I might be the last person on earth to read this, so you might all already know this story. BUT JUST IN CASE! This book was delightful.
We meet Linus, a downtrodden social work caseworker who investigates orphanages where magical children are housed. He does care about the children he’s sent to look after, but the system is set up to remove him from what happens to the children that he removes from these homes. And he’s learned to be complacent about that. Until he is sent to Marsyas, a strange orphanage far from home where he meets Arthur Parnassus and his oddly charming bunch of wards.
It’s so heartwarming to see Linus starting to come to life at Marsyas where he learns to let go of the nigh holy RULES AND REGULATIONS which he has used to govern his life up till this point. The children need a champion to help them and Linus, who considers himself to be a fat, unremarkable, middle aged nobody, finds himself stepping into that role for the children and for their enigmatic father figure Arthur.
I fell in love with Lucy who has spiders in his brain, and Talia who threatens to murder people with her shovel, and Chauncey, the tentacled jellyfish like little boy who wants to be a bellhop. If you haven’t yet read this one, give it a try. It’ll make you feel good and give you hope for the world.