The Starless Sea: A Novel

Where has this been all my life?? Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a spellbinding engrossing tale. Buy this book. Read it over and over again 👍

I am a huge fan of The NIght Circus and I have been eagerly waiting for Ms. Morgenstern to write a second book. Having now read The Starless Sea, I can understand why it took her eight years to craft this amazing and imaginative story. For the first half of this book I was planning to say that The Starless Sea was superior to The Night Circus. But the story bogged down for me and I had trouble fully understanding what was going on. I still don’t understand part of what was going on, but the ending was nice and not as confusing. As noted by other reviewers, this may be a book that you have to read a couple of times to grasp all the plot lines. This is such a fantastical story that a brief summary is challenging. Graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins, is an avid gamer and reader. And the son of a fortune teller. He finds a mysterious book of fairy tales in the university library. At least he thought he was reading fairy tales until one of the chapters describes an event that happened to him as a young boy when he found a hidden door but did not go through it. Intrigued and disturbed, he tries to figure out more about this book. This leads him to a literary masquerade ball in NYC and a meeting with a mysterious woman named Mirabel. There are also symbolic clues of swords, bees, keys, door knobs, and other things. This leads him to a romance, a secret society that may be up to no good, and finally to an elevator ride below the earth to a hidden library and the people who protect it. But nothing and no one is as it seems. Or maybe it is. And time does not work in the way it does above ground. While Zachary is experiencing this magical world, his almost-friend Kat is searching for him because he has been missing for some time. And that’s not the half of it! I continue to be blown away by Ms. Morgenstern’s phenomenal imagination. She creates and beautifully describes whole gorgeous worlds. One thing that I appreciate is that the author is able to balance her writing to give enough of a description of a place or thing while still leaving room for the reader to form their own images. Ms. Morgenstern also pays homage to other books (particularly Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the Narnia series), authors, readers, and players of fantasy world role-play computer games. I gave this four stars because I was getting irritated and impatient with the book about three-quarters of the way through. In some parts it was too confusing to hold my interest. In fairness, I always struggle to understand books that involve alternate experiences of the passage of time. It’s over my head. Also, I think that this is a book that is best read in large chunks. That would give the reader a great immersion experience as well as it may be easier to keep track of what is going on. My schedule refused to cooperate with large chunks of reading time. None of this means that this book is not worth reading. It is still a really good piece of fantasy. I also think that you can see that Ms. Morgenstern has matured as a writer with prose that perfectly fit the story being told. I will certainly read her third book, even if I have to wait another eight years!

The first time I read this book, I wasn’t sure what was the point. The second time I read this, I just loved the journey but wished I could talk about it with the author and other readers. I think the book is about storytelling and telling one’s story. It’s also about choosing and one’s choices.

Overall: I have very mixed thoughts on this book. I felt completely absorbed in it and absolutely loved the writing. The author writes like a painting, everything is so descriptive and lyrical it is hard to not be enthralled. That being said, I wanted more plot and more character depth and found both to be lacking. Still, an enjoyable read but would give this a 3.5/5 or a 6.5/10 overall. Summary: “A boy at the beginning of a story has no way of knowing that the story has begun.” Zachary Ezra Rollins is a fortune-teller's son, gay, a bibliophile and lover of cocktails, and a graduate student studying video games when he comes across a book called Sweet Sorrows. The book includes a passage intimately describing a moment from his actual childhood that Zachary becomes obsessed with it and reads it compulsively. He becomes obsessed with the need to reach the Starless Sea, a mysterious otherworld that he failed to enter as a child when he turned away from a painted door. The story follows Zachary’s adventures of getting to and once he is in the Starless Sea. The Good: “It doesn't look like anything special, like it contains an entire world, though the same could be said of any book.” The writing in this book is exquisite. The different fairytales and fables that intersperse the novel are lovely and this book really lives up to the power of storytelling. I felt completely engrossed in the writing and found myself rereading sections just to experience the beautiful writing again. This book succeeds in capturing you, transporting you to another world, and holding you in. I also loved the mystery and how most things come together by the end. For all those reasons, I loved it. The Bad: Very fragmented and disjointed throughout the whole book. I think the author may have tried a bit too hard to make this unique and I felt it suffered as a result. There are a dozen or so narratives all interspersed into one book and every chapter is different so you never know where it may lead. My other major issue with this book were the characters, and Zachary especially. Zachary Ezra Rawlins (and his entire name is used in the beginning of every chapter about him just in case we forget who he is… which you can’t!) is the star of “The Starless Sea” but only because he is fated to be. I did not feel that I grew to know or love him, and was surprised by this given the amazing writing. I did not feel connected to Zachary or really any other character and this may have been a result of too many narratives competing with one another. Favorite Quotes: “Strange, isn’t it? To love a book. When the words on the pages become so precious that they feel like part of your own history because they are. It’s nice to finally have someone read stories I know so intimately.” “Everyone is a part of a story, what they want is to be part of something worth recording” “Not all stories speak to all listeners, but all listeners can find a story that does, somewhere, sometime. In one form or another.” Everyone wants the stars. Everyone wishes to grasp that which exists out of reach. To hold the extraordinary in their hands and keep the remarkable in their pockets.” “We are all stardust and stories.” “Be brave,” she says. “Be bold. Be loud. Never change for anyone but yourself. Any soul worth their star-stuff will take the whole package as is and however it grows. Don’t waste your time on anyone who doesn’t believe you when you tell them how you feel.” “But the world is strange and endings are not truly endings no matter how the stars might wish it so.” “This is not where our story ends, he writes. This is only where it changes.”

You know those books that become a part of you? The Starless Sea is one of those. My eyes are still tearing up. This one has taken up permanent residence in a corner of my soul. It's such a beautiful story about stories and love and... well, I don't want to give too much away. I need to read this one again. And again.

"The Night Circus" is one of my favorite books of all time - completely perfect in my eyes. This is NOT "The Night Circus," and if you go in expecting it to be perfect, you will be disappointed. It is NOT perfect. However, it was perfect for me. If you are fascinated with stories, with myth and folklore, with magic and mystery, with puzzles and surprises and the best kind of confusion at the beginning, then you may love it as well. There are stories within stories within stories, and the way they come together, I found to be brilliant. If you sit around and ponder the meaning and power of story, of beginnings and endings, of reality within the myths and folklore of different cultures, you will love this book. It is a fairytale of the very best sort, with homages to most of my favorite books. I intend to go back and read it soon when I have the luxury to read it slowly and taste each word on my tongue and examine the structure and symbolism more closely now that I know the outcome. Did this book have flaws? It did. I do agree with other reviewers that certain elements of the story could have been expanded upon and the book would have been even better for it - the owls, for example. But ultimately, for me, the conflict and price of protecting something magical to the point where no new beginnings are possible, and what others would sacrifice to find that new beginning were absolutely mind-boggling and horrifying and beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. I can honestly say I have *never* read a book like this - and unique stories that pull me in until everything around me disappears are my favorite stories. This one accomplished this on the very first page. Therefore, despite its minor flaws, it's a 5 in my book.

It's been a while since I vacillated as much on how to review a book as I am with Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea, her follow-up to the much-beloved (myself included) The Night Circus. I spent so much of The Starless Sea absolutely in love with the world that Morgenstern created here - a series of nesting stories that combine in unexpected ways, revolving around a college student who discovers a volume of disjointed tales and realizes that he appears to be in one of them - and that maybe all of them connect to each other? From there, The Starless Sea keeps evolving and changing in front of you, becoming a fairy tale - no, a tale of a magical world - no, an allegory with shifting meanings - no, a beautiful piece of magical realism - no, maybe a love story - and just keeps changing, all while revolving around a love of books, stories, storytelling, and imagination that's undeniably intoxicating. But the problem with a story like this is that, as Morgenstern continually lets it become something new and evolve, it starts to feel like some of the pieces just don't work as well as others, including a villain role that feels a little shoehorned in (and abruptly discarded), layers of reality that seem to be known by the characters but thrust upon us without warning, and a final act that moves beyond cryptic into actively befuddling. Mind you, it's hard to do an ending about an intangible, magical world beyond human understanding; by the very definition of it all, it would be a cheat to make that too clear, but there's a difference between feeling like the meaning is just out of reach (think Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) and just being a bit confusing, and The Starless Sea ultimately falls a little too far into the latter. And yet, did I spend almost every page enthralled by the beautiful visions Morgenstern was creating? I did. Did I love every moment and every detail of this world? Undeniably. Does it all work? No, definitely not...but none of that means it's any less magical or beautiful, either.

Every once in a while--too infrequently--a book 'comes along' that is extraordinary. Because it has clear echoes of one own life. Not fully bit for bit--that would be wrong. But something that sings about one's own door not opened. And the story(-ies) that unfold back upon themselves, like a switch back road up a steep mountain. The ending is a beginning...and when it flips, the beginning is the ending. The story as Ms Morgenstern suggests (I think) enjoys being rewritten. This book 'just came along' when I needed to read a story about an unopened door...or rather, doors... Just a story, though, well-written, well-crafted, well-scribed...

I loved this book so much that when I was about 80% of the way through it I went back and started reading again from the beginning, to delay having ever to finish. The seemingly unconnected stories all resonate with plot points later in the book, and I could treasure them on the re-read, knowing where each of them was destined to piece into the larger narrative. A joyous read.

この本の日本語版をもう7回読み、電子辞書で英語版を購入し、英語のハードカバー版を手に入れ、いまはAudibleで一番初めから聞いている途中です。 1冊の本にこれほど時間をかけたことはまず無いし、1冊の本が私をこんなにも素晴らしい変化へと導くのは初めてです。 私の心にかぎ針を食い込ませた最初のシーンはキャットが主催する自主的な学生ミーティングでの議題です。人はなぜゲームをプレイし本を読み、変化を求めるのか。私はゲームが大好きで本も大好きなのでこの起承転結の「起」に惹き込まれてしまいました。 この本は「ありとあらゆるものになぜと思うこと｣それを探求としており、その答えを求める者だけを読者とします。まるで星のない海の〈港〉へ導く扉のように。 この本をどれだけ愛しているか、心から愛しているか言葉にするのが本当に難しいです。 私は現実と物語を結びつける物語が好きで、この本もそうでした。 この本を読み終えたあと私に起こったことはまるで扉を潜ったあとのザカリーのようで、他の人には大したことに思えないかもしれないけど私にとってはこの本が私の世界を広げてくれたように感じています。 ゲームにはオマージュ、リスペクトという文化があり、本には引用、文献という文化があります。そして人生にも同じことができると信じています。 この物語を探求して私の人生が彩られたようにこの本を手に取ろうとしている他の誰かにとっても、そうであって欲しいと願わずには居られません。 きっとあなたは扉を探している。だからここに居る。これを読んでくれたのなら、騙されたと思って信じてみて。私たちが居る扉の向こうを一緒に探求してくれたら嬉しいです。

Just read the book without knowing anything, you'll thank me later

Que missão escrever uma resenha para este livro. Para começar, Erin Morgenstern escreveu um livro de fantasia e mistério diferente de qualquer outro que já li. Sua narrativa é contemplativa. Me parece que ela colocou em páginas tudo que já quis escrever na vida, então as lias e admirava. The Starless Sea conta a história de Zachary, um jovem rapaz que encontra na biblioteca da faculdade um livro que conta sua própria história. Ele descreve não apenas seu presente, como seu passado e algum futuro. Zachary entra em uma jornada muito louca (peço desculpas pelo termo, mas é o mais perto da realidade que posso chegar) envolvendo organizações secretas e ambientes fantásticos, incluindo o misterioso Mar Sem Estrelas. “Alguém estava tentando impedir a história de terminar, eu acho. Mas a história queria um final.” Toda narrativa é embasada por mistérios. Quando temos respostas, elas nunca são evidentes, sendo ditas por metáforas, por exemplo. Zachary caminha à procura de sentido, em um universo de diversas histórias que se intercalam por trajetórias e personagens. Pode ser confuso? Sim! Mas não deixa de ser incrível! Há contos, páginas de diários, fábulas, histórias que explicam o universo, histórias anteriores de outros personagens, e até histórias que ficam difíceis até achar conexão com Zachary diretamente. Quem ama a escrita, narrativa e leituras desafiadoras pensa: Meu Deus, Erin Morgenstern é um gênio! FATO! “Nem todas as histórias falam com todos os leitores, mas todos os leitores encontram histórias que falam com eles de algum jeito e em algum momento.” Se você gosta de narrativas que te indicam “segura na minha mão e só confia”, você vai amar O Mar Sem Estrelas. Se não, talvez este não seja o livro ideal neste momento. Ou talvez, este seja só o início de sua história, mas você precisará abrir uma porta para entrar e descobrir. “Um menino no início de sua história nunca sabe que sua história está começando” Mesmo o foco sendo nos eventos e nos universos criados, O Mar sem Estrelas tem uma linda representação LGBT e de personagens não brancos. Eu li a versão em inglês, mas a Editora Morro Branco está lançando agora a edição brasileira!

je recommande