Tag: Cerulean Chronicles

The best book hug I’ve read in a long time has a sequel and it’s a book hug too!

“I have returned to this place in hopes of making it more than it was.”

When Arthur returned to Marsyas Island after 28 years, he brought memories of an abusive childhood and a dream of creating a home where kids like he once was have a safe, nurturing environment to help them grow into who they are.

He and Linus, the love of Arthur’s life who learned to live in colour in the first book, are raising six eggstraordinary kids. Or six of the worst of the worst who are destined to bring about the end of the world… Depending on who you believe.

Picking off after the events of the first book (please read this first), we’re introduced to David, a yeti who embraces being a monster, much to Arthur’s horror. We don’t use the ‘m’ word at Marsyas.

While it would be lovely to simply watch David learn to trust a bunch of strangers, find safety and belonging in his new home, and enjoy the interactions between him and the other kids, the government just can’t leave a found family that is clearly working, quirks and all, alone.

“I’ll never understand humans”

So we have to deal with yet another investigation, with yet another grey government lackey reporting back to the big wigs that be so this home filled with love and acceptance can be shut down for good. While I want nothing more than for this family to finally get a break, I have to admit I loved watching them rise to this challenge.

“Stab her with kindness!”

We rail against hatred and bigotry and divisiveness, and we band together, proud of who we are, refusing to diminish ourselves when people with loud voices and narrow minds demand it. We feel the fear but we don’t let it control us.

Along the way we learn that socks are feet gloves (they won’t be known by any other name from this day forward) and we make sure everyone is aware that we don’t eat Frank the fish.

We spend time with some of the townsfolk we met in the first book. J-Bone is still “saving the universe through music”, Helen has a larger role in this book (woohoo!) and you might like to warn Merle that I’m going to give him the biggest hug the next time I see him.

“You ever get the feeling you became sentient right in the middle of something?”

I had use for some oh, that’s so beautiful tissues in both books. I get all melty whenever I spend time with the Baker-Parnassus family so may need to ask David if I can hang out in his room for a bit to recover.

These books are hugs, absolutely. They’re also underdogs pulling together against all odds, when those in power want nothing more than to crush their spirit and keep them down. They’re learning to believe in yourself and standing up for what’s right. They’re hope and love and one of the best examples I know of the type of family we all deserved to grow up with, whether that was our reality or not.

If anyone needs me, I’m moving to Marsyas.

I am found because I refuse to be in black and white, or any shade of gray.

I am color. I am fire.

I am the sun, and I will burn away the shadows until only light remains.

And then you will have no choice but to see me.

Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus has built a good life on the ashes of a bad one. He’s headmaster at an orphanage for magical children, on a peculiar island, assisted by love-of-his-life Linus Baker. And together, they’ll do anything to protect their extraordinary and powerful charges.

However, when Arthur is forced to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself fighting for those under his care. It’s also a fight for the better future that all magical people deserve. Then when a new magical child joins their island home, Arthur knows they’ve reached breaking point. The child finds power in calling himself a monster, a name Arthur has tried so hard to banish to protect his children. Challenged from within and without, their volatile family might grow stronger. Or everything Arthur loves could fall apart.

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.

Change often starts with the smallest of whispers. Like-minded people building it up to a roar.

This is the best book hug I’ve had in a long time. There’s power in found family: home can be a place of refuge, with kindred spirits who accept for who you are in your entirety. Even your weirdness. Especially your weirdness. You have room to grow and become more you. You are wanted and loved and chosen. This is what awaits you at Marsyas Island.

Arthur cares for six orphans, categorised by a government department as the worst of the worst. Linus, a representative of said government department, has been sent to the island with the mandate to report on the goings on.

Linus, who has existed in a world of grey, enters a world of colour. The rules and regulations that govern his life aren’t easily applied here.

I love every single inhabitant of the island. I love Helen and J-Bone. I’ve also got a soft spot for grumpy Merle. I want to live on Marsyas Island.

Books like this scare me, but not for any reason you’re probably imagining. I preordered both a signed copy of this book and the Kindle. They’ve both been sitting there unread for four years. Four years! That was before I read the first The Extraordinaries book. What other books have been waiting for me to fall in love with them and what if I never read them? That, my friends, is what terror is made of.

If you need a breath of fresh air and the following quote feels like it was written with you in mind, this is the book for you.

He couldn’t believe it was only Wednesday. And it was made worse when he realised it was actually Tuesday.

If you need some colour in your life, this is the book for you.

If you need a bookish hug is, this is it.

This is what hope looks like.

Don’t you wish you were here?

Once Upon a Blurb

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. 

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place — and realising that family is yours.