Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Publication date: September 2024
LGBTQ+ author? Queer
Setting: Fictional island of Marsyas
Series: Cerulean Chronicles Book #2

This book is the sequal to much loved House in the Cerulean Sea. In the first book we meet Arthur, who runs an orphanage for some of the world’s most dangerous magical children. Linus comes from the overbearing government to inspect the orphange but ends up falling in love with the island, the children and … Arthur!

In this sequel we follow Arthur and Linus’ family as they are under inspection again, as well as adopting another magical child into the family.

What worked for me

The best part of these books is the children, who have such micheveous, violent yet loving and innocent characters. I listend to this on audiobook and Daniel Henning does a masterful job of giving them all unique personalities. How does one person make all those voices?!

It’s so soothing to see how Aruthur and Linus deal with their magical children’s worst imulpses. When Lucy wants to blow everything up, his parents carefully guide him to choose kindness instead. Arthur and Linus are so relentlessly understanding and loving. They are the parents everyone wishes they had, but probably no one did.

What didn’t work for me

There really are very few people out there like TJ Klune. He writes fantasy novels with complex characters and settings that feel almost real, yet the books remain easy to read. His books are adored by many. It’s hard to critique his books. But, I will try.

I did find the plot in this book lacking suspense and any real stakes. I felt certain that their family would triump over the new inspector and also how they’d do it.

The slow pace and low conflict made the book feel more like it was for children than adults, but at 15 hours long it definitely would be a long committement for young children.

In the dedication, TJ Klune talks about wanting to be remembered as the opposite of JK Rowling and I think he’s on to something there. As hateful and transphobic Rowling is, TJ Klune is thoughtful and inclusive. And they both have written magical childrens books that adults love. I do hope TJ Klune someday gets a small piece of the worldwide attention that JK Rowling has. This duology would make a great movie!

The strange dedication to trans people

TJ Klune dedicated this book to trans people, writing:

For the trans community the world over, I see you. I hear you. I love you. This story is for you.

I was curious what this could mean, as the first book in the series had no trans people in it. Were any of the new characters trans? Was one of the children going to transition?

Spoiler alert, but no. There are no trans people in this book. There is also nothing particularly gender inclusive. For example, the magical kids are always “sons and daughters” instead of “children.”

I even tried to read some of the extreme policing of and restrictions on magical people by the government as a metaphor for all the anti-trans laws in the US. But I just couldn’t get there with that reading.

The closest we get to gender noncomformity is a rather long scene about how one of the children, a female gnome, has a beard. The inspector wants her to shave this off to be more feminine and find a husband. Arthur and Linus reassure their daughter it’s OK for little girls to have beards and not worry about husbands. Nice message. But this character does not identify as trans. She is a girl who likes her gnomish beard.

The book is also about two cis, gay men who get married and adopt children. This most homonormative story in the world. Being trans for many people is a much more radical non-comforming identity. It’s not always out of choice, but just because you don’t always fit in.

With zero trans or trans-adjacent content in the actual story, I found this focus on trans people … odd.

TJ Klune carries on about trans people in his acknowledgements. He writes:

To make it unequivocal, JK Rowling’s beliefs on trans people are abhorrent and have no place in modern society. People like her, people who believe trans people are somehow lesser deserve to be shunned into they somehow disappear into the ether.

To my trans readers, this book is dedicated to you. Without you, there would be no us. You are vital, beautiful and deserve everything good in this world.

So why is this book talking about trans people so much? I don’t like it!!

Am I old and cyncial? Maybe.

But whatever the reasons, this dedication and acknowledgement made me like the book a bit less. I don’t really want to be mentioned as an afterthought. I want books with bad ass cool trans characters! Or just left alone.

But I’d love to hear what other trans people thought…