“It’s not fair.”
“No. It’s not. Life rarely is. But we deal with it the best we can. And we allow ourselves to hope for the best. Because a life without hope isn’t a life lived at all.”
I adored this book!
I was absorbed from the first few pages and absolutely loved every element of the story. The characters were all so well written and I can’t say enough about the main character’s development. I had seen this novel gaining a lot of attention in the book social world and the premise immediately intrigued me and I’m a sucker for a good fantasy novel, especially one that parallels real-life topics.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune follows Linus Baker, a government case worker who is sent to a mysterious island to investigate the special children housed there. Linus travels far away from home with his pet cat in tow and when he arrives on Marsyas Island he’s thrown into a completely different world from his comfortable, albeit boring one back home. He learns a great deal about how prejudiced Extremely Upper Management is and how the locals view or rather fear the six interesting children residing on the island.
Klune does a fantastic job of creating a new fantasy world that isn’t far off from the current world we live in which was refreshing. Instead of having to understand a brand new realm, as a reader, it was easy to visualize things as they are with just minor differences, which happened to be the children. Those of which are simply a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. But at the base of it all, it’s six orphaned children who live on an island with a caretaker because society had deemed them to be dangerous creatures. Linus goes to the island fearing the kids and simply all the unknowns that come with their home.
His character development is what I found to be the anchor of the story and makes it extremely enjoyable to follow along with. He discovers that you can’t learn everything from some lines written in a file and you certainly can’t know a person just by what you’ve heard or read. He also learns more about himself and how he doesn’t have to fit into a mold himself.
The story focuses on so many hot-button issues that society is facing now and probably will be for many years to come. It was portrayed in a different setting that didn’t make it feel too close to home while still getting across the points that do hit home. I personally think that LGBTQ+ representation in YA novels is so important right now and Klune does it in a way that isn’t overdone.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I wish I had written down more feelings about it at the time to share with you all. I know I’ll be seeking out more of T.J. Klune’s novels in the future.
Kelsey (KJ) Fagan 
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