The House in the Cerulean Sea

written by TJ Klune finished April 15, 2022

The other day I was telling a co-worker about reading Gods of Jade and Shadow and she brought up this book. This a a co-worker who I trust with book recommendations because I know she is a reader but this was unexpected as she did not strike me as the fantasy sort. Boy, this did NOT disappoint.

I have been suffering from a bit of reader's block recently. Perhaps, this stems from having lots of books checked out that fit categories in Extreme Reader, instead of what I feel like reading. This was my "reward" book that I saved while I read some other books and then I just let myself enjoy it.

I will say that at first I was not impressed. Linus was not a character I could connect with and the descriptions of the office and his job were dull. However, there was some fantastic imagery that made the first section worth it. I think I struggled with it in the beginning because I thought there would be multiple POVs but the entire novel is written from Linus' POV.

Throughout the novel Linus grows on us. He is a good man who wants to do right by the magical children he oversees but he has never had the idea of doing any more than his required job. Arthur is a fantastic character and each of the children was so unique and awesome. One of the children thinks he has to hide under a bed to scare people because he is a monster but he desires to be a bellhop, which just leaves the reader understanding how much these children want to be part of society, instead of feared and on the fringes.

Please do yourself a favor and read this book!

Reading Challenges:

10 to Try:

8. Recommended by a Friend

Extreme Reader:

9. A book of your own choosing

14. A book set in a school

17. A book set outdoors

25. A book that makes you think "Just one more chapter!"

27. A book that takes place in a magical world

35. A book with a protagonist who has a pet cat

42. A book with the name of a color in the title

44. A book written by an author whose first or last name begins with T, P, or L