The Starless Sea: A Novel Hardcover – November 5, 2019

Awww the places you go when you dive into Ms. Morgenstern’s writing. Beautiful rhythmic art penned across every page with animated characters in magical settings…all I can say is that I find the end of her works so very sad.

It’s been quite some time since Erin Morgenstern graced us with her fantastical masterpiece, The Night Circus. Eight years later, we have now been gifted with The Starless Sea. I might not love it as much as The Night Circus, but I do love it for its ability to capture stardust on the page.I believe that it is an indisputable fact that Morgenstern is a masterful writer. Her prose is lush and vivid, nuanced and elegant. Her words roll and glide on the page, coaxing her readers into the ebb and flow of her lyrical style of storytelling. Her newest book is reminiscent of the enchanting nature of The Night Circus as she skillfully guides her readers into a gripping tale of magically enticing impossibilities and what-ifs.This story is a story about stories. A book about books. A choose your own adventure that compels and disorients. It is a book lover’s gilded dream drenched in honey, a dream that spirals into endless hallways ending in multiple doors that challenge one’s sensibilities.Morgenstern creates a kaleidoscope of dreams and eerie tales, all weaved together to form a larger picture that comments on the nature of the dream and the dreamer, the creation of stories and the telling of them.I can wax poetic all day about the quality of Morgenstern’s writing, so I’ll try now to focus on the quality of the story. It’s an ambitious one, to be sure. And if I were being honest, it can be a bit of a chore to try to understand.Morgenstern’s strength lies in her world-building. The world she has created in this book is so omnipresent that it in of itself becomes a character. So much so that the actual characters get lost in the midst of it. I’d be hard-pressed to give specific details about Zachary Ezra Rawlins. Much of what happens in this book has been impressed upon him. He is a reactionary character that walks along an uncertain path that has been constructed by creatures of a cosmic origin. I can’t really describe much of who he is without the Starless Sea and its Harbors, and I can say much the same about Mirabel, Dorian, the Keeper, and many of the other characters.Usually, I’d be a bit put off by the lack of character development and proper character arcs, but the setting is so potent and captivating that I’d be making an exception just for this book. I do have one issue in that the romance between Zachary and Dorian isn’t very hard-won and it relies entirely too much on the personality of the narrative, which is overwhelmingly poetic and fantastical. It comes along too swiftly and isn’t very convincing by the whole.The Starless Sea is an intricate, wonderland of experimentation that guides readers through a journey outfitted with doors and keys, liquor and gold, honey and dreams. It is sweet and smooth, and very hard to understand. The miniature stories within the larger story are easy to connect, but the story outside the dividing paths can be a bit harder to grasp. Which is why I can see why this book might not be for everybody.It can get a bit tiresome by the end to try to hold on to and understand such a multi-dimensional narrative frame. I can’t say that I comprehended every little detail. But I appreciate the work that went into constructing such a vast world of rational irrationality. The creativity of The Starless Sea, the language, and the imagery are delightful, aesthetic treats of expression.And for that alone, I love this book. It’s not an easy thing to lose oneself to, but once you’ve fallen into this rabbit hole of pure literary madness, you have nothing to do but climb back out, slowly and surely, admiring all the twisty pathways and visual feasts Morgenstern has provided along the way. At times it may get tedious, repetitive, and even pretentious, but when you keep the focus on the setting and the overall magical nature of the prose and not think about the specifics, you can disappear for a bit and just let yourself dream.

It's not very often that I come across books that I want to read again. It's not that you have to read Starless Sea more than once to "get it", for me, it was that I wanted to, and when I did, I picked up on things I missed the first time and I enjoyed some things even more the second time.There are stories within stories and I enjoyed the moon story almost as much as I enjoyed the main story. I read a critique on here about the gay love story so I was a little apprehensive expecting Brokeback Mountain and was left baffled by that critique. As a matter of fact, one of the things that I like about Erin Morgenstern's style is that she develops romance through thought. There is longing, yes, but if it was a movie it would be rated G, not even PG, unless the idea of a same sex couple likng/thinking about each other needs parental guidance. Then again, this isn't a children's book, so unless this would make you uncomfortable, there is no need to let this keep you from reading this book.Also, I read where the drinking bothered some people. Again, this made me think,... oh no, I don't want to read about lots of drunks... and again I'm glad I didn't let this stop me from checking it out for myself. Yes there is drinking involved. I'd say think MadMen or maybe a little less. As a little something extra, I love how polite the main characters were.Another thing I read here more than once that people who liked this book liked The Night Circus more. This may be a thing of whichever book of her's you read first will be your favorite because I read Starless first, became a fan, so then bought Circus and I like Circus, but loved Starless. I know one other person who read these books in this order and he too enjoyed Starless more than Circus. I noticed this with people who've read all the Dan Brown books too. Their favorites seem to be whichever one they read first.Overall, this is a magical book that I'm glad I own because I enjoyed rereading it even more than reading it the first time around. Thank you Erin Morgenstern for this wonderful adventure.

Que missão escrever uma resenha para este livro. Para começar, Erin Morgenstern escreveu um livro de fantasia e mistério diferente de qualquer outro que já li. Sua narrativa é contemplativa. Me parece que ela colocou em páginas tudo que já quis escrever na vida, então as lias e admirava.The Starless Sea conta a história de Zachary, um jovem rapaz que encontra na biblioteca da faculdade um livro que conta sua própria história. Ele descreve não apenas seu presente, como seu passado e algum futuro. Zachary entra em uma jornada muito louca (peço desculpas pelo termo, mas é o mais perto da realidade que posso chegar) envolvendo organizações secretas e ambientes fantásticos, incluindo o misterioso Mar Sem Estrelas.“Alguém estava tentando impedir a história de terminar, eu acho. Mas a história queria um final.”Toda narrativa é embasada por mistérios. Quando temos respostas, elas nunca são evidentes, sendo ditas por metáforas, por exemplo. Zachary caminha à procura de sentido, em um universo de diversas histórias que se intercalam por trajetórias e personagens. Pode ser confuso? Sim! Mas não deixa de ser incrível!Há contos, páginas de diários, fábulas, histórias que explicam o universo, histórias anteriores de outros personagens, e até histórias que ficam difíceis até achar conexão com Zachary diretamente. Quem ama a escrita, narrativa e leituras desafiadoras pensa: Meu Deus, Erin Morgenstern é um gênio! FATO!“Nem todas as histórias falam com todos os leitores, mas todos os leitores encontram histórias que falam com eles de algum jeito e em algum momento.”Se você gosta de narrativas que te indicam “segura na minha mão e só confia”, você vai amar O Mar Sem Estrelas. Se não, talvez este não seja o livro ideal neste momento. Ou talvez, este seja só o início de sua história, mas você precisará abrir uma porta para entrar e descobrir.“Um menino no início de sua história nunca sabe que sua história está começando”Mesmo o foco sendo nos eventos e nos universos criados, O Mar sem Estrelas tem uma linda representação LGBT e de personagens não brancos. Eu li a versão em inglês, mas a Editora Morro Branco está lançando agora a edição brasileira!

The media could not be loaded.  El libro llegó muy bien y la edición es preciosa.Pedí el libro en pasta dura, es bastante grande y viene con sobrecubierta, el material de esta es muy suavecito y débito a esto (y que el libro es color oscuro) es muy fácil que queden manchitas.El libro sin cubierta viene con detalles dorados, está precioso y por dentro trae un papel muy lindo con temática de llaves muy acordé con el libro.

I loved the Night Circus and I love this one as well - or do I even like it better, because there are more cats in it?

I’ve just finished reading “The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern. While I don’t completely understand the whole story yet, so many of the parts are so beautifully written that I wore out my highlighter making notes.While reading, I sometimes thought “The Starless Sea for Dummies” would be helpful, but one of the quotes I highlighted was: “Symbols are for interpretation, not definition”, so what good would a companion guide to understand the interpretation of someone else really be?But the idea of a companion book stuck with me. Do you remember when everyone was reading “The DaVinci Code”? They eventually came out with an illustrated version of that book and it was very beautiful.Can you imagine an illustrated version of The Starless Sea, with pictures of Mirabel dressed as Max at the ball, Eleanor with her rabbit mask, Eleanor’s pirate ship, the tattoo on Dorian’s back, the painting in the room behind the office of Zachary and Dorian, the Owl King … There are so many to choose from.AND - this is a story about the son of a fortune teller. The illustrations in the Starless Sea companion book should be in the form of tarot cards!I recently had the pleasure of seeing a number of artists create very beautiful and varied tarot cards all from the same prompts provided by the spectacular artist Jenny Manno.It made me think, with regard to different interpretations, that they should not hire one artist to illustrate the companion book, rather they should hold a competition or challenge and include a variety of artists’ visions and interpretations of the images.Wouldn’t that be spectacular! What do you think, Erin Morgenstern and Doubleday? 😃

This is not the new UK cover design that is shown in the picture! How disappointing 🙄. I am sending it back. Better upload the right picture for the book!