Somewhere Beyond the Sea
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4.4 • 238 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
All of your heartstrings will be plucked by this fantasy of magically talented children and the two men fighting to keep them safe from a repressive government. Orphanage owner Arthur Parnassus had hoped that his public testimony about his past as an abused magical child would lead to reforms in his country’s treatment of magical youth. Instead, an ambitious and unethical politician is attempting to amplify worries about the dangers such individuals pose for his own gain. As a new government inspector threatens the family that Arthur and his new fiancé, Linus Baker, have formed with their magical wards, they find themselves with unexpected new allies. In this sequel to his previous novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea, author TJ Klune explores issues like prejudice, political opportunism, and childhood trauma through a fantastical lens. But the real heart of this sweet and inspiring fantasy is in the warm fuzzies we get from its portrayals of found family and true love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Klune's sweet, satisfying sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea finds Arthur Parnassus, a man with the power to shape-shift into a phoenix, hopeful that his testimony about his abusive treatment under government care as a child will soften hearts and ease restrictions on all magical beings. But during the hearing before Parliament's Council of Utmost Importance, he succumbs to goading from arch conservative Jeanine Rowder, who threatens to dispatch an inspector from the Department in Charge of Magical Youths to the remote island where Arthur lives with his fiancé, Linus Baker, and the six magical foster children they're hoping to adopt. Arthur and Linus return to their home with David, a melodramatic 10-year-old yeti, to prepare their six young wards—gnome Talia, forest sprite Phee, wyvern Theodore, semiaquatic oddity Chaucey, shape-shifter Sal, and son of the devil Lucy—for the investigation. The stern inspector, who claims she does not feel fear, notes every deviation from regulations while the children waffle between trying to appease her and lashing out at her intolerant views. When Arthur uncovers the real motivations behind her visit, the action careens to a tense showdown. Though slightly more preachy and less sophisticated than book one, this follow-up still bursts with charm, wit, and endearing scenes of magical found family, complete with timely messages on acceptance and fighting oppression. Fans will be gratified by this heartfelt return.
Customer Reviews
The children just crack me up.
Love the personalities of the children. They make the story.
Great Story but….
Great story but the author’s criticism of J.K. Rowling for her controversial views on transgender issues is undeniably impassioned. However, in asserting that Rowling should ‘be shunned until she disappears into the ether,’ the author is engaging in the very behavior they criticize—shutting down opposing viewpoints rather than engaging with them constructively. This creates an unsettling irony in which the condemnation of intolerance is accompanied by an act of exclusion. Such an approach risks undermining the argument by replicating the same divisive dynamics the author seeks to challenge.
Speechless.
Charming, hilarious, soulful, truly masterful.