A review by tazemu
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
2.75
very cute magical kids! gay found family romance!
generally enjoyable/sweet but heavily steeped a type of defanged liberal ~diversity and tolerance~ and ~break the system rules but only a little because it can be won over with love~ type messaging that is just...bleh. There's literally a reference to the "Give me your tired and huddled masses..." which 💀 Also a weird fatphobic constant focus on how "round, rotund, bumbling, slovenly, etc etc" Linus is that is played halfway as a self love journey but mostly is strange and distracting?
Overall not a bad book if everything doesn't need to be a Critical Thinking read, but there's plenty here that falls short.
generally enjoyable/sweet but heavily steeped a type of defanged liberal ~diversity and tolerance~ and ~break the system rules but only a little because it can be won over with love~ type messaging that is just...bleh. There's literally a reference to the "Give me your tired and huddled masses..." which 💀 Also a weird fatphobic constant focus on how "round, rotund, bumbling, slovenly, etc etc" Linus is that is played halfway as a self love journey but mostly is strange and distracting?
Overall not a bad book if everything doesn't need to be a Critical Thinking read, but there's plenty here that falls short.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Fatphobia