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k8griffin 's review for:
The Starless Sea
by Erin Morgenstern
I'm torn between giving this 2 and 3 stars.
I read Morgenstern's The Night Circus years ago on the recommendation of one of my students. I was hesitant, but gave it a shot and really enjoyed it. Fantasy is not normally my go-to genre, but she was able to create such an exciting, detailed world of magic that made me think that maybe I *am* a fan of fantasy after all.
The Starless Sea left me questioning whether I actually do enjoy the genre or if The Night Circus was a fluke.
The Starless Sea started off a little rocky. From the first few pages it was very wordy, and heavily descriptive, to the point where I had to go back and re-read sentences, paragraphs and sometimes entire pages, because I ether felt like I'd missed something or I'd zoned out while reading and wasn't retaining any information. Eventually I did fall into a groove, despite the fact that there was a good amount of jumping around - the main story, a sub-story, two books with in this book, lots of metaphors and characters with multiple names. However, around page 300, I felt really disengaged. For about 100 pages I continued reading hoping it would get back on track or I could find something to hang onto. It felt like such a slog. I was falling asleep while reading it in the middle of the day. I will say it picked up again in the last quarter of the book, but at that point I was just reading to finish.
All that being said, I can definitely see how a person into fantasy literature might really enjoy this book. The characters are enjoyable and Morganstern paints a vivid world that is as unpredictable as it is beautiful. I think maybe it just wasn't for me.
I read Morgenstern's The Night Circus years ago on the recommendation of one of my students. I was hesitant, but gave it a shot and really enjoyed it. Fantasy is not normally my go-to genre, but she was able to create such an exciting, detailed world of magic that made me think that maybe I *am* a fan of fantasy after all.
The Starless Sea left me questioning whether I actually do enjoy the genre or if The Night Circus was a fluke.
The Starless Sea started off a little rocky. From the first few pages it was very wordy, and heavily descriptive, to the point where I had to go back and re-read sentences, paragraphs and sometimes entire pages, because I ether felt like I'd missed something or I'd zoned out while reading and wasn't retaining any information. Eventually I did fall into a groove, despite the fact that there was a good amount of jumping around - the main story, a sub-story, two books with in this book, lots of metaphors and characters with multiple names. However, around page 300, I felt really disengaged. For about 100 pages I continued reading hoping it would get back on track or I could find something to hang onto. It felt like such a slog. I was falling asleep while reading it in the middle of the day. I will say it picked up again in the last quarter of the book, but at that point I was just reading to finish.
All that being said, I can definitely see how a person into fantasy literature might really enjoy this book. The characters are enjoyable and Morganstern paints a vivid world that is as unpredictable as it is beautiful. I think maybe it just wasn't for me.