Susanne’s Review:
Captivating, Delightful, Miraculous, & Magical.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is MY Feel Good Book of the Year!
This is also the best Audiobook Narration I have EVER encountered. Daniel Henning, your narration entranced me!
Oh, how I loved this incredibly, heartfelt, bewitching, and entertaining story. If you are desperately in need of a book to capture your heart and your imagination, look no further!
Linus Baker is a Case Worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Each day is spent doing his best to care for the children at government-sanctioned orphanages, which he is solely responsible for. It’s a daunting task, though Linus is the most caring, conscientious Case Worker the Department has ever had. Once his demeanor and work ethic are noticed by Extremely Upper Management, he is given a top-secret assignment. To travel to an orphanage at Marsyas Island and report back about the very unusual children who reside there. It’s his job to get to know the children and figure out if they are dangerous, and what should happen to the orphanage.
As soon as Linus steps foot in “The House of the Cerulean Sea” he notices how different it is and instantly feels at peace. Thereafter, the island and its inhabitants, including the children, Zoe, the Island Sprite, and their caretaker, Arthur Parnassus, change him. The children are unlike any you have ever met. There’s Talia, the Gnome; Phee, the Sprite; Theodore, the Wyvern; Chauncey, an Unidentifiable Green blob with tentacles; Sal, a Were-Pomeranian; and Lucy (aka Lucifer) known as the Antichrist.
Extraordinarily gifted in their own ways and in need of education and structure, in the end, Talia, Phee, Theodore, Chauncey, Sal, and Lucy simply wanted and needed to be loved and taken care of. Luckily for them, they receive all of the above at “The House in the Cerulean Sea.”
Amazing, charming, funny, endearing, and sweet, these children grabbed hold of my heart and did not let go. Thankfully, they had the same effect on Linus Baker. Lucy, Sal, and Talia: I Heart You! Tears fell many a time listening to this truly captivating, fantastical, and lyrical book!
A novel about acceptance, family, love, prejudice, racism – this novel is extremely prevalent for our current climate, and yet, it also showed, what acceptance, approval, attention, friendship, love, and family can do.
An extraordinary, heartfelt novel that filled me with love, hope, and understanding and left me smiling with happy tears, streaming down my face.
Yet another Favorite Novel of the year, which will appear on my Goodreads Best-of-List for 2021.
Thank you to T.J. Klune for writing such an incredible novel and for capturing my heart in the process.
Mad Props to Daniel Henning for his brilliant narration – your ability to create a myriad of completely distinct, different “voices” and change your inflection, and intonation, required skill that leaves me in bewildered awe. Fingers crossed that you win the Audie Award for this! It is wholly deserved.
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