The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune

Short summary:

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a feel-good book. It follows the story of Linus who is a case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. After around 30 years of service, he is assigned a secret mission. His mission: travel to an orphanage with six dangerous children on a mysterious island and make a report of it. One of those dangerous children is literally the anti-christs' child.

Bookcover:

The cover represents exactly as how the book feels. With lots of colors and a child-ish cartoon style, the book cover is just as amazing as the writing and book itself.

What I liked about this book:

This book is such a feel-good book, you get to know the characters and all their little quirks. You really feel like you are bonding with them, you get very much attached to those six "dangerous" children. This book is also about family, friendship, and maybe even a little bit of love. The book is written in an easy way, which is great since it can also be described as fantasy. And fantasy is not always an easy read. I loved this book so much, that at the end of the book (around the last 30 pages) I cried happy tears because I was so happy for the characters.

What I disliked about this book:

There has been some controversy around this book, since it is inspired by the Canada's Sixties Scoop which is a very controversial topic. That is the only thing I disliked about this book, the inspiration of the author. Because that event is very traumatic for indigenous people in Canada, and the author decides to make it into a fairytale story.

Overall review:

5 stars, 5 stars, 5 stars. If I could have given this book more than 5 stars I would. This book is my favorite book, and I will recommend it to everyone that wants to start reading fantasy, who is already into fantasy, just basically everyone.

!SPOILER ALERT!

Favorite moment:

My favorite moment was, of course, the ending. The moment Linus realized that his home wasn't his house with his depressing neighbor, but it was the island. The island with all the residents on it; Talia, Theodore, Phee, Sal, Chauncey, Lucy, Arthur (Mr Parnassus), and of course Ms. Zoe Chapelwhite. And I liked the little hint to a gay romance ;)