magical children | Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Somewhere Beyond the Sea
Series: Cerulean Chronicles, #2
Author: TJ Klune
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: September 10, 2024
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

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.

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.

I absolutely loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I’m happy to report that the newly released follow-up book, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, is just as lovely and wonderful as the first book.

In The House in the Cerulean Sea, Linus Baker is the main character — a caseworker with the Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) who is sent to evaluate the Marsyas Island orphanage, run by the kindly Arthur Parnassus.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is Arthur’s story, showing his past as well as his continuing story after the events of the first book. As we pick up from where we left off, Arthur and Linus are in love, and are happily providing a warm, safe home for the magical children in their care. But outside forces are aligned against them and seem poised to rip apart everything they’ve built.

Once again, we get to spend time with the wonderful children of Marsyas, who are joined by a new addition, a yeti named David. David is funny, dramatic, and enjoys scaring people (just for fun — he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body) — yet he’s also sensitive, and cries ice cubes when he’s upset.

The child at the center of much of the action, and whose mere existence sends DICOMY into a tizzy, is Lucy… short for Lucifer. Lucy is the Antichrist… but he’s also a seven-year-old child who loves old-timey music and needs comforting when his nightmares strike.

Lucy also gets some of the funniest lines in the book:

“Are we going to sleep in the forest?” Lucy asked, tugging on his pant leg. “I’ve always wanted to see if there were night monsters. I bet they’re big with fangs and claws and filled with rage that only subsides when sucking out the marrow from the bones of unsuspecting—”

“There will be no marrow sucking,” Linus said sternly.

Lucy hung his head, shoulders slumped. “Yet another thing we can’t do with bones. What’s the point of even having bones if we don’t get to play with them?”

“Anarchy!” Lucy shrieked, eyes burning red. “Chaos! Buffets with a never-ending supply of macaroni and cheese! Hellfire!”

The evil representative of DICOMY who arrives at Marsyas to inspect the home and the children is absolutely awful, and is startlingly reminiscent of Dolores Umbridge, which I can only assume is entirely deliberate on the part of the author. (Read his afterward to understand his thoughts on J. K. Rowling).

The lesson proceeded with minimal interruption, usually from Miss Marblemaw coughing pointedly or clearing her throat when Linus or the children said something that she obviously did not approve of. Linus attempted to ignore her, but the longer the lesson went on—going from the wide and mysterious world of mathematics to history—the more Miss Marblemaw made a nuisance of herself, muttering under her breath as she scribbled on her clipboard.

TJ Klune’s writing is, once again, imaginative and funny and heartwarmingly sweet. The characters shine with warmth and humor, and the relationship between Linus and Arthur is romantic and loving and oh-so-perfect.

The ultimate showdown between the forces who want to shut down Marsyas and control the children and all magic, versus Arthur, Linus, and the people of Marsyas village, is a wonder. It’s pure delight to see the townspeople rally around the magical children and declare them a part of their community. Somewhere Beyond the Sea shows found family at its best.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a lovely, cozy read, with both surface-level entertainment and deeper emotional impact. If you loved The House in the Cerulean Sea (didn’t we all?), Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a must-read.

Title: The House in the Cerulean Sea
Author: TJ Klune
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: March 17, 2020
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

In these crazy, unsettled times, who doesn’t need a perfect pick-me-up of a book?

If you’re looking for something special and heart-warming, have I got a book for you!

The House in the Cerulean Sea is utterly lovely and altogether charming. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

The main character is a buttoned-up pencil-pusher named Linus Baker, who is a caseworker for DICOMY — the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. DICOMY is a marvel of bureaucracy, supposedly invested in the well-being of magical children, but really focused more on containment and concealment.

And don’t be fooled into thinking we’re talking a Hogwarts-type setting here. In this world, there are magical children, but they’re problems to be solved, not gifted youth to be nurtured. And for at least the children we meet in The House in the Cerulean Sea, they don’t (mostly) have human appearances. These children are very clearly other, and they live in a world in which they’re adamantly and obviously unwanted.

Linus’s job is to visit orphanages housing these children and to file reports. His life and his job haven’t changed in years and years — until he’s summoned to a meeting with Extremely Upper Management, who send him on a classified, top-secret mission to Marsyas Island and the orphanage there. Linus’s new assignment is to spend four weeks at Marsyas, filing weekly reports on the headmaster and the children in his charge, and ultimately to recommend whether the orphanage should remain open or be shut down.

Linus is not at all prepared for what he finds there. First of all, it’s on the sea — and he’s never seen an ocean or a beach before. It’s beautiful, and he’s immediately enchanted. And then there are the children. All are strange and different, and at first, Linus is more or less terrified, yet before long, he sees how truly special the children are… once he gets past the somewhat scary and strange exteriors of a few of them.

The story is just lovely. I loved seeing how Linus reluctantly opens up and connects with the children and headmaster of Marsyas, and how his warmth brings out new interests and confidence in each of them. This is a perfect example of a found family story, and it’s marvelous.

The writing is descriptive and lively and funny, but also has great emotional depth. The author does an excellent job of showing us the individuals living inside each of the odd exteriors that the public sees.

My favorite has to be Lucy — short for Lucifer — a six-year-old boy who’s adorable and also happens to be the Antichrist. He’s prone to making such statements as:

“Mr. Baker… Can I get you something to drink? Juice, perhaps? Tea?” He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “The blood of a baby born in a cemetery under a full moon?”

… and

“There,” he said brightly. “You’re welcome! And I’m not even thinking about banishing your soul to eternal damnation or anything!”

Really and truly, this book was a special read, and was a perfect distraction for me from the chaos and confusion of our current world. But I’m sure that even in relatively normal times, I’d love this book! Don’t miss it.