Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - The House in the Cerulean Sea

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

15 reviews

arshiya_amreen90786's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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zephyrfgray's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

A good book but a terrible inspiration/creation story. Please read Kas' review on Goodreads on this book for more details.

I wish I hadn't bought this book on Audible,,, smh. I will not be reading any of this author's work in the future.

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rosequarterdrifting's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

idk... relaxing style but the metaphor was very hamfisted

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jesromas's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

God this was so disappointing. The cast of characters and the setting were so heartwarming and exciting. But the white saviour narrative pretty much ruined the whole thing. I found the protagonist grating and the political messaging in this book was so weak, especially considering this was supposedly “inspired” by the Sixties Scoop. It felt like if Blindside was a comedic fantasy book with a bad-fanfiction-y romance shoehorned in. The fact that there’s anything redeemable about this story is a testament to how strong the side characters and setting were. And even the strength of the side characters was compromised by their use as props in the character development of the protagonist.

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honeywine's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of the best, most hopeful books I’ve read in a while. I read it in only a few days, staying up too late in order to finish.

I marked genocide as a content warning because

Spoiler

this book deals heavily with the assimilation of minority (magic) children into the world of the colonizer

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kamiellen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"And what a party it was. There was food—so much so that Linus thought the table would collapse under the weight of it. There was roast and hot rolls and salad with cucumbers that crunched between their teeth. There was cake and pie and bowls of tart raspberries they could dip in cream.

And music! All kinds of music. There was a record player sitting on the counter, and the day the music died was bright and loud with Ritchie and Buddy and the Big Bopper singing from beyond. Lucy was in charge, and he never failed to disappoint.

They laughed on this day. Oh, how they laughed. Even though Linus thought his heart was breaking, he laughed until there were tears in his eyes, until he was sure his sides would split. As the sun began to set and the lanterns grew brighter, they laughed and laughed and laughed."
• • •

Spoiler

On paper, this book was right up my alley: gay romance, misfit children, magical beings, a home on the sea, a small town, outdoor adventures, cynicism becoming optimism, confronting discrimination, sticking it to the man... And the truth is, I liked it! Bit I didn't love it. It didn't blow me away. As heartwarming as it was, I felt that the world-building was lacking, some of the character development was lackluster, and the writing was littered with clichés—and that really reduced the impact of the story for me. Nevertheless, we love gay happy endings!

Spoiler

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