The House in the Cerulean Sea
Ratings1,117
Average rating4.3
Linus works as a caseworker for magical children living in orphanages. He's a very boring, by-the-books type of person but this all changes when he spends a month investigating an orphanage with potentially dangerous children who all have highly classified case files.
I went in with high expectations considering its 4.47 rating on Goodreads but was left feeling quite disappointed. It felt very, very cheesy at times, especially the romance subplot which really didn't make much sense at all. Honestly I cringed a bit while reading it.
It goes for a lighthearted, kooky tone (Linus's bosses are literally called Extremely Upper Management). But at the same time they live in a world where magical beings must be registered and monitored, and there is a large amount of discrimination towards them in society. And so the combination of those two things feels weird for the very happy, good vibes ending that we get.
I don't really want to give this a 3, the writing isn't bad. I think I'm just completely the wrong demographic for this book. I could see it being targeted towards YA or even lower.
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
Another booktok fav but was let down. Once again disappointed and not my cup of tea.
There were some good qualities to this novel, but the comparisons to Harry Potter are unwarranted. It was missing something important but nebulous- I felt like I was reading an explanation of a larger and richer story instead of that richer story itself.
3.5
Comecei a gostar desse livro no capítulo 14.
Why is everybody so engaged and freaking out with this book?
People are thrilled. Making a hell of a fuzz.
But, for me, until now (chap14) it is like a Miss Peregrin mixed Supernatural/Angels and Devils stories with self-help vibes. And more than once, I thought I've already had seen something quite like that plot before.
There are tons of good phrases.
The romance was chef kiss (chef's kiss quality approval).
But that... was all?
Vou soltar o verbo:
O livro é bom sim. Escrito de forma fluida, aborda temas pesados (preconceito, abusos, traumas, fobias, gordofobia, um pouco de religião, agressão, vida profissional, o caos da vida pessoal... a lista é boa insira o olhar sarcástico aqui) e aquela levantada de bandeira, de forma leve, “encoberto” (mascarado seria uma melhor expressão) pelas diferenças externas entre humanos e seres mágicos Até a revelação do Arthur que foi ótimo . Traz as frases de efeito, as reflexões sobre a vida, o desenvolvimento da personagem principal - a coragem por tomar decisões arriscadas, apostar no novo, superar os próprios demonios (e quebras de conceitos, como o Linus com relação a seu trabalho e sua função) para encontrar a felicidade que melhor lhe cabe.
Mas... é isso ai.
Nos capítulos finais, naquele momento da revolta falida dos moradores da ilha contra a Casa, Helen fez um discurso bem de mãe emputecida com as crias, jogando umas verdades na cara, e pensei “ah, tá aí o verdadeiro herói dessa merda”.
Os personagens são medianamente desenvolvidos, as crianças principalmente, senti que são resumidas a seus traumas e suas aparências, e as justificativa na falha da personalidade, diálogos ou o porque das coisas, se resume ao fato de serem crianças.
O resto dos moradores, Zoe, os três malucos daquela instituição que esqueci o nome e outras muitas coisa são esquecidas fechando o livro.
Tem buracos da estória, do porque das coisas. Do porque de tudo. De qual época no tempo estamos falando. Tem computador mas não tem celular? A galera está com o mp3 no bolso? Os reports são manuais? (Pensamento mediocre, isso ai, mas estava pensando na carroça na praia e do nada a pessoa está com a alma sendo sugada pela tela de retina como qualquer proletariado do século XXI).
A narração por Daniel Henning foi muito interessante, e deu uma visão dinâmica de alguns momentos mais lentos e iniciais da estória, porém, por ver a hype e pessoas emocionadas com esse livro, me pergunto se ele não é um “material de leitura”, um livro que funciona melhor sendo lido ao invés de contado.
Ou seja: posso ter ouvido errado? Sim. Escutei as 6h da manhã e voltando do trabalho, veja bem. Há um cansaço pesado em cima.
Enfim, bom livro, mas não tudo isso.
I went into this book completely blind with no idea of what to expect. I picked it up because a friend recommended it, and while it took a hot minute to get into the story - I'm so glad I did! I haven't smiled this much while reading a book in a while. Beautiful story.
Oh my god, it's lovely, and it's gay, and I am delighted. I would pay all of the money to get a good omens style miniseries of this, it's just so sweet and I want more. Can't believe it took me this long to read this!
Imagine you go out to a bakery and you buy yourself a large chocolate cake. This bakery has been recommended many times, particularly the chocolate cake. “It tastes so great!”, people tell you.
You bring the cake home. You eat the first piece. Delicious! People were right! You have another slice. Damn, that's some good cake. But you're sugared out now, and there's still a lot of cake left. You've wondered if maybe the cake should have been smaller. Maybe they should have had less chocolate on the cake. You're not sure. And then out of nowhere, the baker breaks into your house with a gun and forces you to finish eating the entire cake. You tearfully force yourself to finish the entire cake, being overwhelmed with how sugary and sweet it is. At the end of all of this, you no longer look back at those first two slices very fondly. In fact, you don't want any cake for a long, long time.
That's what reading this book felt like to me. There was a time in which I was sure it was a five star read for me. Then it spent awhile being a four star read. And then the last 50-75 pages had me rolling my eyes so hard they threatened to stay at the back of my skull, and I wanted to give it two stars. So three stars it is.
This book is so heavy on the sentiment that it ignores everything else. There were some good things in it, some stuff I really enjoyed, and some humor that I loved. I think it has good messages for everyone, but particularly for kids or teens. There are lot of things to enjoy about this light romp of a novel, and I understand why it has the rating it does.
...but Jesus Christ, it just really hammers every single point home over and over. It's the feel good book equivalent of an evangelist never stopping trying to convert you to their religion.
But all that said, I have one big problem with this book. Once the problem presented itself, it was so annoying that it exponentially made every page worse afterwards. The main character, Linus Baker, is a caseworker for magical youths at orphanages and visits them to assess whether or not they are safe for the children. He is assigned to a house near the ocean that is an extremely secretive assignment, and has to be there for a month.
In the beginning of the book, Linus is a strict, curmudgeony, fat, uninspired, boring, uninteresting person whose only selling point is that he is slightly more interested in the genuine welfare of children than his co-workers are. And I do mean slightly. And yet, after a week of staying at the Cerulean house, despite doing nothing that would warrant this behavior, everyone there starts treating him as if the sun shines out of his ass. He will do literally the BARE MINIMUM of a reasonable person and the characters will literally tell him there is nobody else on earth like him. Further into the novel, characters starting saying things like, “Linus, you marvelous man” or “You, you unbelievable creature, you” and then the end of the book cranks this behavior up to an unfathomable level. This is incredibly eye rolling because Linus is not shown to be incredible or marvelous or unique. He is shown to be passively interested in the welfare of children, and is just LESS of a bigot than everybody else in the novel. He does change from beginning to end, but not in a believable way. I simply do not believe that Linus was written well enough to be convincing in this type of plot, and I don't believe the relationships developed in this book would have been possible in a month. At least, not as shown here.
And for that reason, the last section of the book was not for me at all and greatly hampered my enjoyment. I'm glad a lot of other people weren't bothered by this; I was getting that sweet, feel good feeling that others were for awhile and I wish that continued.
I loved this book so much. the children are just absolutely perfect and the master of the house is so amazing <3 I hated linus at first but fell in love with him towards the end. Overall i don't see how anyone could hate something so warm and amazing as this book. The extremely upper management made me think the ministry of magic from harry potter for some odd reason. overall hands down a five star read. so glad I picked this one up to get myself out of a funk. Great way to end my summer.
I adored this. What a whimsical and endearing exploration of so many important topics: citizenship, disability, trauma.
There are a lot of lessons in this book. Hatred and fear overlap, a lot. Stereotypes undercut humanity and potential. The people we surround ourselves with can drastically impact both how we see ourselves and the course of our lives. If you're not the target of discrimination, it can be difficult to even recognize it happening, let alone your role in it. Sometimes you grow up to be to others the kind of support that you desperately needed but lacked when you were growing up.
I could talk about this book for as long as Chauncey talks about being a bellhop, but I just suggest you read this one. I promise you will fall in love with the story and everyone in it.
(Especially if you like series like Harry Potter, Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children, Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor, Rick Riordan Presents, maybe even Fantasy High? Ooh, and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends! Just read it.)
I can't stop smiling. Wonderful, wholesome, hopeful. This is quite possibly the easiest five stars I've ever given.
So incredibly wholesome and adorable!! A refreshing change of pace. Chauncey is now my favourite literary character. Everything he did and said melted my heart!!! I listened to this as an audiobook and with the narrators voice for Chauncey is honestly couldn't handle the cuteness overload. My only gripe id that there were so many impassioned speeches and I find those cringey but that's just a personal preference. Loved this one!
super boring/predictable & also problematic apparently, there's a difference between feel-good and cloyingly sentimental, I wrongly hoped it would be the former
This book is an absolute gem. A really unique reading.A treasure of a story about life and love.
Amazing.
Wow, I loved this! Every fifty pages I kept thinking “Okay, I should really stop reading so I can cook/eat/sleep...” — but I just kept going, and ended up devouring it from start to finish in one sitting. A truly delightful world filled with wonderfully endearing characters (who wouldn't be won over by an amorphous blob who aspires to be a bellhop), and a reading experience that somehow feels nostalgic as soon as you start reading. The whole experience was like drinking a deliciously cup of hot chocolate on a snowy day, and I am so happy to have been temporarily transported into such a warm and inviting place.
This is, easily, one of the best books I've ever read. It's warm, it's (mostly) happy, and I loved every bit of it. I can't really put so much of my thoughts into words here. It made me feel so much and I cried my eyes out at the end. I loved the rep (gay protagonist) but also the message and the ending. The protagonist, Linus, really is perfect. He's older than your typical protagonists, he's overweight, he's got a ‘meh' job, is openly gay, and possess a lot of dad energy. I love him dearly.
If I had to point something out that I disliked it'd be perhaps how quick a certain section in the story's final act was. I'd give it one more chapter... Honestly I'd read ten more books about the house in the cerulean sea.
Having read other T.J. Klune novels, I was ready to experience a well written story with interesting characters. I was not disappointed and would love to learn more about these magical creatures.
As recommended by a friend, I also listened to the audiobook. Daniel Henning's narration brought the characters to life using voices fitting the characters described by the author.