The House in the Cerulean Sea

 It's an incredibly heartwarming, cozy and at times very amusing story. This is in large part due to the characters that just tug at your heart strings. Lucy in particular is my favourite for his flare for the dramatic and his dark sense of humour. But all the children have their quarks and endearing moments. It's also quite enjoyable to watch Linus develop as a character over the course of the story.

That's the strength of the novel. The weakness? In my opinion, everything else, because it's just to simple and shallow for an adult novel which is what this is marketed as. Even if viewed as for young adults though, I don't think there's enough depth or nuance in the plot or world building. You get a barebones ‘dystopian' world with some black and white overt morality, but little else.

So...the book isn't perfect shrugs...it's still a very enjoyable ride because it simply makes you feel good and at the end of the day that counts for quite a bit.