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midici's review against another edition
5.0
**Spoilers ahead***
Before I get into the story I just want to point out that the hard copy version of this book is beautiful. Not just the jacket (which I love), but the cover pages, and the pages that announce the start of each book, and the little intricate designs next to the page numbers and under each chapter heading - it's just a gorgeous book.
So then, onto the story. Which is not a story, but a multitude of stories which all combine to create the story, about this Harbour on the Starless Sea.
A moment with meaning. A moment that changes all moments that follow.
Zachary is the character I identify with the most - who doesn't want to find a magic door an enter a fantastical never-ending library? That's my dream right there. He doesn't come in at the start of the story - he comes in at the end of someone else's story, which just happens to be the start of his.
Zach reads a mysterious book called Sweet Sorrows and we read it with him - because we too, have to fall in love with Harbour at its heyday, when it was beloved and full of life and tradition and stories of all kinds. When Zach finally arrives, the Harbour is still amazing and wondrous - but it's also decaying and empty, almost, and long past it's prime.
There's a lot of other important information in the book too of course; how Time and Fate fell in love and the owls and the stars conspired to keep them apart; about a man lost in time; about a girl who fell through a door in the woods and never stopped exploring. These are all pieces.
Dorian is a man who used to have conviction. He thought he was protecting something precious, only to discover he was inadvertently destroying it. He has his own tale to read, Fortunes and Fables. Stories about the man and the moon; about the mouse who asked a story sculptor to hide Fate's heart; about three swords, only one of which can kill the owl king.
Dorian and Zach both have pieces to a puzzle but neither of them have a full answer, and Mirabel and the Keeper don't seem keen to explain it to them. There's other parts of the story as well: The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, the star shaped nightmares Eleanor scattered throughout the Harbour, the paintings of the future Allegra painted and then left behind.
*****
I'm used to stories so I thought I knew where this quest was going: Dorian would take the sword to kill the Owl King. Zach would find Simon, lost in time, and reunite him with Eleanor (who isn't-really Eleanor). They would reunite and present Fate with the heart that had been hidden for safe-keeping. Neat fairy-tale sort of ending.
But Mirabel had been conspiring to write a new ending. This particular story had gone on long enough. I might have this wrong, but in a way I think the of the bees as little gods - they make the honey of the Starless Sea, the stuff that stories come from and flow back into. They create them the way they create beehives, and when the story is over they leave and start again. Except this time they were prevented from doing that, they were locked away instead, until Mirabel sent them a key - until she sent them Zach. Dorian didn't need to slay the Owl King (who heralded the change) - he needed to be tricked into killing the story itself.
*****
When we got to Kat's notebooks I was worried. Worried about Zach and Dorian, mostly. And like Kat I wasn't sure I could trust that a happy ending was coming. But Kat - clever, observant, a story sculptor in her own right even if just here in the regular world - Kat keeps looking. And then Kat finds a door, to a brand new Harbour on the Starless Sea, waiting to be found. And when she gets there - or maybe after she has been there for a while - a ship is going to sail in from the sea. And on it is going to be two men who saved each other (one of whom Kat has been looking for), an explorer with no name, and the lost man who has been reunited with her.
****
I loved how all of the stories within this story worked together to tell the whole. I loved the references to other stories, video games, poets, and literary critics. I loved how vivid everything was when described - I felt like I could paint whole scenes from this book, I pictured them so strongly.
I was entranced with all the different "types" of stories, the ephemeral ones, the stone carved ones, the performative ones, all of them just as lovely and important as the ones in books.
I LOVE the bees, they were excellent, but like Zach I was so upset that everything was ending. It almost felt like a betrayal, to arrive so late and have everything undone before he (and us along with him) got to experience it. Also it felt a bit like the book was mocking me, I identified so strongly with Zach at that moment.
There's more I could say about this book but it's already a very long recap/review. I am going to re-read it at some point when I'm no longer sad that it's over, and I'm going to fall in love with it all over again.
Before I get into the story I just want to point out that the hard copy version of this book is beautiful. Not just the jacket (which I love), but the cover pages, and the pages that announce the start of each book, and the little intricate designs next to the page numbers and under each chapter heading - it's just a gorgeous book.
So then, onto the story. Which is not a story, but a multitude of stories which all combine to create the story, about this Harbour on the Starless Sea.
A moment with meaning. A moment that changes all moments that follow.
Zachary is the character I identify with the most - who doesn't want to find a magic door an enter a fantastical never-ending library? That's my dream right there. He doesn't come in at the start of the story - he comes in at the end of someone else's story, which just happens to be the start of his.
Zach reads a mysterious book called Sweet Sorrows and we read it with him - because we too, have to fall in love with Harbour at its heyday, when it was beloved and full of life and tradition and stories of all kinds. When Zach finally arrives, the Harbour is still amazing and wondrous - but it's also decaying and empty, almost, and long past it's prime.
There's a lot of other important information in the book too of course; how Time and Fate fell in love and the owls and the stars conspired to keep them apart; about a man lost in time; about a girl who fell through a door in the woods and never stopped exploring. These are all pieces.
Dorian is a man who used to have conviction. He thought he was protecting something precious, only to discover he was inadvertently destroying it. He has his own tale to read, Fortunes and Fables. Stories about the man and the moon; about the mouse who asked a story sculptor to hide Fate's heart; about three swords, only one of which can kill the owl king.
Dorian and Zach both have pieces to a puzzle but neither of them have a full answer, and Mirabel and the Keeper don't seem keen to explain it to them. There's other parts of the story as well: The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, the star shaped nightmares Eleanor scattered throughout the Harbour, the paintings of the future Allegra painted and then left behind.
*****
I'm used to stories so I thought I knew where this quest was going: Dorian would take the sword to kill the Owl King. Zach would find Simon, lost in time, and reunite him with Eleanor (who isn't-really Eleanor). They would reunite and present Fate with the heart that had been hidden for safe-keeping. Neat fairy-tale sort of ending.
But Mirabel had been conspiring to write a new ending. This particular story had gone on long enough. I might have this wrong, but in a way I think the of the bees as little gods - they make the honey of the Starless Sea, the stuff that stories come from and flow back into. They create them the way they create beehives, and when the story is over they leave and start again. Except this time they were prevented from doing that, they were locked away instead, until Mirabel sent them a key - until she sent them Zach. Dorian didn't need to slay the Owl King (who heralded the change) - he needed to be tricked into killing the story itself.
*****
When we got to Kat's notebooks I was worried. Worried about Zach and Dorian, mostly. And like Kat I wasn't sure I could trust that a happy ending was coming. But Kat - clever, observant, a story sculptor in her own right even if just here in the regular world - Kat keeps looking. And then Kat finds a door, to a brand new Harbour on the Starless Sea, waiting to be found. And when she gets there - or maybe after she has been there for a while - a ship is going to sail in from the sea. And on it is going to be two men who saved each other (one of whom Kat has been looking for), an explorer with no name, and the lost man who has been reunited with her.
****
I loved how all of the stories within this story worked together to tell the whole. I loved the references to other stories, video games, poets, and literary critics. I loved how vivid everything was when described - I felt like I could paint whole scenes from this book, I pictured them so strongly.
I was entranced with all the different "types" of stories, the ephemeral ones, the stone carved ones, the performative ones, all of them just as lovely and important as the ones in books.
I LOVE the bees, they were excellent, but like Zach I was so upset that everything was ending. It almost felt like a betrayal, to arrive so late and have everything undone before he (and us along with him) got to experience it. Also it felt a bit like the book was mocking me, I identified so strongly with Zach at that moment.
There's more I could say about this book but it's already a very long recap/review. I am going to re-read it at some point when I'm no longer sad that it's over, and I'm going to fall in love with it all over again.
gallagirl's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
_eddydreaming's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Erin Morgenstern, my queen.
dembury's review against another edition
5.0
I've been trying to type up a review that would properly express how much I connected with this book but the words just aren't there. What I CAN say is this "The Starless Sea" is beautifully written, achingly wistful, and just creates such a fascinating world of stories that really spoke to me in a multitude of ways. I can absolutely see how people wouldn't like this book; it's a bit weird, and it doesn't provide a bunch of upfront answers and conclusions, plus the narratives sort of hop all around at points. And I feel like that should annoy me but it didn't at all, and I loved that I almost didn't know what I was going to get when I turned the page. I really think certain books come to people at the right moment in their lives, and this was one of the books for me.
jessmbark's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
dijira's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mparkerfl's review against another edition
5.0
Magical storytelling!
I loved this book. Erin Morgenstern is a master story teller. She developed such a magic and detailed world and the storyline was beautiful.
I loved this book. Erin Morgenstern is a master story teller. She developed such a magic and detailed world and the storyline was beautiful.
tckcallahan's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful and captivating, once again Erin Morgenstern is a magician with her words. Such a delightful tale
yael_marie's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
chaptersofmads's review against another edition
3.0
“We are all stardust and stories.”
No book has ever been recommended to me as much as this one, which made me excited and hesitant in equal measure. Considering the three star rating, I guess that was fair.
Like with The Night Circus, I completely see why everyone loves this one as much as they do. The writing was mystical and lovely, the book as a whole was a love-letter to the magic of stories and possibility. Time and Fate are central themes of this book and both are utilized in random and inexplicable ways, tugging the story along even when it doesn't make sense. Zachary is a lovely, relatable protagonist for most readers - kind, with a quiet sort of bravery.
However. It's also a bit of a mess.
I know - to some extent - this is purposeful. It's the point, the central heart of the story but I still wish things had been at least slightly coherent. It's a hard line to walk, creating a story with so many elements and wishing to leave it open-ended in such a magical way. I respect and understand that.
But by the end, I kind of felt like the entire book had been pointless. Instead of not getting all the answers, there are no answers.
There's also the thing with the dialogue and relationships feeling incredibly awkward and forced to me. The insane amount of Harry Potter references aside, I found almost all of the relationships in this book really uncomfortable? I haven't seen anyone else say that, so maybe it's just me, but the point still stands.
With all that, it bears saying that there were parts of this book that made me feel like it could be a five star read. There were also parts that were very much one star material. So as I critique it, I also want to say that there were parts of this book I found spectacular. The author was capable of capturing a kind of magic with her words that few authors can and I recognized how special that was.
Overall, I can see why so many people recommended this to me and they were right; I did enjoy it. Just not as much as I was hoping to. I wholeheartedly understand why this is as beloved as it is. I recognize that the praise is deserved, even if it isn't my favorite.
No book has ever been recommended to me as much as this one, which made me excited and hesitant in equal measure. Considering the three star rating, I guess that was fair.
Like with The Night Circus, I completely see why everyone loves this one as much as they do. The writing was mystical and lovely, the book as a whole was a love-letter to the magic of stories and possibility. Time and Fate are central themes of this book and both are utilized in random and inexplicable ways, tugging the story along even when it doesn't make sense. Zachary is a lovely, relatable protagonist for most readers - kind, with a quiet sort of bravery.
However. It's also a bit of a mess.
I know - to some extent - this is purposeful. It's the point, the central heart of the story but I still wish things had been at least slightly coherent. It's a hard line to walk, creating a story with so many elements and wishing to leave it open-ended in such a magical way. I respect and understand that.
But by the end, I kind of felt like the entire book had been pointless. Instead of not getting all the answers, there are no answers.
There's also the thing with the dialogue and relationships feeling incredibly awkward and forced to me. The insane amount of Harry Potter references aside, I found almost all of the relationships in this book really uncomfortable? I haven't seen anyone else say that, so maybe it's just me, but the point still stands.
With all that, it bears saying that there were parts of this book that made me feel like it could be a five star read. There were also parts that were very much one star material. So as I critique it, I also want to say that there were parts of this book I found spectacular. The author was capable of capturing a kind of magic with her words that few authors can and I recognized how special that was.
Overall, I can see why so many people recommended this to me and they were right; I did enjoy it. Just not as much as I was hoping to. I wholeheartedly understand why this is as beloved as it is. I recognize that the praise is deserved, even if it isn't my favorite.