Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
T.J. Klune
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.
In the acknowledgements, Klune says he wants his legacy to be as the "Anti-J.K. Rowling," making sure queer stories are told and dedicating this book to the trans community. I'm curious how well y'all think he's accomplished that over these two books. I don't think there's really any argument as to whether there IS representation in his books, but is it good? Is it accurate? Is it helpful? Personally, I can appreciate that his approach is (as he too says) very "loud" and in your face, which I think is such great messaging for all kids, and healing for adult members of the queer community. That said, I swear I don't remember a single straight couple in this story but loads of queer ones - yes it emphasizes minorities banding together and uplifting one another, but I really wonder at the choice to exclude any allies from that equation, and also have all the antagonists suggested to be straight. I wonder how that lands for other adults that don't already share these beliefs, and whether it's effective messaging for them too. Does his approach make it less palatable for those individuals, but also, does it matter if it does? If we go by the dedication, I'm not even sure this book is for that audience anyway. What do y'all think? As to the trans rep specifically, I was kind of underwhelmed. Based on the dedication I kind of expected something more, especially with some of the kids hitting puberty. That said, I'm not particularly well read on the existing trans rep in literature, so maybe this is huge relative to that!
3Your rating:
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.
0A beautiful continuation of The House in the Cerulean Sea! I loved getting to see more about how these kids have grown and the way Marsyas interacts with them. And the addition of David was lovely. That being said, this story was so idealized, it really took away from the message. Don’t get me wrong, the family still has their fair share of difficulties to overcome. However, they are never in danger of anything ever happening to them because they suddenly have whatever power necessary to get them out of a situation. Unfortunately, marginalized communities do not have powers to protect themselves in this way, making it feel like oppressors are that much more challenging to actually defeat. Still, I loved the book and somehow it was even funnier than Cerulean Sea. I’ll miss this little family and always hold them close to my heart.
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