Daniel Henning’s animated performance provides the perfect splash of drama and drollness in the audiobook of TJ Klune’s sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea.
In Somewhere Beyond the Sea (16 hours), Arthur Parnassus and his boyfriend, Linus, have welcomed a 10-year-old yeti to their growing orphanage for magical children. But this endeavor of love is threatened by the interference of a social worker, who, believing the children’s abilities to be a threat to society, tries to wrangle enough proof of the danger they pose to remove them from the orphanage. Will Arthur be able to change the political climate in time to save his family?
An engaging storyteller, Henning masters a diverse range of character voices, especially his entertaining Scooby-Doo-esque voice for Chauncey, an adorable gelatinous creature who dreams of becoming a hotel bellhop. Though some plot elements can feel overly simplistic or didactic, Henning’s articulate, earnest narration winningly underscores Somewhere Beyond the Sea’s central themes of self-confidence, kindness, acceptance of others and the importance of working for sociopolitical reform.
Read our starred review of the print version of Somewhere Beyond the Sea.
