From the Bookshelf of Challenge Corner…

The Starless Sea

Erin Morgenstern

Start date: November 1, 2019

Finish date: November 30, 2019

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jul 04, 2025 Priya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2025, towers-priya

I loved The Night Circus and the beautiful world the author created so I was looking forward to reading this book. However, this one didn't quite work because even at the end of 500 odd pages, I still don't quite understand what it was all about!

The writing and imagery were fabulous and I was fully prepared to be immersed in the story but unfortunately the threads just didn't connect to tell a cohesive narrative.

Zachary Ezra Rawlings, who is always referred to by his full name (for no good rea I loved The Night Circus and the beautiful world the author created so I was looking forward to reading this book. However, this one didn't quite work because even at the end of 500 odd pages, I still don't quite understand what it was all about!

The writing and imagery were fabulous and I was fully prepared to be immersed in the story but unfortunately the threads just didn't connect to tell a cohesive narrative.

Zachary Ezra Rawlings, who is always referred to by his full name (for no good reason), finds an anonymous book in the library which seems to contain his own story and a door he did not open in childhood. His curiosity leads him to seek out this door and the subterranean world it opens up for him is full of books and paintings and sculptures and stories and hints about the mysterious Starless Sea. He encounters a group of people called the Collector's club who seem to be trying to keep people out of this world and close all the doors leading into it. That's the whole book!

The fairytale like stories that are included at intervals were very interesting and some of them even blended into the main plot but for the most part I was lost in a sea of symbols, bees, keys and swords. I have no idea why all of these people were where they were and doing what they did! The romance between Zachary and Dorian,a man he meets in this underground world seems abrupt and I couldn't really relate to it either because it seems to suddenly come into focus in the middle of all the other inexplicable things that keep happening. The main issue was the repetitive nature of the story and how it kept going round and round with no obvious purpose.

The complex world building should ultimately lead to some understanding of its purpose at least in the lives of the protagonists and that didn't happen for me. Though I can see the links between the different parts of the book after finishing it, I still don't get the point of it all and that is very frustrating!

I really enjoy the magical realism genre and so was reluctant to give up on this book, hoping to be rewarded at the end but other than the fantastic writing which conjured up some remarkable visuals, this was a bit of a disappointing read. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 23, 2020 Jocelyn rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooking, straight-outta-the-library

To be honest I have no idea what I just read. It was beautifully written, but there was just so much going on that I soon found that it was difficult to keep up with. This was pretty much my feeling after The Night Circus, too.

The main story is constantly interjected with shorter fables, often right when the narrative starts getting really interesting. It's a bit jarring and by the time you get back to the main story the flow is broken and you feel like you're starting all over again.

It's an a ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2021 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-on-my-kindle, adult, lgbt, for-a-challenge, 3-stars, would-rather-watch-paint-dry, fantasy, e-book, look-at-the-pretty-cover, romance

3 stars. Beautiful and vivid writing and I highlighted a lot of quotes from this but that isn’t enough to make an interesting read. The plot is paper thin and not that engaging. It had its moments but overall I just found myself bored. The characters didn’t have much to them but I did like the character of Zachary. He was precious and adorable. Dorian was just there and I really wanted him to have more of a personality. I didn't get the chemistry between them. Wasn't feeling it at all.

I honestl ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 28, 2019 Lee rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Wow. My brain hurts still trying to process all of this and I'm eager to reread this one day once I've processed this more so I can process it all over again.

The Starless Sea is a beautifully written novel that can leave you confused as you try to piece the story together. It is a story filled with stories that left me eager to tie everything together. I wanted to see how all these characters were intertwined and how they fit in. It was beautiful and truly captivating.

Throughout so much of thi ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 10, 2022 Mucia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, magical-realism

I wish I could rate this a 3.5, but I'll bump it to a 4 for the many quotes that I have tabbed!

Okay, I need to get the negatives off my chest. My feelings on this book are all over the place and I thought this would be a short review but jokes on me.

The lack of plot is what cannot let me love this book as much as I want to… The point of the story is stories themselves and while it leads to stunning prose and metaphors, I could not be fully invested without a main plot. The characters didn't fee I wish I could rate this a 3.5, but I'll bump it to a 4 for the many quotes that I have tabbed!

Okay, I need to get the negatives off my chest. My feelings on this book are all over the place and I thought this would be a short review but jokes on me.

The lack of plot is what cannot let me love this book as much as I want to… The point of the story is stories themselves and while it leads to stunning prose and metaphors, I could not be fully invested without a main plot. The characters didn't feel fully fleshed out. The romances felt forced, as did some of the friendships. The book dealt more with themes and ideas, and it read half the time like a collection of short stories forcing itself to be cohesive. I think it would've actually worked really well as a myths/fables book that took place in this universe. If she ever decides to come out with that, I would read it in a heartbeat!

The last 80 or so pages made me rethink everything. Actually, the last 15 pages made me tempted to raise it to a 5 star rating, because I finally understood where it was coming from. A book is just a set of pages that isn't able to tell a complete story, so we as readers shouldn't be trying to decipher the entire story from the pages before us. There's always after the endings happen. I love the themes she was going for: Choice, Loss, Time, Fate. Every moment is a part of a story that is being told and every ending is another beginning. That the readers themselves are a part of a bigger story that's happening "beyond the pages."

“Sometimes life gets weird. You can try to ignore it or you can see where the weird takes you. You open a door. What happens next?”

And that quote above is basically what this entire book was. A constant falling into circumstances based on decisions made, and paths opened. This book relied heavily on its readers being willing to read a book about the love of stories and following down the rabbit hole of chapters we could not ground ourselves in. This book was for dreamers, wanderers, readers, story-tellers, the curious ones who will always choose to see what's behind the next door. If you are one of those readers, then just give the book a read because you'll likely appreciate the quotes throughout.

“I think people came here… in search of something. Even if we didn’t know what it was. Something more. Something to wonder at. Someplace to belong. We’re here to wander through other people’s stories, searching for our own. To Seeking…. To Finding.”
...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 15, 2020 Melanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: queer-rep, gay-rep, owned

Rounding up from a 4.5

This book is so confusing, but I know I'd love it even more with a reread so I could catch all the foreshadowing and metaphors so expertly woven into every detail of this story.

This book is the kind of book you want to save a quote from every page. It is so lyrical and beautiful, and there is so much meaning packed into every part of it.

I absolutely loved the intricate world building throughout the book and the layers upon layers of story in the world's and books and times ...more

1 like · Like · see review