Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Starless Sea

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

33 reviews

hazychapters's review

3.75

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

First thing first, after finishing this book, I immediately search on Google "the starless sea ending explained". Because yeah, this book is one of them which make you feel dumb after finishing them.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing is beautiful, the characters loveable, the whole thing incredibly well constructed and imagined. But the thing is, I was clueless during the whole story, I understood very little and because of that, I’m mad.

And because I was completely lost sometimes and found some passages a bit boring, I put aside this book for days a few times, and I ended up even more clueless. So yeah, it was a ride, I honestly don’t know how to feel about this book. Maybe it wasn’t the right moment for me to read this book 😅

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gisblanketfort's review

5.0

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I knew this book deserved five stars before I even finished. The writing was so beautiful and whimsical and ethereal and poetic! The stories within the story were so interested and

it was SO cool that they contributed something to the plot and were not just random stories (I would not mind if it was the latter tho).

Zachary was really relatable and funny and it was nice to see him being more independent from Sweet Sorrows as the story goes, following his own path. I wish his relationship with Dorian was more developed but, again, I don't mind at all they were still cute and ofc they made me cry! I was so happy to see a specific side character(iykyk) have the spotlight towards the end I love them so much!! ALSO the aesthetic of this book!!! It's not exactly dark academia but kinda close I don't know really xD But what I kniw is that I want to go there SO BADLY!! An underground library, full of ballrooms mysteries and CATS?? SIGN ME UP RIGHT NOW!!

Content Warnings

ashleyreads88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The Starless Sea is a beautiful book. At times, I found it confusing due to the multiple storylines. The storylines did all come together nicely. Another thing that was confusing at times was all the different characters and their stories. I did enjoy this book, and how much of a dark, mysterious adventure it was.

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kueki's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dannythestreet's review

5.0

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This whole book is a metaphor (but still a book). You are just trying to keep up with all these symbols until you give up and sink into it. That was a wonderful experience for me, the writing style is the best thing that can happen to anyone and the atmosphere of the book makes you never want to get back to the real life. The character dynamic was also just magical and I'm glad I went on this journey with them

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traeumenvonbuechern's review

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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: Complicated

CN: alcohol, death, fire, suicidal ideation, forced drug use, removal of a tongue, branding, kidnapping, drowning, animal death

If this book was a smell, it would be the smell of old books. If this book was a taste, it would be the taste of honey. If this book was a feeling, it would be the feeling of finally finding a place where you belong.

I read and loved The Night Circus when I was younger, but this book... this book made me feel things I didn't know I was capable of feeling. It's magical, atmospheric and breathtakingly beautiful. It's a story about pirates, bees, lovers, swords, doors and keys. But most importantly, it's a story about stories.

This book is definitely not for everyone. Some will find it too long, some will find it too confusing, some will just find it boring. But for me, The Starless Sea is the perfect book.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional slow-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: Complicated

i really, very greatly enjoyed this book. the book is basically a set of artfully woven stories from the past, present, future, and fairy tales that all feed into each other and all connect in literally the most beautiful ways. the characters are fleshed out. the writing is easy to read and yet poigniant. it was a little slow getting into the book because every other chapter is a "random" fairy tale which made getting to know the characters a little difficult for me, but less than half-way in, i was hooked. the romance is also magnificent and while important to the book/story, doesn't take away from the world-building or characters. my only issue with this book is that the time spent in the under-world with the starless sea takes up a LOT of time and was very confusing for me to read. i didn't quite understand what was going on (although kat's interludes helped a decent bit and were a fantastic addition to this story), and since i didn't understand, i got bored for like 75 pages. to be fair i was also never super sure what

dorian and zachary were doing in the under-world starless sea place. zachary was trying to find dorian and vice versa but there were so many strange side quests that happened, i started getting confused. i also wanted more on the Zachary/Dorian romance. i thought what was written was great, but i wanted more on where it came from. why were they so in love all of a sudden. i think that this book could have benefitted from additional scenes in which we got to see their relationship bloom a little more

. all said and done, this book is an incredible display of the author's knowledge of craft, attention to detail, and incredible mind when writing stories. she literally killed it. like every character is so important and it was beautiful and incredible, which is why i gave this book such a high rating despite my two qualms.

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