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Rachael Smith

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first section is beautiful and it quickly turns very radical and falls apart

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-15-25

TLDR: first section is beautiful and it quickly turns very radical and falls apart

When I first picked up this book, I thought it could be either really good or really bad. When I finished the first section, I was pleasantly surprised by how eloquently written and clever the book was. It related trees to people in a way that I didn’t expect and really enjoyed.

However, the second section just falls apart for me. Part of what I really liked about the first section was the realistic nature of the people and they’re interactions with each other and how the trees just happened to be there in a big way without it being in your face and it was really clever. But the second section starts following a path that is much less so and it loses me. It took me a couple times of picking up and putting the book down to get through the second section because it was hard to follow. I didn’t love the characters. There were too many disjointed pieces and it doesn’t come together for way too long there’s probably about 150 pages that I really couldn’t connect with.

I am passionate about conservation and this was even for me too in your face radical out of nowhere and continued to stay that way and it becomes annoying and boring over and over again.

I think the beginning was amazing. I wouldn’t have been upset if the book ended with the first section. It comes back a little towards the end, but you have to get through 200 pages of radical conservation propaganda.

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Well read by audiobook person story didn’t age well

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-06-25

I didn’t love this book, but I didn’t hate it either. It reads well and is eloquent in its own way, but still accessible for people to understand. However, I have the same issue with this book as I do with the adventures of Tom Sawyer and that I don’t feel like it aged super well. It’s difficult to connect to the time period especially through a dog’s eyes. I feel like there are books about the same time period that are just more interesting.

But I did love the personification of the dogs and their thoughts. Overall, it was interesting enough to finish, but it’s not my favorite classic.


I do think the person who read the audiobook did a great job. The only problem I have with it is the music in the beginning in the end sometimes overpower the words I wish they didn’t overlap.

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Audiobook is well read book is well written but kinda boring

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-04-25

TLDR - it has an interesting beginning and end but middle is unnecessary and boring. I can appreciate what this book did for the time it was published but it didn’t age well

I can appreciate what this book did for literature at the time that it was written and for the future of literature. However, I find it to be outdated and hard to relate to at this point in time, especially as a woman.

That being said, I still think that it’s better written than a lot of books these days and I liked in the beginning that you see them growing and learning important lessons from seemingly mundane interactions in their lives. It seems to lose its way in the middle, but then catches itself back up and becomes more interesting at the end and ends well.

I never had to read this book growing up as it wasn’t in our curriculum and when James came out, I figured I needed to read Huckleberry Finn, which meant I had to read Tom Sawyer so I have only read it as an adult. I can see why perhaps a younger person would enjoy the book but as an adult, I didn’t get much from it.

Overall, the book isn’t terrible and is well written enough and interesting enough to have finished, but it’s not on the top of my recommendation list.

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Well written with good teachings/reminders

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-25-25

TLDR- well written but I think is better if you know the history/folklore behind it. It also has almost no scene imagery. It has some very interesting teachings though! The audiobook reader was also great!

This book is beautifully written. I had the same issue with this book as the “she who became the sun” duology and that I had to stop and put it down to look up the history behind the book. There were just some points that I got hung up on the lack of knowledge of the groups and locations and people involved in how they were connected.

However, I think the teachings within the story are very interesting and thought provoking. Although this is not a YA book it reads very much like one, and if a younger reader could handle the violence and explicit content, then I think it would be a great book with some great teachings for a younger reader. However, even as an adult, it’s still thought provoking.

There’s almost no scene setting, which is hard in a historical fiction especially in a country that is very different and much older than my personal country of origin as it’s hard to picture the story. However, I do think that this story is more focused around the characters and their relationship to each other and how they affect each other and the others around them then the specific location itself I would have liked a little bit more just so that I could picture the story, a bit better in the way that it would have been, but I understand the choice that was made to leave some of that out.

The audiobook was also well done.

I definitely still think it’s worth the read, but I wouldn’t say that it’s the best book that I’ve read.

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True YA book but underdeveloped

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-20-25

TLDR - it’s a true YA… with some dark concepts. It’s easy to get through and relatively interesting but doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat or anything. Was an okay easy read but not a favorite. Audiobook was well read as well!

In fairness this is a YA book (although has some pretty dark concepts for one). However, there was very little world building and it was hard to picture the places or the time period really. The characters were also pretty flat and I didn’t particularly love the main character. The premise of their talents were cool but it didn’t explain well what talents others had which was confusing and no one else in the world seems to have magic? The magic ideas just seemed a bit underdeveloped.

the chapter that the whole book leads up to I had to reread 3 times to make sure I didn’t miss something because I was still confused and thought I missed something.

However the few things that were developed were well thought out and the story moved fast enough to keep a reader interested

Overall it’s interesting enough to finish but not my favorite book.

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Not raving but it’s was good enough to finish

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-17-25

TLDR - it’s eloquently and poetically written. There are moments where it drags and the imagery is lacking and seemingly important details about how the world, its creatures, and its magic works are majorly lacking. It’s at times confusing and frustrating but an interesting premise.

TLDR Audiobook - I like the woman but didn’t love the man’s voice. It was also inconsistent about when they interacted in each others chapters and was sometimes super confusing. They also didn’t properly break at punctuation or quotes in certain sections which made it difficult to follow sometimes.

I really wanted to like this book and there were parts that I did like. There are a lot of sections of the book that are well paced with proper detail and interesting content, and there are large sections of the book that are lacking and slow.

For a fantasy book, I felt that the imagery was lacking, especially in the scenery. I was never able to fully imagine what a place was like and I don’t like books that have full chapters of explaining a scene, but this was so minimal that I wasn’t able to imagine a fantasy world.

I also felt like there were important creatures, magic, and races within the book that were not explained enough to understand what their capabilities were, and what they looked like and for a fantasy book this makes it hard, especially when trying to immerse yourself in the story.

The beginning of the book is confusing and at times frustrating because there is no information and lack of detail about the world around them however, I think the lack of information about the characters and the frustration and confusion that follows that is on purpose and I don’t fault the author, for that you just have to make it through it.

There was about a 10 chapter section at the end of the book that was unnecessary and talked in circles and didn’t go anywhere and for already a long book it was a lot to struggle through.

The audiobook I think was okay. The woman narrator was better than the male narrator. I don’t know if it was how deep his voice was or the way that he annunciated, but I had a hard time following when he was narrating. I also found it confusing that it was not consistent when they were a part of each other‘s chapters and sometimes when they were it made the passage confusing to the point I had to take out the book and read it myself.

Overall, I really wanted to like it and I did finish the book and will be reading the second one because I’m a Completionist, but I am not raving about this book.

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A book i consistently revisit

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-13-25

This is not a book you take at face value. It is accessible in that even a middle schooler can read and comprehend it. However, the story and the teachings will hit differently at different points in your life.

I reread this book every couple years and it is different every time. It’s easy to get through and worth a revisit if you haven’t read it in a while.

It’s beautifully written and thought provoking. It brings you back in touch with life and the world around you and maybe a more positive or optimistic and challenging way to view it.

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Have you ever read a book and wish it were written by someone else?

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-13-25

Have you ever read a book and wish it were written by someone else? The premise of this book is super cool and interesting but just falls short.

If you have read Cerulean Sea you’ll notice the main 2 characters in this book are basically exactly the same after the first few chapters. Which may have bothered me less if I hadn’t just read Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea but nonetheless it did. The character building for the main two characters just falls flat, the romance is confusing, and end ending is just worse.

I do love the quirkiness you get and you would expect from Klune and I like the side characters a lot but what a cool concept to just fall on its face… I was so disappointed!

Audiobook was well done, acted, and read though!

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Not quite as cute as the first but still adorable

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-15-24

TLDR: Not quite as cute as the first but still adorable

After reading the first (especially the epilogue) I just HAD to read the next one. I was a bit disappointed but it was still adorable.

It was a bit frustrating (as it was intended to be) with the political bits of the story. It was just kinda frustrating and made the book holistically more cheesy (which I thought the first book skated the line of already). It was also just as if not more predictable than the first book. HOWEVER the kids are still super heartwarming and the love story makes a bit more sense now. And again with this book the predictability isn’t the point.

I would still read it again and it’s still adorable but definitely not as good as the first.

For the audiobook it was the same narrator which I appreciated but he was super dramatic in this one too much so in quite a few spots. I thought he did a much better job really feeling the emotion of each section in the first book and in the second he was just too much in many sections.

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Breath of fresh air

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-15-24

House in the Cerulean Sea is a breath of fresh air! It is such a cute heartwarming story!

It can be hard to get into. I had to start it a few times but it’s definitely worth it! It is a bit predictable but that’s NOT the point! The story and its characters are so intricate and interesting. Klune does an amazing job giving them such distinct stories and personalities without spending too much time actively explaining it but doing it through stories and their interactions with each other and the people around them. This story was so sweet and frequently made me laugh, smile, and cry.

There are some spots that are a bit cheesy but totally worth powering through that for an amazing larger story

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