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A review by archaicgambit
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
OK so ngl this is a DNF. I read 203 pgs/380 (idk why storygraph says 308) Wanted to be able to write a more thorough review.
So I had to wait 20 holds on my library to get my hands on this book. I love the illustrator, I heard there was a queer romance and it felt like slice-of-life a fairytale. I was hyped.
The prose is solid (though it did not blow me away), the characters are sweet (this is what earns it the 2.5 alongside the gorgeous cover), but the sophistication in which the political issues were handled felt supremely lacking. At first I thought the magical children were a placeholder for all types of discrimination at once, which felt more becoming for a MG book than an adult one. I asked some friends if it ever became more nuanced but they admitted it resolved with a "first step."
The idea of magic orphanages or safehouses is well-explored territory. X-men, Umbrella Academy (which is used as a comp on the cover), HBO's The Nevers. In each of these the magical childrens' inception is spontaneous. At first I thought this book followed suit and it would be a metaphor for disability or homophobia.
The House on the Cerulean Sea does itself a disservice by racializing the childrens' magic, tying them to magical races that the text casually admits have been largely genocided and forced to assimilate to the human world. Another friend of mine tipped me off that the author admitted to being directly inspired by the history of Residential schools, and knowing that made it very difficult to keep reading as bodies keep being found in the news, though I tried another 60 pages.
While I believe regardless of identity one should be able to explore social issues, historic tragedies, and their meaning, the tone felt eerily saccharine given the inspiration and the allegory of the magical children both felt too close to the Residential schools and not directly connected enough. The tonal dissonance may be triggering for some, though I don't mean to shame anyone who loves this book.
So I had to wait 20 holds on my library to get my hands on this book. I love the illustrator, I heard there was a queer romance and it felt like slice-of-life a fairytale. I was hyped.
The prose is solid (though it did not blow me away), the characters are sweet (this is what earns it the 2.5 alongside the gorgeous cover), but the sophistication in which the political issues were handled felt supremely lacking. At first I thought the magical children were a placeholder for all types of discrimination at once, which felt more becoming for a MG book than an adult one. I asked some friends if it ever became more nuanced but they admitted it resolved with a "first step."
The idea of magic orphanages or safehouses is well-explored territory. X-men, Umbrella Academy (which is used as a comp on the cover), HBO's The Nevers. In each of these the magical childrens' inception is spontaneous. At first I thought this book followed suit and it would be a metaphor for disability or homophobia.
The House on the Cerulean Sea does itself a disservice by racializing the childrens' magic, tying them to magical races that the text casually admits have been largely genocided and forced to assimilate to the human world. Another friend of mine tipped me off that the author admitted to being directly inspired by the history of Residential schools, and knowing that made it very difficult to keep reading as bodies keep being found in the news, though I tried another 60 pages.
While I believe regardless of identity one should be able to explore social issues, historic tragedies, and their meaning, the tone felt eerily saccharine given the inspiration and the allegory of the magical children both felt too close to the Residential schools and not directly connected enough. The tonal dissonance may be triggering for some, though I don't mean to shame anyone who loves this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Colonisation, and Xenophobia