Review by howlinglibraries - The House in the Cerulean Sea

howlinglibraries 's review for:

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

5.0

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: Complicated

His thoughts were all cerulean.

I don't even know how to begin describing this book, or what it meant to me. It's incredibly rare that I give a book "favorite book" status; while there are loads of books I love a lot, if you asked me what my all-time favorites are, my responses would be very limited because "favorite" is a word that carries a lot of weight for me. When a book does get "favorite" book status, it's usually a year or more after I've read the book, when I realize that it's still weighing on my heart a lot or has really impacted my life in a long-term way. And yet, I started telling people this was a new favorite book of all time before I even finished reading it.

He remembered the way Arthur smiled, the way he laughed, the way he existed here on this island as if he had everything in the world he could ever want. It pulled at him, and he thought of how his world had been cold and wet and gray until he'd come here. It felt like he was seeing in color for the first time.

I have tabbed this book within an inch of its life and highlighted quotes on nearly every single page. I read this like you'd eat your favorite specialty dessert, in slow little bites, savoring it and never ready for it to be over. The moment I closed the cover, I strongly considering flipping back to the first page and starting over, right then and there.

"I don't know why you can't see it."
"See what?"
"You. Everything you are."

So many people recommended this book to me by describing it as "if a book could be a warm hug" or something along those lines, and every single one of those people were absolutely correct, because this is one of the most loving, comforting, kindest stories I've ever read. Sure, it has moments that made me ache, but each hurt was swiftly soothed over with how endearing, hilarious, delightful, and soft these characters are. There's not a single hard heart among the main cast, not a bone of meanness to be found in Linus, Arthur, or any of the House's residents.

She bared her teeth. "I was never in the system, Mr. Baker. My line is far older than the rules of men. Just because you have decided that all magical beings need to be tagged in the wild for tracking doesn't give you the right to question me or my legal status."

I keep trying to make myself actually talk about the plot, or the writing, or the world-building — all of which are lovely, don't get me wrong — but the thing is, T.J. Klune carefully stepped back with all of those things and allowed the characters and the dialogue to shine through. This is an incredibly character-driven story that relies on you loving the characters to love the book as a whole. Luckily, they're incredibly easy to fall for.

Calliope, a thing of evil, sat on the edge of his bed, black tail twitching as she watched him with bright green eyes. She started purring. In most cats, it would be a soothing sound. In Calliope, it indicated devious plotting involving nefarious deeds.

Much like The House in the Cerulean Sea has instantly reached the point of being an all-time favorite book, I strongly suspect T.J. Klune is rapidly become an all-time favorite author. This wasn't the first work of his I've read, and it also absolutely will not be the last.

✨ Representation: Linus is gay and fat; Arthur is queer; a side character is Black

Content Warnings