Hello everyone!!
Today we are reviewing The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern which published in November 2019 by Doubleday Books. It's an adult fantasy book and Erin Morgenstern is famous for her other book The Night Circus.
I was expecting a lot from this book and thankfully I wasn't disappointed. It became a new favourite. I haven't read The Night Circus and I wasn't sure what to expect from the writing style of the author. After finishing the book I can say that I love her writing. It's beautiful and lyrical / whimsical.
The book is written in a different way than usual. There are chapters with stories from the books mentioned in the main plot that are inserted throughout the book. These stories make the main story more interesting and more understandable. It's easier to follow the main story .
I really liked the book. It is different, confusing at times but very well done as well. The book is hard to describe. It's an hymn to literature and storytelling. It's a whimsical book featuring an underground labyrinth library full of secrets that are never fully revealed.
The Starless Sea isn't for everyone as Erin Morgenstern's writing style isn't for everyone. It's definitely for me. The book left me confused at the end but I don't mind.
Rating: 4 Stars
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.
A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
See you in the next post and don't forget to keep reading!!!
Athina
