Reviews - Somewhere Beyond the Sea

19.1k reviews for:

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

TJ Klune

4.27 AVERAGE

shauni90's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

steap003's review against another edition

4.0

Loved coming back to the island and these characters. Held true to the first and added some fun additions. Lucy stole the show again for me but each of the children are such fun characters only heir own right.

lisabrew's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

This is the sequel to The House on the Cerulean Sea. Both are simply wonderful. I didn't want it to end. I hope there's a third one in the future.

themightysnoot's review against another edition

3.0

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

kaylabobayla's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I had a hard time pinning down my feelings on this one. It has all the right puzzle pieces - same loving characters and cute found family, humor, cozy vibes, important message about standing up for what is right, reminding parents to take care of themselves WHILE listening to their kids and their needs, and a fantastic message at its heart that minority children deserve love and protection. And best new character, FRANK!!

But somehow this didn’t hit as hard as book 1. The children are maturing, and yes they’re obviously fantastical characters, but multiple times their conversations in the book were almost outlandishly adult, far beyond their years. And then they’d oscillate back to being chaos gremlin children. Which made the plot feel a little more disordered and important conversations instead just toed the line of being repetitious, not poignant. I think also the addition of 2 new nemesis’s fell a little flat. Initially they had me balking, blood pressure rising. But quickly they felt 2 dimensional, evil for evils sake. And the lessons the children are taught as a result are verging on preachy? I dunno - I can see the love put into this book, and I absolutely see why so many are a fan! But it just missed the mark for me.