#read if you like

[lowswirlreviews]

The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

TJ Klune’s cozy and heart-warming fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea follows the understated, lonely caseworker Linus Baker as he learns shed prejudice and embrace the strengths of his own heart.

Brief Plot Summary: When orphanage caseworker Linus Baker is summoned by Extremely Upper Management to evaluate a mysterious orphanage on Marsyas Island, he leaves his familiar–if dreary–life in the city to fulfill his duty to his company. But his trip to the coast isn’t what it first seems: Linus isn’t just an ordinary caseworker, and Marsyas isn’t just an ordinary orphanage. Linus works for the Department in Charge of Magical Youths, and Marsyas Island serves as a home for young magical creatures, including a wyvern, a werewolf, and, naturally, the six-year-old Antichrist. Governing all is the orphanage's strange and strangely charming caretaker, Arthur Parnassus. Thrust rudely out of his ordinary office job and into the wonderful and bizarre world of the Marsyas, Linus must confront both the responsibilities of his role as a caseworker and the demands of his own heart.

What I Liked About It: The House in the Cerulean Sea is exactly what it sets out to be: a straightforward, uncomplicated tale about finding love where one least expects it. Once timid, reserved, and professionally distant from his charges, Linus learns to find his inner strength and embrace his capacity for love. Central to this book is the evolving relationships among Linus and the residents of Marsyas Island, chiefly the six children and their caretaker, Arthur. There’s something sincerely heart-warming about watching Linus evolve from feeling skepticism and distrust for the children to feeling genuine love and responsibility for their well-being. The children themselves are a refreshing take on some well-known mythical creatures, and moments of humor keep the tone light throughout the book. The message to accept oneself pervades all here, and the fairy-tale ending for Linus and his found family couldn’t be sweeter.

What I Didn’t: The plight of magical youths in The House in the Cerulean Sea is very explicitly an allegory for real-life marginalized communities and unhoused youths. In some moments, the authenticity of a scene erodes to allow one character or another to wax poetic about the difficulties and necessities of accepting oneself despite one’s differences. I would have preferred a slightly subtler approach to this message, letting the interesting cast of characters do the moralizing with their actions as much as their words. Additionally, several plot lines, including the secrets behind the Extremely Upper Management team and the antagonism of the coastal town toward the island, had less than satisfying conclusions. If you’re looking for proactive characters or a tightly constructed plot, this is not the novel for you.

RIYL: In many ways, The House in the Cerulean Sea delivers on the promises of its premise: a charming setting, a delightful cast of characters, and a happy queer romance. If you like contemporary fantasies like Prachett’s and Gaiman’s Good Omens, touching gay romances like Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles, or adult books with a YA feel like Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, you may like The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Rating: 3/5 stars

[sweet-villain]

15 questions-15 people

Thank you for the tags @lovejosephquinn & @ceriseheaven

nickname: Jewls or J

sign: Pisces

height: 5"4 or 5'5 on a good day

last thing i googled: green vans, something for christmas

songs stuck in my mind currently: Werewolf by Motionless in White

# of followers: 3.6 k

amount of sleep: 5-6 hours at most

dream job: want to do something with photography, I'm quite good at it and have my own logo

wearing: black leggings, blue hoodie with a cat on that is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with blue fuzzy socks

movie/book that summarizes you: honestly have no idea

fave song currently: Separate Ways by Journey

fav author(s): I don't really have one honestly, I am so picky with books

random fun fact: I taught myself how to draw when I was 15, I do still from time to time and turned one of my drawings into a sticker.

15 tags: @lclb13 @witchy-munson @eddiemunsons-missingnipple @pleasantlycrazyworld @randomstory56 @icyharrington @forever-rogue @harrywavycurly @harringtonfan4 @kellysimagines @z0mbie-blah @billysbabyy @mybffjoe ( I don't know who else honestly would do this)

[arynneva]

wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???

Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.

First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[sanguinifex]

You gotta read and watch some old books and films that aren’t 100% modern politically correct. I’m not saying you should agree with everything in them but you need to learn where genres came from to understand what those genres are doing today and where media deconstructing old tropes is coming from.

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Kill the censor in your head.

[starbuck]

“…to me” is one of the most powerful disclaimers we have on here… is this character analysis accurate? debatable. but it’s real… to me.

[ursulaklegay]

its so scary to put yourself out there but a SINGLE message saying "hi i loved what you made it touched me in some way" makes it all worth it 10000%

[ered]

Here’s my take on the whole audio books vs. reading:

Oral tradition of storytelling predates written ones by millennias, and honestly, which one you like is just a personal preference.

The actual difference is

when listening, you have no idea how to write characters’ names

when reading, you have no idea how to pronounce characters’ names

hope this helps!

[beaft]

google help me

[wintergrofyuri]

"(blank) hates laios!" WRONG WRONG WRONG. SHUT THE FUCK UP

shuro is just as awkward as laios and it is made So clear he considers him a friend and likes him. he defends him when the canaries start talking shit and actively readies himself to physically fight them so they dont get to him.

namari also likes laios. she respects him as a leader and also defends him and readies to fight the canaries.

ive not actually seen anyone claim izutsumi hates laios, but a lot of ppl Are weird abt them. izutsumi and laios' relationship was rocky at the beginning. he struggled to figure out how to interact with her. but by the end, she actively seeks him out to talk with during the lead up to the feast. she hides behind him when falin wakes up. she has already realized shecan do what she wants and does not need to stick around, yet she does. she sleeps near him on the windowsill, waiting with him and marcille for falin to wake up. she has accepted him as part of her life and wants to keep him in it.

marcille does not hate laios. let me say this again.

Marcille Donato Does Not Hate Laios Touden.

marcille Loves him. in a platonic, familial sense. laios returns this just as readily. she yells at him. she whacks him. she tells him whats on her mind. she uses healing magic to ease his pain during the parasite fiasco. she reattaches his leg when he loses it. she teaches him magic. she lays her head on his corpse and cries before reviving him. she launches herself at him two times, when the canaries interrogate them and when he talks her down in the tower. he is a comforting presence to her. she trusts him, she cares about him, she worries about him, she imagines him as a big fluffy dog that loves and protects her. laios is her rock when falin is taken from them time and time again. and she tries to be his as well. she whole-heartedly, unconditionally, loves and trusts laios.

chilchuck does not hate laios. laios pays him his rates, no questions asked. laios trusts and respects chilchuck's job as a lockpick. laios does not see him as a child (at least, i cant think of an instance where he does so). chilchuck states, outright, he sees him as a friend and doesnt want to see him hurt. he actively worries about him as the falin situation gets worse. chilchuck respects laios. he shows almost 0 hesitation in helping get falin back, nor eating her by the end. he does not think of leaving him once, until he realizes he could lose him. chilchuck is cowardly with emotions and prefers to bottle things, so his first instinct was to bolt. he was angry because he was scared of watching someone he cares about destroy himself. laios is his Friend.

and holy shit. holy Fucking shit. kabru DOES NOT hate laios. kabru has the rockiest start known to man with him, and he Still helps him by occupying the canaries. he warns him about them. he hides the black magic from them just as shuro does. his whole Thing is trusting laios despite himself. kabru has his own baggage regarding other people, just like laios, yet he tries so hard to believe and trust this man. he Wants to. kabru is not very hopeful, but laios makes him Want to be. he states like 3 times he wants to be close to him and sees him as a friend. he stays through the entire feast!! the man who hates monsters, whose biggest trigger is monsters, actively, consciously, Willingly stayed through the entire monster meat feast. all to help his friend get his sister back. he could've left!! the feast was like an entire week!! yet he was there for every single day. he was one of the closest people to the door when falin awoke!! after reuniting with her brother, her friends, the people who knew her the most (plus senshi and izutsumi), the first person she greets is kabru!! he wants to be close to laios, he likes laios, laios is his friend and he cares for him, he wants to meet his sister!!! kabru fucking stays on the island with him as one of his closest, most trusted advisors when he becomes king!!!!! he wants to help him succeed!!!! he wants him to be happy!!!! laios is his friend!!!!!!!!

im just. people like laios!! laios is a nice guy! he is friendly and cares about people! he is weird, he doesn't understand most social cues, he oversteps boundaries, but they stay beside him, because they like him and he is their friend. he is their friend!!!!! friendship is not all sunshine and rainbows, relationships in general are not sunshine and rainbows. you will upset people, people will upset you, you will get into arguments, things will happen, but at the end of the day, the people close to you like you! they love you! they care for you! they want to work it out and get through it because they love you, but they will feel those emotions first! human relationships are complex and messy and life is complicated. even shows for toddlers know this.

if you truly believe any of these characters hate laios you are worse than a toddler. watch some fucking oobi or something. god. fuck.

take this

thanks

[loveaankilaq]

People online (white) will create so many conspiracy theories that just boil down to "Asians aren't complete human beings with their own thoughts and autonomy" like maybe Chinese people are just going about their day to day life. Maybe a video of a North Korean person like chilling is just a person chilling, who isn't going to power down like a robot once the video is over. Stop being a fucking creep.

[beepboopappreciation]

Is this anything

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[morganbritton132]

No one tells you when you get a Big Serious Job™ how many fucking abbreviations you’ll be forced to learn.

[m3djed]

"he would not fucking say that" but you ever be looking at fanart and suddenly its "he would not fucking have abs"