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anni_swanilda's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
lizziemarie01's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, and Child abuse
Moderate: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cannibalism
hypofocus's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Bullying, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cursing and Violence
ravenpuff's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Religious bigotry
hales_1243's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Cannibalism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, and Cursing
Minor: Drug use
There was no explicit drug use, but there was reference to drugs briefly by a side character.birdeynamnam's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
julierambaeck's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Death of parent
lwprice1209's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Physical abuse
I added all of those content warnings which make this book sound upsetting, but it’s so lovely and hopeful! Read it!lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
HOWEVER, there are some controversies about this book, as Klune was at least partially inspired by residential schools, where Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in to orphanages, treated brutally (some even killed) to try to assimilate them into white society and culture. There are also some excellent points to be made about trauma and children in foster care systems, and whether or not that is accurately reflected here in the book. As I have no experience with the foster care system, and I am not an Indigenous Person, or even a person of color, I do not want to make a judgement call on this, nor do I feel able to. I have seen comments on both sides about these issues. What is clear is that Klune is using the magical children as an allegory to show the oppression of a marginalized group by society, culture, and the government. I think we can all appreciate the attempt. But how people feel going from there is really going to be up to each person and their individual lives and experiences. The story and the characters are sweet and soothing, but there is still a lot I feel uncertain about. I did not want to ignore the issues that many other readers have addressed much better than I have.
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Bullying, and Confinement
Minor: Grief, Torture, Hate crime, Violence, Body shaming, Death, and Emotional abuse
minervacerridwen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The book definitely is hard to put down, so it was a fast read, and all the scenes with the children on the island were absolutely adorable. I loved their magical forest, and how much the main character sometimes reminded me of Aziraphale from Good Omens, who is one of my absolute favourites.
Still, I feel like this story didn't quite meet my (very high) expectations. It took about 150 pages before I finally had the feeling that it had really started, and while it makes sense that the reader needed to be given a lot of information about this world, I really felt this could have been tightened up with some thorough editing.
My biggest issue was that I didn't quite "feel" the romance.
Looking back at my review for Under the Whispering Door, I'll have to conclude that TJ Klune's writing style is just a little bit too zoomed out for me. Seeing everything at a distance can be useful to maintain the sense of comfort that his books all have, but for me personally it makes it harder to really be as invested in the characters' emotions. Then again, I doubt I'd call The House in the Cerulean Sea a "comfort read" for myself, considering the underlying themes that made this world so unsafe for children that are "other", and I wasn't entirely satisfied with how Linus' internalised fatphobia was handled.
I'm definitely happy that many readers got to know this book and the cosy fantasy genre in general thanks to the marketing behind it, but for me personally, it didn't quite hit the spot I'd hoped it would.
Moderate: Fatphobia, Child abuse, and Body shaming
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse