The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern first caught my eye by its unique title and the beautiful art cover. Yes I know, do not judge a book by a cover but we do it anyways. Even with those two things going for the book, what made me choose this book to read was the fact that Morgenstern is the author of The Night Circus, a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and was happy that she wrote another novel. Read our book review below!
The Starless Sea: Summary
To briefly summarize this book, it is about a boy named Zachary Ezra Rawlins who is trying to reach the Starless Sea, a place he came across at the library and pursues it even though he doesn’t know if it even exists or not. What follows is a journey to preserving stories and helping other stories find their ending.
This is a shorter than usual summary because the novel is straight forward. A lot of the stuff in the book revolves around a library that exists in another dimension. And Morgenstern builds a lot of mythology which I do not want to ruin. The best part about this book is the storytelling aspect and there’s no way I can do it justice,.
Commentary
What appealed the most to me about this book was that it captured the beauty of stories and story telling. As someone who loves to read and loves hearing stories, I was captivated by this book. Morgenstern writes about what we love about stories and you can tell how much she cherishes them.
While I enjoyed the overall story, I really enjoyed the short stories Morgenstern told from scratch. She created her own mythology that sound like they are told in cultures that have come and gone. But no, they are stories Morgenstern wrote just for this book and the threads she sows from one story to another works perfectly. She is a master of her craft and I recommend reading this book if you love mythology and love novels about novels.
This is a book you will try to finish in one reading because that is how captivating the story is. You want to find out how everything is connected and while there are hints, the bigger picture is grander than you would have thought. Not everyone is going to enjoy this book because its a book about books more than anything else.
Conclusion
This was surpringly a great read and those are some of the best reads im my opinion. Morgenstern is a talented writer who is becoming a go to of mine. Her books are innovative and her story-telling is as good as any author out there. Happy reading!
Thank you. I have looked at this book and was unsure about it. Now, I am putting on by want to read list.
Glad to help. It’s a great novel and if you like or love books, then you’ll really like and appreciate it