The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune is an enjoyable book about the realities of what marginalized children deal with when they struggle to find a home. I liked it quite a bit, but it was less exciting than my usual reads.
Starting off, we have our main character Linus Baker. He's a caseworker with the Department In Charge of Magical Youth that decides whether the orphanages he reviews are fit to keep running or need to be shut down. He goes about his job very objectively, pushing out of his mind what happens next when an orphanage does end up closed. This all changes when he is a assigned to report on a classified orphanage that has been kept a secret from the public.
The children's personalities were all charming and realistically written, I loved them all sooooo much. Especially Lucy, he is an adorable little menace. I was always excited when Sal or Theodore came up as well. Linus I found to be charming, and it was very satisfying watching everyone else slowly chip away at what he had been taught to believe about magical humans. ...But, I did have issues differentiating Talia and Phee while reading. All the boys are so diverse in appearance, but then the two girls are both humanoid with nature-related skills? Just seems a bit odd. I also found Arthur's dialogue confusing compared to how he acted, I honestly could never tell what he was actually feeling. Maybe that's intentional. I dunno. This did cause some issue with the buildup of Linus' and Arthur's attraction to each other for me, because while reading Linus is easy, I never felt like much was shown from Arthur. Just seemed like their attraction grew with very little to actually cause it.
Going through all the adventures and activities the kids did with Linus, it really did make me wish I was there, I can't lie. The descriptions of the island and the sea were quite vibrant and lovely to the mind-eyes. Watching the children grow throughout the book was absolutely wonderful. I do wish there had been more mystery and intrigue with the plot, but that is likely just my preference and has no bearing on the actual quality of the book. I definitely took the little bits of drama that were there and vacuumed them up and savored them though!
This book reads a lot more like young adult fiction than adult fiction in it's tone and writing choices. It's in that realm of being a bit too hopeful about reality for marginalized people to where you're thinking "Ah, this is for children", but it apparently isn't. The lack of conflict also aids the same feeling. Like, I enjoy young adult fiction as well and from that perspective this is a non-issue, it's just something that confuses me.
If you are a queer or otherwise marginalized person who wants to raise kids someday, I would absolutely recommend this book to you. Or if you just think chaotic kids would be fun to read about! :)