have discussions of death, loss and dying that tug at your heart strings, which it tries its best at throughout the narrative but then spits in your face as a reader by the end. Klune wrote a book that’s insightful and deep, without being heavy, one that made me laugh and smile over and over, and - for someone who doesn’t cry easily - made me blubber like a damn fool! I fell in love with all these characters and dreaded the book ending because I didn’t want to leave my adopted home with them in the woods. Under the Whispering Door is a bit more uneven than Klune’s previous novel, but I think it did a good job with capturing that delicate balance in tone between a funny book and one that’s trying to philosophize about a lot of Big Questions, which is naturally a more difficult task. Even if the answers it reaches are probably all things you’ve heard before, it’s still makes for a heart-warming journey with plenty of cute hijinks along the way.

this is my first book by TJK, but it will not be my last. only a special author can create a story that radiates so much heart and warmth. After speaking to the innkeeper at The Bannered Mare and receiving the quest to speak to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, the Dragonborn may sometimes not receive a dialogue option to discuss his son. Grief isn’t something you push your way through—it’s something that becomes part of you, a knot that your heart eventually grows around. Under the Whispering Door is an exploration of that grief and how, through that pain, you can also celebrate life and love and human connection. I truly wanted to love this book just as much as I did TJ's " House in the Cerulean Sea", but while it was good, approaching very good, it never quite got into 5-star awesomeness contention for me.But Wallace isn't ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo's help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.

The characters are great and very memorable. There is a queer romantic relationship in the book which was also a central thing in THITCS. I also know that Klune lost his husband to Cancer so he is also writing from experience and things that he went through so I do respect that.

Under the Whispering Door is a contemporary fantasy with TJ Klune's signature “quirk and charm” (PW) about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with.

It was also hugely heavy handed in it's message, which I guess Cerulean was also, but I didn't mind it there because I was so charmed by everything else! This felt overly preachy, and grated on me with it's constant hammering home about the value of life, coming to terms with death, and being a better person. It felt repetitive and a bit cliché if I'm honest! One way is to find a beggar, give them a coin, receive the Gift of Charity, then kill them. You can raise them as a zombie then kill them again which will count as two characters. However, it was heart-warming, quirky and cute. Like a cosy blanket, it gave me warm, fuzzy feels and felt comforting. It was humorous, and I applaud T.J. Klune for being able to write about death, and make it emotional and uplifting, rather than depressing. It had a good balance in that respect. It’s just that things have been so hard lately,” she said, as if he hadn’t spoken at all. “I’ve tried to keep it bottled in, but I should have known you’d see right through it.”

Book Excerpt

From a plot perspective, the story is a slow-moving one. The tension comes from knowing Wallace will inevitably have to face the door on the top floor of the tea shop that takes souls to whatever is next. There is also everyone’s fear of the Manager, a cosmic entity who enforces the rules of the afterlife. And there are also other souls who come to the tea shop — the deceased who Hugo must guide in death, and the living who are still grieving those they’ve lost.

The two-paragraph version: Wallace is an unpleasant and selfish man who dies. He is brought to a tea house where the ferryman, Hugo, is there to help Wallace process his life and enter the doorway to the afterlife when he’s ready. At the tea house, Wallace befriends the others there and learns to care for and sacrifice for others. He also develops romantic feelings for Hugo. My favorite parts of the book were the proxy hugs by Mei between Wallace and Hugo, as neither MC was able to physically touch the other, and the scenes with " The Manager", Hugo's boss, who was both scary and adorable in equal measure. I thought that depicting him as a young boy was a good move, instead of portraying him as some scary, unapproachable figure. Hearing a rumor about the Jarl's children at The Bannered Mare - and only at The Bannered Mare - begins a miscellaneous quest to "Ask about Balgruuf's strange children". This requires speaking with Balgruuf the Greater. Initially, he is in Dragonsreach, but if the Dragonborn sided with the Stormcloaks in the Civil War, he is in the Blue Palace basement. When asked about his children, he reveals he is having problems with his youngest son, Nelkir, who has taken a sudden dark turn in his personality. This completes the miscellaneous objective and begins the true quest "The Whispering Door."Since 2009, John Hansen has been reviewing new and old movies, TV, books and comics. Shaune Redfield and Michael Olinger were previous regular contributors to RFMC. What an awful wedding that must have been. They’d probably held the reception at a Holiday Inn. No. Worse. A Holiday Inn Express. He shuddered at the thought. He had no doubt karaoke had been involved. From what he remembered of Kyle (which was very little at all), he’d probably sung a medley of Journey and Whitesnake while chugging what he lovingly referred to as a brewski. At its heart, this is as much a book about death as it is about appreciating life and learning to live. As the opening quote suggests, an ending is merely the beginning of something new, and that’s the redemptive journey the reader goes on with Wallace … from someone who was dead inside, long before his body followed suit, to someone who sees and relishes the life, love and meaning his new “family” offers him. His transformation is a truly special one. There’s beauty in the chaos, if you know where to look for it. But you would know about that, wouldn’t you? You see it too.” Those who’ve read Klune’s other works know that his stories are full of heart. His latest work, Under the Whispering Door, also has heart, but differs from his previous works; it’s a story about grief, a tale suffused with love but also tinged with sadness.