A review by augustar14
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Thune does an incredible job of taking a cast of characters that are the ones you wouldn't expect, those that would either be overlooked or shunned, and making them the most interesting, loveable ones you could find. The most boring man possible, at least to begin with, travels to an island on the sea to determine if it is, in fact, suitable for the orphans that live there. They are no ordinary orphans, however, and their caretaker is no ordinary man. Yet this ordinary man cannot help but be changed by the children he at first finds strange and standoffish, who are worried at what his presence might mean. This staunch rule follower learns that maybe, just maybe, not all rules are made in the best interests of the children, like he's been led to believe. And maybe, his place in the world doesn't have to be limited to a desk and a chair, a house and a cat, in a rainy city where his presence is anonymous at most.
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