Review: The House in the Cerulean Sea

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard a lot of good things about TJ Klune. As a gay man, I am constantly looking for gay writers to support, especially gay men writers. Most of the authors who write MM romance are females, often straight females, so I try to support "my peeps" when I can. TJ Klune has been on my radar for a year or so now, but I hadn't had a chance to pick up one of his books. I saw this one and thought it would be a perfect request for me on Netgalley. I'm so glad I got approved.

I'm also glad that I pushed through. My reading mood has been kinda blah lately, and the world-and-character building of the first 35-40% or so moved slow for me. By the end, I felt like that was more my mood and less the book, because the book overall was beautiful. All of a sudden, at certain points, I found myself loving the kids in this book. I cried at one big part, and then I realized... hey this wasn't blah or slow, it was my mood, and this book was helping me overcome that slump.

This book is about love - not just love between two adults blossoming, but about the love of family. It's about how family isn't always blood. It's about how family can mean something you build on your own. It's about how different isn't bad. It's about sometimes the way things are isn't the way things should be, even when the way things should be is so much simpler and so much less painful for everyone. It's about how we need to push out of our bubbles and build a better world -- for ourselves and those who will come after us.

Mostly, I loved this book because, like Linus, I grew to care for these supernatural children. They're well-developed and quirky and adorable and deep.

Highly recommended.

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