Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The House in the Cerulean Sea

If I could rate this book a 6, I would! This was a great read that included so much diversity and I loved the message it was trying to present. The theme being: love others no matter what, even if you don’t understand them. I also believe the author included another theme: people are afraid of what they don’t understand. As someone who works with children and sees the corrupt foster care system, I encourage all to read. It is enlightening and also very funny. It was lighthearted while also touching on important subjects!

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kathleendayle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Sweet story with endearing characters. Seems written for an adolescent-to-young-adult audience. Not typically my taste, but I did enjoy it. Even as a straight reader, queer stories are important!

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capriqueen's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

How absolutely wonderful. I was gripped from the beginning. Linus’ dry, witty humor and the world charmed me. Then the island and the family there were overwhelming but glorious, and I fell for them just as Linus did. I love in the audiobook how Linus’ voice got warmer through the story. I got teary toward the end

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kaneebli's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I adored this book! It was the perfect touch of whimsical while still revealing important lessons with quirky characters. The descriptions were vivid and the dialogue fun.
My one critique is that I think some of the turnaround (or bubble popping) in characters happened a bit too quickly.
Otherwise it was a great book!

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supernumeraryemily's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a sweet YA story about a grumpy average government inspector whose world opens up when he visits a top-secret orphanage for magical youth. The book is heartwarming overall, with themes of celebrating difference and finding chosen family.

The novel brings up and fictionalizes issues that are present in our real world: discrimination against those who are undocumented and violence in residential schools in North America that forced [native] youth to conform. I think this book could have benefitted from more seriously exploring these themes, though its focus was pretty tight around the characters and their relationships rather than looking too deeply at the systems of power in the fictional society.

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bluedilly's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Death is wonderful to music. It makes the singers sound like ghosts.

When I started reading this, I didn't expect it would take me seven months to finish! You might wonder why I stuck with it for so long, but it was nice to have a book like this around, something light and simple, easy to pick up and easy to put down, especially for those tedious waits at bus stops when you still need to be half aware of your surroundings. There were a few things about Klune's writing style and worldbuilding which didn't hit the spot for me, but I dearly loved all of the children, and Linus and Arthur were quite sweet together.

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hoheyitserin's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

A fun read that I would have rated it higher if not for the weird fatphobia

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