Book Review: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

A reading experience:

Me the first half of the book: Wow - this could be a new all-time favourite. The writing! The descriptions! It’s a book for book lovers. This might even be better than The Night Circus.

Me the second half of the book: ...I’m confused. Am I meant to be following this? So. Many. Descriptions. Is this over yet? The Night Circus is definitely my favourite.

“Strange, isn’t it? To love a book. When the words on the pages become so precious that they feel like part of your own history because they are.”

I’m incredibly disappointed that I didn’t love The Starless Sea. It was amazing up until the point where I felt like I just couldn’t keep all the different strands and threads straight in my head. It was just TOO MUCH. And I still don’t get what the actual point was. If someone asked me to describe the plot I’d just be like “well... there’s this underground library thing... and it needs protected... for some reason”

I’ve seen a few reviews likening it to Alice in Wonderland and that might explain my frustrations - I LOATHE Alice in Wonderland. Whimsical nonsense is not my thing. I need a plot that has a beginning, middle and end. Or if the plot is non-existent I need characters that I care about, and I just didn’t give a toot about anyone in this book - expect for Kat maybe. She was cool. Zachary, however, was the most flat protagonist. Yawn...

I can’t remember the last time I felt so conflicted on a book, cos that first half was simply MAGICAL. It was so hard to put down, I wanted to live between the pages of this book forever. And then... I just dropped the ball, I guess, and became overwhelmed with it all - it happens!

One thing I can’t fault is Morgenstern’s writing - even when it was heavily descriptive and just too much, it was still beautiful. Unfortunately it was also incredibly frustrating to wade through. I ran out of patience.

The more I think about this book, the more issues I have, so I’m lowering my initial rating. Sorry to all those who loved this, like my buddy readers @thebookgeekboutique and @ab_reads, but I’m firmly team Night Circus. 3 stars.

Johann
x

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