|
Back Cover Copy:
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely-anticipated sequel to TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade.
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 headmaster 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 5 Star Review:
In my opinion, the beginning of this book moves faster than The House in the Cerulean Sea. Maybe it was because I loved the first book and expected to enjoy the sequel, but I think it was more because it highlighted the supernatural elements from the start.
It starts with a flashback to Arthur’s return to the island where he spent his childhood in the same house where readers met him as the master in the first book. In a short series of scenes, it summarizes him fixing up the old building with the help of Zoe, the island sprite, and moves on to the day the first child arrives.
Then, time skips forward to several years later after Linus and Arthur become a couple and are raising the orphaned magical children together. They are about to add another when Arthur is called before the DICOMY (Department In Charge Of Magical Youth) and interrogated.
The rest of the story centers on Arthur and Linus helping the new child, David, who is a yeti, become part of the family and their struggle to resist DICOMY.
As well as enjoying the story, I liked the title and references to one of my favorite songs from the 1950’s, Somewhere Beyond the Sea*, and the references to a poem I love, Hope is the Thing with Feathers, by Emily Dickinson.
Anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, rejected because they are different, or has been told they need to change to fit into what society expects them to be will enjoy Somewhere Beyond the Sea!
A third book in the series is planned but as yet a release date has not been announced though there is some speculation that it may come out in 2027.
This book is available in Kindle Unlimited.
*Don’t remember the song? Check out this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OlDPqYBLw
|
