Synopsis:

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 master 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.

Review:

I adored The House in the Cerulean Sea so much when I read it, and when I heard we would be revisiting this wonderful family, I was intrigued. I felt that the Cerulean Sea worked wonderfully as a standalone and wasn’t sure where we could go next.

We are back on Marsyas Island at the orphanage with Arthur, Linus and all the children. Arthur is summoned by DICOMY to discuss his past and we also face another inspection, but this time the inspector is no Linus. Among all of this, a new child joins the orphanage and the children try their hardest to make him feel welcome.

This second book is told through Arthur’s eyes and over the course of the story we learn about his heart-wrenching backstory and how he came to be at the orphanage. While there is an undercurrent of darkness with Arthur’s thoughts, the book still oozes with Klune’s typical warmth and humour.

As always with Klune’s books, the messages are clear and easy to find. This is a story about fighting for your rights, being unapologetically who you are, about love and family. Anyone who has ever felt out of place, marginalised or made to feel ashamed for the person they want to be will be able to find comfort in these pages.

As much as I enjoyed this book, and as important as the messages are, it felt much heavier-handed than in book 1 and almost like lecturing. I know Klune does this deliberately, but it felt a little too much for this one and did take me out of the story at times. That aside, though, it was a wonderful story full of love and warmth, and I know TJ Klune fans will adore it.
Also, this series would make fantastic Pixar films, just saying!