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challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual content
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
TLDR: Slow paced, confusing af, but also, kinda good? It’s like an onion, many layers, def not for everyone. Give it a try though! :)
Definitely a book when you want to slow down and savor a story.
I read with the audiobook and i’m not sure I would’ve made it through without it. The writing is extremely descriptive, but I did feel like I was transported to another place!
I don’t usually go for slow paced books, but I enjoyed this one. Though, I was confused for a decent chunk of the story, and I didn’t particularly like the ending. But, this book is about books and storytelling. You don’t always get the perfect ending. To me, this book was a reminder that there are lessons you can take away from everything, good or bad.
Read this book if you’re in the mood for overly descriptive, magical writing and a slow pace that keeps you wrapped up in another world! :)
Definitely a book when you want to slow down and savor a story.
I read with the audiobook and i’m not sure I would’ve made it through without it. The writing is extremely descriptive, but I did feel like I was transported to another place!
I don’t usually go for slow paced books, but I enjoyed this one. Though, I was confused for a decent chunk of the story, and I didn’t particularly like the ending. But, this book is about books and storytelling. You don’t always get the perfect ending. To me, this book was a reminder that there are lessons you can take away from everything, good or bad.
Read this book if you’re in the mood for overly descriptive, magical writing and a slow pace that keeps you wrapped up in another world! :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Murder
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Gore, Murder
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury
I can’t really explain why I rated this book as high as I did. The vibes were immaculate, but I feel like I don’t really understand the plot enough to pass judgment on it.
This book is like A Series of Unfortunate Events for adults. There’s secret societies and schisms and betrayals and replacements and (doomed?) love and loss and a love of stories and reading and knowledge and mystery and improbable events and the thieving of objects and the lengths which people will go to get them back and there’s fortune tellers and literary references and ordinary people and imagined futures and I could go on and on and on.
Despite being the cause of most of my confusion while reading, I enjoyed the way that the stories within this story began to blend, to the point where I as the reader couldn’t quite tell where one story ended and the other began. It was like I was being buried in the story, covered in layer after layer of words. As a lover of stories, this was ideal for me.
This book is like A Series of Unfortunate Events for adults. There’s secret societies and schisms and betrayals and replacements and (doomed?) love and loss and a love of stories and reading and knowledge and mystery and improbable events and the thieving of objects and the lengths which people will go to get them back and there’s fortune tellers and literary references and ordinary people and imagined futures and I could go on and on and on.
Despite being the cause of most of my confusion while reading, I enjoyed the way that the stories within this story began to blend, to the point where I as the reader couldn’t quite tell where one story ended and the other began. It was like I was being buried in the story, covered in layer after layer of words. As a lover of stories, this was ideal for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Blood
Minor: Murder
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The prose for The Starless Sea was very soft and poetic and yet it came off very artificial to me and made the story much more difficult to digest than it had to be. I definitely agree that this book strongly displays a love for fairytales, stories, as well as the telling of stories, but I would be hard-pressed to describe the plot because the main focus is very much on the writing style. Another reason for that would also be due to the novel being so journey-heavy. You spend most of the novel with Zachary on a journey towards an objective that never really gets revealed to readers, and it's page after page of discovery and yet you never really learn anything concrete, not until it starts to conclude. And for this reason, there also isn't much character or relationship development. There is a romance between Zachary and another character, but you never see that development in the pages of the book. The love interest starts off the story already kind of in love with Zachary, they don't spend much time together, and even less time having any sort of conversation, and so I'm not interested in their love because the author never gave me the chance to get emotionally invested in it.
This book is written with fables and short stories interspersed between the main plot of Zachary in modern day, where you later come to find out that everything is connected and somehow leading to Zachary. However I didn't feel like the short stories were weaved into the overarching plot that well, and so my interest in each separate section would fluctuate, and then it just slowly tapered off towards the end.
The writing is beautiful for sure but it felt very empty and lacking.
The writing is beautiful for sure but it felt very empty and lacking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content