That makes his arrival on Marsyas Island all the better, especially when we’re introduced to a bright, colourful cast of lively, eccentric, and loveable characters.

Humor is so subjective, so I'm not sure how this would appeal to everyone, but it totally resonated with me and kept me delighted. While there, Linus is expected to observe both the children and the master of the orphanage, Arthur Parnassus, report his findings to Extremely Upper Management, and ultimately determine whether the orphanage should be closed. I'm going to keep this review short since seemingly everyone has read this book before and I'm no adding anything new to the discussion here, but I would recommend this to any fantasy fan who is alright with reading something slower and "cuter" than the traditional fantasy book. But when he is summoned by Extremely Upper Management for an urgent meeting, he realizes his simple life will change forever.And if that’s starting to sound like a very familiar real-world story, just with Black or Native American people turned into magical/monstrous beings, well, yeah. It questions our tendency to categorize people to make them easier to understand, to slip into neatly received misconceptions and stereotypes to avoid the discomfort of confronting our own ignorance, our shame. While he’s been assigned as the caretaker of this Orphanage, it’s very clear that he’s stepped into a larger role in the children’s life. This story is heartwarming with undertones of the underdog rising up and believing that they are enough. So this prince arrives, gets entangled in a mess like situation which makes him feel like he's been made fun of, or not taken seriously at all, or just that he's been taken as someone easy to be with.

And, really, I'm surprised it's a contemporary because I would have placed the timeline as further in the past due to some of the details, but that's not really here nor there. My thoughts are all cerulean, now that I have read TJ Klune’s wonderful novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea. It was lovely to see his reactions as he met the people on the island and I enjoyed seeing him change and grow throughout the story.And these two hes will join forces in their fairy tale to actually fast burn the reader grandma towards the end with all their (beep. i won't tell you how you should feel about this, but i think that taking the unbearable trauma (a trauma that included not just the murder of a culture but also murder in a quite literal sense) of real-world Native children and turning that into a happy-go-lucky tale of how Hate Is Bad but the fantastical equivalent of those disgusting and reprehensible nonfiction orphanages is good.

The story also encourages one to be brave, both in terms of standing up for those around you and challenging views, but also in terms of living one's own life. Perhaps a birthday cake dressed up in scary themes, but ultimately, a heart-warming, delicious concoction of a story that just skirts being teeth-tinglingly sweet. There is something vital and wondrous about Arthur and the magical children that came to him with tragedies already packed in their suitcases, and Linus Baker is more or less the human opposite of vitality and wonder. This is a sweet narrative about the value of asking questions and the benefits of giving people (especially children) a chance to be safe, protected, and themselves, regardless of what assumptions one might glean from, say, reading their case file. Now that I’ve read The House in the Cerulean Sea I can’t believe it took me so long to read it, but I’m so glad this story was my first novel of 2021.He has been working there for 17 years, the job is routine, he visits various orphanages and schools funded by the Department, files his reports and then the cases are done and he remains detached. Management hires him for a top secret mission: they want him to investigate Marysas Island Orphanage where six extremely dangerous kids reside: a gnome, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, a sprite and an baby Lucy Morningstar! When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. He can't let his heart be broken by the various banshees, dryads, fairies, werewolves and other magical children he meets during his inspections, many of whom have gone from foster home to foster home and suffered untold years of abuse just for being who they are.

But their guardian, the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, will do anything to protect his wards. I’m a cis white dude, so I can’t ever really go through something like what those children had to go through. Arthur provides a loving home, someone to listen and accept them, and most of all the promise he’d protect them.Like Linus, they need the strength to open up, get close and take a few risks, no matter what may happen. I'm not saying I don't believe, because, honestly, who wouldn't want to hang out with a button-hunting wyvern and create awesome gardens with a gnome?