Erin Morgenstern: Starless Sea (2019, Doubleday Canada)
512 pages
English language
Published Nov. 16, 2019 by Doubleday Canada.
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 certainty that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library, he begins to read and is 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 …
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 certainty that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library, he begins to read and is 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 backroom 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 answer and one another, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
This description comes from the publisher.
I was going to write a review about how I love Erin Morgenstern’s writing, but I didn’t love her stories. But then I read the ending and it made me happy. It has been a long time since an ending redeemed anything for me.
I had difficulty choosing between a 2 & 3 star rating. This novel, although, well written stylistically, is confusing, convoluted, and inconclusive. Disappointingly, I found the characters also uninteresting. The pace of the novel is often ponderous. If you are looking for a classification, I'd say this novel is very much a cross-between "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende and "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman. It seems to leverage the most confusing concepts of both.
I soooooo wanted to love this book like I loved "The Night Circus." I soooooooo want to support a novelist trying to follow up on her massively successful debut -- that has got to be so hard.
But about 200 pages in, I realized I really didn't care much for any of the characters. 300 pages in, I was ready to quit. The choppy narrative style, fuzzy character development, etc. were seeming more like a self-absorbed conceit.
Still, I was pretty sure if I stuck it out, the method to the madness (and long stretches of tedium) would be revealed. So I do respect and understand her ideas. And the paean to books throughout is lovely.
But.
I wish I had not discovered the connection between the story (-ies) and computer gaming, other than the mention early on that the main protagonist was a game creator in grad school (no …
I soooooo wanted to love this book like I loved "The Night Circus." I soooooooo want to support a novelist trying to follow up on her massively successful debut -- that has got to be so hard.
But about 200 pages in, I realized I really didn't care much for any of the characters. 300 pages in, I was ready to quit. The choppy narrative style, fuzzy character development, etc. were seeming more like a self-absorbed conceit.
Still, I was pretty sure if I stuck it out, the method to the madness (and long stretches of tedium) would be revealed. So I do respect and understand her ideas. And the paean to books throughout is lovely.
But.
I wish I had not discovered the connection between the story (-ies) and computer gaming, other than the mention early on that the main protagonist was a game creator in grad school (no spoiler here, not a big thing.). Because yeah, in the last quarter or so of the book, it feels like I am acid tripping in Leisure-Suit Larry or Space Quest.
I respect what she was doing. I bow to her HUGE artistry with words. But in the end it felt like an exercise in style over substance: affected and self-conscious. And desperately in need of a dispassionate, ruthless editor.
Glad I finished it, but a bit sorry I will never get those hours and hours and hours of my life back. I adored Night Circus, but can't in good conscience say more than huh. Well, alllll-righty then.
Final verdict: so terribly sad to say a hot mess of "Meh.."
I should probably let the sharp sweet taste of this story-filled tale mellow and meld some more before I decide how good its intricacies are. I'm susceptible to books that admit to being lost along the way.
Holy crap I adored this book. It is a bright and swirly and beautifully told story about storytelling, a fairy tale that is a metaphor for a fairy tale, and a puzzle-story with several intertwined self-referential narratives. It is the first book I’ve read in a long time that makes me instantly want to go back to read it a second time so that I can understand how all the parts fit together. This is exactly the kind of book I am crazy for, and it hit every heart-shaped button I have in my soul.
I dithered between four and five stars because sadly I thought many of the characterizations were weak, and the emotional beats could feel unearned. I was genuinely surprised by the central romance, because I did not feel it had been signaled at all before it actually happened. But the book is strong enough in every …
Holy crap I adored this book. It is a bright and swirly and beautifully told story about storytelling, a fairy tale that is a metaphor for a fairy tale, and a puzzle-story with several intertwined self-referential narratives. It is the first book I’ve read in a long time that makes me instantly want to go back to read it a second time so that I can understand how all the parts fit together. This is exactly the kind of book I am crazy for, and it hit every heart-shaped button I have in my soul.
I dithered between four and five stars because sadly I thought many of the characterizations were weak, and the emotional beats could feel unearned. I was genuinely surprised by the central romance, because I did not feel it had been signaled at all before it actually happened. But the book is strong enough in every other way that I could forgive that, so it gets five stars anyhow.
I'm really torn between giving this 4 and 5 stars, but eventually decided on 4 stars because I really don't think it's a book for everyone. But, the people who DO like this style will ADORE it. Like her first book, the settings are magical, and imaginative, and dreamily surreal a lot of the time. This novel drifts around a lot more than the Night Circus however, shifting between people and stories and even times and places, and it's quite difficult to figure out what's going on and how they all relate until you get significantly into the book. If that's a problem for you, this book probably is not for you. If you can enjoy dreamy descriptions of gorgeous fantastical settings and be patient to see how they tie together, then yes, grab this book today!
It reminded me strongly of The High House by James Stoddard, and also …
I'm really torn between giving this 4 and 5 stars, but eventually decided on 4 stars because I really don't think it's a book for everyone. But, the people who DO like this style will ADORE it. Like her first book, the settings are magical, and imaginative, and dreamily surreal a lot of the time. This novel drifts around a lot more than the Night Circus however, shifting between people and stories and even times and places, and it's quite difficult to figure out what's going on and how they all relate until you get significantly into the book. If that's a problem for you, this book probably is not for you. If you can enjoy dreamy descriptions of gorgeous fantastical settings and be patient to see how they tie together, then yes, grab this book today!
It reminded me strongly of The High House by James Stoddard, and also a bit of Caraval by Stephanie Garber (both of which I'd also recommend if you enjoyed this book). It's hard to even describe the plot without either getting too complicated or giving too much away, but suffice it to say that boy finds a mysterious book with a chapter in it that exactly describes something that happened to him as a child, and becomes obsessed with learning more, which leads him to a masked ball, a mysterious underground (literally) society of story lovers and librarian types, a world where it's hard to tell where the lines between a story and reality blur together, and ultimately of course our protagonist may be the only one who can save the world (or at least fate and time) but only if he can outwit the forces out to oppose this who want the world to never change and always stay the same.
