Serenity

I came so close to giving this book five stars, but it's a shame I can't. Before explaining why, I want to say that I love this book. The beginning is strong and intriguing, and although I've heard someone say it gets boring midway, I couldn't disagree more. It will only be boring if you don't like the characters, and I loved them all.

Linus is a “fluffy” caseworker that has to go to an “orphanage” (it's more of a home) to investigate if this home should stay open or be closed. Arthur runs the home and cares for six magical children. Linus must stay for a month and give a professional recommendation regarding whether it's a suitable place for the children to live.

All of them are delightful, wonderful kids. By the end of his stay, Linus comes to realize his unintentional prejudice with magical creatures and starts to realize that “how things are” shouldn't in fact be that way. The whole story is about changing your perception of people you do not understand. The gist of the story is that we demonize beings who we do not understand, which brings me to why I could only rate this 4 stars.

One child in particular is six year old Lucifer, or “Lucy”, who is supposedly the “antichrist”. I will say this straight out: I do NOT believe that Lucy is the son of the devil. From the beginning, I always imagined that this was a name given to him because the people around him were frightened of him and demonized him. They saw a child that was so powerful that they had to name him after the antichrist out of fear and prejudice. It makes complete sense in my mind. Yet, even Arthur believes that he is the antichrist (page 121 and 392). I could never believe it though, and was disappointed that Arthur believed he was. Like, how?? Did Satan sign his parental rights away?! I can believe in gnomes and magical creatures, but I just couldn't accept that Lucy was the antichrist. It makes more sense that Lucy is merely misunderstood.

We saw this misunderstanding with another child, Chauncy. He's a magical creature that resembles a watery jellyfish. Before going to Arthur, people told him he was “the monster under the bed”. Now, he's internalized this perception of himself from others and hides under beds. I feel that Lucy is the same way.

It wasn't until I read TJ Klune's notes that I accepted that Lucy was the antichrist. Klune said he purposefully made Lucy the antichrist because he wanted to explore “nature vs nurture”, but I just couldn't believe it as I read it. I was literally waiting for someone to say he wasnt and it never came. The antichrist is not a “magical creature”, and I'm disappointed that Klune kept the joke running. Lucy is no demon and no devil. He's an innocent little boy that's been traumatized and is scared about who and what he is. And like Linus said, Arthur IS HIS FATHER (page 359), and later, so is Linus. That's how I wish it would have been- Linus and Arthur vehemently denying that Lucy is the antichrist and insisting that others are judging him based on appearance- but TJ Klune sticks to the joke. He could have still used the “he's the antichrist” joke, but the fact it was “real” in the story is extremely dissapointing.

Despite my disagreement with the author on how he handled Lucy, I still feel that this is a lovely, wholesome story about two beautiful men falling in love, and adopting six hilarious children. It's become a favorite of mine, and I'll be re-reading it again tonight.

Edit: forgot to mention that I was disappointed that the book had a handful of instances that were distinctly anti-Christian and none showing the opposite. I fully acknowledge that there are aspects of Christianity that are wrong (because everyone is sinful), but I wish that Klune had included at least one moment demonstrating the goodness that exists in Christianity too. It's ironic that a book about prejudice seems to be prejudice itself against a religion. I wish Helen would have worn a cross like her nephew or something to show that there are good people in the faith too. Definitely a missed opportunity I would have appreciated.

Edit 2: I also forgot to mention that I didn't like the ending reunion. It confused me. I don't understand why everyone was so mad at Linus for leaving when they literally had a party for him because he was leaving. Linus had to do so much groveling when he begged them to forgive him, and I thought it was so unnecessary after he fought so hard for them.

I'd rate this book 3.5 if I could since I enjoyed it slightly more than the first novel. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is because this book was filled with too much drama! The worse being Fireheart and Graystripe arguing over a she-cat. My boys took the entire book to reconcile!

Fireheart is right to be concerned over Graystripe's romance, but he has no right to question his friend's loyalty to Thunderclan. It's pretty ironic that he does so when you consider how the clan (especially Tigerclaw) is always questioning FH's loyalty. He should know first-paw that it doesn't feel nice. That and he's meeting with his sister so.....

I can forgive FH for being immature and clueless about romance though. In time, maybe he will learn that the heart is a complicated matter. I still love this character dearly; he's so good and brave.

I'd have to say that the beginning of the book was my favorite. The mission to bring Windclan home was wonderful, and we got to see just how special FH is.

The ending was better this time around. The pacing was great and the major problem (i.e., the boy's fighting) was resolved. Definitely a better book. Looking forward to the next one!

This is the best book in the series so far. I actually cried when Yellowfang died. Although we haven't seen much of her lately, her final moments with Fireheart were extremely touching. I wish we had seen more “motherly” bonding between her and Fireheart, but I've noticed that these books don't really emphasize familial bonds (minus those of mothers and kits). Maybe it's just a cat thing, or maybe it would just make the books too long, but Fireheart seems to be the most obsessed on familial ties. He's always lamenting about not having kin, but I don't even know who Graystripe's mother is, and whoever she is - she doesn't seem to lament that he left.

As for Graystripe, I do like that we see more of his old self here, meaning book 1 Graystripe. It was nice to see that he misses the clan and wants to go back, but Bluestar is too paranoid to accept him. Maybe when Fireheart is leader we can see the two friends reunited.

As for Bluestar, she seemed to have snapped out of her funk at the end, but it was sooo much worse. She now hates Starclan and has abandoned all her core beliefs due to all the misery that's befallen her Clan and her. She abandoned her kits for this hell? I understand her anger, but she shouldn't only respect Starclan when things are going well.

As for Fireheart, I'm so proud of him for stepping up. He's holding up well as deputy considering being so young and having no experience, even Longtail is respectful! I worry about Darkstripe though. The ending with Tigerstar didn't surprise me. It was only a matter of time until he got what he wanted, and Shadowclan seems to always be the one with the most problems of all four clans. The next book should be very interesting.