Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

75 reviews

foxclcves's review against another edition

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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

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mariahmmm's review against another edition

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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.
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lexcrv's review against another edition

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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. 
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bookb1itch's review

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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.
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sierrabowers's review

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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!
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katebella's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

I adored this book! It was the perfect touch of whimsical while still revealing important lessons with quirky characters. The descriptions were vivid and the dialogue fun. 
My one critique is that I think some of the turnaround (or bubble popping) in characters happened a bit too quickly. 
Otherwise it was a great book!
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7h0m45_7r3vi11i4n's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I loved Calliope and all of the children, and the end was fine (not bad at all tbh), but I didn't like the part where
Linus would kiss Arthur's nose, like, WHY IT'S SO UNSANITARY! JUST WHY!?
I mean I know that that's just
love but still, gross.
But overall, it is still a great book!
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loriley's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

Cute! A cozy feel good read, which is surprising given that the majority of the book feels like a clear allegory to residential schools for indigenous children in the Americas. It however, focuses less on the major issues of the institution of the magical orphanages and more on the individual characters for this particular story.
Loved the kids characters and the style of magical powers in a mundane and prejudiced world. Klune does a wonderful job of creating vibrant lovable characters. This is definitely a character driven story more than a plot driven story. Most of the story movement being Linus the MC’s change in his perception of magical people and his job at DICOMY. 
My main issue for this book was the plot resolution felt very grade school fiction book-esque. There was a problem, then with little work it’s resolved. It felt anti-climactic. 
Additionally, I wish the setting was a little more flushed out. What was the history of DICOMY/DICOMA and how it started. The vague history between Arthur and Mr. Handsome seemed like it was going to be super important to the plot but then wasn’t (or was, I’m unclear).
I did love the relationships that Linus developed with each of the children; especially his relationship with Lucy as his fear turns to love and indulgence.
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iane_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

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