A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER! A 2021 Alex Award winner! The 2021 RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner! An Indie Next Pick! One of Publishers Weekly’s “Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020” One of Book Riot’s “20 Must-Read Feel-Good Fantasies” Lambda Literary Award-winning author TJ Klune’s bestselling, breakout contemporary fantasy that’s “1984 meets The Umbrella … Award-winning author TJ Klune’s bestselling, breakout contemporary fantasy that’s “1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in.” (Gail Carriger)
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He’s tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place–and realizing that family is yours.
“1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in.” –Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of Soulless
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Oh, dear. All the prior reviews are true! This is a magical and AMAZING book! I loved this so much and never wanted it to end! I fell in love with all of the characters especially Talia and Lucy! Talia and Lucy were the perfect combo, and I loved the way they joked around with Linus. My favorite part about this book was when they went into town and went on adventures. I love seeing all the children interacting with each other. The writing was so descriptive, and I liked how the author incorporated passages from previous chapters throughout the last half of the book.
This had a predictable ending, but I still enjoyed every page of this book! I hope we can somehow get a sequel to this as I am not ready to leave this place behind.
I highly recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
The House in the Cerulean Sea
By TJ Kline
What a delightful, fantastic, and fanciful tale! Linus is a caseworker for magical children. He lives by the books and regulations kind of guy. No life but work, cat, music, bed. Lives in the city where it rains all the time, crabby neighbor and rude boss and co-workers. He gets an assignment to go on a month long trip to a top secret orphanage to investigate it. It’s by the ocean. He is afraid to say no.
Once he gets there he finds these kids are not run of the mill magical but unimaginable different! He faints reading about the first child! He gets there and proceeds slowly to get to know the kids and visa versa. The man in charge, Arthur, is also withholding a secret.
This is a story with so much heart, love, soul, friendships, what it means to have a family, second chances, and nature vs nurture. It also has prejudice, corruption, and hate due to fear! I definitely needed Kleenex for this book! (Especially near the end!) The growth in the kids and Linux is amazing!
I really enjoyed this book! It is definitely a feel good book!
This is such a heartwarming novel! So enchanting, magical and humorous that you’ll fall into the story and never want to leave.
Beautifully imagined and full of feel good moments, this novel has an encouraging analogy for everyone. Simply put – it’s a happy book that will lift your spirits. I recommend it for everyone.
Beautiful writing and plot.
Linus Baker is a caseworker who investigates problems at orphanages for magical children. He has an exemplarly record for his meticulous and accurate reports. Nevertheless, he is surprised when he is asked by Extremely High Management to investigate a remote orphange of six very dangerous children. Leaving the city for the island destination is like leaving a gray world for one in vivid colors. At first Linus is afraid of the children, but, as he gets to know them, he finds that they are much like any other children and are deserving of a safe and protected life. Arthur Parnassus is indeed a father figure for the children and he also has a secret he is keeping. This is an uplifting story about finding a family where you least expect it.
This was a great story! I really enjoyed this fantasy story. The characters are endearing and I really thought this was a great read.
The story centers around Linus, a dutiful employee of Department In Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY). Linus does his job every day, and comes home every night to his cat. After 17 years on the job, Linus is summoned to the Very Upper Management office and is sent on a classified evaluation of an orphanage for magical youth, where he is to observe for a month.
Linus’ perceptions are challenged and the rules and regulations he has held so tightly for all these years are starting to blur. Linus meets six exceptional children and the orphanage’s supervisor, Arthur Parnassus. After getting to know these children and their leader, the guidelines set forth by DICOMY seem to be outdated and unrealistic.
I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a fantasy story .
This is a knitting book club read! And it was super enjoyable. I loved all the funny quips and different personalities of the children on this island and the way Linus got to know both them and himself along the way. He’s there to do a job, to evaluate this orphanage, not to have fun or sympathize with the children or, God forbid, fall in love. I think that Thalia was my favorite of all the magical children. She made me laugh over and over. And the ending was just lovely. I first started this book as an ebook, but then decided to buy the audiobook and listen to that while knitting. The audiobook was so wonderfully narrated that I just kept up with that. All in all, very fun and enjoyable, and the kind of fantasy I was able to get into right away!
Oh, this book is absolutely divine. I highly, highly recommend picking it up.
Such a lovely story that is feel good all the way through.
This book is a big ‘ol HUG!
Saw this book on Instagram and decided to pick it up since it’s not something I typically read. I’m so glad I did! It’s charming, witty, feel-good and has a lovely message. (Even with a character who is the anti-Christ) 🙂
I loved this book so much! SO MUCH!!!! I just gave my copy to my oldest son and said here read this you will love it!!! The characters, the scenery descriptions everything about this book is magical!!! I read it quickly and loved every single moment! Lucy was my very favorite character. He goes from doom and destruction to the sweetest little boy ever!
I enjoyed this book so very much! On more than one occasion, I found myself smiling, sometimes through tears, but more often not. This is just such a beautiful story and I think everyone should read it!
I loved this book!
Really sweet without being saccharine – Lucy the Antichrist is a particular gem. Kind of like if Cat Chant’s view of Chrestomanci were mixed with Good Omens by way of human rights activism.
A truly feel good novel for these trying times. There’s a lot of hype around this book, which feels like it came out at just the right time, right as the world began to fall apart around us in a pretty dramatic fashion. This novel feels like a warm hug on a cold night, chock full of found family tropes and characters that are both tragic and charming. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a book labeled as adult but could easily work as a book for young adults, or even children; its themes are timeless and its writing simple, perfect for anyone in need of an uplifting piece of media.
Linus Baker works for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) in a world where magical creatures and magic users are required to register their abilities in an effort to keep the public safe. As a social worker, he goes from magical orphanage to magical orphanage, making sure the kids are well cared for, but if they’re not, he simply files his report and moves on. His faith in the well-meaning of DICOMY is shaken when he is sent to a secret island that houses magical children the likes of which the world has never seen, children whose existence would radically alter the world as they know it. But kids are kids, and Linus is there to ensure that their caretaker, Arthur Parnassus, is treating them well. His arrival into the lives of these strange children upheaves the lives of everyone involved, and soon Linus is far more entwined with the lives of these children than he’s ever intended to be. With the nearby town holding a simmering hatred for the children of the island, and with DICOMY keeping secrets about the history of the children and Arthur himself from Linus, it becomes apparent that the treatment of these magical children is not only having an effect on Linus’s worldview, but could possibly alter the very way the world looks at magic-users.
The concept of the government forcing magical people to register for the safety of others feels like a bit of a tired trope; I stayed away from reading this novel for a while because it felt very old-school. Most of us know where this is going: forcing people to “other” themselves to the government and the general public leads to ostracization and oppression, allowing for discrimination under the guise of protecting non-magical citizens. We’ve seen it most recently in Marvel, but it remains a popular storytelling idea to quickly get across the concept of an unequal society based on magical ability.
However, The House in the Cerulean Sea stood out to me because of Linus’s narration and the actual removal of the societal problems from the narrative. Linus is non-magical. He’s about as non-magical as they come, with little magic even in his day-to-day life: a drab job, a drab house, unhappiness in his self-image and romantic life, with only a cat and a nasty neighbor to keep him company. Normally narratives like this center around the oppressed class, a type of rebellion story, but giving us Linus’s perspective on things really shook up the story. He is someone who is fully brainwashed by the societal norms around him. He really, truly thinks that he is saving these magical kids by submitting reports about their living conditions, instead of following the logical conclusion that their negative treatment is a systemic issue and they’re just being shuttled from one orphanage to another instead of having their lives meaningfully improved. Seeing his change from “everyman citizen” to someone far more educated and understanding was gradual and done with enough believability that it was easy to forgive him for his past transgressions. Setting the novel on this isolated island was also smart. While the novel is ultimately about the societal differences in the way the magical and non-magical folk are treated, by removing the characters from the hubbub and discrimination of daily life let them flourish in their individuality. The relationships and personalities are able to fully develop in a way that would’ve been impossible if we were constantly enmeshed in the larger societal problems all the time. It also just made for a gorgeous setting, right out of a postcard.
This book is, at its core, very sweet. It’s a story about families and what that means when you all don’t fit together perfectly, when you’re marred by trauma, when loving someone means clashing with what society expects of you. Linus’s relationship with the children of the island begins as a sense of odd distaste; the kids are immensely bizarre, threatening, several of them perhaps unable to be called a person at all. Yet his development into a loving parental figure is so well-done you barely even notice it happening. Linus’s soft-spoken and timid personality have subtle hints as to his change of heart throughout the narrative, so well-woven throughout his scattered thoughts that never at any point did I doubt his sincerity. The kids themselves were so odd that I loved them immensely right off the bat. The creativity when coming up with their magical abilities is unparalleled and simply funny. You’ll fall in love with the kids just as much as Linus does.
My only qualm is probably a more personal one: as positive and fluffy as this book was, it can lean into cheesy in certain places. I’m all for fun and lighthearted tales, especially now, but sometimes the sheer effusiveness of the way certain characters could talk struck me as unrealistic, even for the magical book that this was. If perhaps you don’t shy away from sincerity or don’t mind it when kids have the vocabulary of skilled orators, this won’t bother you, but it did yank me out of the book at several points.
But overall, the perfect book to help keep me from staring at how badly the world is burning right now. Sweet not only in romance, but in family relationships and societal change as well. This novel felt like a palate-cleanser, devoid of anything sour or heavy, perfect to refresh oneself and to feel more positive about life in general. While the sincerity could be a bit much for me at times, overall it was a gorgeous experience and one that arrived at just the right time.
review blog
Really had no idea what to expect from this story. All I can say is that it was an unexpected treasure. The story has everything you look for…quirky but lovable characters, heartwarming plot, a dash of romance and a beautiful happy ending. Very recommended…
One of the best books I’ve read recently. Funny & unexpected hero who inspires us to stand up and accept those who are considered different.
If you’re a fan of the Miss Peregrine saga, this one might be for you.
The characters jump off the page and come to life. I got attached to a few them fast.
The magical elements aren’t of the trite variety and the island itself is an integral character.
I’m also a fan of inclusive alphabet mafia representation.
There are so many lessons to be realized as the book goes on. I highly recommend this book for YA and up. My 12 yr old liked it as much as her 44 yr old mom
Loved this book! I almost stopped reading after the first couple of chapters because it seemed too “young” for me, then the story unfolded. I loved the characters, the message, the setting. It’s perfect for any age, middle school on up!