The Starless Sea

A Novel

Hardcover, 498 pages

English language

Published Sept. 11, 2019 by Doubleday.

ISBN:
978-0-385-54121-3
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4 stars (60 reviews)

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 …

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Lorsque Zachary Ezra Rawlins, étudiant en jeu vidéo, trouve un vieux livre non référencé intitulé Doux Chagrins à la bibliothèque universitaire, sa curiosité est attisée. Et lorsqu’un chapitre de ce livre décrit une scène qu’il a vécu enfant et dont il n’a parlé à personne, il veut comprendre d’où vient ce livre. Son enquête le mène vite à une fête donnée par une mystérieuse organisation dont les membres se reconnaissent à des pendentifs ornés de trois symboles : une abeille, une épée et une clé. Cette fête se révèle pleines de découvertes pour Zachary : un beau et étrange garçon qui lui raconte une histoire puis lui propose d’aller cambrioler le local de cette organisation, une femme tout aussi mystérieuse qui lui accorde une danse et surtout une porte, première étape vers de nombreux univers au centre desquels se trouve le port de la mer sans étoiles.

Sorti d’abord en …

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I simply could not get over the impression that the fantastical realm the characters spent most of their time in seemed very much like a boutique hotel, at least at first, and that led to a preoccupation about whether or how the (concededly human) characters went to the bathroom - was there one attended by similar invisible house servants (or magical self-cleaning toilets), or did they just magically not excrete despite all the food and drink they consumed over a long period of time down there? Also, the titular sea being made of honey was just gross.

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is an incredibly beautiful book, inside and out. The design of the physical hardcover book itself is exquisitely beautiful and the writing is intensely vivid, luxuriantly picturesque, and evocative with sumptuous descriptions of one of the most magical places ever dreamt into fictive existence. And yet…

I just couldn’t get into it. You know that old breakup cliché, “It’s not you, it’s me”? That can be applied to all sorts of things beyond relationships, books included. I eagerly pre-ordered The Starless Sea as soon as it was available. It was published and arrived at my home while I was completely grief-stricken, so I didn’t touch it until the following year. Fast forward to 2020 and we were smack in the middle of a global pandemic, urgent nationwide protests, and I was deep into intense work on myself. Yet I decided to reach for it anyway. And… it took me …

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Ambience is the one word I would use to describe this book. The setting is so prevalent that I ended up wanting to read just to feel like I was in the Harbor by the Starless Sea, amidst the books reading by quiet, warm candlelight. Of course, it wasn't all soothing, there is danger as the characters struggle against forces they don't entirely understand, bringing a mythic scope to the plot alongside tangled romances. Overall, this was a rewarding book to be read slowly and ponder all its intricate connections.

For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/11/book-review-starless-sea-by-erin.html

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's hard to put what I thought about this book into words, but that's all I have so here we go!

I'll start off by saying that I REALLY liked this book. It was just... so beautifully written. I'd say it falls into the familiar genre of "young adolescent stumbles upon a beautiful magical world right under their nose and gets involved in a life changing adventure" expect it dials that up to 100. It contains the mystical whimsy of a fantasy world that calls back to Narnia or Hogwarts, but this is very much written for a more adult crowd. The storytelling is beautiful, specifically the interlaced fairy tales that seem to be novel to this book, which add both context and magic to the setting.

With all of that being said, I can't ignore the shortcomings of this book. It is a CUMBERSOME read. Once the book fully …

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

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 …

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