The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Incredibly, incredibly, incredible. Two (maybe one or three?) words that perfectly describe this modern fairy tale called The House in the Cerulean Sea. Linus Baker is a caseworker at DICOMY (Department in Charge of Magical Youth) and his job is to travel around to magical “orphanages” making sure they are suitable for the magical children. He’s been working at DICOMY all his life, always following the instructions and rules of others, and Linus plans to keep it that way, at least until he can retire. One day, however, he gets picked for a very extreme case; an orphanage far, far, away that houses some of the rarest and possibly most dangerous magical children in the world.

The orphanage is run by Arthur Parnassus, a compassionate man who cares deeply about his children. The first day Linus arrives, he is completely taken aback, frightened, and possibly disgusted by what the children are. The RULES AND REGULATIONS state that Linus must maintain distance from the children, be a bystander, and only report his objective findings, so that’s what he tries to do.

I have a YouTube channel where I animate some of my book reviews! Be sure to check it out at: www.youtube.com/@theeccentricbookshelf.

As the story goes on though, Linus finds it harder and harder to keep a distance from the children. He grows from being the dull man who only followed others’ opinions, to someone who truly cares about the children, and even thinks of them as family. But he still has to convince Extremely Upper Management that the orphanage deserves to stay open and possibly most difficult of all, convince society that the children are exactly that, children, and not the terrible monsters that most of society thinks that they are.

I have a YouTube channel where I animate some of my book reviews! Be sure to check it out at: www.youtube.com/@theeccentricbookshelf.

Klune, the author, is so amazingly good at making the reader sympathize with the characters. I could genuinely feel my heart jumping and sinking in my chest at just the right moments, and it felt like I was feeling almost the exact same emotions as the characters. Klune is such a good writer that the book made me so sad and so happy in the same half-hour.

It was also interesting to watch Linus grow. Linus starts out as a man without much of a personality (or a hidden personality), but as the story goes on, the children and Arthur manage to coax his personality out of him, whether they know it or not. It’s just so very heartwarming to see how Linus grows and bonds with the people around him.

I thought that it was also intriguing and rather beneficial to read about the discrimination that the children faced and it made for a pretty well designed and unique plot. They’re different from the rest of society, so most people think of them as monsters and try to dehumanize them. But as Linus learns, they really are just children who need to be loved and cared after. It’s a nice warm message that adds to the immense depth of the book.

This has been the best book I’ve read in ages. It honestly just kept me wanting to read, and read, and read. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. The first few sentences drew me in more than any other book I’ve read in the past few months. Much to the chagrin of my mother, I even stayed up past midnight reading (however, it was a Friday, so it really didn’t matter), but this book was worth it. Sleep is a waste of time anyways (it’s actually not, make sure to get enough sleep!) Anyway, I truly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.