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A review by badbrad002
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
4.0
4.5 stars
This is a delightful, evocative read with a very clear & important message at its core: we should never let our prejudices (known or unconscious) frame our approach to others. The story is fantastical and very descriptive (a la the Harry Potter series), and the characters truly are an enjoyable group framed by their love for each other. The cheesy love story (admittedly never my favorite) felt cute-but-shoehorned --though is important in contributing to visibility and normalization of gay relationships. That said, there are a few points (bathrooms, pronouns) where the world is unnecessarily gendered, and IMO felt like a big miss considering the book's reputation as an LGBTQ+ stand-out.
This is a delightful, evocative read with a very clear & important message at its core: we should never let our prejudices (known or unconscious) frame our approach to others. The story is fantastical and very descriptive (a la the Harry Potter series), and the characters truly are an enjoyable group framed by their love for each other. The cheesy love story (admittedly never my favorite) felt cute-but-shoehorned --though is important in contributing to visibility and normalization of gay relationships. That said, there are a few points (bathrooms, pronouns) where the world is unnecessarily gendered, and IMO felt like a big miss considering the book's reputation as an LGBTQ+ stand-out.