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ellpy's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
4.0
I’m a big fan of The House on the Cerulean Sea so I was optimistic with this one and I wasn’t disappointed. In a world where it sometimes feels like there’s no way out, this book made me feel more hopeful than most.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Death of parent
candisita's review
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
5.0
Beautiful
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Death of parent
spttsn's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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
4.5
This devastated me.
It was funny, it was heartbreaking. At first I wasn't convinced it was going to hold up to my expectations of TK Klune from reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, but holy hell it did. There seems to be a pattern in his books of a slow start followed by an absolutely soul-capturing story.Also creepy children with too much power, but that's somehow not the important part. You will fall in love with all the characters, even the 'bad' ones.
The first half of the book had a few tears, but then it got to a point where I just couldn't stop silently crying the entire way through. This is not a book for public reading.
I would exercise extreme caution reading this if you are dealing with any sort of recent grief.
It was funny, it was heartbreaking. At first I wasn't convinced it was going to hold up to my expectations of TK Klune from reading The House in the Cerulean Sea, but holy hell it did. There seems to be a pattern in his books of a slow start followed by an absolutely soul-capturing story.
The first half of the book had a few tears, but then it got to a point where I just couldn't stop silently crying the entire way through. This is not a book for public reading.
I would exercise extreme caution reading this if you are dealing with any sort of recent grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Violence
amandahajj's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
3.5
I was excited to pick up this book in light of just how much I enjoyed The House in the Cerulean Sea. TJ Klune turns caricatures and funny premises into such a delight. However, the slow pacing of this book threw me off. Though it had a promising start, there were soon too many long stretches of very little – very little in the way anything profound or interesting or truly helpful to the story on the whole. I struggled with this read but appreciated the premise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing and Panic attacks/disorders
karolina_bookworm's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
kimroseozzy's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
A very slow burn at first, but once I was hooked I couldn't put it down. The ending was worth the wait. And such a beautifully different, wholly unique story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
sweetadeliene's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
sundayfever's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The storyline is very cute and wholesome, and it cheered me up to think that we can find happiness in life after death. I've always struggled to get into this authors writing style, and I felt the same way with this book. The characters and atmosphere always feel stuffy to me.
The author writes poc characters with the help of sensitivity readers, which does help, but I know there are conflicting opinions about this out there. The portrayals here didn't raise any huge red flags for me personally.
The author writes poc characters with the help of sensitivity readers, which does help, but I know there are conflicting opinions about this out there. The portrayals here didn't raise any huge red flags for me personally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
hdunscombe's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death
avrija's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-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
5.0
Wow. This was lovely. At first I was quite unsure if I’d like this, I really liked the house in the cerulean sea but you never know I guess.
But this? Oh I loved it. It was humorous in a way that felt organic and authentic and not forced.
The characters were all lovely, I loved the worldbuilding and eagerly awaited every scrap of lore I could get my hands on.
Wallace‘s transformation is just great to see and while I did expect some development in that direction, like in cerulean, the contrast here was much starker and still didn’t feel forced.
Mei and Hugo were awesome and Nelson and Apollo too.
I liked that there were bits and pieces that showed, this place existed before Wallace came along, like Nancys plotline and Cameron’s, as well as the opinions of the others about the seance-woman (forgot her name) and the inspector.
The humour was also great, most of the book was very lighthearted and humorous even though it deals with death and grief and I quite enjoyed that. But also the heartbreaking parts were well done and had me sobbing in my bed in the middle of the night (totally recommend though).
I loved cerulean sea but this was even better <3
But this? Oh I loved it. It was humorous in a way that felt organic and authentic and not forced.
The characters were all lovely, I loved the worldbuilding and eagerly awaited every scrap of lore I could get my hands on.
Wallace‘s transformation is just great to see and while I did expect some development in that direction, like in cerulean, the contrast here was much starker and still didn’t feel forced.
Mei and Hugo were awesome and Nelson and Apollo too.
I liked that there were bits and pieces that showed, this place existed before Wallace came along, like Nancys plotline and Cameron’s, as well as the opinions of the others about the seance-woman (forgot her name) and the inspector.
The humour was also great, most of the book was very lighthearted and humorous even though it deals with death and grief and I quite enjoyed that. But also the heartbreaking parts were well done and had me sobbing in my bed in the middle of the night (totally recommend though).
I loved cerulean sea but this was even better <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Suicide and Death of parent