The Starless Sea

2.5 Stars. I wanted to love this book but it was way too confusing. It was like poetry wrapped in prose wrapped in metaphor wrapped in symbols wrapped in half finished stories, all wrapped up in a layer of vagueness that cannot be ignored. I was lost multiple times and I almost DNF'ed it. I was around the 200 page mark and figured I would give it one more reading session to decide if I continued or not. That was the best part of the book, so it made me want to finish. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. The story created plots that weren't followed through, mentions of stories within stories, but there is a main story overall? Or there isn't? I don't know. The meaning behind some of the symbols were never explained, and yes the book said meaning is up to interpretation, but not in this sense. I want to know the purpose of constantly talking about the bees, the honey, and the cats, and I want their meaning to be clearly spelled out. I also want to know why Dorian and Zachary are suddenly head over heels for each other when they've barely spoken. And I wish the roles of Fate, Time, the Moon, the Innkeeper, and the Owl King were more clearly defined. Overall, this book raised way more questions than it answered and I felt like it was trying so hard to be pretty that it didn't make sense. I liked the snippets of stories much more than I liked Zachary's adventure, which I feel shouldn't be the case.

Also, something that constantly bugged me is that Zachary was never nearly as freaked out as he should have been. This entire world around him was constantly changing and often made little to no sense, yet if there was any kind of reaction, it was a blink to focus himself and then he was fine. He was seeking answers and should have been asking so many more questions and having meltdowns because people refused to answer them. There was way too much blind acceptance and that's annoying.

Some thoughts I had/notes I took while reading (I read the ebook version so my page numbers don't correlate to the physical version):
•“‘Like I'm losing my mind, but in a slow, achingly beautiful sort of way.'” (pg 287) —> How it felt reading this book up until a little while ago (and then how it felt afterwards)
•“‘Everything whispers the story here, the sea and the bees whisper and I listen and I try to find the shape of it all.'” (pg 372) —> I thought the book was finally making sense and then Simon appeared and spoke in vague metaphors and I'm frustrated again
•“A sword and a crown surrounded by a swarm of paper bees.” (pg 373) —> In the beginning, the only important symbols were the bees, swords, and keys, because the represented the acolytes, guardians, and keepers. Though we never really got to learn what guardians and keepers do specifically, we still knew they were important. Then Zachary arrives at the Heart of the Harbor and all of a sudden we get introduced to hearts, crowns, and feathers, but still have no clue what they mean. I know the book said there were many paths and the first three were only some of them, but why do we know nothing about the other paths? I assume Zachary will be some big hero or something and that has to do with the hearts, but it would still be nice to know more. The book is vague to the point of frustrating and I almost DNFed it. At around 200 pages I was like it's finally getting good, and now it's not making sense again. Also, the only antagonist died and there is still over 100 pages left. What's going on?
•“‘And I think I might be in love with you...'” (pg 406) —> Have Zachery and Dorian spent more than a total of like six hours with each other?