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A review by chaptersofmads
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
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.