People who love Morgenstern's writing and love works that pay homage to literature might overlook this. But rather, I didn't know what was going on in this book because nothing was going on. I do not feel that this is due to my own ineptitude. There are books and cats and keys and bees and so many stories.īut, sadly, I am here to say I was incredibly underwhelmed and disappointed by this book.ġ) I had no idea what was going on for the majority of this book. We have a protagonist who studies video games and reads a lot and is near-sighted. I mean, The Starless Sea seemed like it was written just for me. If you like literature, there is a good chance you will enjoy this book.

I think that most people who read The Starless Sea will love it because it's a love letter to storytelling. I won an ARC of this book from my library's summer reading program and, after reading the synopsis, I could not wait to jump in.

So, Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea is the highly anticipated follow up to The Night Circus (which, I admit, I haven't read). 'Like I am losing my mind, but in a slow, achingly beautiful sort of way.' (p.288)įunny, I felt the exact same way while reading this book. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose-in both the mysterious book and in his own life. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction.

What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians-it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues-a bee, a key, and a sword-that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world-a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.

The starless sea book 2