So, I Could Be Convinced to Adopt Lucy

 

TITLE: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #2)

AUTHOR: T.J. Klune

PUBLISHER: Tor

PUBLISHING DATE: September 10, 2024

PAGES: 416   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: 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. 

MY THOUGHTS: I adored the first book in this duology so it was safe to say that the one book which could put a pause on my September vampire reads, it would be this one.  I grabbed it from my library when I saw a physical copy sitting on the "New Releases" shelf last Saturday and immediately dove in.  

Beyond the Sea picks up after the events in the first book.  Arthur, Linus and the children are still living on the island, but Arthur has been summoned to testify in front of DICOMY and he is finally ready to tell the story about all the abuse he faced as a youth. Arthur soon learns that DICOMY has ulterior motives and in fact, they are sending someone to the island to inspect the orphanage as they fear Arthur is filling the children with unreasonable hopes and dreams - that despite their magical and physical differences, they can be just as "normal" as everyone else.  But seriously, why be normal when you can be special?

What follows is a tale on unacceptable world views, love, pranks, and important messages all disguised in a fairy tale manner that Klune seems to have perfected with these two books.  All my favorite children were present, including 7-year-old Lucy, the antichrist and a new child, David, the yeti.  David is new to the island and is trying to find a place to belong. The lessons he learns from Arthur and the rest of the island inhabitants are ones all children should be taught, and Arthur and Linus want nothing more for this "monster" to feel he belongs. 

I love the found family trope and to be honest, it may have been "The House in the Cerulean Sea" which opened my eyes to that.  If you loved the first one, reading this one is a no-brainer.  And if you haven't started this duology, what are you waiting for?  Prepare to fall in love and enter a magical world where being extraordinary is much better than being ordinary.  

MY RATING: 5 PAWS