The Starless Sea - A Book Review

About seven years ago, The Night Circus was released, written by a debut novelist named Erin Morgenstern. It seemed to come out of nowhere and exploded onto bestseller lists everywhere, and with good reason. It was magical.
Ever since, I've periodically gone looking to see if she had released anything else, and to my chagrin the answer was always no. Then, in early October, while taking a peek at upcoming releases on Audible, Erin Morgenstern's name popped up. The Starless Sea was clearly not a sequel to The Night Circus, and thank goodness for that, some stories should never be added to. No, this was a stand alone once more. Not read by the immensely talented Jim Dale this time, though. I was simultaneously elated and nervous. I had been eagerly awaiting more from her, but it had been so long now that I worried the anticipation might lead to disappointment. And did Jim Dale's performance lend a magic to the first book that would now be lacking? Also... why did it take seven years to write this?
I shouldn't have worried. The Starless Sea is just as good as The Night Circus, if not better. I can't make up my mind on that, actually. Whatever magic she captured for the first book, she found yet again for the second. The narrators - there's more than one this time - are just as good. And good lord, I now understand why this thing took seven years to get finished. Stories within stories. A narrative that doesn't seem to be connected at first, but by the end all threads have been gathered together into a fantastic tapestry. It's funny, but now that I'm trying to put together a novel myself, my appreciation of the sort of work that goes into a more complex storyline has risen by leaps and bounds. The Starless Sea, like The Night Circus, is complex storytelling at its finest, and is honestly beyond anything I could ever hope to write.
I keep saying that the magic is the same. But it also isn't. Her two books are equally magical, but they are quite differently magical at the same time. She hasn't just regurgitated the structure of her first book in a slightly different form. The story is vastly different, the plot elements are vastly different, the feel is vastly different. And good lord, but that is impressive.
Now, if you like a simpler storyline, this may not be the book for you. B does not follow A, and is not followed by C, and that isn't for everyone. I'm not going to throw shade on anyone who feels that way, either. But if complicated, multi-layered storytelling is your cup of tea, and especially if stories about stories is your jam, check this book out.
And yes, my lack of saying anything about the plot of this is a deliberate choice. I couldn't do it justice, and this is one of those books that it's better for you to go in knowing as little as possible. Just check it out, in print or in audio.
Want to follow or interact with me on social media? Find me on Twitter by following @jennifermorash or head over to https://www.facebook.com/jennifermorashblog. I post blogs every Wednesday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ablist Language

Ablist language directed at the blind never used to bother me. It is just so ingrained in the language that I think I got used to it. Things like "How did I miss that? I must be blind." 　 Actually, something almost exactly like that statement came up in the chat section of a game I play. It is not a game for the blind, but it has been developed to work perfectly for the blind, using the iphone's built-in text to speech. Thing is? I did not miss what they did. I picked up on it immediately. Honestly, I think such things are easier for me. The eyes skip over words sometimes. In fact, they do that a lot, and the brain uses pattern recognition to fill in gaps, often imperfectly. The ears don't work that way. 　 But this is just an example. Ablist language is everywhere. Now, you may be thinking "So what? How harmful is it really to say that you were blindsided by something? Aren't we taking this all a bit too far?" 　 Here's the thing, thoug
Read more

The Fields of Home, a Haibun

I step out onto the new, covered porch of the family summer home. I can hear the sounds of the waves of Cobequid Bay rolling in onto the beach. I settle into the embrace of the wicker love seat that waits for me, and I close my eyes. 　 Though I cannot see, I can hear the sounds of nature all around me, and I know that it is the same as when I was a child. The building has moved, the layout has changed, but the sounds of home are still the sounds of home. 　 This is home, where the sun sets in the west over the water, where morning dew creates spiderweb patterns in the grass of the fields, where wild blueberries grow, where the world's highest tides ebb and flow, where sun bakes the sandbar at low tide than comes in to create bath-warm seawater to swim in. 　 These are the fields I ran in as a child, picking wild violets to bring and put in jelly jars. Eating the tiny strawberries that grew without the aid of man, more perfect than those at the store. These are my home
Read more

The Beauty I See

I wish the world could see the way I see, sometimes. Not all the time. Not really. Not literally. Yet I do wish the world could see as I do, or at least see one another. 　 Because I don't see through my eyes. I see through my ears, my hands, my nose and my heart. Largely through my hands. 　 I became a massage therapist in 2013, though I decided that I wanted to be one in early 2008 or so. It took me awhile to get my backside in gear, and then it took me much longer to get through the program. 　 Because I also became blind in 2002. At least, that was the most recent time. Another story for another day, that. 　 My name is Jennifer, though many know me as Jenny, and I am a blind massage therapist. 　 Are you one of those people who secretly wants to try massage, or go more often, but you keep feeling like the person working with you is going to be making judgements on your health, your physical fitness, the garlic on your breath, your degree of body hair, or r
Read more