The Starless Sea

Ik was absoluut dol op de beelden die dit boek opriep. Het was weelderig en stroperig en adembenemend.
De tekst trok me binnen, hypnotiserend en suggestief, en voerde me mee naar een wereld waar boeken meer zijn dan woorden op papier, meer dan alleen de verbeelding van een geboeide lezer.

Ik heb naar mijn doen heel lang gedaan om dit boek uit te lezen, maar dit mag in dit geval totaal niet als een afbreuk gezien worden. Erin Morgenstern heeft echt een flair met woorden, waardoor haar teksten loom en slaperig maken, maar tegelijkertijd enorm inspirerend en uitdagend werken. Ik wou voor altijd in het boek blijven drijven, soezerig en geborgen.

2.5 I am so torn over this rating. This was the most exquisitely written novel. Magical, whimsical, picturesque. I adored the stories within stories (especially the ballad of Simon and Eleanor) and enjoyed the quirky characters. But I still can't tell you what actually happened?? Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough (I listened to half of it on audio, and found I was losing the thread - so switched to the printed version). Am I the only one who feels this way? If someone asked me how it ended, I would have to shrug my shoulders and say “haven't the foggiest - but I loved the cherry blossom forest and confetti ocean.”

I was super intrigued by this book. It's filled with little mysteries that slowly unravel to reveal a fantastic and imaginative web of stories within stories. The interludes are beautifully written and have an elemental quality to them that makes you feel like they've always existed. They're poetic and very fairy-tale. I love that kind of thing, so naturally these sections really stood out to me. That being said, this book took a lot of effort to get through, it's slow and repetitive (on purpose) but that didn't make it easier to finish. This book asks a lot of interesting questions about stories, what makes a story, and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, etc. then leaves it up to the reader to determine a lot of those answers on their own... which could be a feature or a bug depending on what you hope to get from this book.
I think I would have loved this as a collection of enigmatic short stories, but despite my excitement around the concept, the plot of this book left me a little cold. I liked it but had a hard time connecting with the characters and the end of the book was kind of like a fever dream that was so all over the place that I had to reread it like 5 times to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I was expecting something more like Gaiman's Neverwhere and while similar in a lot of ways, that's ultimately not what this is. I'd recommend this book more as a reflective read, take you time, don't rush it. The journey is beautiful but I'm not sure what the destination was supposed to be.

4.5: I loved how the story flowed, like a puzzle, with all of these letters/stories. It can get quite confusing, and I'm not the best at connecting the dots –I try, but I still enjoy not thinking too hard about it and allowing the story to unfold itself. I loved, loved the writing throughout the whole book ;-;

Pros: The short chapters really helped – I just wanted to keep going! The mysteries of the bee, sword, and key continued on, and putting the pieces together was fun, despite being a little confusing at times.

Cons: I think the only downfall, and what I see in reviews, is that there wasn't really a strong antagonist/strong plot. There was a storyline, and I was satisfied, but I felt like it could've used something a little more. Like Allegra's death was so.. sudden and out of the blue. and the idea of the Harbors and the Starless Sea was there, yet there were many unanswered questions. Perhaps it's to allow the reader to imagine and think, creating stories upon the stories provided, and I'm okay with that too.

Enjoyed it, loved it, would love to reread it some day!

The Starless Sea is the most beautifully written book I've read in a long time. An instant favorite. I read a library copy but I'm going to buy my own because I loved it too much and I feel like I could read it again and pick up on new things I missed the first time.

It was a lovely ode to stories and story telling. At first I didn't want each chapter of Zachary's story to be broken up by a small story, not because I didn't love the little story, but because I was so interested in what was going on with Zachary. But that didn't last long as I pretty quickly started looking forward to those chapter breaks and the intriguing stories I'd get to read. Everything was so engrossing that I could almost forget the “main story” while reading those “side stories”, and then I could almost forget the side stories while reading the main. 

And on that note, I love that I went in thinking the book was mostly about Zachary and his adventures but it ended up being about so, so much more. I guess it could be argued that a great many books are about more than their main character, but by the end, Zachary didn't feel as much like the MC as he did in the beginning. Everything was the MC, I cared about everything as much as I cared about him. In a lot of stories, side characters and side stories aren't as important but I love that EVERYTHING is important in The Starless Sea.

Oh! and I liked all the video game references. I understood all of them, and I could tell Erin Morganstern played video games too so that was fun.

I loved, loved, loved The Night Circus. I loved it so much that I pre-ordered The Starless Sea, which I think was my first pre-order since Deathly Hallows. It had a lot going for it: her tremendous pedigree, an intriguing premise (someone finds a library book describing an obscure event in their childhood they never told anyone about), and a setting I loved (a massive, magical underground library). And it's true that her same pretty writing and imagery is still here, and that she has a great understanding of books and curiosity.

But overall, this was a frustrating experience. I thought about quitting a few times mid-read (which I haven't done since high school), and I really wish I had. It took forever to get through the 500 pages, which should have been my sign. I had no investment in the characters, even the “main” one. I think she was going for a mysterious approach for them, or even a “see yourself filling the role” protagonist. But instead I felt like I didn't know them at all, or have any real grasp of what they wanted. I hoped that without interesting characters, the plot would drive the action, but I was really disappointed to find out that wasn't true. There were lots of pretty interludes in the form of short stories / parables, but the main plot never really got moving. I think the “plot” was supposed to be poetic, but instead it all just felt arbitrary since I didn't have any real information or buy-in. And also, in a smaller annoyance, there are so many run-on sentences that it took me out of the writing a lot.

If you want to read beautiful, aesthetic, fantasy-tinged romantic literature, go read The Night Circus instead. If you want to read an enchanting story about stories, read Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield, or maybe Stephen King's Wizard and Glass or The Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss instead. I still believe in Erin Morgenstern, and I'll read her next book. But I don't recommend this one.

I picked this up blind because I liked the author's first book. I was into it for a while, and it has the same distinctive, dreamlike prose style as The Night Circus, but unfortunately I didn't think it measured up. It presents a fascinating world, but it just kept getting more and more out there without adequately grounding itself, and feels too much like its rules were being made up as the author went along.

It's also got a bunch of... are video games mainstream enough yet to call them pop culture references? that are authentic, but don't really add anything. It's a small gripe, but I don't love author self-inserts like that, in the same way that I don't care for Jim Butcher's penchant for aikido references.

When I really love a book it's hard for me to put into words exactly why I love it. I just know that I think I love this book more than I loved Night Circus which is a book I adore. I love the repeated bee, key, sword references and how they ties into the story. I loved the little story excerpts between chapters of the main story. I loved how the tradition, history, rituals, and mysteries of the starless sea unfold and that we discover things along with our main character. I love that there are multiple romances happening in the book. The beginning of Zachary's story is a little bit slow but I was fully onboard the entire time and it only got better as I read.

I sailed the starless sea and breathed the haunted air and I had a great time!

This book was incredibly stunning. Every single moment in this story I felt completely wrapped up in the story. I lost myself in the writing. By the time I reached the end, I felt so sad to be leaving it. I became very attached to every single character and felt my chest tighten at the thought of saying goodbye to them. I highly recommend it. especially to people who have a strong love for books.

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.

2.5/3 stars. I loved the concept of this story and loved the fantasy elements. But I found the execution so frustrating and disappointing. The last third of the book seriously needed to be re worked. Up until we got the diary of Zachary's friend Kat, I was on board. But after that it just lost me I am afraid! I wanted to love this book. But the last third undid all the enjoyment that I had been building up to earlier in the book.

I love this book. Extreme Narnia vibes, except written in modernized English with adult concepts and themes. A well written adventurous puzzle book that answers questions as you read and doesn't dump all the solutions at the end. It's a couple pages shy of 500, but I loved every second of reading it. Perfect escape book. I may have gotten teary a few times.

This was quite a magical read, a mesh of some of my favourite fantasy novels into one sort of. Stories within stories, characters and places all whirling about in a pool of confusion (not in a bad way).

If you don't mind the feeling of being whooshed around in a whirlpool where everything blurs out until you're no longer aware of a coherent structure, you might enjoy this book as it sweeps you off your feet. Maybe you could imagine being lost in the middle of a Starless Sea with no sense of direction or time - this was how I felt for most of my reading experience.

I just finished it. I'm ugly crying right now.I love everything about this book. Even the ending, because... it never ends _ It is a never-ending story. She managed to write a real never-ending story! (Except this: “I don't jest about tea. I have Earl Grey and peppermint and some sort of immunityboosting thing with ginger”.Urgh. Earl grey is flavored. Pergamot isn't everyone's flavor. I bet you don't have milk either. So you have no tea. Tea IS a serious business. Herbal “tea” is not tea.)This book feels more real than reality. I can't believe it didn't exist a year ago. I can't believe it wasn't part of my life a week ago. (I read 80% of it the last two days.)BTW, to enhance the reading experience, I recommend you read these before you read this:- [b:The Neverending Story 27712 The Neverending Story Michael Ende https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554230952l/27712.SY75.jpg 1122661]- [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1417900879l/13662.SY75.jpg 1322146]- [b:The Catcher in the Rye 5107 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. 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The night circus is one of my top 5 reads of all time. I had crazy expectations of this book...

Don't get me wrong, it was good but it didn't feel as cohesive as the night circus did. It felt like too many strings and too many people to keep up with. Like it was trying too hard. The storyline was phenomenal but there was just too much going on and that ruined it a bit for me.

4 stars