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marxnapxrez's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.5
4.5 ⭐️
Puff como empezar…
Empecé este libro por el montón de recomendaciones que vi pero no estaba segura si me iba a gustar, no es lo que suelo leer pero estaba equivocadisima.
No solo me ha encantado sino que me he sentido como una niña, cada capítulo era como el de una serie comfort a lo Modern Family.
Los niños, mis niños, sin palabras, la capacidad del autor para hacerte meterte tanto en el libro que realmente parece que son niños es absolutamente impresionante.
Y la historia de amor, tan real, tan bonita y tan cierta sin importar el mundo de fantasía al revés.
Simplemente quiero leer más sobre su married life con sus hijos.
Puff como empezar…
Empecé este libro por el montón de recomendaciones que vi pero no estaba segura si me iba a gustar, no es lo que suelo leer pero estaba equivocadisima.
No solo me ha encantado sino que me he sentido como una niña, cada capítulo era como el de una serie comfort a lo Modern Family.
Los niños, mis niños, sin palabras, la capacidad del autor para hacerte meterte tanto en el libro que realmente parece que son niños es absolutamente impresionante.
Y la historia de amor, tan real, tan bonita y tan cierta sin importar el mundo de fantasía al revés.
Simplemente quiero leer más sobre su married life con sus hijos.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Cursing and Death
kat_smith24's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Xenophobia
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
evann140's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
astrangewind's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The House in the Cerulean Sea is a gem of a book, & TJ Klune is a gem of an author.
Being queer & autistic, I have often felt othered throughout my life by virtue of who I am. The story of Arthur Parnassus & his wards teaches us that it's not who we're born to, or what we are, that defines us; it's how we treat others. & poor, misguided Linus Baker teaches us that it's never too late to change your mind, to learn to accept, to love, to let color into your life despite said color turning your world upside down.
Truly, Linus learns what really matters and where he belongs, casting aside his grey, corporate existence & finding his stride. He learns to love those who are different, & to use his connections (& newfound confidence) to keep them safe.
Klune's love stories, too, are flawlessly executed. As a queer person, it's important for me to see representation, but not just any representation - representation that's kind, & whole, & free of tragedy. The central love story (Linus & Arthur, though that's not hard to guess) isn't a story of coming out, or being hurt, or being discriminated against for their queerness; it's as normal as any non-queer relationship, & so little attention is drawn to the fact that they like men. It's so necessary to have queer stories where queerness is normalized.
This same principle shows up with the children, too. Talia - a female gnome, who is also a child - has a beard, as she should. I'm also a big fan of media where the dragons (or wyverns) are friends instead of enemies. Everything that the children are is normalized.Truly, I don't think anyone else would've been able to pull off the Antichrist bit, too.
While I did love this book, it started to drag its feet by the end. It seems like the last quarter of it was just characters monologuing at each other, and then the other side just magically changing their minds after being lectured. (I do love a happy ending, but I love a realistic happy ending more.) It just moved so slowly, & was extremely heavy-handed in terms of the message. This was perhaps intentional, but the book was doing fine getting across the message without the monologuing. Reminds me of trying to hit an essay word count in high school. Really, though, this is a minor thing in comparison with the rest of the book, which I deeply, deeply, enjoyed.
Being queer & autistic, I have often felt othered throughout my life by virtue of who I am. The story of Arthur Parnassus & his wards teaches us that it's not who we're born to, or what we are, that defines us; it's how we treat others. & poor, misguided Linus Baker teaches us that it's never too late to change your mind, to learn to accept, to love, to let color into your life despite said color turning your world upside down.
Truly, Linus learns what really matters and where he belongs, casting aside his grey, corporate existence & finding his stride. He learns to love those who are different, & to use his connections (& newfound confidence) to keep them safe.
Klune's love stories, too, are flawlessly executed. As a queer person, it's important for me to see representation, but not just any representation - representation that's kind, & whole, & free of tragedy. The central love story (
This same principle shows up with the children, too. Talia - a female gnome, who is also a child - has a beard, as she should. I'm also a big fan of media where the dragons (or wyverns) are friends instead of enemies. Everything that the children are is normalized.
While I did love this book, it started to drag its feet by the end. It seems like the last quarter of it was just characters monologuing at each other, and then the other side just magically changing their minds after being lectured. (I do love a happy ending, but I love a realistic happy ending more.) It just moved so slowly, & was extremely heavy-handed in terms of the message. This was perhaps intentional, but the book was doing fine getting across the message without the monologuing. Reminds me of trying to hit an essay word count in high school. Really, though, this is a minor thing in comparison with the rest of the book, which I deeply, deeply, enjoyed.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Hate crime, Torture, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
plantdonut's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime and Racism
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
mariahmmm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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? Yes
4.0
A world of dismal grey becomes cerulean for Mr Linus Baker when he is assigned to assess the suitability of a Level 4 orphanage that houses dangerous magical children.
This was a beautiful heartbreaking story of hatred born from fear, love and it's gentle change, and a man slowly becoming undone.
One star deducted because the story was inspired by the forced institutionalisation of native children in residential schools, and turning this trauma into a fantasy, with naive solutions and a magical happy ending to what is a complex problem, felt nonchalant. I do think, however, that this kind of story needs to be told to show how unintentionally ignorant we can be by sticking to the narrow viewpoint we've been told to live within- the rules and regulations we become accustomed to living by.
This was a beautiful heartbreaking story of hatred born from fear, love and it's gentle change, and a man slowly becoming undone.
One star deducted because the story was inspired by the forced institutionalisation of native children in residential schools, and turning this trauma into a fantasy, with naive solutions and a magical happy ending to what is a complex problem, felt nonchalant. I do think, however, that this kind of story needs to be told to show how unintentionally ignorant we can be by sticking to the narrow viewpoint we've been told to live within- the rules and regulations we become accustomed to living by.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Cursing
lexcrv's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
3.5
It's 2 a.m. and I'm sitting in my room, holding back tears. This book was a delightful, light read that filled me with all the warm, fuzzy feelings possible (something that not many books do, other than the occasional fanfiction).
This will most definitely be a recurring comfort read, and something I will be recommending to anyone I come across.
This is, objectively, a 3.5 stars in my mind, but a 5 stars in my heart.
This will most definitely be a recurring comfort read, and something I will be recommending to anyone I come across.
This is, objectively, a 3.5 stars in my mind, but a 5 stars in my heart.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Racism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
bookb1itch's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
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? Yes
5.0
Can't believe I waited so long to read this one. What a beautiful cosy queer fantasy about belonging and love. There aren't enough nerdy superlatives. Listened to the end of the epilogue walking home from work and grinned like a loon. It felt great! Minor cursing and I loved hearing "git" in an American book. The characters were all so loveable, especially children Lucy and Chauncey. Linus was a lot like me - I look forward to bursting my bubble and finding colour.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing and Hate crime
sierrabowers's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
5.0
If I could rate this book a 6, I would! This was a great read that included so much diversity and I loved the message it was trying to present. The theme being: love others no matter what, even if you don’t understand them. I also believe the author included another theme: people are afraid of what they don’t understand. As someone who works with children and sees the corrupt foster care system, I encourage all to read. It is enlightening and also very funny. It was lighthearted while also touching on important subjects!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Violence and Cannibalism
katebella's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Confinement and Cursing