Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Speeches vie with storytelling in Cerulean sequel.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE SEA—specifically, on Marsyas Island— Arthur Parnassus (a phoenix who's in human form most of the time) and Linus Baker (a former bureaucrat) are providing six magical children with a safe, loving, supportive home where they can grow up to be their true and best selves. That includes Lucy, now 7, who's said to be the child of Satan and is also extremely fond of record stores and retro music. But their family is under threat from a government of, for, and by self-defined "normal" people that sows fear and paranoia about the kids and wants to snatch them back into the oppressive "care" system they've only recently escaped. And now yet another inspector is on the way.
Is It Any Good?
The characters' speechifying sometimes threatens to derail the narrative, but priceless moments are plentiful in TJ Klune's return to Marsyas Island, home of magical orphans and their protectors. In Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Arthur and Linus are determined to keep their unusual children safe from government oppression—and they're also determined to get married. As in The House in the Cerulean Sea, Klune's wild, imaginatively crafted characters are sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant, and sometimes heartstring-tugging—and they ask a lot of interesting questions.
The villains who are trying to destroy the family's quirky, loving paradise are often cartoonish and spout self-righteously xeno- and homophobic tirades ripped from contemporary headlines, and the heroes sometimes respond in kind with earnest sermons of their own, which sometimes gets in the way of the complex character-building and storytelling. But if you loved The House in the Cerulean Sea, you'll be happy to return to this place and these characters—and savor some great triumphant moments.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories (like Somewhere Beyond the Sea) that involve misfits and outcasts coming together to form loving families—and an outside world that's deeply threatened by this. What other stories do you know that have this theme? How do they turn out for the characters?
Arthur and Lucy have an interesting discussion about free will and what you should do if you somehow had the power to make people do what you wanted instead of what they chose. What if it were something really good and important? What do you think?
Have you ever had to deal with people who wanted you to conform to their version of what's "proper" and "normal" instead of being yourself? What was the situation, and how did you handle it?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship
- Character Strengths : Compassion , Courage , Empathy , Teamwork
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Tor Books
- Publication date : September 10, 2024
- Number of pages : 406
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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