Yay or Nay?: The Starless Sea (Novel)

Yeah….so the last time I read an Erin Morgenstern novel, I didn’t like it. Not because she’s a bad writer, actually far from it, I find her novels to have some of the best prose I’ve ever read. Her writing and storytelling however…to me at least, is not the best I’ve ever read. 

And hey that’s okay, I think that the wonderful thing about writing these reviews is that I get to express my opinion—and that’s all this is, an opinion. If you like her works, I can also see why. It’s just usually, her writing and stories aren’t my cup of tea. So with that said, I wanted to give her a second chance by reading her newest release, The Starless Sea, which as the title suggests, sounds pretty fucking cool. 

Did I like it? Well…er, kinda? Not really. It was more of a “meh” for me. If I had to rank it with her other story, The Night Circus— I preferred that one to this one. Let me explain! 

The Story

So, the story is a little bit complex, so let me link the GoodReads synopsis so you can get a gander: 

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.

A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.

So this premise was fucking amazing when I read it, and as usual, Morgenstern’s beautiful prose, and eccentric world building is already something that stood out to me. Those are two aspects I really enjoy about her books. Nothing is quite conventional in her worlds, and the way they are written into being is just so beautiful (anddddd with that description I’m having flashbacks to my hermeneutics class that I hated as my professor said this type of thing A LOT) 

My Thoughts

And the above, that’s exactly why I just (even though I tried) could not get into this story. Is the story what you get? Again…kinda? Not to say that the world isn’t there, or even explored. But there’s a lot of concepts, things, people, and just general systems in the world that are rushed, unexplained, or if they ARE explained, it’s still confusing. Making it hard to get invested into the initial story, since for me, I didn’t quite understand why or what we were looking for with this. What is the Starless Sea, what is this underworld around it? Who are these people? I’m sure they were explained in the novel— but the way they were explained didn’t make sense to me at all. 

For example, the story begins with a series of different perspectives, not of our main cast, but of people (notably an initiation of an acolyte of this world,a religious figure) branded with a bee, a sword, and their trials and experiences during their “initiations”. The acolyte, for instance, gets her tongue cut out, and she is then taken to be a full acolyte (or something of that ilk, she can no longer turn back). This isn’t ever followed up in the story, nor does she appear again. A bunch of these type of “interludes” break up the main premise of the story, including halfway through— Zachary’s friend Kat, who begins to keep a diary and she tries to investigate his disappearance (suggesting there may be a sequel to this novel), and again, another way through the novel, the PLOT. And no I’m not joking. There’s a love story ballad in the second third of the novel— of Eleanor and Simon, but it’s not quite fleshed out either, and while it does reappear towards the end, I’m not quite sure why it was important. Although I will say that third of the book was my favourite. 

And I suppose that’s my biggest issue with the book. The characters are fine, they’re interesting, believable, diverse, but the problem is this novel feels unfinished, and like a bunch of mini short stories threaded together to form a novel. And even when it is coherent, the rules of the world and how it works just doesn’t make sense, or is so layered you just won’t be able to keep track. Things happen in this novel for seemingly little reason— characters can’t go certain places, or exist in certain times because “reasons”. And it’s irritating to have to focus on so many levels while trying to make sense of the story. So with that said, I think that’s a rather major issue— if the core components of your story are difficult to understand, it will hinder an audience’s ability to enjoy it. Which was my biggest problem throughout reading this entire story. 

But, Morgenstern’s prose and at least, the core of the world building I could understand, was gorgeous and vivid when I read it. It was so clear that I could picture these things in my head, and when a story was told well, it was told well. I can’t fault Morgenstern for that, as I absolutely love the way she writes, and the way she designs her scenes, even if I think that her storytelling is abysmal (again, in my opinion) 

My Rating 

So unfortunately, while I would like to say that I enjoyed this book, I didn’t, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. If you’re really curious give it a borrow, but I think there’s better books similar to this that you could look at. 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 Stars)

~Meghan