Clare L. Deming

I just finished reading Murmuration by T.J. Klune after receiving a copy courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I looked into this book and discovered that this story is being re-released in print formats by Tor Books on November 17, 2026, but was previously available as an e-book.

My reviews of other books by T.J. Klune:

• The House in the Cerulean Sea – review here / purchase here
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea – review here / purchase here

Here is the blurb:

In the small mountain town of Amorea, it’s stretching toward autumn of 1954. The memories of a world at war are fading in the face of a prosperous future. Doors are left unlocked at night, and neighbors are always there to give each other a helping hand.

The people here know certain things as fact:

Amorea is the best little town there is.

The only good Commie is a dead Commie.

The Women’s Club of Amorea runs the town with an immaculately gloved fist.

And bookstore owner Mike Frazier loves that boy down at the diner, Sean Mellgard. Why they haven’t gotten their acts together is anybody’s guess. It may be the world’s longest courtship, but no one can deny the way they look at each other.

Slow and steady wins the race, or so they say.

But something’s wrong with Mike. He hears voices in his house late at night. There are shadows crawling along the walls, and great clouds of birds overhead that only he can see.

Something’s happening in Amorea. And Mike will do whatever he can to keep the man he loves.

This book is going to be tough to review without giving spoilers, but I’m going to try. The main story revolves around Mike and his relationship with Sean, both of whom live in the small town of Amorea. It is clear from the beginning of the story that Amorea isn’t a normal town. While the blurb makes it seem that something is wrong with Mike, I was suspicious of the entire perfect town from the outset.

I liked how Amorea was set in a specific era that gave it an anchor, but at the same time this helped the reader to recognize that it wasn’t a real town. As events unfold, Mike begins to doubt his reality but has limited ways to investigate it. It is clear that this is a science fiction tale and that there is an explanation that is more grounded than mystical. He tries to discover what is truly going on, but each time he makes progress, parts of the town and its denizens seem to reset, removing all the evidence he had found.

I enjoyed reading this book, but I felt like a lot of the oddness about Amorea and the strange things that happened to Mike were too repetitive. The plot could have been tighter and the story could have been told in a shorter book. It takes a while for the events to build up to any sort of resolution.

This book did have a strong romance element, and unlike the Cerulean Sea books, there is one quite spicy scene. The book also swerves into some heavy topics toward the end, and I have mixed feelings about how everything was resolved. While I can understand why it ended the way it did, I don’t know that I liked the ending. The ethics of the science were interesting, but also something that could not be fully explored given the framework of the story.

My overall review is that I am glad I read this book, but it isn’t going to be my favorite story by the author. I’m still looking to read more of his work though.

What book by T.J. Klune should I read next? What is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my book reviews here.