The Cerulean: Book 1 - An Epic YA Fantasy of Chosen Sacrifice and Survival Between Two Worlds

I first came across this book when it was released, and it sounded really interesting, but I wasn't really in the mood for a fantasy at the time so I didn't buy it until I discovered it again when the Kindle edition was on sale. I picked it up but didn't read it until a few days ago, because I wanted something different from all of the thrillers that I've been constantly obsessed with.I expected this to be an interesting fantasy with a beautiful setting, because the cover and the synopsis kind of laid that out already.What I didn't expect was to love this book so freaking much.Everything about this book was just amazing. I adored literally every single aspect. The characters, the setting, the overall story - everything was wonderfully written.Needless to say, I actually bought the second book in the duology, The Alcazar, before I even finished this one."We are the Cerulean. Our blood is magic."Sera is a member of the Ceruleans, a race of individuals who live in a city above the clouds, way up in the sky. Their skin is a beautiful shimmering silver, their eyes and hair a perfect cerulean blue color. Their blood is magical - they heal quickly, can blood-bond with each other, and are able to tell each other's emotions and see their memories. Everyone who lives in The City Above the Sky is female, and each girl has three mothers - an orange mother, a green mother, and a purple mother. Each mother has something special to pass on to their daughter, something she excels at that the others do not. Their family lives are happy, and their world is just about perfect."The blood bond was one of the most sacred aspects of Cerulean magic. It was deeply personal and intimate. Sera had only ever bonded with her mothers and Leela. It was not to be taken lightly, the reading of another's heart."Every so often (or every so many centuries, depending), the High Priestess holds a ceremony where Mother Sun chooses a Cerulean to fall from the city, onto the planet below: this gives them the chance to break the tether holding them to the planet, which can allow them to find a new home, where they can anchor themselves to a different plant, absorbing that planet's gifts. This is done until Mother Sun and the High Priestess tell the rest of the Cerulean that they need to find a new planet, a new place in the sky to anchor their tether. And for each time this occurs, a member of the city must be sacrificed by a fall - one that will kill them.This time around, Sera is chosen.Sera is a fun-loving, energetic, and eccentric Cerulean who spends most of her time with her best friend, Leela."'In three days' time, Sera Lighthaven will make the greatest leap of faith a Cerulean can make,' the High Priestess announced. 'She will throw herself from the dais in the Night Gardens and spill her blood to break the tether. She will be honored and cherished by us all as we travel to our new home!' Hearing her say the details out loud, Sera felt numb. Her brain refused to believe the information, as if the High Priestess were talking about someone else."Sera feels lost and alone - she can't believe she has been chosen to spill her blood and die for her city, and it doesn't feel real to her. She spends the next few days in a haze, and when the time comes for her to throw herself to the planet below, something goes wrong, causing Sera to live, and the tether to remain unbroken.Once Sera is on the planet, she is caught by two individuals - Agnes, and her brother Leo. Leo wants to impress his father, who is one of the most renowned men in Kaolin. Their father, Xavier, is famous for his plays that poke fun of Pelago, the other place on the planet that Agnes and Leo's mother was from. Xavier, who is anti-Pelago, always lets on that he only married her for her money, and he will not even let his children visit Pelago to see their grandmother.Leo will do anything to impress his father - even capture Sera and deliver her to him, which in turn will lead to her being put in one of his theatrical performances, and of course, using her magical blood to benefit him."'Grief breaks us in different ways,' she said. 'For some, the need to seek answers can be powerful. But there are no answers to give here. Only the pain of loss and the solace of prayer. But do not fear. Even those Mother Sun deems unworthy of sacrifice are still held in her everlasting embrace. Sera may not have been the right choice, but she will not be forgotten by our mother.'"In between the events that are occurring on the planet's surface in Kaolin, life goes on up above in the City Above the Sky. Leela misses her best friend, and Sera's purple mother is lost without her daughter - and she also has the feeling that something isn't quite right. Leela and Sera's purple mother team up to investigate further into what is really going on behind the High Priestess's strange behavior."There is nothing that is keeping you from choosing to be the right kind of person."Agnes, however, wants out of Kaolin - so much so that she has submitted an application to a university in Pelago to study sciences, something she has a huge passion for. Since it's forbidden for girls to do pretty much anything in Kaolin, she does this in secret - and even secures herself passage on a small ship so she can get there. However, Leo has a change of heart after Agnes bonds with Sera, and the two of them become determined to help her get back to her home.Okay.Wow, that was long. And that's not even a quarter of the stuff that happens in this book. Seriously, this is one of the most action-packed books I think I have read in forever, and I loved it. No boring moments, no unnecessary moments where things happen that didn't really contribute to the story - it was all just perfect. The pacing, the characters - every. single. thing.I think my all-time favorite part of this book is definitely the world-building. I absolutely adored how the author created the beautiful City Above the Sky. Picturing this is just gorgeous - I can't get over how perfectly detailed it was. From the spinning of clouds to create beautiful clothing to the small dwellings that the Cerulean reside in, everything is painted wonderfully.The characters were amazing - they were so well written! I know I say this a lot but I really mean it here - they all had their unique personalities that made them different from each other. Agnes and Leo, brother and sister, are so different - and I love Agnes. She is a woman in a place where women are not respected or allowed to do anything - and yet she still applies to a college in Pelago, where she is not permitted to go. She will do anything to secure her future, even book passage on a small ship against her father's wishes. Leo, on the other hand, wants to be like his father and take over Xavier's business in the beginning of the book, but by the end he realizes that he needs to be a good person, so he changes his ways.The book does end on quite the cliffhanger, and since I make it a point to wait to start a series until at least more than one book is out, I'm extra glad I did that in this case, because I immediately dove into the second book.If you love fantasy, DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS. I just loved it oh so much. From that gorgeous cover to the beautiful writing to the exceptional story and characters, I can't get over how great this book is.

I enjoyed it and can’t wait for the second installment to wrap things up.

Enjoyed this book and The Alcazar.

From the other reviews I read I thought it was going to hate this but I really enjoyed it. I didn’t put much stock into the politics of their sexual orientation and I think that’s what made it good for me. The magic was unique and the cerulean lifestyle was very utopian. I liked it.

The Cerulean has an interesting world-building style that makes it sort of fantasy, sort of mid-20th century, and sort of space sci-fi. While the story begins in the City Above the Sky, which can best be described as a parthenogenic lesbian alien city moving from planet to planet, we go down to one of the two continents of the planet it is hovering over - Kaolin. When curious, misfit Sera is chosen as the sacrifice for the Cerulean to break the tether (which is like a link to the planet below, exchanging resources like a vein), she does so with the greater good in mind. However, she survives the fall, and is instead captured by two of the other main characters, a set of twins - Agnes and Leo, who are the biracial children of one of Kaolin's theater owners, Xavier, who wants to use Sera for his traveling circus show. Meanwhile, Leela, Sera's best friend back on the City, is learning a bit more about her culture and the secrets behind the Cerulean's life.One thing I liked a lot about the book was how it was a bit unexpected, and also that it discards some tropes. Another fact is the sexual diversity - while Sera discovers she is heterosexual (through a handsome actor, not Leo), Agnes is a lesbian and Leela is, well, sapphic in a sapphic utopia. The story is also unpredictable, especially in the second half, making it for an exciting read. I must say, though, that getting there is slow - the start and much of the first half takes some time to actually get into a good pace, and takes some effort to wade through; there was too much about the description of the City Above the Sky, when all that information about it could have been seen later on through Leela's POV. Agnes' perspective, meanwhile, is 'independent girl stuck in a stuffy misogynistic society' and she seeks to go to her mother's homeland to pursue the sciences. Leo's development is to get out from the shadow of his father and stop seeking that jerk's approval, and also to stop being such a frat bro. There is practically no romance in the book (but Leo and Agnes have their crushes) which was a win for this book as there were other more important things.For a lot of the second half, the plot is about getting Sera out from Xavier's clutches, so the story also feels like a part, not a whole. It is obviously set up to be a duology, so the ending seems more like an intermission. There were some parts that I felt like it took too long for the characters to realize - like how the magic of the Pelagan creatures obviously came from the City, or the link between the sleeping sickness and population control. We still haven't seen the Pelagan part of the continent, which is going to be the next book, but as far as we see from this book, it seems to be a more liberal land. Which brings me to the thing that poked at me - the way the cultures of the two continents were constructed seems pretty racist. Kaolin, the island that has POC (brown-skinned people) is more antiquated in their customs, and are restrictive and misogynistic, with homophobia and a monotheistic belief system, while Pelaga (or whatever their name is) has a culture of white people, more open values (and gay islands) and their magic comes from silver people in the sky (angel much?) and are considered heretic by Kaolin standards. The religions may be swapped, but it is clearly a reflection of colonial differences, and I can't believe that a book that with attention to sexual diversity has such a glaring oversight when it came to the racial optics of this book. (I also can't believe that the imprint that gave us The Continent debacle didn't learn much from that event)Overall, an interesting world and magic system, with some compelling character narratives, but it is marred by the handling of cultures.

The Cerulean was unlike anything I ever expected or had read before. It really knocked me on the head with how vivid and surreal the landscape was in The City Above the Sky. It took some time for me to paint the picture as Sera explored but I loved all the small treasures like the strange and familiar animals and plants mixed in. The idea that where-ever they tether, The City Above the Sky absorbs a part of their planet in the form of minerals, flora and fauna was so cool. I did worry though if it would end up being a darker sort of reason (like they leave the planets when they suck them dry leaving the world empty and dying butttt that’s a secret.) The family structure Sera grew up in was also very unique! Everyone is female and they form groups of three woman where each one takes on specific duties based on their “color.” There is an orange mother who is more of the devout religious person, the purple mother who births the children but also takes care of the emotional needs of the family, and finally the green mother who tends to do the more domesticated roles like teach the child, cook and clean as well as create clothes. (I really hope I’m explaining this correctly and in a way that’s not confusing. It all fits together very seamlessly and I loved seeing each families dynamic.)The first 10% definitely had me crying even when you think normally you wouldn’t be attached to the characters so quickly. The emotions were just so well written that it got me right in the feels over and over again. After Sera leaves the City Above the Sky we get introduced to more characters from the actual “ground world” and !!! it’s so fun and exciting to see the difference between them and how they all interact. She’s essentially coming from a LGBT world where woman marry woman and there are no men to the ground world where everyone is only heterosexual or keep their non hetero feelings secret.We meet two new characters that get their own POV as well as Sera and Leela from the City Above the Sky getting their own. This is definitely a lesson in great character dynamic because as Sera journeys to find out what has happened to her people we gain valuable knowledge from the other characters as well. (And poor Leela, I’m so sad just thinking of her amazing friendship with Sera and them being torn apart!) Anyway I’m being very vague because this books holds a lot of secrets as well as twists that both make me scream and want to punch something. (In a good way I promise, I just want to protect all my sweet cinnamon rolls from danger.) I’m dying for the second book and highly recommend The Cerulean to anyone who is looking for a fantastical adventure and beautiful read!*I received this book from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review*

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I originally read it at the library but loved it so much that I decided I had to buy it to support the author.It's super fun and well written. I can't wait for book 2!!!!!

I almost quit early because I wasn’t hooked with the premise, but I’m so glad I continued! This is a rich, sweeping fantasy with lovable characters, complex emotions and a unique story with magical creatures. Beautiful and can’t wait for book two!

Das Buch basiert auf einer wunderschönen, tief gehenden Idee unterschiedlicher Lebensweisen, die mich nachdenklich gemacht hat, auch, weil sie sehr metaphorisch ist.

Gostei bastante deste livro, a história surpreendeu-me e tem um elemento mágico muito interessante. Tem o seu quê de aventura à explorador, mas também fantasia, e espaço/ficção científica. Muito bom!

Pretty bad. Don’t bother. Often touted on LGBTQ reading list but absolutely should not be.