Klune has a distinctive and enjoyable writing style. It is somewhat reminiscent of Stewart's "The Mysterious Benedict Society" in its mix of the fantastical, the bureaucratic, the ordinary, the juvenile, and the profound. You can tell Klune is growing as a writer from "The House on the Cerulean Sea". He still maintains his voice but is able to differentiate the books so they can each stand on their own merits. I found the first quarter of the book to not be very engaging and, in fact, a little exasperating. After that, I was sucked into the world and finished the rest in one day. The only thing I found discordant, although amusing, was the mention of sex. I didn't clutch my pearls, but it felt a little goofy in a book written in a very childlike style. A great read.