Week 37 Review: Somewhere Beyond the Sea

From Goodreads:

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune' The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He's the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there's the island's sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they're at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur's story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.

My Review:
I utterly loved reading this book! I loved the first book, and I was really excited to read Arthur's story, to see things from his perspective. He had a lot of difficult things that happened in his past, and I needed to have his story!

There was some progress made from the first book, but people will be awful, and that public hearing, that was pretty heartbreaking, to hear the details of what happened to him in his own words. That a child was treated like that, was told that it was his fault? Argh! 

The family dynamics are a little different, when they bring home a new child, one that uses the word monster as a shield, almost, and wants to be the fun kind of scary, like haunted houses. Which was a complication for them as a parents, especially with Lucy, when they told him he couldn't be a monster.

Oh, but that ending was so satisfying and epic! That truth about the island and the village, and about Zoe, was so wonderful, and I'm glad for that showdown. Sometimes it takes a lot, but having that proof that they were willing to hurt a child, is what is needed for meaningful change. That it ended with their wedding was just adorable! 

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by T.J. Klune! 

Author: T.J. Klune 
Series: Cerulean Sea #2
Read: September 10th, 2024 
Source: Library 
Reason Why: Love his writing and the first book, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: September 10th 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars