The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Having been amazed, captivated and astounded by The Night Circus, I was very excited for a second novel from Erin Morgenstern and was delighted when it did not disappoint me.  While it retains many of the same wonderful characteristics of magic, mysticism, fate and boundless love, The Starless Sea is very much its own unique story.

This is a book about books, about reading and writing, storytelling and game playing, plots, story arcs, character choices, possibilities and the inevitability of history repeating itself.  It is a mystery, adventure, quest novel but in a whole other league and dimension.

I am not going to even attempt to summarise the plot, as it would be almost impossible and would completely and absolutely ruin the book for a first-time reader.  So I will simply tell you that the story follows Zachary as he becomes embroiled in what is essentially a rescue mission.  Zachary, a postgraduate student studying video games, is possibly an even more avid reader than me.  One day he stumbles upon an unusual book in the University library and, it is fair to say, his life is changed forever.

It is no surprise to find that Morgenstern studied theatre, as the lush description, scene setting and wholly immersive spaces she created so wonderfully in The Night Circus are equally powerful and intoxicating here.  It is so easy to get lost in the world she creates and I marvel at her ingenuity.  The story itself is incredibly complex and vast, a maze of interwoven narratives, characters, timelines and plots.

A story lover such as myself is completely and utterly spoilt by this book, as Morgenstern hasn’t given me just one book to enjoy, but several.  As well as reading about the characters, we get to read the books that the characters themselves are reading!  This layering of texts within texts gives great depth to the story as well as offering a change in style and language.  It also keeps the pace and your interest up as you want to know what happens next in multiple ongoing stories.

The Starless Sea is filled with wonderfully interesting, complex, well drawn characters that you want to follow through the story so, I warn you, this book is hard to put down!  And it isn’t short.  At over 500 pages it feels slightly epic, yet I read it in a matter of days and was disappointed when I finished it as I just wanted it to keep on going!  I am now eagerly awaiting Morgenstern’s next novel, whilst planning to re-read both The Night Circus and The Starless Sea in the interim.