The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Amy    

Lynnie 

fantasy

Amy's Review

Zachary Ezra Rawlins discovers a story from his own life in a library book full of seemingly unconnected short stories and is, understandably, thrown for a loop. This brilliant novel follows Zachary through a magnificent adventure and is told via multiple shorter stories within a larger story.  The Starless Sea is wondrous, magical, charming, enchanting, and creative. I now place Erin Morgenstern on the same pedestal of creativity as Laini Taylor and Neil Gaiman.  She has outdone herself in conceiving this concept and successfully creating a world which is completely imaginary and real at the same time. In fact, the setting often jumps from imaginary to real seamlessly.

I’ve read many novels where I’ve felt like the author was trying too hard to be creative and the resulting novel was, therefore, a bit clunky, unpoetic, forced, and tiresome. This is not that kind of novel.  The audiobook enthralled me. I can see how some people might not appreciate the format.  It definitely requires some patience but I appreciated the crafting of the story. I don’t feel you have to wait overly long to get pulled in. Morgenstern completely immersed me in this world and I loved being there.  In fact, on several occasions, I would think about how I thought the story was going to go or made some sort of judgement in my own head about what I had just read and then one of her characters would voice the same thought/opinion!  It made me laugh out loud every time. Morgenstern was in control of her universe, had correctly understood her readers’ reactions, and acknowledged them!  What wizardry!

The Starless Sea is a book about stories and includes several obvious themes and symbols (as well as textures, tastes, and scents to tingle all the senses). But the main theme, to me, is impermanence--how good stories always include change, as does life.

While listening to the audiobook, I often backtracked to listen again to make sure I didn’t miss one delicious drop of this novel’s detail.  And before I was even done listening to it, I actually PURCHASED the novel on Kindle so that I could start it all over again and really soak up even more detail at my own speed. I need to read this again in order to fully grasp the nuances and allegories. I had previously thought I didn’t like that sort of novel. But, oh, I do like this one!  I want to know this novel intimately! I cannot remember the last time a book got under my skin like this one did. 

This audiobook featured 6 terrific narrators: Dominic Hoffman, Dion Graham, Bahni Turpin, Fiona Hardingham, Allan Corduner, and Jorjeana Marie.  They all did a great job.  I could nitpick by saying sometimes Dominic’s “narrator” voice was not emotional enough and Dion’s production made his “s” and “t” sounds almost painful to hear—too crisp.  But, these narrators gave a great performance overall so I will give them an A as an ensemble.

Lynnie's Review

I enjoyed Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus so I was eager to read her second novel. The Starless Sea is a novel about stories, how they are created, and how they are interconnected.

Told through a series of short stories that at first do not seem to relate to one another (trust me, they do) The Starless Sea jumps from the current life of Zachary Ezra Rollins, who finds his own story in a mysterious library book, to other tales of monsters, pirates, time, fate, magical libraries, and secret societies, among others. As Zachary tries to learn more about the book in which he is a character, he is led on an adventure that he could not have imagined in his wildest dreams.

There is a feeling of being unsettled while reading this book; genres and characters are constantly changing and once you think you have a handle on the connections between them, something will shift, changing the story and your perspective along the way. For me, this was the perfect escape from today's world and I was happy to put aside both common sense and reality to ride the waves of the Starless Sea. I can see though, how some people would not enjoy this journey- it can seem disjointed and confusing at times though I promise it comes together. The writing is often flowery and over-descriptive, but I enjoyed every single bit of it as it painted a vivid picture of the world that Morgenstern created. When I realized the end of the book was imminent, I admit that I stopped reading purposely each night to make the story last just a little longer as I was reluctant to turn the last page and have it end. I just wanted to stay in this story for a little longer and I'm glad that I took my time.

There are obvious and overt parallels to the idea of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which may give you some idea of the fantasy you are about to enter, but it's an original journey and one well worth taking.