LRRC Week 51
Erm. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate? I suppose for many of you (myself included) it’s a bit of a weird year for all holidays. I hope that you’re all staying safe and healthy, and warm, and taking care of yourselves.
And hey, it’s a good week for books, if you’re looking for something cozy:
#101: THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune
Oh oh oh oh oh.
I loved this book. From nearly the very first page I loved this book. If you’re looking for something lovely and feel-good and also achingly romantic, please do yourself a favour and pick this book up.
The book follows Linus, a caseworker for an organization that monitors magical children, who is sent on assignment to view an orphanage filled with kids who are…different. Extra-unusual.
To say any more risks spoiling the fun of the thing. I went into this book with basically no knowledge other than a vague recommendation (from someone I do not remember, thanks brain) and I had an absolute blast. I never knew what to expect next from what I was reading, but I quickly began to trust that author TJ Klune would not let me down.
Linus himself is a great main character, in many ways quite different from the usual protagonist. He’s a rule follower, a particular, somewhat anxious man, who nonetheless cares deeply for the children he sees and has a strong moral core. Watching him slowly open up to the other characters is a wonder.
All of the other characters are, of course, also excellent, but again, I hesitate to give away more information. Everyone is given their due in terms of developing bonds and characterization, it felt like a world populated by real people.
I just. I don’t know how to review this book other than by going OH MY GOD READ IT. It was perfectly what I needed at this point in 2020. It was the sort of book I would call deeply kind, invested in how people treat one another, in the way that many of my favourite stories are. This book moved me to tears more than once.
I took Klune’s next book out from the library immediately after finishing this one. I have a few more books to get through before I can actually read that one, but stay tuned. That’s the extent to which I was in love with this book.
#102: DESDEMONA AND THE DEEP by C.S.E. Cooney
Yes!!! This is the fairy story I’ve been wanting from so many fae-related things I’ve read this year.
Weird and twisting in all kinds of ways, dolled up with a Victorian (?) aesthetic, I really loved this book. It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a sucker for any story about magic that helps you find yourself/reveal who you’ve always been, especially when it’s directly queer, but this book has that in spades, and I thought that was excellent.
The story follows Desdemona, who sets out to save the lives of thirty-six miners whom her father has promised to the fae, with the help of the previous fae queen and her close friend.
I wasn’t entirely sure about the character of Desdemona to begin with, but she quickly shows her colours, and her interactions with the other creatures and her development is believable and intriguing. I also really liked all of the various side characters, and I would die for Chaz in particular.
Cooney’s prose is lush and gorgeous and totally suited to the world she describes, one that is both horrifying and beautiful in equal measure. You viscerally feel the strangeness and the welcome that the characters feel as they move about it.
I haven’t read either of Cooney’s other books in the Dark Breakers series, but after this, I am very eager to pick them up!
NEXT WEEK’S AGENDA:
#103: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
#104: The Fever King by Victoria Lee