The Starless Sea

4.5 Stars

It started off really strong and ended a bit weaker than I would have liked (not that it was a bad ending by any means but it just didn't live up to how strong it started off). A book for Readers with a capital R, not that casual readers can't enjoy it as well but seasoned readers will get fun bonuses in the form of sprinklings of modern literary references from time to time.

A very dreamy book that juxtaposes fantasy with the mundane, traditional romanticism with contemporary sensibilities, myths and truths. I enjoyed how meta the experience of reading it was.
Sometimes it almost feels like the characters are aware of your presence as you're reading them.

The book has a very unique perspective with an almost omniscient narrator that feels like they've made the conscious decision not to be too omniscient. The tenses in the book are interesting too, though not too surprising with how it takes on time as a central theme and plays with it heavily.

I have to comment on how it starts off both disjointed yet completely smooth, if that makes any sense. The shift from one chapter to another, one character to another, one setting to another (especially in the introductory chapters that make up the first to third parts of the book) is always so abrupt but they flow into each other so well.

Overall, a fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed.