things like they have here for the magical children. I mean Bureau of Indian Affairs comes to mind. Segregation. I could go on, but we all get the point. The problem is that no matter where you are on the ladder of perceived greatness or superiority, you will always look for someone who you can think of as lower than you. It’s been a thing since the dawn of humanity, and it’s probably baked into our DNA. That doesn’t make it right, but it does make it complicated. That alone is why any attempt at Utopia has never succeeded, but it continues to be something we seek. Even in Utopia, human nature will take over, and someone, or some group, will always find a way to rise themselves to the top, and we are right back where we started. It’s a great idea and it was very well written but it holds me back.
I think if it wasn’t for the odd romance thread, I could absolutely recommend this book for a younger audience. Middle grade, even. I don’t even care what type of romance it was; I just don’t feel like it’s appropriate for a younger audience. Because guess what? Go back to what I talked about before: always seeking out to let’s say demonize those different from us. And sexual attraction is another one of those groups. And here’s the thing: I really don’t care if you are for, against, or ambivalent about this. Romance just doesn’t belong in books for our younger readers. A mature young adult reader would enjoy this book. I say mature because what I see in young adult fiction, I don’t always think those themes are appropriate for that age group. I feel like we are adding things to books that are many times too mature for the audience it’s targeting. The Toad Nugget is a middle grade reader . . . in age. She’s smarter than is realistic and can read well above that reading level. But I still am mindful of what I put in her hands, as romance doesn’t belong there. Not everyone will agree with this, and that’s OK. Because at the end of the day, every book has an audience. And I really did enjoy this book but it felt too Utopia for me. It was engaging and entertaining but there’s a line there I feel like it shaded a bit too closely to fully sign on board.
About TJ Klune
TJ KLUNE is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, the Green Creek Series for adults, the Extraordinaries Series for teens, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.
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