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 magical and so-called dangerous 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. And 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; Zoe Chapelwhite, the island’s sprite; 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 …
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 magical and so-called dangerous 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. And 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; Zoe Chapelwhite, the island’s sprite; 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 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.
In this sequel, we switch our point of view character to Arthur Parnassus, learning more about him even as we see the advancement of the plot and world setting.
This book feels like it's trying to tackle and cover a LOT of ground--more than the first book, which already had a fair amount going on. It has its sweet moments, but it also has more that are grounded in reality than I'd say the first book. I find it a worthy successor--I quite enjoyed it.
The first in this series really was amazing; I call it a warm hug. The sequel, while good, wasn't as good as the first. I still enjoyed it, but it didn't quite have the magic the first did. The ending also was a bit anticlimactic in that it seemed they were gearing for something much bigger, and then it just went away.
Soo. It is much more stressful to read than The House in the Cerulean Sea. But I like it.
It's about how to engage with people who want the worst for you and the ones you love. And I like that the answer found here is not a brilliant strategy for winning, but just.... stopping to make yourself small.
There's so much stressful stuff. It's all about state violence on abstract and personal levels. We get to see Arthur super super triggered and it's so bad, like, it's written very well imo, but I still wished I hadn't read it.
And then there's a ton of nice stuff, and cheesy stuff, and it is a very fluffy story all in all. Just. With a lot of ouch.
I thought I spotted a few nods to Harry Potter in the beginning, and the Acknowledgements make me think I got that right. …
Soo. It is much more stressful to read than The House in the Cerulean Sea. But I like it.
It's about how to engage with people who want the worst for you and the ones you love. And I like that the answer found here is not a brilliant strategy for winning, but just.... stopping to make yourself small.
There's so much stressful stuff. It's all about state violence on abstract and personal levels. We get to see Arthur super super triggered and it's so bad, like, it's written very well imo, but I still wished I hadn't read it.
And then there's a ton of nice stuff, and cheesy stuff, and it is a very fluffy story all in all. Just. With a lot of ouch.
I thought I spotted a few nods to Harry Potter in the beginning, and the Acknowledgements make me think I got that right. I snorted out loud when I got to that part. The Anti-JK-Rowling! I feel like granting that title to TJ Klune. Why not. Someone has to take that position.
