The Starless Sea
The spellbinding Sunday Times bestseller
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
THE TIKTOK SENSATION
Discover the enchanting, magical bestseller from the author of The Night Circus, now in a stunning new edition.
We are all stardust and stories...
When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a mysterious book containing details from his own life among its pages, it leads him on a quest unlike any other.
Following the clues inside, he is guided to a masquerade ball, a dangerous secret club, and finally to an ancient library hidden far beneath the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians - it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes across time, and of stories whispered by the dead.
But when the library is threatened, Zachary must race through its twisting tunnels and sweetly soaked shores, searching for the end of his story.
PRAISE FOR THE STARLESS SEA:
'Enchanting read... an ode to stories and storytelling itself, and the joy of reading' Independent
'Spellbinding' Daily Mirror
'A magical mix of quests and fables...beautifully written' Heat
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Pirates, painters, owls, cats, fate and time—all of these and more can be found in Erin Morgenstern’s dreamy fantasy. Towards the beginning of The Starless Sea, graduate student Zachary finds something strange in an old book: a story from his own childhood. That discovery leads him to a hidden world that holds every tale ever told, a land which is now in danger. As she did with her bestseller The Night Circus, Morgenstern creates a magical setting that lives and breathes with suspense and emotion. Ultimately, Zachary’s quest is all about stories—how we tell them and how they shape our lives. We were reluctant to leave this exhilarating world for our own reality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Built from fables, myths, and fairy tales, Morgenstern's long-awaited second fantastical novel (following The Night Circus) delves into a vast subterranean library, the Harbor on the Starless Sea, a giant, maze-like, subterranean library where all languages are comprehensible to everyone, and time moves differently. Its wonders include moving statues, edible stories, and a sea made of honey. Narrative-obsessed grad student Zachary Rawlins happens upon an old, authorless collection in the campus library. Among the tales of an improbable land of books and their devotees is an anecdote from Zachary's own childhood, a time when he found a magical door but chose to walk away, disbelieving. Desperate to understand and longing for a second chance at adventure, Zachary investigates and finds a literary party thrown by a secret society. He goes through a painted door in Central Park and into the Harbor itself, now long past its heyday and mostly deserted. Aboveground, the secret society is trying to close as many doors as possible, hoping to keep the Starless Sea hidden. Aided by otherworldly Mirabel, whose motives and history are obscure, and alluring Dorian, a former society member who opposes the closing of the doors, Zachary works to understand how the Harbor fell into disrepair and what he can do to protect it. He also learns what it means to be not just a reader but a part of the story, and what happens after that story ends. This love letter to bibliophiles is dreamlike and uncanny, grounded in deeply felt emotion, and absolutely thrilling.
Customer Reviews
The starless sea
This book is a weaving, shifting, entrancing, intriguing delight. I read it on kindle but had to buy the hardback because I know it’s a book I will read many times, and each time it will be just as magical.
Sadly disappointed
I love The Night Circus and so I was really excited to read this novel. Once again I was captured by the characters, the plot and the vivid descriptions. However, like other reviewers have noted, I felt that the book ran out of steam 3/4 of the way through. I put the novel aside for two weeks but just couldn’t get back into it. Eventually I read it all but, for me, it never recaptured that magic for me and limped to an unsatisfactory end. Maybe this was the intention of the author but for me it was a great concept that was sadly worn too thin, with the inclusion of far too many characters at the expense of the plot.
Long and disappointing
I loved the night circus and couldn’t wait to read this book but found it long and disappointing. It took effort to finish the book and I did read it to the end.