natalie’s review of Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2) > Likes and Comments
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Couldn’t agree more! I didn’t have the heart to rate it anything less than 4 stars though because these characters own my heart. Like reading Cerulean Sea healed my heart and it hurt that Beyond the Sea was so preachy, it was very unnecessary.
@Grace That's so fair! I also loved 'The House In The Cerulean Sea' but I just couldn't rate this one higher bc I genuinely didn't have that much fun reading it
You summed up my thoughts exactly! I so appreciate this review.
You’re so much more cogent than me on what went wrong. I’m sat here trying to remember if Cerulean Sea felt this precious. And I so desperately wanted Marblemaw to have a wonderfully awful reason for being awful that made sense. She had these flickers of humanity and they just fizzled away.
@M.C. yeah I thought the scene at the beach where Arthur overhears Marblemaw questioning Rowder's orders would lead to some deeper facets of her characterisation, but Marblemaw ended up as a shallow one-dimensional villain
I agree 100% and I couldn’t even finish it.
I was more generous in my star rating, but this is absolutely the perfect review. Especially: “This book didn’t invite for deeper reflection. It almost seemed as if I wasn’t trusted to reach the correct conclusion on my own.”
So glad I’m not the only one who was disappointed in this book. I found it too preachy, overwhelmingly full of platitudes, and slow moving. After waiting for months to read it, unfortunately it was a DNF for me.
Thank you for putting my feelings into words. I am not a writer but I love the idea of this having been from David's perspective about joining the family instead.
I loved seeing more of the children's personalities but the rest lost the magic from the first book.
Yes! You summed up exactly how I felt. I DNF after 100 pages
This review perfectly summarizes why I DNF @ 30%. Super bummed
I’m so disappointed. I just started the book, p29, and I’m already sensing what you all are writing. I hoped it wasn’t true bc I have waited so long to see another book by TJ. I will carry on and hope it gets better.
I'm only 70 pages in and can already tell that Rowder is supposed to be JK Rowling, especially after having read his acknowledgements in the back. This just feels like a giant slap to her and I've barely started it
You summed up my feelings very well. I 6/5 star the first book, this one was just so on the nose about it's message. People will love it, the people who need to read this won't.
Sigh, thank you for this as it perfectly describes what I’m feeling as I’m reading it. I kept wondering why I keep reading these endless monologues and thinking maybe I was misremembering the first book. I kind of wish that book had stood alone.
I could DNF and not care. Only finishing it for the narration
1000000%, I'm not done, but I'm only reading because I feel indebted to certain characters. But it's so preachy and spot on with the HELLO, IM ALREADY ON YOUR SIDE. You don't need to make EVERY couple same sex and make a huge deal about it. I'm totally fine with it, let's move on!
Outstanding review. I completely agree.
YES YES YES! I couldn’t agree more with this review! It’s right on the nose and exactly how I felt about it as well.
I am so disappointed in this book and your review was so helpful. I loved the first book and was excited about the sequel, but😩
only about 10% of the way through and was debating whether to finish or not. You helped me decide not to.
You said it better than I could. A major preachy disappointment!
The review is how I felt. Hit it out of the ball park. I kept wanting more.
Great review, I kept wondering if I was alone. I was thinking, ok I get it! Let’s move on. I loved the first one!
I am in total disagreement with you. I absolutely love the characters and I didn’t want the book to end.
I agree totally! I'm curious what you thought about the reference to JK Rowling in the acknowledgments. I found it in poor taste, especially because it was in the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. It could have been an author's note if anything. But I felt like it was unneccessary. We know how you feel!
Your review was spot on for me. I tried putting into words that I liked it but it was very preachy and droned on a lot of the time especially with essentially the same plot line as the first.
I love these characters and this world and I found more than enough joy in this revisit and in the new members of the family to give the book a five, but I agree with pretty much all of your criticisms.
Very well said! I agreed with every single point you raised.
I couldn’t agree more. The book felt like a series of inspirational quotes and Arthur being sanctimonious. Every time a child is naughty he has the perfect quote to give. No parent is that damn perfect?!! And the addition at the very end between Linus and Arthur was badly drawn out. And pointless.
For the first time EVER, I am struggling to finish a TJ Klune book. I feel the same way. It feels more like a monologue than a story. I am not enjoying it. I'm on board. Please I've me a story.
I’m only on Chapter 4 and feeling the same way. I loved the first book, but I’m not sure I’m going to finish this one. Sigh…
I just finished the book and wasn’t sure how to say what I felt. Your review covered off on it perfectly!
Yes, this book was VERY heavy handed with the magical/transgender metaphor. Really pounding you with it to make sure you get the point.
I'm also interested in learning more about Arthur's life prior to ending up at Marsyas. Hopefully a prequel is in the works.
Perfect review and EXACTLY how I felt as well
I’m feeling the same way and I’m not that far into it. I’m not even sure I want to finish it.😔
Yes yes yes!!! Thank you for voicing my thoughts perfect and eloquently!!
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Wanted to finish it just so I could move on to something else.
This is exactly what I felt as well. Glad i'm not alone.
Just finished it and was going to write a review, but this one does it so eloquently. I was afraid to say anything at risk of coming off as…not an advocate or a supporter of the message. But it seemed very preachy. And it was really missing that whimsical, wholesome, feel good writing that the first novel had. :(
I’m on chapter 14 and these are my exact feels! I liked filling in the moral gaps. Or the eluding to such. I feel like I was robbed of that magical sensibility and forced to live through the writers eyes.
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Grace
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Sep 19, 2024 07:56PM
Couldn’t agree more! I didn’t have the heart to rate it anything less than 4 stars though because these characters own my heart. Like reading Cerulean Sea healed my heart and it hurt that Beyond the Sea was so preachy, it was very unnecessary.
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@Grace That's so fair! I also loved 'The House In The Cerulean Sea' but I just couldn't rate this one higher bc I genuinely didn't have that much fun reading it
You summed up my thoughts exactly! I so appreciate this review.
You’re so much more cogent than me on what went wrong. I’m sat here trying to remember if Cerulean Sea felt this precious. And I so desperately wanted Marblemaw to have a wonderfully awful reason for being awful that made sense. She had these flickers of humanity and they just fizzled away.
@M.C. yeah I thought the scene at the beach where Arthur overhears Marblemaw questioning Rowder's orders would lead to some deeper facets of her characterisation, but Marblemaw ended up as a shallow one-dimensional villain
I agree 100% and I couldn’t even finish it.
I was more generous in my star rating, but this is absolutely the perfect review. Especially: “This book didn’t invite for deeper reflection. It almost seemed as if I wasn’t trusted to reach the correct conclusion on my own.”
So glad I’m not the only one who was disappointed in this book. I found it too preachy, overwhelmingly full of platitudes, and slow moving. After waiting for months to read it, unfortunately it was a DNF for me.
Thank you for putting my feelings into words. I am not a writer but I love the idea of this having been from David's perspective about joining the family instead. I loved seeing more of the children's personalities but the rest lost the magic from the first book.
Yes! You summed up exactly how I felt. I DNF after 100 pages
This review perfectly summarizes why I DNF @ 30%. Super bummed
I’m so disappointed. I just started the book, p29, and I’m already sensing what you all are writing. I hoped it wasn’t true bc I have waited so long to see another book by TJ. I will carry on and hope it gets better.
I'm only 70 pages in and can already tell that Rowder is supposed to be JK Rowling, especially after having read his acknowledgements in the back. This just feels like a giant slap to her and I've barely started it
You summed up my feelings very well. I 6/5 star the first book, this one was just so on the nose about it's message. People will love it, the people who need to read this won't.
Sigh, thank you for this as it perfectly describes what I’m feeling as I’m reading it. I kept wondering why I keep reading these endless monologues and thinking maybe I was misremembering the first book. I kind of wish that book had stood alone.
I could DNF and not care. Only finishing it for the narration
1000000%, I'm not done, but I'm only reading because I feel indebted to certain characters. But it's so preachy and spot on with the HELLO, IM ALREADY ON YOUR SIDE. You don't need to make EVERY couple same sex and make a huge deal about it. I'm totally fine with it, let's move on!
Outstanding review. I completely agree.
YES YES YES! I couldn’t agree more with this review! It’s right on the nose and exactly how I felt about it as well.
I am so disappointed in this book and your review was so helpful. I loved the first book and was excited about the sequel, but😩only about 10% of the way through and was debating whether to finish or not. You helped me decide not to.
You said it better than I could. A major preachy disappointment!
The review is how I felt. Hit it out of the ball park. I kept wanting more.
Great review, I kept wondering if I was alone. I was thinking, ok I get it! Let’s move on. I loved the first one!
I am in total disagreement with you. I absolutely love the characters and I didn’t want the book to end.
I agree totally! I'm curious what you thought about the reference to JK Rowling in the acknowledgments. I found it in poor taste, especially because it was in the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. It could have been an author's note if anything. But I felt like it was unneccessary. We know how you feel!
Your review was spot on for me. I tried putting into words that I liked it but it was very preachy and droned on a lot of the time especially with essentially the same plot line as the first.
I love these characters and this world and I found more than enough joy in this revisit and in the new members of the family to give the book a five, but I agree with pretty much all of your criticisms.
Very well said! I agreed with every single point you raised.
I couldn’t agree more. The book felt like a series of inspirational quotes and Arthur being sanctimonious. Every time a child is naughty he has the perfect quote to give. No parent is that damn perfect?!! And the addition at the very end between Linus and Arthur was badly drawn out. And pointless.
For the first time EVER, I am struggling to finish a TJ Klune book. I feel the same way. It feels more like a monologue than a story. I am not enjoying it. I'm on board. Please I've me a story.
I’m only on Chapter 4 and feeling the same way. I loved the first book, but I’m not sure I’m going to finish this one. Sigh…
I just finished the book and wasn’t sure how to say what I felt. Your review covered off on it perfectly!
Yes, this book was VERY heavy handed with the magical/transgender metaphor. Really pounding you with it to make sure you get the point.
I'm also interested in learning more about Arthur's life prior to ending up at Marsyas. Hopefully a prequel is in the works.
Perfect review and EXACTLY how I felt as well
I’m feeling the same way and I’m not that far into it. I’m not even sure I want to finish it.😔
Yes yes yes!!! Thank you for voicing my thoughts perfect and eloquently!!
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Wanted to finish it just so I could move on to something else.
This is exactly what I felt as well. Glad i'm not alone.
Just finished it and was going to write a review, but this one does it so eloquently. I was afraid to say anything at risk of coming off as…not an advocate or a supporter of the message. But it seemed very preachy. And it was really missing that whimsical, wholesome, feel good writing that the first novel had. :(
I’m on chapter 14 and these are my exact feels! I liked filling in the moral gaps. Or the eluding to such. I feel like I was robbed of that magical sensibility and forced to live through the writers eyes.
