Review: The Starless Sea

The Starless Sea
Erin Morgenstern

Published By: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Date Read: March 31, 2020
Genre: Adult - Magic Realism
Source: Illumicrate Box
Format: Hardback
Pages: 498

From Goodreads:
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.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. 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. 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.

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. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also those who are intent on its destruction.

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.

"But the story wanted an ending. Endings are what give stories meaning."

The Starless Sea is very different to my usual reads. Honestly, had it not been featured in one of the Illumicrate boxes I probably wouldn't have bought it as it's not something that grabbed me from the cover. Saying that, however, I am glad that I picked this one up as it's such an enjoyable and compelling tale.

The Starless Sea is, at its heart, an ode to anyone who loved books. It is a celebration of all kinds of literature and this love of stories, fiction and poetry, fables and novels, is evident on every page. That is the thing that completely drew me in to this book. My love of everything bookish made me truly appreciate what this book was doing. I did, personally, find this book really slow going which was difficult for me but the beautiful writing style made me persevere and I am glad that I did.

Prior to this I have never read anything by Erin Morgenstern before. I have heard everyone raving about her debut The Night Circus which is currently sat on my shelf waiting to be read but I just haven't got around to picking it up. I need to rectify that very soon as I absolutely adore Erin's writing style. It was the thing that got me through the slow build up because her writing style is so lyrical and beautiful. Honestly, The Starless Sea is so expertly written. Erin has woven a complex and intricate masterpiece in this novel. It's filled with so many beautiful and thought-provoking fables and I loved seeing how they all interlinked and came together with the main storyline.

Now my one gripe about this book was the pacing. There were so many pacing issues. It started off so very slowly. I'm a fantasy fan through and through and I find with fantasy books it is slow to start, so I'm used to this. However, this was slow for quite a while and I was so confused for the first 50-100 pages. I didn't have a clue what was going on. The storyline picked up as things started to interlink together but just as it would get super exciting... the pace slowed down again. This was something that definitely affected my overall enjoyment of this book.

The Starless Sea is superbly written and it is a beautiful tale showing love of all things books and I loved that. I am so very glad I read this book but it's probably one that I wouldn't personally re-read. If pacing doesn't bother you and you love intricate tales that are written beautifully then I highly recommend this book for you. I will definitely be picking up other works by Erin... just for that gorgeous writing style that she has.

"I think people came here for the same reason we came here. In search of something. Even if we didn't know what it was. Something more. Something to wonder at. Someplace to belong. We're here to wander through other people's stories. Searching for our own."