A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
Linus Baker is a forty year old case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth who lives a solitary life overseeing the wellbeing of children who possess unique magical abilities. For seventeen years, he’s visited and reported on the conditions of orphanages across the country, never seeking more than his lot in life and striving always to be objective in his job. This objectivity is what leads Linus to be called on by Extremely Upper Management, a group in charge of the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, to visit an orphanage they have concerns about and report back on what he finds there. Linus goes, and soon discovers that there’s objectively more to life than the mundane world in which he’s lived most of his.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune offers an interesting fantasy about what the world would be like if it had children with magical powers, and how the world would respond to that. The plot of a social worker learning that life was more than his work could resonate with anyone who’s ever worked a job that they didn’t find particularly inspiring, but Klune goes beyond this fundamental meditation to address the diversity of life itself. Children who are stripped away from the world and held in orphanages because of their unique characteristics reflects the way systems are often built without thinking about the beauty in each individual’s differences. Furthermore, the theme of building a home for people whose individuality makes them pariahs to the public was heartwarming, and a trope that’s often used, but isn’t often executed in the way that Klune does it.
A quick search on the Internet will reveal that Klune’s writing philosophy focuses on telling the stories of those books generally leave out. The House in the Cerulean Sea does this in a way that takes the darkest beliefs that people have about one another and turns them into something the reader can love and empathize with. Whether it’s the child Lucifer who suffers from night terrors or the way inmates of the orphanage are treated and still find a way to make life a little more beautiful. When juxtaposed with the corporate bureaucracy of the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, it’s easily clear that Klune is pushing the reader to consider the ways in which life outside of the immediate responsibilities of survival is far more valuable than anything rules and regulations can prescribe.
For casual readers looking to find an amusing, yet heartwarming tale, The House in the Cerulean Sea is a great read because it’s got plenty of material that would be familiar to a general audience while still using unique combinations of fantasy, reality, and fable to convey something meaningful about the relationship people should have to the rules. More serious readers who are looking for a lesson in every book they read will find something to admire about the book as well, since it asks the audience to reflect on why rules exist int he first place without descending into preaching about the need for their existence.
For writers, there’s a treasure trove of material, depending on the story you’re looking to tell. Characterization is a core strength, as some novelists may work with LGBTQ+ themes or have some children in their stories, but I haven’t come across many who are able to portray characters that are part of these communities with the level of depth that Klune has while still centering the joy of life in their behaviors. As a consequence of this, if a writer wants to develop their vocabulary to portray characters like these while still maintaining a lighthearted tone, then The House in the Cerulean Sea provides a great template to work from.
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What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on Fridays on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Nghi Vo’s Siren Queen!
The Writerly Review 