1 ratings • 1 reviews
1 ratings • 1 reviews
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges! A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything. Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart. Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.
“Great, now that I know fish are aware of the concept of Hell, I’m questioning everything.” Why is this book so funny 😂
I’m loving that Arthur and Linus are taking more of a step back in this book and allowing the kids to help each other through hard times. Even though Arthur has been through many of the same things that the kids have, he’s a bit removed from what they are currently going through and understands that the best people to help them are the kids themselves.
I love how much more pointed TJ Klune is in this book vs Cerulean Sea. In the first book you could tell there was a commentary about real life social issues if you read between the lines but this book is fully calling them out for what they are; racism and homophobia. Loving this so far!
How wonderful is is to step back into the world of The House in the Cerulean Sea. The magical children are just as lovable and funny as I was expecting, and it was a pleasure to see how Arthur and Linus have settled into a life together. It seems that this novel is going to be higher stakes than the last, and I can't wait for the novel to be fully released so I can dive into it.
I received an e-ARC excerpt from NetGalley in exchange for a review but my opinions are my own. While I don't feel I can give a star rating based on an excerpt (a prologue and 4 chapters), I fully expect this to be a highly-rated read.