Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

416 reviews

carlithian's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Absolutely loved this, so many laugh out loud moments, beautiful

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, and Xenophobia

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Murder

tsunni's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-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? Yes

4.75

Really really heartwarming. The overall arc is really simple, but the warmth and heart of the characters and their growing bonds makes this such a gem. Klune did such a good job with showing some complex characters that had gone through difficult experiences, I felt like they really understood and respected some difficult topics.

This feels like cozy fantasy, except most of the core cast are orphans from bad situations and targets of bigotry; the descriptions of what they go through are kept relatively light, but its a core focus of the story and enough to warrant some content warnings. 

I’ve never seen the term hopecore before, but I think that’s a really good label for this.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, and Religious bigotry

nooweljayy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

if you're looking for a comforting, light story about finding the pursuit of one's own happiness through the power of fostered familial love, or maybe you're in the "lost in the world and needs assurance" phase in life like me, or even just a story that reeks of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children/Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with tablespoons of gay and heartwarming and a pinch of 1984... don't you wish you were here? read this book? personally, i hope so. 

full review on Goodreads (copy and paste the link): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5090552992

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

catarina_pego's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

iane_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, and Gaslighting

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

candyb0x's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

I really enjoyed the story and the way the message blended in with the story telling. I found it a bit on the nose in places, but I love the exploration of the idea that the system can sometimes be the problem. And that we are more than our differences 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Confinement

emelye's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.0

This is the most wholesome [YA] book I have encountered!

It is set in a world of magical beings but the true fantasy elements are the radical acceptance of nonconformity and individuality, the blurring of gender roles, and the amenability of the state to being coopted in defence of difference.  This is prefigurative fiction that doesn't miss a step.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury

bmpicc's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-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? Yes

4.0

Cozy fantasy, unconditional love, so many great quotes to remember, and LGBTQIA+. 

I really loved this book. These characters were so unique and each lovely in their own way. The only thing that is keeping me from jumping all the way to 5 stars is the body shaming of one character in particular. While I assume it is meant in a "jokey and silly" way, it was not my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming and Confinement

linde13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

For context: as much as I love to read, I rarely buy books. The few books I buy tend to be nonfiction that I've read through the library and are useful enough that I want to refer back to; everything else, I'm normally happy to check out from the library and read once or twice. I haven't bought a fiction book in years.

I bought this one immediately after I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, and Fatphobia

Minor: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

I added the body shaming/fatphobia tags because Linus is sensitive about his own weight for most of the book. Nobody else comments on it, except for the kids in a matter-of-fact and non-insulting way. Everything else is merely alluded to, either by Lucy (the Antichrist character) in comments that he makes for shock value that are all played for laughs (Blood/Body horror/Gore/Cannibalism) or as part of characters' backstories (Child abuse/Confinement/Death of parent/Genocide/Physical abuse).