Clare L. Deming

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the newest book by T.J. Klune, and is book #2 in the Cerulean Chronicles. I enjoyed book #1 – The House in the Cerulean Sea – a lot and you can find my review of it here (paid links).

Here is the blurb:

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.

The ending of the first book made it obvious that there would be a sequel, but did not leave any significant hints of how that story would go. The plot in the second book tells a new story, but it is thematically a continuation of the first book. Not much time is spent on re-introducing the characters, so if you’re interested in reading this series, go back to start with the first book.

While I have to say that I didn’t like this second book as much as the first, I don’t want that to really detract from my review at all. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a wonderful book, but the first one is truly a tough act to follow.

Linus is no longer the main driver of the story in this book, but remains pivotal as support for Arthur as he navigates the more public role he has chosen to take on. The children at Marsyas grow up a bit in this sequel, while still engaging in their endearing shenanigans.

So why didn’t this book quite live up to the expectations I had from the first one? I felt like the plot was too loosely constructed and rather unfocused. The characters on Marsyas also never felt like they were in enough danger to me. I didn’t believe that DICOMY would take the children away from Arthur and Linus, so the story lacked the tension and conflict that I wanted to see. However, this was still a book that I enjoyed, and I think that my negative nitpicking is truly a reflection of how GOOD the first book was.

I have put all of TJ Klune’s other books on my to-be-read list. Which one should I start next? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.